Getting to the root of the problem, first CBT session monday!

Every week in McLuckie class, i learn a new tool to apply into my practicum placement and "practice" as you will.  This week, McLuckie said something that spoke true at my placement.  Clients with socialization issues, throw them in socialization classes - all of them.  Without getting down the the root of the problem.  We treat everyone the same but the fact is, not everyone is the same.  And I realized, that's what we were doing at the ability hub.  See autistic kids have themes that stick out all the time to me.  Socialization is a big one and all we do is throw them in these classes.  We refer them to resources without looking deeper into what they are looking for.

So I decided I'm going to try and get into the root of the problem with some narrative therapy tricks I've learned from Mishka Lysack and McLuckie.  The big circle that represents your life and circling within it, including problems - what makes up your life.  The chart of  bio, psyco, familial etc.

I love all the tools I'm learning, and on Monday I'm looking forward to applying some of these skills.  I'm nervous but I'm trying to do my homework as much as possible so that I can do a good session with families.

McLuckie also said something this last week too.  He said you can always control your time with clients.  Like if you were doing CBT, he actually said CBT which was funny - and it was your first time (ah! How did he know this?!?) you don't want to do it all in one day cause it'll be shitty sessions.  I know this.  And it makes sense.  You need to give yourself time to prep. and be ready.  3 days just isn't enough to spread things out but I'm hoping this week to come will help me learn, and even if I make mistakes - at least I stepped out of the box :)

Rewind: YWCA Mary Dover practicum offer

I remember walking out of the YWCA practicum interview with a sinking feeling in my stomache.  During the interview the lady who may have been a co supervisor said "It sounds like you need to go to sherriff king".  That's because all my experiences have been around children and programming around children's needs.  I wrote a letter after my interview just to make sure that I didn't leave on a bad note.  There were so many other canidates that I was sure I wasn't going to get it but I wrote a letter anyway.  I didn't wanna be a one trick pony, if that's where I was headed.

It turned out I was offered a position but I was also offered a position at the ability hub.  i was in a conundrum.  I felt I had faught so hard just to be the womans shelter but ultimately felt that if they didn't want me in the first place, I would have a hard time defending myself every step of the way when I was there.  I decided then that i would accept at the ability hub instead.

"The difference between an MSW student and a BSW student is that an MSW student is able to practice within a framework..." Alan McLuckie

One of my main questions trailing me as I started my masters was 'what am I doing, what am I knowing that a BSW student might not necessarily know or do'.  I often wrote this in my papers as I began reflection papers in my MSW degree.  When I started at the ability hub, I was doing phone screens and assessments that I thought a bsw student if trained for the same role would be able to do.  Further along I began to learn how my practice began to differ.

Self Reflection - on a regular basis-I began to naturally self reflect on my work with clients and my own practice of what I could do to make it better and more 'social work' like.  I began to practice in my own way and do things I believed a social worker should do such as exploring more of family dynamics.

I set out on a journey for myself and in between I have professors help guide me in what i was looking for.  I had professors give me tools such as how to start a narrative conversation and assessment tools that would be useful to me in the future to use with families.

Putting it in my "ticklet trunk" as mcLuckie would say from Dr. Dressup.  I miss Mr. Dressup.  I looked forward to when he drew and did crafts because I would always try and replicate it right after with my little brother following me everywhere.

I looked back at my work at a BSW level and realized that I have more control in practicum now.  I am juggling my own caseload and I don't really have anyone watching me except to check in on a weekly basis.  It's nice to have a clinical team to support the work that you do and bounce ideas off of each other.

Working in a non-profit agency compared to child welfare is so different.  There's more flexibility in the work that I do with families.  I can split my time between paperwork, meetings, and designing things for the ability hub.

Learning as a spoiled student:

I am in such a "spoiled" position compared to some of my other peers who are juggling family, children, and financial stability.  I am able to focus strictly on school and my studies.  I have a boyfriend who is a chef and makes me lunch everyday for me - whatever my heart desires pretty much.  I don't have to worry about being broke because even if I do reach that point - I have a net to catch me.  My sisters and parents always offer to fund me on a regular basis however I am determined to fund myself, pay for my car on my own while I am going through school and budget.  I often feel guilty of how good I have it in life right now.  This is the "unpacking the white knapsack" piece by peggy mcintosh who often comes up in papers that i write.  if we are not conscious of the privledges we hold, we were taught to not see them.

The Ability Hub

This is the Ability Hub, and the second day in practicum.

A quick summary of The Ability Hub is that they work with children ages 13+ who have an official diagnosis of autism.  There are multiple programs offered at The Ability Hub to supper different areas for people who have autism.  I'm part of the launch program.  All intake starts at Launch.  Launch is a transitional program to basically get parents thinking about what the next few years are going to be like for their autistic son/daughter.  Do they plan to go to school, work, volunteer, stay at home and do nothing?  Based on what is shared during the phone screen, we then create an ITP map (Individual Transition Plan).  During the phone screen we book an appointment to meet with client and guardian in person.  From there, there are follow ups and if other services are needed to be referred, we do that too.

On the first day we recieved orientation and today we listened in on a phone screening. I am so bad at talking to someone on the phone when there are others around me for some reason so I've been role playing out loud on my 30 minute drive to work :)  I think it's super helpful to me that when it is time to do a real one, I'll be ready.

A lot of practice is about connecting to theory and so hopefully every week I will find something to connect to.  So far I know that the Ability Hub works in a person centered framework, as said by Dr. Laura Ghali.

Person centered framework in social work language means: 

"The importance of listening deeply to the needs and concerns of individuals and groups within the constituent communities.  The facilitation of community self-perception.  The recognizition and encouragement of indigenous leadership.  The facilitation of the communication among divergent groups.  The identifiation of community goals" (Turner, p.70).
Book:  Social Work Treatment: Interlocking Theoretical Approaches

Dr. Laura and I sat down today to talk about how things were going and I was able to pick her brain about what some questions in the phone screen meant such as "client expectations".  A lot of the times parents will come in with their child and the child won't even know what meeting they're coming to because they haven't been involved in the process.  When children turn eighteen, depending on their function - they must either assign one or both or their parents to legal guardian or decide on their own that they are the guardians. 

Laura says often times the "client expectations" slot is unfilled during phone screenings because parents haven't bothered to ask their son/daughter what they want to do with their own lives.

Mishka Lysak during block week also touched on the fact that some children with disabilities when transitioning to an adult doctor have anxiety because they are so used to their parents doing everything for them that when the doctors talk directly to the client about medication or health, clients are unsure how to answer.  This is a big issue.

I think one of the areas parents don't like to think about is what is going to happen to their son/daughter once they are gone?  Who is going to take care of them?  I think instead of living in fear, the better plan would be to talk about it so that both parent and child know what's going to happen and how they're going to get there.

I think I will continue to keep a mental note about involving the client as much as possible in the decision process.  After all, it is the client who we are continuing to transition :)

That's all the reflection for now,  bye bye.

-Linda

Domestic Violence

This is a domestic violence story that happened close to my house.  I learned that many people don't know a lot about domestic violence and the help that they could recieve with CPS.

On the global calgary facebook site, people were debating what they knew about CPS, dv.

http://globalnews.ca/news/1314803/domestic-abuse-victims-urged-to-turn-to-police-for-help-when-leaving/

Lisa Lynn wrote "Lisa Lynn Oh yes because a piece of paper will really help. Are the cops going to assign an officer to every person that asks for help. I don't think so..."

I said:  "Look, I did my practicum with child welfare for eight months and have seen a lot of domestic violence cases because of the area I worked in. I know first hand that if (usually a woman) has an EPO (emergency protection order) or a restraining order against their spouse, they will escort you to get your belongings out because that's part of their job. I know that if the spouse you have an EPO or RO against tries to contact you in any way (msg on facebook, call, text, visit, etc.), it is your legal responsibility to call CPS because if you let your spouse near you while your EPO/RO is in effect, you the victim could be charged for breeching your order too. So yes! A piece of paper will really help"

The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog: 1. Tina's World - Learnings

I'm re-reading the book that gave me inspiration to continue to focus on child therapy.  After eight months of practicum at child welfare and five years later of experience, I'm noticing that re-reading this book is a lot different the second time around.

I am recording my new learning as I read through :)











1.  Tina's World


watch one, do one, teach one

jargon:
maternal introject
object relations
counter-transference
oral fixation

DSM-only based on symptoms

Brain - mediates all emotion, thought, and behaviour
when you have a good idea, fall in love, fall down the stairs, gasp when walking up stairs, melt at the smile of your child, laugh at a joke, get hungry, and feel full-all of those experiences and all your respones to these experiences are mediated by your brain.p.20

Brain Structure:

100 billion neurons (brain cells)
Every neuron has 10 support cells called glia

4 Major parts of the brain
----------------------------------->>>
1. Brain Stem
2. Diencephalon
3.Limbic System
4. Cortex

1. Brain Stem, 2. Diencephalon grow first when child develops

Excerpt from the book:Our four brain areas are organized in a hierarchical fashion: bottom to top, inside to outside. A good way to picture it is with a little stack of dollar bills -- say five. Fold them in half, place them on your palm and make a hitchhiker’s fist with your thumb pointing out. Now, turn your fist in a “thumbs down” orientation. Your thumb represents the brain-stem, the tip of your thumb being where the spinal cord merges into the brain stem; the fatty part of your thumb would be the diencephalon; the folded dollars inside your fist, covered by your fingers and hand, would be the limbic system; and your fingers and hand, which surround the bills, represent the cortex. When you look at the human brain, the limbic system is completely internal; you cannot see it from the ouside, just like those dollar bills. Your little finger, which is now oriented to be the top and front, represents the frontal cortex.

 




“While interconnected, each of thee four main areas controls a separate set of functions. The brainstem, for example, mediates our core regulatory functions such as body temperature, heart rate, respiration and blood pressure. The diencephalon and the limbic system handle emotional responses that guide our behavior, like fear, hatred, love and joy. The very top part of the brain, the cortex, regulates the most complex and highly human functions such as speech and language, abstract thinking, planning and deliberate decision making. All of them work in concert, like a symphony orchestra, so while there are individualized capacities, no one system is wholly responsible for the sound of the ‘music’ you actually hear.”

"The basic neuroscience work i'd been doing for years had involved examining the details of how these systems worked.  In the brain, neurons transmit messages from once cell to the next by using chemical messengers called neurotransmitters that are released at specialized neuron to neuron connections called synapses.  These chemical messengers fit only into certain, correctly shaped receptors on the next neuron, in the same way that only the right ey will fit into the lock on your front door. Synaptic connections, at once astoundingly complex and yet elegantly simple, create chains of neuron to neuron networks that allow all of the many functions of the brain, including thought, feeling, motion, sensation, and perception.  This also allows drugs to affect us, because more psychactive medications work like copied keys, fitting into locks meant to be pened by particular neurotransmitters and fooling the brain into opening or closing their doors"

Calgary’s Worst Mass Murder

A few weeks ago, Calgary broke a new city record.  It broke the record for the most number of mass murders at once, five. 

            Summary:  On April 15^th 2014 at around 2:00am in the morning, police were called to a residence in Brentwood where a stabbing was taking place.  Five victims died in the incident:  Lawrence Hong, 27 - Josh Hunter, 23 - Zackariah Rathwell, 23 - Jordan Segura, 23 - Kaiti Perras, 23.  The accused Matthew de Grood, 22 fled the scene and was taken into custody not long after.

Here is a video link to the story:

 Although I’ve had a lot of thoughts in my head, I’ve been having a hard time putting them into words because of the mixed emotions I’ve been experiencing.  I’m feeling sad for the perpetrator and his victims.  Death like this affects families, friends, communities, strangers, and the world.  I’m feeling confused like most are because all of the students including the perpetrator involved were good kids who never had any history with the law.  Some were university students and even the perpetrator was bound for law school in the fall of 2014 at the University of Calgary.  I know I will be thinking about him when I start my graduate studies because the Faculty of Law is in the same building as us.  I tried to hold back tears when the father of Mathew de Grood, a retired police officer of 33 years released a statement to the press stating how sorry he was for the tragedy that has affected families and how confused they were as parents that their son was responsible for such a horrible crime.  Please watch the link below:

I’m feeling angry about the comments I read online about others who talk about mental illness and the misconceptions about mental illness.  I think I’m bothered by what people say because although I’ve never been diagnosed with a mental illness I can relate to that uncontrollable part of schizophrenia.  I think this explanation requires a little bit of personal history about me.  When I was younger in junior high and high school, I struggled in school a lot academically and socially.  I wasn’t having a good time in school and things were not going my way.  I learned to day dream and would do it constantly during classes.  It got to the point where I was scared because I couldn’t tell (the things I fantasized) what was real and what was fantasy anymore.  I would fantasize and talk to myself a lot and so as I grew up sometimes voices inside and outside of myself became normal.  When I got to Mount Royal, I began to learn things I enjoyed and stopped day dreaming a lot.  I would still have a hard time focusing but it was a lot less.  I still self-talked but it was always in private and it was still normal to me.  I learned in psychology that this was normal too so didn’t think anything of it.  But at some point the voices started to become very negative and I had to constantly tell the voices to go away out loud.  It scared me when I realized that these were not my own thoughts anymore but someone else’s thoughts.  When I heard these voices, I tried to distinguish whether they were my own or someone else’s.  I realized that these were not my voices and at some point told my oldest sister.  My oldest sister told me that mental illness emerges around the age that I was at.  What were the voices saying?  The voices were calling me names, bad names.  The voices told me to kill my mom.  I remember my mom had done something and at our New Brighton house walking down the stairs right away voices in my head said “kill her” and I told them “I don’t want to kill her”.  I was scared.  I’m not sure when it stopped.  I just know now that I’m at peace now and feel in control of myself.

A lot of people blame mental health for things that cannot be explained.  For instance in this case, the perpetrator was described as being “shy” and “quiet” and “a good kid”.  Some people are mad that he will get off easy.  Here are some comments from Global Calgary on Facebook:

Some say that mental illness is not an excuse for the crime that he has committed -

Rach Cowley:  “mental or not, noone has the right to kill another individual or more. There is a lot of mental people out there, but its up to the parent or companion to find out the signs of this sickness and to put them away. Mental people don't kill, only disruptive people who have hard dark secrets hidden”.

Shannon Lanz Na: “there isn't no turning back you kill 5 peoole it don't matter! People can't always have excuses this is why people think they can kill and get away with it cause people are all about mental illness like come on those poor familys are suffering casue of some illness Sick!!!! Im sure your outlook on the whole thing would be different if it was your childs life that was taken by some random guy!!! Stop the excuses he needs to be laid to rest!”

Tracey Brown: “He's going to school to be a psych major and a lawyer he must of been aware if what will happen to him if he decided to kill 5 kids ....makes me sick to my stomach lock him up throw away the key...my heart goes out to all the families involved”

Some try to shed light about mental illness like schizophrenia -

Tamara Dolenuck Laschinsky:  “If you had schizophrenia you'd feel differently. You can't control what you hear, see or think. The visions are real and your reality is skewed. Only medication curbs it. Once DeGrood comes back to reality he'll have to live with what he's done. Though I think he should forever remain imprisoned in at least a mental facility doing volunteer work. He can never be reintroduced to society for his safety and the publics safety if he ever goes off medication. A cure needs to be found because it's an illness that is not 'cureable' and strikes anyone, anytime”.

Sandi Newby-Grocock: That sure is lumping all schizophrenics into one mold. Do you realize how many people you interact with in a daily basis that could be schizophrenic and/or controlled on meds? Do you realize there are approx 100 different types of schizophrenia? To say every one of them should not live on their own and be institutionalized is just unrealistic.

Jody Dunn: “How ignorant most people are about mental illness. By ignorant I mean unknowing.  Schizophrenia only presents itself around this young mans age.  He and his family had no idea what was and is happening to him.  God forbid it be any of the ignorant to experience such tragedy.  My heart goes out to this young man and his family.  The victims also.. Very much so”.

I stopped myself from reading comments on Facebook a while ago because I was so angry about what others were saying.   I just wanted to understand how I was feeling in the moment and that was good enough for me.  I’m surprised by how these deaths have affected me as I didn’t know any of the people involved.  I know a friend from school who was a friend of one of the victims but that’s about it.  I think perhaps because there are so many unexplained questions in this case.  I thought once if the victims or perpetrators were drug dealers, in gangs, known criminals in Calgary, bullies, or involved in other crimes that this story might be an after-thought and easier to bare.  But because these were clean and academically driven kids with bright future ahead of them that it made it that much more difficult to comprehend.  There are just so many connections to me that I make with myself.  The perpetrator is part of the Asian community; some of the students go to University of Calgary, and these kids are around my age.  I think what it boils down to is that, it could have been me.

            You would never know that I might be borderline autistic would you?  My classmates and family always describes me as smart but smart has nothing to do with mental illness or autism.  I try my best you know to educate others about the misconception about mental illness but I realize although I may know more than the next person on the street that I know very little about how schizophrenia affects others.  I know people around me assume that I should know these things.

            As a social worker, there are so many things that people assume about us.  Even my mom the other day as I was in an argument with her said, “You’re a social worker.  You should understand how I feel”.  The injustice you know, that assumption that because I am a social worker that I should put my own feelings aside and understand from her point of view.  I am constantly learning and this tragedy that has been bestowed upon Calgary really made me see what the general perception about mental illness others had and my own feelings towards mental illness.  I think we shouldn’t be quick to judge others before we know the whole story.  Mental illness is something that others should educate themselves about because it affects more people then they think.