What a Difference a Year Makes

A year ago, I was feeling crappy about the direction my life was going so I decided to do something about it.  Writing this blog has been one of the highlights of the year.  Also, I got a counselor position, started my doctoral program, and found a LMHC supervisor so I can start studying for the exam.  The year was going pretty well with the exception with some financial crises towards the end that I'm getting through (Christmas did not help at all) and my LMHC supervisor dropping me a few weeks ago (it's all for the best; she only wanted my money).  One of my friends has information for a LMHC supervisor who is much cheaper and hopefully more understanding of my current job and lack of clients I'm seeing.  I'm also looking for jobs that will get me closer to the 2000 hours I need.

School is going okay.  Honestly I don't like the program at all but it's a means to an end and I'm getting through the coursework portion of the program.  I'm also going to do my residency this summer and fall to start on the dissertation part of the program. I got the only C I can get in the program so I gotta watch my grades going forward so I don't get kicked out.

I just wanted to take some time to thank my readers for reading the blog and I hope you gained some insight and were amused somehow.  I wish all of you the best in 2013.

Take care,
-Kimmy

Counseling Can Be a Dangerous Job

A couple of days ago, I was helping my department with HIV testing and apparently one of our clients carjacked a woman at gunpoint before coming to get tested.  Because they believed he had a gun, the police raided the mobile testing van regardless of whether client confidentiality was going to be broken (yes there were clients testing on the van).  I will say this:  having guns pointed at you does not feel good, especially when it is known that your local police shoots first and asks questions later.  The incident reminded me that working in people who are in need can be very dangerous.  There are many individuals in need who have made decisions that put them in dangerous situations.  There may be times where a mental health professional may be in the middle of the dangerous situation.  Hopefully an employer has whatever means to keep their employees safe.  Unfortunately, this was not the case at mine.  I hope that they will make the appropriate changes needed to keep us safe in the future.  I've been in some dangerous places but my current job takes the cake.  In any case, counseling, like any job, has its risks.  If you are a counselor or working with individuals in need and unaware of these risks, you need to reevaluate your life because you'll be in for a very rude awakening.

-Kimmy

Guns and Mental Illness

I posted this a while back to my friends on Facebook.

What happened in Connecticut is sad and my prayers go out to the families of the children slain...however (yes, I'm going to go there)...I will say this: Mental Illness is real. There are too many people with mental illness who go untreated because those around them refuse to accept that the person is mentally ill and they don't want to deal with it. There are a large number of people who are not resilient and cannot cope with the rough patches of life; they need medication and/or psychotherapy to learn how to cope. Society is not doing enough to help the mentally ill (there are people who do not think it's society responsibility to help those people) and depending on how the fiscal cliff situation goes, they're going to be at a bigger disadvantage. Current gun laws allow those with mental illness to bear arms. Unless society collectively decides to deal with the mentally ill with dignity and respect these shootings and incidents of this nature will continue.

The right to bear arms is a Constitutional right however our founding fathers wrote that amendment in context of the 18th century.  They didn't have a look into the future and never in a million years would've predicted that mass murders would occur.  With that said, gun control needs to be reevaluated and updated to the context of the 21st century (whatever that means).

 When the Sandy Hook shootings happened, I along with everyone else in the country was in complete shock.  Once my shock passed, I started looking at the details.  I'm sorry, who in their right mind would take their child with a history of mental illness with aggressive behaviors to a gun range?  Why weren't the guns locked away?  My father has a mental illness and because my family knows how bad it can get, we will NEVER have guns in my parent's house.  It's common sense (to me).  It should be common sense to all families of people with mental illness.  In addition, I'm aware it's difficult for individuals with mental illness to remain complaint on their treatment because the side effects of some of those medications are God awful but support from family, friends and treatment providers goes a very long way.  I wonder why the shooter's father and brother did not speak up when they noticed a change in the shooter's behavior.  A mentally ill individual with active symptoms is very hard to ignore.  Unfortunately, in this family's case and with many other families of mentally ill individuals, they don't want to deal with it so they ignore it.  For those families, this is the hand you've been dealt and therefore MUST at least try to be a part of your loved one's life and treatment.  I did a little research and Connecticut has involuntary commitment for mentally ill individuals who are a threat to themselves and others.  I strongly believe that if the family paid a little more attention, he could have been committed and put under observation, preventing the shootings.

Another part of the gun control argument is that young people are killed by the hands of guns everyday, especially in urban areas.  Guns are a way of life in these areas because no one is there to teach them otherwise.  Why?  I don't know.  The young people in those areas do not know of any other way to resolve conflict because there aren't any mature male adults to teach them and some urban music is not helping the situation either.  Further, those guns are usually obtained illegally so the government and the community have to develop creative means to eliminate guns in these areas.

In order to prevent these type of shootings in this country, both gun control and mental illness have to be reevaluated.

-Kimmy