Mental Health Matters: Women's Group Matters

By Social Work Intern Dulce Vallejo

Working in the Mental Wellness department, I get to see how much time and effort goes into planning the Women’s Group sessions every week. Seeing the process and development of the group sessions helps me realize how important these sessions are for our female residents.

A large portion of the families we serve find themselves experiencing homelessness because they are challenged with inadequate life skills, social supports, knowledge of resources in their own community, new coping mechanisms, and a sense of community and feeling like they belong.

During my observations in group therapy, I find that it offers an organized and protected space to bond with other women in such an authentic and comfortable way. It is a place for women to feel comfortable revealing parts of themselves; the fair, the immoral and the unpleasant. In such an environment it is easy to discovery the many ways in which they are alike.

The group’s purpose serves as a “mutual-aid system” where individuals learn and support each other while building helping relationships. Not only do they build them with each other, but also with the group leaders. Having common problems helps facilitate the development of the relationship. 

Sometimes residents just need to realize that they are not the only one going through this hardship and that there are others who feel the same. The group utilizes strengths such as independence, coping skills, empathy, relational abilities, self-reflection and recognizing their own strengths, among others.

According to an article I read about women’s group therapy by Joan Berzoff’s, she mentions that being comfortable enough to disclose similar traumatic events within a group increases a sense of belonging but it cannot just be the groups responsibility, the group leader must work at creating a safe environment as well as model positive behavior and that is exactly what I have seen the group leaders at Community LINC do (Berzoff, 2013). Berzoff, also believes psycho-education and advocacy can help empower women experiencing homelessness in group therapy, and that learning about other women’s stories can increase self-cohesion and esteem (Berzoff, 2013).

Not too long ago I met Rachel a resident who said to me “I don’t like counseling or therapy but I do like doing group stuff because it lets me know that I am not alone. It’s not that I am glad that they are going through hard times too, but just the sense that I am not alone in this is good for me.”

Go to our Face Book page and you will see pictures of some of the expressive therapy (art) items that the residents in the Women’s Group have made and are very proud of. The most recent pictures are from a group activity when the women were given art supplies and a small canvass and invited to make a collage depicting the ways “I Have the Power and Control” in making my life better. Several women who participated in the group process shared ways the activity helped them to focus on their strengths and remain hopeful that they will be able to move from homeless to hopeful.

Works Cited

Berzoff, J. (2013). Group Therapy With Homeless Women . Smith College Studies in Social Work , 83 (2-3).

Therapy Matters: Mental Health Matters

By Director of Mental Health Services Griselda Williams

As I read what Ms. Frenchie Pulluaim wrote about the many layers of pain, challenges and hurdles our families have endured and must try to move past to move into permanent housing, I thought about the mental health aspects that are connected to those “broken hearts”.  She wrote about “matters of the heart” being complicated and how they can lead to physical and medical issues. 

I see so often what Ms. Frenchie wrote about as it relates to mental health challenges. Those mental health challenges can work against the goals, hopes and dreams that our families have and the efforts those of us in the helping field extend to them. 

A current topic of discussion in mental health is depression, given the media focus on Robin Williams and other well-known people who struggle with this issue. While much of the media focus is on the famous we on the mental wellness team plan to focus on our families and the impact that depression has on them. 

We have planned upcoming program group topics on the subject as we often see that beginning this time of year through the end of the year depression increases greatly. 

As depression increases so does those who are so broken hearted often contemplate taking their own lives. Given all that our families have endured it is important to give them an opportunity to openly discuss the impact of depression as well as provide them resources for support and decrease the stigma related to seeking help for mental health challenges. 

Therapy Matters: Hope springs eternal

By Director of Mental Wellness Gail Byers

 

Community LINC provides counseling for adults and children. 

 

A major challenge is addressing the stigma of mental health being synonymous with being perceived as ‘being crazy.’  So you can only imagine the response of parents when they are told their child will be receiving counseling services.

 

As a result, we also focus on developing relationships with parents via parenting classes and access to the respective child therapists for guidance as well as crisis intervention.  This has been instrumental as a catalyst of change of the perception, the value and acceptance of mental health.  It is about laying seeds, seeds that educate, increase understanding and promote overall well-being. 

 

The fact is that in this current society our children are not always ‘seen’…we don’t take into consideration that whatever lifestyle we as parents are leading, negative or positive, is the exact same lifestyle our children are exposed to.  We often focus on developing coping and social skills for adults, not acknowledging that our children need the same skill sets.

 

Our children are sometimes not seen until they ‘act out’ which is how children communicate when they do not have the tools to express themselves appropriately. 

 

Community LINC recognized and addressed the mental health needs of the children served. 

 

So far, the children have welcomed the experience of being in counseling.  It is certainly a win-win situation.  The child has someone who has their undivided attention and listens to them.  Listening is an expression of love.

 

This is a tremendous support to the parent, the parent who is in the process of establishing or re-establishing his/her stability. 

 

When the children come into counseling the therapist always talks to them about confidentiality. 

One parent reported that she asked her son what he and his therapist talked about and his response was “that’s between me and my therapist.”  Out of the mouths of babes. 

 

These positive experiences will encourage families to seek mental health services beyond Community LINC.

 

Why, because the myth has been dispelled.

Therapy Matters: Establishing trust

By Director of Mental Wellness Gail Byers

 

Establishing trust in a therapeutic relationship can be challenging, particularly in the population we serve.  Gaining trust meets some of the components of Maslow’s  Hierarchy, i.e. safety needs which involve, security of body, resources, employment, family, health, and property.  Other components include esteem which is involves respect of others and respect by others.

 

The point is that when certain criteria is fulfilled, as indicated in Maslow’s hierarchies, trust is subsequently established. 

 

This continues to be proved true.

 

In a recent session a young woman revealed that she was raped as a child and never told anyone until now. She is 34 years old. 

 

Keep in mind that we had three previous sessions.  While it was a tremendous relief, as indicated by her countenance, the significance of her feeling safe enough to reveal the victimization was tantamount.  Imagine internalizing this trauma and the subsequent implications….shame/guilt, low self-worth, a skewed understanding of love, etc. These are all emotions that negatively impact lifelong decisions. 

 

However, the positive in this encounter is the significance of trauma informed care.  With this knowledge, comes clarity, resulting in more focused and intentional therapy. 

 

Chicken or the Egg - When it Comes to Homelessness

We know from the National Center on Family Homelessness that mothers experiencing homelessness struggle with mental health issues.

• They have three times the rate of PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder) (36%) and twice the rate of drug and alcohol dependence (41%).
  
• About 50% of mothers have experienced a major depressive episode since becoming homeless.
  

We recently saw the reverse, where depression in a mother living near poverty level contributed to her family becoming homeless.

Paulette and her 3 children entered our transitional housing on October 15, 2009. Paulette’s 4 year old daughter passed away in January 2009 after having an asthma attack. Paulette was depressed and unable to return to work at the same daycare center her daughter had attended prior to passing. Paulette had no savings and very little support from her children’s father. Paulette lost her job and was unable to pay rent which meant she had to move in with her father in his one bedroom apartment with her other two children. Her goals are to obtain employment and work towards eliminating some old debt. Paulette stated Community LINC will be the start she needs to get her life back on track. Her main focus is housing and her mental health.

Her family coach calls depression "the invisible sickness." She sees it in fathers who spiral into depression when they aren’t able to provide for their families. We see it in most mothers.

But, we also see people overcome the impact of depression.

Caroline, a single mother of a little girl, came to Community LINC after a long stint of substance abuse, homelessness, and chaos including depression. While in our program, she maintained her hard won sobriety, became gainfully employed, retired a significant amount of debt and began work toward an undergraduate degree. She more than doubled her wages and no longer relies on public assistance from food stamps. Today, Caroline and her daughter live in a quaint three-bedroom home.

Our mental health therapist works with all of our adults on all of their issues. She counts herself successful when she only hears from a graduate family occasionally after they leave the program. If she hears from them constantly, she feels they haven’t achieved the independence that is our goal.

Happily, she doesn’t hear from Caroline very often. But, this week, Caroline came by to take her out to the construction site for her Habitat for Humanity home. In her lifetime, she’ll have gone from homeless to homeownership.

- Laura Gray