Most of you know my passions vary but mental health is my top passion. For my new followers, I am a practicing student therapist and going to graduate from school fall of 2022. I am also a straight A student and put a lot of my time to master this field. I call myself the stigma fighter because I want to make a dent in the stigma of mental health.
There’s a reason a stigma in mental health exists. The mental health system itself is corrupted. It has been infiltrated by the 1%. Big pharma in particular controls our field at the moment. Because big pharma is garbage they instill garbage values and in a sense puts us mental health providers in compromising positions with our ethics. Our code of ethics in short we have to acknowledge the uniqueness of the client, being competent in cultural issues that also includes society, and allowing clients to express autonomy. What attracted me to this field was because put my skill set aside, it’s the fact that we advocate.
Most of you know I am big on using your voice. My theory of what’s been going on and why so many bend over to the establishment is because most may feel like they don’t have permission to really use their voice. Once I graduate from grad school this will be my mission as a counselor empowering each person I see become stronger advocates.
Mental health is vulnerable right now. I have argued mental health is a key to survival. Our government denying our basic fundamental rights as humans has impaired functioning. The one thing that has pissed me off during this pandemic is how the homeless have been treated. I use to be a case worker that worked with the homeless population. I helped many find homes and that wasn’t easy but I was able to encourage clients to use their voice. I worked with many that were a part of the camps. Seeing them was always hard for me because my passion for people runs extremely deep.
I managed a total of 40 people and during that time most of my clients couldn’t get healthcare and when I worked with them I worked my ass of to get them healthcare. Most also couldn’t qualify food stamps because previous workers didn’t even bother to work with them. I stayed with my clients for hours to make sure each need was being met. I went out of my way to establish treatment plans for them.
The reason I shared this is because I saw improvement with my clients. This is a no brainer just make sure each need is getting met on Maslows Pyramid and mental health improves. When mental health professionals go outside of big pharma’s standards more people are willing to reach out for help. I personally want to start my own practice and I have made a commitment to not utilize insurance. I will use a sliding scale.
I personally have had to deal with insurance companies in terms of billing and the standards are ridiculous and to some degree unrealistic. The reason why so many mental health professionals are getting burnt out in this field is because of these standards they place on us. That is also why you see the quality of care go down. In our code of ethics it emphasizes self-care but community mental health agencies never reinforce this. This is one of those compromising positions I mentioned earlier.
For therapists, they limit the therapist to utilizing one or two approaches and in my opinion is one of the main components of what adds to the stigma of mental health. Yes they are many theories and approaches we utilize but I would advocate that there should be more eclectic therapists. I personally identify as an eclectic therapist. Meaning I utilize every approach per what the situation presents. In determining which approach I will utilize I will base it on how a person communicates and how they will intake information.
Establishing rapport is essential in this field. The reason why it is easy for me to establish rapport is because I don’t utilize book knowledge. As humans we have a common bond. Most of us share the same frustrations. The key thing when providing psycho education is you have to meet that person on their level to some degree.
The problem these days that principle has not been reinforced. We live in a society that has many performative actors. It has made it almost impossible to communicate with anyone. People shut others out because of disagreements. Don’t get me wrong disagreements can be nasty but at the end of the day we can agree to disagree. Having different viewpoints is what makes us unique.
Sure there are people who I do shut out and that’s typically racists, transphobes, and homophobes. The most important ones I shut out are performative allies. Performative Allies have caused damage to various diverse groups mentally and physically. They absolutely refuse to be educated and accept responsibility for their actions. Yes, I do consider this transphobic.
Suicide rates have also gone up during this pandemic. I had to de-escalate so many crisis’ during this pandemic. When the solution is in plain view and it’s not even being considered by our government exposes the fact they truly don’t give a shit. To survive in this world you have to be a rich wine mom.
For those who have been mistreated by mental health professionals in this field I personally want to apologize. Do know personal mistreatment from mental health professionals was one of my main reasons I pursued this field. I know it may not mean much at the moment but do know there are some genuine therapists that are out there. It has become more and more difficult. I would suggest finding a therapist that utilizes a sliding scale not one that utilizes insurance. Please take care of yourselves. My DMs are always open if you need to just vent. I may not personally know all of you but you matter ❤️And I care about you all!