What to Expect from Counseling
Recently, there have been a lot of people at our facility that are new to counseling. It can be very scary to walk into a facility and talk about things you are trying to hide from others. So first off, a big thanks to all of you first-timers who were brave enough to come in and face their fears. Now, if you are unfamiliar with the counseling process, this article was written to take the...Learn More
Taking Quick Action
Us healthcare workers are often at the front line in emergencies. Taking quick action can help people get away from a crisis, obtain the proper help, and move forward in their lives. Taking care of emergencies was all we did at the Mental Health Urgent Care Center in Long Beach California, where I was on staff for 11 years. Here were the red flags we looked for: 1. Was a person in a...Learn More
Rising Suicide Rates in Washington
The rising rates of suicide are alarming. Already in the state of Washington, there have been over 1,200 people who have taken their life. What if a person you knew told you they wanted to kill themselves? I worked at a crisis center for 11 years and dealt with people who were suicidal on a daily basis and here are the important steps to take. Ask them if they were thinking about killing...Learn More
Should I Stay or Should I Go?
Choosing a treatment program that meets your needs is an important decision to make. Our policy has always been to be ourselves, present our information, and let a person decide. Whether people decide to stay or go, we too are assessing if they meet our standards. As for our groups, we want to make sure that people don’t have a psychotic disorder and can reason. It can disrupt a group if...Learn More
Developmental Psychology
When I started in the field as a counselor, my supervisor Marie preached about understanding where a person was developmentally. Working with the learning disabled you’d see an adult and then realize they operated as a child. Up to this point, I understood that early childhood trauma caused mental illness later in life. It was in our early years we tried to create a strong sense of self. If...Learn More
My Fondest Counseling Memory
28 years as a counselor has had its ups and downs. There were scary times at the Mental Health Urgent Care when people who were psychotic got unruly. How can you convince somebody who feels you are in on the government plot against them that you are there to help? Somehow, I managed to do so. Though, I wondered this morning what was my fondest memory. I’ve had a lot of incredible memories. In...Learn More
Rebuilding Self Worth
In 28 years, I’ve seen my fair share of broken people. Many of which I treated in an 11-year span at a Mental Health Urgent Care where I saw over 7,000 people! Across the country, 20% of the people have a mental illness that warrants serious treatment. How many of these get treatment? Only a handful. One thing I learned is that we are all the same. To some extent we all suffer from something,...Learn More
The Year 2000 – Revisited
This was a very interesting week at Basic Steps Mental Health. With all of the talk about WWIII and nuclear war, I was reminded of the panic that hit everybody with the Y2K. If you weren’t old enough to remember what was going on back then, the main computers in charge of all the critical systems in the country were not equipped to switch to the year 2000. Fearing nuclear meltdown at the time,...Learn More
How Is Your Inner Child Doing?
The approach that had the greatest impact on me was Reparenting work, where you actually become the new mom and dad to your wounded self. When I was a child, it wasn’t much fun, especially when my bully of a father came home. At that moment playtime and peace were over and you prayed he wouldn’t take your head off. According to Object Relations Therapy, mental illness has its roots in early...Learn More