Rylah Morgan EDG 6332 Resource Padlet by Rylah Morgan

Introduction

rylahmorgan — 2025-09-12 01:25:35 UTC

Hello everyone! My name is Rylah Morgan and I am working towards my Master of Arts degree in counseling. I graduated from Texas A&M University in May and am currently a 5th grade teacher in San Angelo, TX. One personal goal that I have set for myself is to be able to maintain a GPA of 3.75 or higher throughout the completion of my degree. I have also set out to achieve a professional goal of eventually becoming a licensed professional counselor. I am hoping to eventually become a trauma counselor for children, therefore this course will be very beneficial for me as I make strides towards my future career.

Helpful Resources

rylahmorgan — 2025-09-14 02:56:17 UTC

American Psychological Association. (2021). Depression. American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/topics/

depression https://dictionary.apa.org/d

epression

Cleveland Clinic.

(2023). Depression

symptoms, causes, &

treatment. Cleveland Clinic. https://my.clevelandclini c.org/health/diseases/9290-depression

Sawchuk, C. (22, October 14). Depression

(Major Depressive Disorder). Mayo Clinic; Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. https://www.mayoclinic. org/diseases-conditions/depression/s

ymptoms-causes/syc-20356007

Heather. (2024, August 27). The Importance of Early

Intervention in Mental Health

Issues like Depression and Anxiety. Brighton Recover Center - Utah Addiction Recovery. https://www.brightonrecovery

center.com/the-importance- of-early-intervention-in- mental-health-issues-like- depression-and-anxiety/

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. (2019). Risk factors, protective

factors, and warning signs. American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. https://afsp.org/risk-factors-protective-

factors-and-warning-signs/

G. Kiekens, P. Hasking, M. Boyes, L. Claes, P. Mortier, R.P. Auerbach, P. Cuijpers, K. Demyttenaere, J.G. Green, R.C. Kessler The associations between non-suicidal self-injury and first onset suicidal thoughts andbehaviorsJ. Affect. Disord., 239 (2018), pp. 171-179, 10.1016/j.jad.2018.06.033

5 Types of Depressive Disorders. (2018). [YouTube Video]. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbJB02Zlh4w

Depression Explained (Major Depressive Disorder). (n.d.). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJQRsIbD110

Munir, S., & Abbas, M. (2022). Seasonal Depressive Disorder. Nih.gov; StatPearls Publishing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK5

68745

APA Dictionary of Psychology. (n.d.) Dictionary.apa.org. https://dictionary.apa.org/postpartum- depression

OASH. (2023, October 17). Postpartum

Depression | Office on Women’s Health. Womenshealth.gov. https://womenshealth.gov/mental- health/mental-health-

conditions/postpartum-depression

TED-Ed. (2015). What is depression? - Helen M. Farrell

[YouTube Video]. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-IR48Mb3W0

This Is How Depression Feels. (n.d.). www.youtube.com. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii53BtHLnGk

Howland, M., & El Sehamy, A. (2024, April). What are bipolar disorders? American Psychiatric Association. https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-

families/bipolar-disorders/what-are-bipolar- disorders

Information on Suicidal Thoughts &

Behaviors. (2025). Psychosocial Research Program. https://sites.brown.edu/prp/information-

resources/information-on-suicidal-

thoughts-behaviors/

Griffin, J.B. (1990). Anxiety (H.K. Walker, W.D. Hall, & J. W. Hurst, Eds.). PubMed; Butterworths.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/N

BK315/

Mayo Clinic. (2025, July 29). Anxiety disorders. Mayo Clinic; Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/dis

eases-

conditions/anxiety/symptoms-

causes/syc-20350961

Mental Health First Aid. (2021). The Importance of Early

Intervention for People Facing Mental Health Challenges. Mental Health First Aid.

https://www.mentalhealthfirstaid.o

rg/2021/06/the-importance-of-

early-intervention-for-people-

facing-mental-health-challenges/

National Institute of Mental Health.

(2022). Generalized anxiety disorder: When worry gets out of control. National

Institute of Mental health; National

Institute of Mental Health.

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publicatio

ns/generalized-anxiety-disorder-gad

Medline Plus. (2019). Panic Disorder. Medlineplus.gov; National Library of Medicine.

https://medlineplus.gov/panicdisorder.html

Phobias and Phobia-Related Disorders.

(2025). National Institute of Mental Health

(NIMH).

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publicatio

ns/phobias-and-phobia-related-disorders

Cahill, S.P., & Pontoski, K. (2005). Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder and Acute Stress Disorder I: Their Nature and Assessment Considerations. Psychiatry (Edgmont),

2(4), 14.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3

004735/

Additional Resources

rylahmorgan — 2025-09-14 16:15:51 UTC

American Psychological Association. (2021). Depression. American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/topics/

depression https://dictionary.apa.org/d

epression

Cleveland Clinic.

(2023). Depression

symptoms, causes, &

treatment. Cleveland Clinic. https://my.clevelandclini c.org/health/diseases/9290-depression

Sawchuk, C. (22, October 14). Depression

(Major Depressive Disorder). Mayo Clinic; Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. https://www.mayoclinic. org/diseases-conditions/depression/s

ymptoms-causes/syc-20356007

Heather. (2024, August 27). The Importance of Early

Intervention in Mental Health

Issues like Depression and Anxiety. Brighton Recover Center - Utah Addiction Recovery. https://www.brightonrecovery

center.com/the-importance- of-early-intervention-in- mental-health-issues-like- depression-and-anxiety/

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. (2019). Risk factors, protective

factors, and warning signs. American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. https://afsp.org/risk-factors-protective-

factors-and-warning-signs/

5 Types of Depressive Disorders. (2018). [YouTube Video]. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbJB02Zlh4w

Depression Explained (Major Depressive Disorder). (n.d.). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJQRsIbD110

Munir, S., & Abbas, M. (2022). Seasonal Depressive Disorder. Nih.gov; StatPearls Publishing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK5

68745

APA Dictionary of Psychology. (n.d.) Dictionary.apa.org. https://dictionary.apa.org/postpartum- depression

OASH. (2023, October 17). Postpartum

Depression | Office on Women’s Health. Womenshealth.gov. https://womenshealth.gov/mental- health/mental-health-

conditions/postpartum-depression

TED-Ed. (2015). What is depression? - Helen M. Farrell

[YouTube Video]. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-IR48Mb3W0

This Is How Depression Feels. (n.d.). www.youtube.com. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii53BtHLnGk

Howland, M., & El Sehamy, A. (2024, April). What are bipolar disorders? American Psychiatric Association. https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-

families/bipolar-disorders/what-are-bipolar- disorders

Information on Suicidal Thoughts &

Behaviors. (2025). Psychosocial Research Program. https://sites.brown.edu/prp/information-

resources/information-on-suicidal-

thoughts-behaviors/

Griffin, J.B. (1990). Anxiety (H.K. Walker, W.D. Hall, & J. W. Hurst, Eds.). PubMed; Butterworths.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/N

BK315/

Mayo Clinic. (2025, July 29). Anxiety disorders. Mayo Clinic; Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/dis

eases-

conditions/anxiety/symptoms-

causes/syc-20350961

Mental Health First Aid. (2021). The Importance of Early

Intervention for People Facing Mental Health Challenges. Mental Health First Aid.

https://www.mentalhealthfirstaid.o

rg/2021/06/the-importance-of-

early-intervention-for-people-

facing-mental-health-challenges/

National Institute of Mental Health.

(2022). Generalized anxiety disorder: When worry gets out of control. National

Institute of Mental health; National

Institute of Mental Health.

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publicatio

ns/generalized-anxiety-disorder-gad

Medline Plus. (2019). Panic Disorder. Medlineplus.gov; National Library of Medicine.

https://medlineplus.gov/panicdisorder.html

Phobias and Phobia-Related Disorders.

(2025). National Institute of Mental Health

(NIMH).

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publicatio

ns/phobias-and-phobia-related-disorders

Cahill, S.P., & Pontoski, K. (2005). Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder and Acute Stress Disorder I: Their Nature and Assessment Considerations. Psychiatry (Edgmont),

2(4), 14.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3

004735/

Geller, J. (2022). What is Obsessive- Compulsive Disorder? American Psychiatric Addociation.

https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-

families/obsessive-compulsive-

disorder/what-is-obsessive-compulsive-

disorder

National Institute of Mental Health.

(2024). Substance use and co-occuring mental disorders. National Institute of Mental Health.

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/sub

stance-use-and-mental-health

World Health Organization. (2023). Anxiety disorders. World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/news-

room/fact-sheets/detail/anxiety-disorders

Psych2Go. (2020). 7 Types of Anxiety Disorders. In YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=RuPPRLv_YSw

ADAA. (2022, October 28). Anxiety

disorders - facts & statistics. Anxiety and Depression Association of America.

https://adaa.org/understanding-

anxiety/facts-statistics

Anxiety Self-help Resources -

Information Sheets, Worksheets & Workbooks. (n.d.).

https://www.cci.health.wa.gov.au/Resourc

es/Looking-after-yourself/anxiety

Psych Hub Education. (2019). What is Anxiety? [YouTube Video]. In YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=BVJkf8IuRjE

Helpful Links. (n.d.). Anxiety Resource Center.

https://www.anxietyresourcecenter.org/res

ources/helpful-links/

Bandelow, B., Michaelis, S., & Wedekind, D.

(2017). Treatment of Anxiety Disorders. Generalized Anxiety Disorders, 19(2), 93-

107.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC

5573566/

National Institute of Mental Health. (2023). Understanding psychosis. National Institute of Mental Health; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National

Institutes of Health. https://www.nimh.nih.gov

/health/publications/under

standing-psychosis

Legal Requirements for LPC's

rylahmorgan — 2025-09-14 16:16:44 UTC

https://www.counseling.org/resources/licensure-requirements

American Counseling Association. (2024). Licensure requirements. Www.counseling.org. https://www.counseling.org/resources/licensure-requirements

Ethical Requirements for an LPC

rylahmorgan — 2025-09-14 16:17:34 UTC

https://www.lpcboard.org/acacodes

ACA Code of Conduct | LPC. (n.d.). Www.lpcboard.org. https://www.lpcboard.org/acacodes

There are many aspects to the LPC Code of Conduct. Two of the main parts are confidentiality and professional responsibility. All of the aspects of the code of ethics, and following them closely, will be important to my role as a counselor.

‌

Unit 1 Assignment 1 Reflection

rylahmorgan — 2025-09-14 16:27:57 UTC

Being able to learn how many resources that are accessible to people struggling with trauma has been so eye opening. I loved getting to add these different resources to my toolkit to be able to suggest to others that may benefit. One of my goals through this course was to be able to gain new knowledge to know how to provide mental health first aid. I feel more prepared to help both future clients and students I see now in the classroom.

Unit 1 Assignment 4 Reflection

rylahmorgan — 2025-09-14 16:28:14 UTC

My reference guide is one of my favorite aspects of this course so far. Being able to have a guide to see where to go next and have references prepared has been extremely beneficial. I have continued adding to mine as I have learned more and found more resources. It also opened my eyes to continue breaking down the broad concepts. Being able to learn about different types of anxiety and different types of depression has allowed me to expand my thinking and widen my outlook. It also helped to review symptoms of each specific type. This also helped to be able to see the specific symptoms.

Unit 2 Assignment 2 Reflection

rylahmorgan — 2025-09-14 16:28:58 UTC

Throughout unit 2 I have gotten to learn so much about different types trauma. I had previously been very narrow minded thinking that a person either had trauma or did not. Being able to break this topic apart and learn about different types of trauma and the symptoms associated with them. I feel more prepared now to be able to identify trauma that a person may be struggling with. This will be especially important to me in my current role as a teacher, through being able to recognize and show grace when students are struggling. I loved being able to review the tips for survivors provided in this course as well. I try to hold onto the mindset that recovery is possible and trauma, or any mental health concerns, does not define an individual, but instead plays a small part of their story.

Unit 1 Assignment 1 Artifact

rylahmorgan — 2025-09-14 16:29:14 UTC

Hello! My name is Rylah Morgan and I am enrolled in the Master of Arts program for professional counseling, from which I am hoping to graduate in August of 2027. This is my first course in my graduate program and at ASU. I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Leadership and Development from Texas A&M University this past May. I am currently a 5th grade science and social studies teacher at Bradford Elementary here in San Angelo. My goal at the end of this program is to serve as a licensed professional counselor, focusing on marriage and family counseling. Another route that I would like to further investigate during my time in this program is serving as a counselor at a university or college. Throughout my undergraduate years I observed a rising need for helping professionals and mental health assistance in early adulthood. One goal I have for this class is to learn more about mental health first aid, therefore I was very excited to find that the psychological first aid course was included as an assignment.

My biggest takeaway when reviewing the mental health resources is that almost 20% of youth have a form of major depression. I had learned prior to this course that mental health concerns were rising among high school aged youth, but I had not realized how significant the issue had become. Throughout thorough research in the provided statistics I have found that there are many mental health concerns that are so prevalent, as well as how challenging it is to be able to both seek and receive help. I look forward to learning throughout this class and correcting my ignorance on the matter.

When I began each prior knowledge quiz I felt quite confident about the information. I completed a minor in psychology and felt that I was somewhat knowledgeable of mental health, however I was poorly mistaken. I quickly found that I have a significant amount of information to learn. Specifically I hope to learn about what steps citizens (apart from helping professionals) can take in order to overcome challenges facing mental health today. For example, what steps can be taken to help counseling services, or other mental health services, become more widely available. Working closely with children as I do now has allowed me to view a variety of different perspectives and experiences. I am hopeful that through this course I will be able to learn the signs and symptoms of someone who is struggling with a mental health concern, in order to be able to best serve my students. This course will not only provide important information for me to possess in my role as a teacher, but as a licensed professional counselor. Being able to recognize when someone is struggling and provide accurate and supportive information and assistance will be an important piece of my title. I also find that being able to recall and provide mental health first aid will be incredibly important, as well as sharing facts and details about crisis and trauma. Being able to explain what crisis and trauma look like and how someone can recognize the symptoms will play a crucial role in my career as a licensed professional counselor.

I found a very interesting blog post by eLuma about what teachers can do to create a safe environment and improve mental health in the classroom. The article listed several strategies that teachers can utilize to encourage a supportive environment within their classroom. One strategy discussed that I appreciated was to recognize various learning styles. I quite frequently try to differentiate my instruction to be suitable to a range of students. I hope that this does allow students to feel safe in my classroom. I also enjoyed that the author highlights the importance of teachers educating themselves on signs to watch for and resources to provide. I hope that using articles such as this one, as well as resources in this class I can continue to build on my knowledgebase. I have shared the link for this blog post below for your review.

https://eluma.com/blog/how-to-improve-mental-health-in-schools-guide-for-teachers/

Unit 1 Assignment 4 Artifact

rylahmorgan — 2025-09-14 16:29:31 UTC

Unit 3 Assignment 1 Reflection

rylahmorgan — 2025-10-06 23:00:26 UTC

Being able to obtain my Psychological First Aid Certification has been a goal of mine for quite a while. This course gave me the opportunity to sit and focus on the course and really get something out of it. I now feel better prepared to help future clients of mine, as well as with my students in my classroom right now. Knowing that I have the tools to be able to best serve them in times of crisis is huge for me. I am grateful for the knowledge I have been able to gain through achieving this certification.

Unit 3 Assignment 1 Artifact

rylahmorgan — 2025-10-06 23:00:38 UTC

Unit 3 Assignment 3 Reflection

rylahmorgan — 2025-10-06 23:00:57 UTC

I really enjoyed this section of the course. I sometimes have a hard time thinking and processing different concepts so being able to review cases with real like examples was extremely beneficial. Even though I was only required to review one case, I found myself fascinating, reading each one and evaluating the different aspects trying to gain more knowledge. Being able to walk through the step by step process and utilize the ABC Model was very helpful for me. This is something that I will be able to take with me into my future career, and will even be helpful in future courses.

Unit 3 Assignment 3 Artifact

rylahmorgan — 2025-10-06 23:01:09 UTC

Unit 3 Assignment 2 Artifact

rylahmorgan — 2025-10-06 23:01:18 UTC

Unit 3 Assignment 2 Reflection

rylahmorgan — 2025-10-06 23:01:30 UTC

Not only did this assignment teach me so much academically, but I was also able to learn about working with a group in an online course. Overall, crisis prevention felt like a huge role, that I would have been very stressed about completing alone. Being able to learn by researching and collaborating with group members gave me the chance to break up the work, which in turn allowed me to learn more material. One of my favorite parts about this assignment was being able to learn about different agencies and organizations that are able to help dating violence survivors, this gives me important knowledge to take into future roles or even keep in my back pocket to help family or friends in the future.

Unit 2 Assignment 2 Artifact (part 1)

rylahmorgan — 2025-10-08 23:37:32 UTC

I believe that the ACE studies are crucial to understanding how trauma in early stages of life lead to further mental health issues later in life. However, I found them to be very limiting and excluding or overlooking many important factors. While the screening process for ACE’s may not be perfect, I do think it can be used as a valuable piece to the very large puzzle, and can be a beneficial tool when used hand in hand with additional screening tools. Due to many noted geographical differences in participants (as well as vast differences in demographics) these studies are not representative of the entire population (Madigan et al., 2023).Three types of trauma that stuck out to me are burnout, vicarious trauma, and organizational trauma. Many of the examples of burnout that I reviewed discussed work situations, but in my opinion burnout could be seen frequently in college students as well. I worked multiple part time jobs throughout my time spent earning my undergraduate degree, and often found myself very overwhelmed. Thankfully, I had a very supportive circle of friends and family, but I can understand how others in similar situations could experience the exhausting, and emotional draining associated with burnout. Secondly, I dove into vicarious trauma. I have joked frequently that I could never work in the medical field, due to not being able to witness so much hurt. I can understand how health care workers carry a heavy burden, and many of them (likely unknowingly) carry an amount of vicarious trauma. Finally organizational trauma stuck out to me. When I was in high school a member of our class unfortunately passed away. I was not necessarily close to this person, but I found myself feeling the weight and magnitude of this situation along with those around me. At the time I did not know it, but with my new knowledge I have gained I now understand that this was a form of organizational trauma. I researched and read many sources about why children are most susceptible to trauma and the general conclusion that I have drawn is that children have a hard time acknowledging and defining their emotions. Hand in hand with this fact is that they have a difficult time processing their emotions. Therefore, when a traumatic situation presents itself children especially are not able to process the information and recover in the way that adults can (SAMHSA, 2024).One of my favorite strategies that I have researched regarding helping students or clients facing trauma is to not wait for signs to present themself. Instead, create a safe space from the very beginning in which students feel that they are able to approach you, and speak freely. I also enjoyed reading about “Empowerment, Voice, and Choice.”, which is aimed more towards a teacher in a classroom setting (Perez, 2021). Essentially, this strategy includes giving students choices, while still holding them to high expectations. The strategy works by allowing students to produce high quality work that reflects their knowledge, while avoiding areas that may be triggering a traumatic event, such as public speaking or other presentations. I think it is essential for all professionals to be trained to be able to know and recognize signs of trauma, and be able to provide support. When specifically discussing ACE’s, 64% of adults report experiencing a traumatic event in their childhood (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2024). This means that a majority of adults seeking help for mental health concerns are carrying some level of trauma. Therefore, it is essential for counselors (and other professionals) to be able to provide support.In my future role (marriage and family counseling) understanding grief and trauma will be essential. I want to continue to do more research about how trauma (unrelated to relational problems) can affect relationships both with spouses and other immediate family members. I think understanding this correlation will be very beneficial to providing support for people’s relationships. References:Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2024, October 8). About adverse childhood experiences. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; CDC. https://www.cdc.gov/aces/about/index.htmlMadigan, S., Deneault, A., Racine, N., Park, J., Thiemann, R., Zhu, J., Dimitropoulos, G., Williamson, T., Fearon, P., Cénat, J. M., McDonald, S., Devereux, C., & Neville, R. D. (2023). Adverse childhood experiences: A meta‐analysis of prevalence and moderators among half a million adults in 206 studies. World Psychiatry, 22(3), 463–471. https://doi.org/10.1002/wps.21122‌Perez, N. (2021). Classroom Strategies to Support Students Experiencing Trauma | IES. Ed.gov. https://ies.ed.gov/learn/blog/classroom-strategies-support-students-experiencing-trauma‌SAMHSA. (2024). Child Trauma. Samhsa.gov. https://www.samhsa.gov/mental-health/trauma-violence/child-trauma

Unit 2 Assignment 2 Artifact (part 2)

rylahmorgan — 2025-10-08 23:38:19 UTC

The documentary that I have chosen is Tell Me Who I Am (2019). This is the story of a set of twins, one of which completely loses his memory. After his memory loss, his brother attempts to fill in the gaps, which results in bringing up and reliving childhood trauma. I found the description of this documentary to be very interesting due to the fact that it will discuss reliving trauma as these memories come back, as opposed to a first hand encounter with these traumatic events. The only information I have so far is what I read in the description, but I am looking forward to learning more by watching the documentary. Reference:Perkins, E. (Director). (2019). Tell Me Who I Am. [Documentary]. Mount Pleasant Studio.

Unit 2 Assignment 2 Artifact (part 3)

rylahmorgan — 2025-10-08 23:38:42 UTC

I watched Tell Me Who I Am (2019) for my documentary. The main story follows a man named Alex and his twin brother Marcus. Alex got into a motorcycle accident and after time in a coma, awoke to have his memory lost. Though he had lost all of his memories, he was still able to recognize Marcus, therefore Alex relied on Marcus to help build his memory back. This consisted of Marcus giving Alex lessons on who people were, what their relationships were like, and the role they played in the twins' lives. Over the course of two years Alex slowly rebuilt the information he knew. Specifically, Alex was able to learn about his parents, the type of people they were and Marcus assured him that their parents were good, loving people. After their parents pass away the twins are cleaning out their mother’s house and Alex comes across a nude photograph of himself and his brother stashed with his mom’s belongings. This led to a whole new discussion between the brothers about the harsh reality of their childhood and what they went through (Perkins, 2019). In relation to trauma I was able to learn a great deal about trauma. It took me a bit to figure out the true meaning. I thought at first that the purpose of the documentary was to show the watcher how Alex lost and rebuilt his memory. On a deeper level the documentary walks through Marcus’ trauma. Marcus buried all of the terrible things that their mother did to them, and once Alex found the photograph he was forced to relive all of those events. I read about how the brain tries to block trauma through dissociation and I believe this is what Marcus experienced (News Medical, 2019). I also researched and have come to the conclusion that by reliving his experiences, Marcus was experiencing a form of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). I thought it was the most interesting to see how many different aspects of trauma each of the brothers could experience. I had a misconception that people only had to face one type of trauma and that was all. Through this class I have learned about different types of trauma, as well as the symptoms associated with them. This allowed me to recognize that the brothers suffered from PTSD, primary trauma, chronic trauma, and vicarious trauma (Oaklahoma.gov, n.d.).Overall, I was shocked by how much I was able to learn from this documentary. It aligned very well with everything I have read and researched so far. I have thought about watching more documentaries. I think it helps to put it into real world examples. It is easy to read about trauma, but it has been harder for me to think about what the trauma looks like and how the symptoms reveal themselves. Being able to see these examples, as tragic as the stories are, has helped me be able to better understand the concepts learned in this course. Reference:News Medical. (2019, June 19). Psychiatrist explains how the brain blocks memory to help get through traumatic event. News-Medical.net. https://www.news-medical.net/news/20161209/Psychiatrist-explains-how-the-brain-blocks-memory-to-help-get-through-traumatic-event.aspxOaklahoma.gov. (n.d.). TRAUMA CATEGORIES: THERE ARE DIFFERENT TYPES OF TRAUMA. https://oklahoma.gov/content/dam/ok/en/odmhsas/documents/a0001/hh-oksoc-trauma-categories-types-of-trauma.pdfPerkins, E. (Director). (2019). Tell Me Who I Am. [Documentary]. Mount Pleasant Studio.Tull, M. (2024, February 14). Coping With Re-Experiencing Symptoms in PTSD. Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/re-experiencing-2797325

Unit 2 Assignment 2 Artifact (part 4)

rylahmorgan — 2025-10-08 23:38:59 UTC

The two main types of trauma that I observed in Tell Me Who I Am (2019) are complex trauma and post traumatic stress disorder. First, complex trauma, which is a trauma that typically occurs early in childhood and is typically brought upon the child by a parent or caregiver (Cleveland Clinic, 2023). This was very easy to identify due to the entirety of the film revolving around twin brothers who were sexually abused by their mother as children (Perkins, 2019). Both of the twins exhibited several symptoms. For example, Marcus was avoidant of situations that involved the sexual abuse, even avoiding discussing the situation with his brother. Alex showed heightened responses to finding out information both by lashing out in anger and extreme depression (Cleveland, 2023). This not only impacted the twins in their lives, but also in their relationships with others. Marcus’ marriage was severely affected, and Alex, due to having lost his memory, never understood the full extent of his relationship with his mother until after she passed away. It also affected each of them both physically and emotionally as they lived with and carried the full weight of their trauma. There was no intervention explicitly discussed in the documentary, however I did note that it was beneficial to both of the twins to talk about their trauma, this leads me to believe that in a way expose to the trauma could be beneficial. I also think going to therapy or counseling would help tremendously. Marcus spent a majority of his life burying his trauma within himself, even stating, “What I am about to tell you I have never told anybody else” (2019). I believe that his situation became more severe because he tried to carry the weight of this trauma alone. As a counselor I would implement cognitive behavior therapy and narrative exposure therapy. If both of these treatments were unsuccessful I could also move on to other options. Cognitive behavior therapy would be used to change the pattern of behaviors to allow internal healing to take place. Afterwards, I would use narrative exposure therapy to allow the individual, Marcus and Alex in this case, to discuss their traumatic events in a safe space that allows them to fully process what happened in their lives. I am hoping to be able to serve as a school counselor at some point, so being able to collaborate with other members of my team would be crucial. Although, being able to collaborate in a way that keeps the child safe, because this type of trauma closely involves the parents (American Psychological Association, 2020). Finally, I would potentially refer to a psychiatrist or another helping professional who could prescribe medication to help alleviate the symptoms of complex trauma. References:American Psychological Association. (2020). Treatments for PTSD. Https://Www.apa.org. https://www.apa.org/ptsd-guideline/treatmentsCleveland Clinic. (2023, April 5). CPTSD (Complex PTSD). Cleveland Clinic. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/24881-cptsd-complex-ptsdPerkins, E. (Director). (2019). Tell Me Who I Am. [Documentary]. Mount Pleasant Studio.