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Youth Empowerment

Working with students in the 17-25 year age group, I will encounter numerous individuals who are struggling with mental health disorders. Becoming familiar with common mental health disorders will help me to support and assist these students.

I plan to use my training and skills obtained through this course and the Mental Health and Wellness program at Ranger College working with an outreach program that we have established called Ranger Reach. The Ranger Reach program/committee was developed to provide strategies and services to address basic need hardships experienced by Ranger College faculty, staff, and students. Upon completion of the program and LPC licensure, I will begin offering set counseling services free of charge for our faculty, staff, and students. I also plan to offer low cost or free counseling services to young adults, ages 17-25, in Eastland County. 

My goal for this course is pretty basic, to learn more about identifying mental health illnesses and substance abuse, the resources available, and how to offer help. My biggest "take away" from reviewing Unit 1 resources was that mental health is an incredibly important part of overall health and the ever increasing population is struggling with growing mental health needs. I was shocked to learn that suicide is now listed, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Agency, as the second leading cause of death in 10-24 year olds. That fact brought tears to my eyes. I'm from a very small town and our community has experienced numerous teen suicides over the last few years. Last year a popular athlete, that was a teachers son, left school early and never returned. A friend told his mother who worked at the school that he was worried about her son not returning due to his state of mind before he left. His mother left school immediately and found her son with a self inflicted gunshot wound to his face. He passed away hours later. The death of this young man left a hole in our entire community. My own children were friends with this young man. I felt powerless during this difficult time because I had no training on how to help those struggling. All I could do was listen to those hurting and offer a shoulder for them to cry on. I learned that even with no skills or training just showing empathy for those struggling helped them a lot. Many of my kids friends came to me because their parents were cold and told them death is a part of life, they needed to get over it, that the kid went to hell for killing himself, etc. I personally believe it was due to the painful nature of the topic and the parents didn't know what else to say or do.

In my future role as a mental health counselor, knowledge of substance abuse and mental illness identification as well as the resources available will allow me to reach and help numerous students and young adults that are struggling within my community. A resource that I have found to be useful for professional development/training purposes is Texas Suicide Prevention.org. I will provide the link to the Texas Suicide Prevention Symposium 2023: Coming Together to Care page that has numerous expert presentations packed with valuable information on topics from suicide prevention to school safety planning. 

Link to Texas Suicide Prevention Symposium 2023: Coming Together to Care:

https://texassuicideprevention.org/txsp23/

Link to the Ranger College Ranger Reach page, more info will be added in the near future. 

Picture is from the West Texas Food Bank Event on the Ranger Campus.

https://www.rangercollege.edu/student-services/ranger-reach/index.php

 Rainey RCDC Pic.jpg (1.739 MB) 

The three types of trauma that I found most interesting are secondary trauma, complex trauma, and vicarious trauma. Secondary trauma is indirect trauma experienced by those directly impacted by a traumatic event occurring to a loved one (Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services [ODMHSAS], n.d.). This is interesting to be because I have both witnessed this happen to my parents and experienced it myself. My brother was involved in a very serious work accident that resulted in him losing his right leg at the age of 19. The accident occurred in 1998, my parents, especially my dad, suffers with severe OCD and generalized anxiety due to going through the trauma of having a child severely injured. The trauma my brother went through directly impacted my parents, me, and my other close family members and it forever changed our thought processes and who we were. Complex trauma is the result of numerous traumatic events occurring during early childhood due to caregiver neglect or abuse (ODMHSAS, n.d.). An example of this would be a young child being molested by a parent, sibling, or other close family member or trusted adult. Vicarious Trauma occurs from hearing victims talk about their traumatic experiences (ODMHSAS, n.d.) An example of this would be a detective investigating a traumatic crime involving a child being severely abused. During the interview process the detective will hear all of the awful things that happened to the child from the child's own mouth.

I think children are more susceptible to trauma due to several reasons, they are totally dependent on others for survival, have no control over their surroundings or those around them, and their brains/nervous systems are still developing; making it hard for them to understand and cope with negative experiences. As a mental health and wellness counselor in an educational setting, I would support students who are experiencing grief and trauma by talking openly about emotions and how they make us feel and by creating a safe, quiet place where the students can practice relaxation techniques such as visualization and breathing exercises (Cohen & Mannarino, 2011).

I think that all health professionals should receive education about the effects of trauma and how to access for trauma because the effects of trauma impacts physical and mental health. Patients who are suffering physical ailments due to trauma could benefit greatly from receiving mental help to overcome trauma. When health professionals have the ability to recognize and access trauma they can truly help the person to heal starting from the root of the problem.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021). Violence Prevention: About the CDC-Kaiser ACE Study. United States Department of Health and Human Services. 

Cohen, J.A. & Mannarino, A.P. (2011). Supporting children with traumatic grief: What educators need to know. School Psychology International, 32(2) 117–131.

Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (ODMHSAS). (n.d.). Categories of Trauma.

My intial thoughts before watching this documentary are this is going to be very heartwrenching to watch but very informative; kind of like a "looking glass" into what children go through in this experience. Watching all seven individuals cope and go through the trauma will help me identify how certain age groups and different personalities might think and respond to this type of incident. I do not have any prior knowledge about this video, I just heard about it while discussing this assignment with co-workers. 

Cohen, L. (Director). (2017). Kingdom of us [Film]. Netflix. 

The family of eight's long term bereavement provides the viewer with an upclose look at the impact of different types of trauma, adverse childhood experiences, and the many different stages of grief. The film showed the family enduring many different types of trauma and stages of grief that led to other mental health issues. The mother developed the habit of hoarding due to her mental need to hold on to her past life and everything in it. The youngest daughter, Pippa, developed severe depression and struggled with anorexia. The son, Osborn, struggled with the meaning of life and stopped participating in normal life activities at year six. Daughter Nikita struggled with boughts of anger and the thought of growing older leading to death. The family finally entered therapy, on year eight, after Pippa was hospitalized due to her mental health struggles. 

I found the mothers strength, patience, and determination to help her family go through the trauma and long term grieving process utterly amazing. As the children aged, she helped them to find answers to all of their questions; even the painful ones. In the documentary, the family uncovered the fathers suicide note and plans to kill his entire family one by one and then himself. This led to further trauma. Pippa dealt with this by thinking her father battled two worlds and decided to kill himself to save his family because he loved them. The other children were devastated by their fathers plan to kill them. Vikie continued to help her children through their pain and grief. After the documentary was released, Vikie was asked to participate as a Ted Talk speaker and later became a regular Ted speaker. She has devoted her life to helping parents with autistic children, those struggling with mental illness, and families impacted by suicide. The most interesting part of the documentary was watching how the children with autism reacted to grief over the three year period. Their responses shifted between fear of death, hopelessness, periods of dissassociation, explosive anger, disbelief, saddness, acceptance, and calmness. 

I highly suggest this film to others, I have saved it as a resource to reflect upon in my future work. This film supports everything we are learning about in this class such as types of trauma and the stages of grief. The film 100% met my expectations on understanding how different age groups experience grief and trauma.

Cohen, L. (Director). (2017). Kingdom of us [Film]. Netflix. 

The children all developed mulitple symptoms of trauma from irritability, saddness, anger, depression, etc. There was evidence of adverse childhood experiences affecting the children, most of which already had disrupted neurodevelopment due to autism. All of the children of differing age groups, after 6-8 years, displayed social, emotional and cognitive impairments. The youngest child, Pippa, developed anorexia and severe depression which became a health risk which she had to be hospitalized for several months to received mental health treatment.

The trauma that each member of the family experienced impacted the other members of the family. At the end of the film, year eight after suicide, the family started attending therapy and Pippa was hospitalized to receive deeper therapy. The type of therapy was not discussed; however, I would think that they were participating in "CTG treatment: Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT)" which is therapy that is recommended for those struggling with a sudden loss of a family member and helps to develop healthy coping skills (Cohen & Mannarino, 2011). According to Judith Cohen and Anthony Mannarino's article in the School Psychology International Journal, this type of therapy should have occurred as soon as the children returned to school or as soon as possible after the death occurred (Cohen & Mannarino, 2011).

As a school counselor I would have the children set up to receive mental evaluations with a psychiatrist as soon as they returned to school, set up meetings with the childrens teachers and coaches to help them to understand cues that might upset the children, and have the children participate in Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help them address their fear, grief, confusion, and anger over their father suicide. I would reach out to the mother as well and help her to receive individual counseling with a licensed therapist, as well as offer family counseling for her and her children.  

Cohen, L. (Director). (2017). Kingdom of us [Film]. Netflix. 

Cohen, J.A. & Mannarino, A.P. (2011). Supporting children with traumatic grief: What educators need to know. School Psychology International: 32(2), 117–131.

PFA is designed to reduce the initial distress caused by traumatic events and to foster short- and long-term adaptive functioning and coping.

The eight PFA Core Actions include:

• Contact and Engagement: To respond to contacts initiated by survivors, or to initiate contacts in a non-intrusive, compassionate, and helpful manner.

• Safety and Comfort: To enhance immediate and ongoing safety, and provide physical and emotional comfort.

• Stabilization (if needed): To calm and orient emotionally overwhelmed or disoriented survivors.

• Information Gathering on Current Needs and Concerns: To identify immediate needs and concerns, gather additional information, and tailor Psychological First Aid interventions.

• Practical Assistance: To offer practical help to survivors in addressing immediate needs and concerns.

• Connection with Social Supports: To help establish brief or ongoing contacts with primary support persons and other sources of support, including family members, friends, and community helping resources.

• Information on Coping: To provide information about stress reactions and coping to reduce distress and promote adaptive functioning.

• Linkage with Collaborative Services: To link survivors with available services needed at the time or in the future.

National Child Traumatic Stress Network (2020). Psychological First Aid and SPR. https://www.nctsn.org/treatments-and-practices/psychological-first-aid-and-skills-for-psychological-recovery/about-pfa

Why Create a Prevention and Threat Assessment Plan?

A crisis is any traumatic event that is typically sudden, unexpected, dramatic and forceful and may even threaten survival. Crises can be large scale events (e.g., severe violence, sniper attack, hostage situations, natural disasters, mass transportation accident, fire or chemical spill, etc.).  Other crises may be on a smaller scale (e.g., friend or relative is diagnosed with cancer, car accidents, sudden unexpected death, etc.)

Traumatic experiences can affect an individual's mental health and the ability to be fully present in activities of daily life. Having a comprehensive system of mental health services and supports already in place will assist various stakeholders in being better prepared to address the ensuing mental health needs that arise with any crisis.

Through an educational lens (and still significant to other professional counseling roles):

• Although requirements may vary from state to state, Texas requires that threat assessment teams are in place for school campuses within a district.  These teams are charged with “determining the appropriate method for the assessment and intervention of individuals who make threats of violence or exhibit threatening behaviors on the campus” (TEC 37.115).  Someone with expertise in counseling is to be appointed to this committee. Some of the potential threats covered under this section include violence to others, suicide, and substance abuse.

• In addition, other types of violence and risk factors that individuals may encounter leading to the need for counseling and intervention include youth gangs, human and sex trafficking, dating violence, etc.  In addition to the threat assessment teams that are required on school campuses, districts must also have strategies in place for trauma-informed care. Students who have experienced trauma will need supports in place to be successful not only academically, but also emotionally and psychologically.  Partnerships with local mental health authorities will be key to serving these students.

Through a lens beyond education (and, again, still significant to other professional counseling roles):

• Threat assessment teams/behavioral intervention teams are also used in higher education and corporate environments. Regardless of your role and/or environment, it is highly likely there is a threat assessment protocol in place, which would make you an asset to that team.

• Teams are “small groups of school (or organization) officials who meet regularly to collect and review concerning information about at-risk community members and develop plans to assist them.” (NaBITA, 2018a, p.4). One of the important roles and areas of expertise needed on the team is a mental health expert/counseling representative. Another growing position related to these teams are case managers who have expertise in mental health and related concerns.

• Behavioral Intervention Teams (BIT), CARE Teams, or Threat Assessment Teams are a research-based, best practice for the prevention of violence by entities such as the United States Secret Service (National Threat Assessment Center, 2018).

Prevention is an ongoing effort that promotes physical, mental, and emotional wellness necessary for positive growth and development.  The key to prevention is reducing incidents and managing behaviors before they escalate. Awareness, knowledge, and practices that promote sound mental health can greatly reduce and often prevent a crisis.

• A crisis can refer to any situation in which the individual perceives a sudden loss of his or her ability to use effective problem-solving and coping skills.

• A number of events or circumstances can be considered a crisis: life-threatening situations, such as natural disasters (such as an earthquake or tornado), sexual assault or other criminal victimization; medical illness; mental illness; thoughts of suicide or homicide; and loss or drastic changes in relationships (death of a loved one or divorce, for example).

• Crisis intervention is the urgent and temporary care given to an individual in order to interrupt the downward spiral of maladaptive behavior and return the individual to their usual level of pre-crisis functioning.

• Crisis intervention also refers to the methods used to offer immediate, short-term help to individuals who experience an event that produces emotional, mental, physical, and behavioral distress or problems.

Crisis intervention has several purposes. It aims to:

• Reduce the intensity of an individual's emotional, mental, physical and behavioral reactions to a crisis.

• Help individuals return to their level of functioning before the crisis.

• Improve functioning above and beyond this by developing new coping skills and eliminating ineffective ways of coping, such as withdrawal, isolation, and substance abuse.

• Assist individual in coping with future difficulties more effectively.

Through talking about what happened and the feelings about the situation, while developing ways to cope and solve problems, crisis intervention aims to assist the individual in recovering from the crisis and to prevent serious long-term problems from developing. There are a number of theories that are believed to be helpful in the event of a crisis. One effective theory is the ABC Model of crisis intervention. 

Kanel, K. (2015). A Guide to Crisis Intervention (5 ed.). Belmont, CA. Brooks/Cole.

Title IX applies to schools, local and state educational agencies, and other institutions that receive federal financial assistance from the Department. A recipient institution that receives Department funds must operate its education program or activity in a nondiscriminatory manner free of discrimination based on sex, including sexual orientation and gender identity. Some key issue areas in which recipients have Title IX obligations are: recruitment, admissions, and counseling; financial assistance; athletics; sex-based harassment, which encompasses sexual assault and other forms of sexual violence; treatment of pregnant and parenting students; treatment of LGBTQI+ students; discipline; single-sex education; and employment. Also, no recipient or other person may intimidate, threaten, coerce, or discriminate against any individual for the purpose of interfering with any right or privilege secured by Title IX or its implementing regulations, or because the individual has made a report or complaint, testified, assisted, or participated or refused to participate in a proceeding under Title IX.

https://padlet.com/rtucker5_/crisis-and-trauma-resources-ja8bsf8ag179znv7/wish/2908535945

American Counseling Association. (2014). APA Code of Ethics.

https://www.counseling.org/docs/default-source/default-document-library/ethics/2014-aca-code-of-ethics.pdf?sfvrsn=55ab73d0_1

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. (2024). American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

https://afsp.org/

Association of Traumatic Stress Specialists. (n.d.) The ABCD Model of Crisis Intervention.

https://padlet.com/rtucker5_/crisis-and-trauma-resources-ja8bsf8ag179znv7/wish/2908534271

Bradley, L. (n.d.). Counseling Skills. Counseling Skills Resources.

https://padlet.com/rtucker5_/crisis-and-trauma-resources-ja8bsf8ag179znv7/wish/2908535072

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). Ace Pyramid. United States Department of Health and Human Services.

https://padlet.com/rtucker5_/crisis-and-trauma-resources-ja8bsf8ag179znv7/wish/2880395470

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2023). Fast Facts: Preventing Adverse Childhood Experiences. United States Department of Health and Human Services.

https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/aces/fastfact.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fviolenceprevention%2Facestudy%2Ffastfact.html

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2023). Fast Facts: Preventing Teen Dating Violence. United States Department of Health and Human Services.

https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/intimatepartnerviolence/teendatingviolence/fastfact.html

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021). Violence Prevention: About the CDC-Kaiser ACE Study. United States Department of Health and Human Services.

Central Counties Services. (2024). Central Counties Services.

https://centralcountiesservices.org/

Cleveland Clinic. (2023). Tested: College Students and Mental Health.

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/mental-health-in-college-students

Cohen, J.A. & Mannarino, A.P. (2011). Supporting children with traumatic grief: What educators need to know. School Psychology International, 32(2) 117–131.

Cohen, L. (Director). (2017). Kingdom of us [Film]. Netflix. 

Eastland County Crisis Center. (2023). Eastland Country Crisis Center.

https://www.eastlandcrisis.org/

Hargraves, J. (n.d.) Introduction to Trauma Concerns: Unit 3, Assignment 1,2 & 3.

Angelo State University.

Healthery. (2018). Mental Health Statistics in America (US) (Statistics, Facts, and Data).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCyd_3zqkhY

Hutchinson, L. (2022). The Use of Referrals in the Counseling Process. Counseling Schools.

https://www.counselingschools.com/blog/counseling-referrals

Mental Health America. (2017). The State of Mental Health in America.

https://www.mhanational.org/issues/state-mental-health-america

National Child Traumatic Stress Network (2020). Psychological First Aid and SPR.

https://www.nctsn.org/treatments-and-practices/psychological-first-aid-and-skills-for-psychological-recovery/about-pfa

National Domestic Violence Hotline. (2024). Love is Respect.

https://www.loveisrespect.org

National Domestic Violence Hotline. (2024). The Hotline.

https://www.thehotline.org/

Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services . (n.d.) Categories of Trauma.

https://padlet.com/rtucker5_/crisis-and-trauma-resources-ja8bsf8ag179znv7/wish/2880395072

Puleo,S. & McGlothlin, J. (n.d.) Overview of Crisis Intervention.

https://padlet.com/rtucker5_/crisis-and-trauma-resources-ja8bsf8ag179znv7/wish/2908536909

Phillips, L. (2020). Black mental health matters. American Counseling Association.

https://ct.counseling.org/2020/07/black-mental-health-matters/

Schulman, M. & Maul,A. (2019). Screening for Adverse Childhood Experiences and Trauma.

 Center for Health Care Strategies.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2016). Improving Cultural

Competence: QUICK GUIDE FOR CLINICIANS. United States Department of Health and Human Services.

https://padlet.com/rtucker5_/crisis-and-trauma-resources-ja8bsf8ag179znv7/wish/2908591853

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2017). Tips for Survivors: Coping with Grief After a Disaster or Traumatic Event. United States Department of Health and Human Services.

https://padlet.com/rtucker5_/crisis-and-trauma-resources-ja8bsf8ag179znv7/wish/2872862130

Texas School Safety Center. (n.d.) Behavioral Threat Assessment and Management for Educators and Administrators. Texas State University.

https://txssc.txstate.edu/tools/tam-toolkit/developing

Texas School Safety Center. (n.d.) Recognizing and Responding to Teen Dating Violence Toolkit. Texas State University.

https://txssc.txstate.edu/tools/tdv-toolkit/4-3-abusive-relationship

Texas Suicide Prevention Collaborative. (2023). Texas Suicide Prevention Symposium 2023-

Coming Together to Care.

https://texassuicideprevention.org/txsp23/

United States Department of Education. (n.d.) Title IX Policy.

https://sites.ed.gov/titleix/policy/

United Way Worldwide. (2024). 211.org.

https://www.211.org/services/crisis