The best words of advice I have received is "stick to your strengths." Makes sense to me.
Why would anyone want to spend time on a point of view that is an obvious observation? Hence, this blog will stick to my strengths with all of us self disclosing more as we come to feel safer with each other overtime.
I came to find out when I won an award I am very proud of as NASW Florida Social Worker of the Year in 2008 that so many in the audience deserved it as much if not more than me.
It just so happened, serendipity, that the work that people have r
Lions-Tigers and Bears, Oh My!
elied on me to do over the years has been in the public limelight and involves books, interviews, articles, television, radio and other media. My work was out there. As I work with wounded healers, "brothers and sisters in arms" as a Compassion Fatigue therapist, my work is maybe more known, but not necessarily more committed, dedicated or innovative than my peers. I believe in the
resilience of the social service worker and believe we all do the best we can with what is in front of us.
I was in the right place at the right time over 20 years ago and drove myself in my worlds as I sought mindful consciousness and embraced my own "shadow" more and more.
Hence, for the sake of a society that jumps from energy to energy and has so many competing stimuli seducing ourselves for time and attention, I am going to limit my blog to the work that I have done;
Mental health advocacy, programming and treatment during de-institutionalization in the 80's
Mental health advocacy, programming and treatment of guests and viewers from Talk, Court and Reality TV in the 90's
Mental health advocacy, programming and treatment of caregivers of chronic illness in the new Millenium
None of the work over the past 3 decades is being done at the exclusion of the other but has become cumulative and parallel with each other.
In the 80's I entered the field as a person from a family who was challenged by addictions, depression and other mental health challenges. When I saw a person who had mental health challenges either in an institution, on the street or anywhere else, I always said "there but for the grace of God go I." People saw (still see?) mental health as voodoo, chicken bones and 12 steps.
No doubt NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Ilness, was on to something very big when it decided to take on this shame and stigma head on. They were truly an inspiration for my future efforts. Today, it is my work as a social worker and NASW that continues that inspiration.
In the 90's when I found myself on The Geraldo Show during the William Kennedy Smith trial, with the iconic Father Joe Martin, next to me on stage, I realized that television was exploiting the mentally challenges with their programming, casting them away after the show as if they were "disposable people." I went on to work with hundreds of television shows and thousands of guests and viewers. Viewers were my target with mental health messages and empowerment while my clinical priorities were to get help for the guests that were being used as filler for commercials.
When I testified against Time Warner in the famous Jenny Jones Show, I was grateful to be able, on the witness stand, to draw a line in the sand. Today, I still work with all sorts of media to further the mission of creating awareness and transformation around addictions and other mental health challenges. Often the media does it “kicking and screaming” but that seems to be a metaphor for our society as well.
Over the past several months I have done interviews on a guest who killed his wife; a boy who was thought to be in a balloon flying uncontrollably in the air; presidential dinner crashers and yes, even last week in Newsweek about our adopted “first” Mom of eight on TV in Dancing With the Stars. http://www.newsweek.com/id/236931 . I am sure if you Google my name, you will do better justice than this one citing. Feel free to go too www.drjamie.com anytime, as well.
This decade, as a result of my clinical practice and my work with Leeza Gibbons, one of the many shows TV Aftercare(TM) was a part of, it dawned on me that there was a group of people, 50 million strong and exponentially growing as a "Silver Tsunami" called caregivers.
Whether they were family members or professional, they rarely self identified and disproportionately were women. Not only were they the healthcare decision makers of our society but they also had deep roots in the daytime viewing audience I and TV Aftercare(TM) were speaking to.
These clients, I later came to know as caregivers; all had these far away eyes that screamed "burnout" or compassion fatigue.
Through the creation of Leeza Places, a national network of living rooms where people could come, shame free, to be educated, empowered and energized for the challenging journey ahead. Our book Take Your Oxygen First, is a collaborative effort that depicts that a caregiver need not die before their loved one by neglecting themselves in the process.
Hence as we grow together and stimulate conversation, questions and answers, know that I will do my best to stay within my comfort zone and expertise as it pertains to these three worlds. Consider yourself lucky as a reader, if you made it this far.
For anything else, I will enjoy reading your insights and my fellow bloggers' entries.
Count your blessings that I am doing my best to establish boundaries. My therapist would be proud that I was doing it at the beginning of a relationship.
