Graduating the MSW Program as Social Worker and Patient

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My intention in writing these posts is to share the experiences that I went through with my son, starting with the first manifestation of his illness and our journey through numerous subsequent episodes. It's also to provide commentary as a parent and psychiatrist on issues that these experiences bring up, such as how the diagnostic process works in mental health, and how to work with treatment providers and medication issues. My hope is that reading this may be helpful for people with mental health issues and also their families and friends.

Bill did well in his MSW program, especially during the time he was in the Crisis Stabilization program. He enjoyed being back in the academic “grind,” interacting with his professors and fellow students.

Each of the courses was tied into practical experiences working with clients. These internships were his favorite part of the MSW program, applying what he had learned in real-life situations. The personal dramas intrigued him and being able to use his new-found knowledge to solve problems was what motivated him. Since part of the program involved preceptorships, Bill worked in Dane County programs under the guidance of different professors who served as role models and also guided him on topics for research and clinical observation. Bill wrote papers about different systemic issues in the Dane County mental health system. One example was an analysis of the Dane County Shelter Home for delinquent youth. The question his paper addressed was whether the Shelter Home, with its structure, reward for good behavior and supervised homework could promote a more favorable trajectory for youth as compared to juvenile detention centers. He organized the paper around inquiring what factors could lead to attenuation in "criminal thinking":

“Individuals develop in relation to their environment and it follows that the cognitive and emotional/temperamental correlates of 'criminal thinking' must be related to certain environmental factors. With youths in crisis, and thus at a critical and intense and formative stage of their lives, can Shelter Home facilitate an environment that can promote a favorable trajectory for these youths in relation to 'criminal thinking' as measured by the Criminal Thinking Scale (CTS) by understanding factors that influence 'criminal thinking?'” He argued that the structured environment of Shelter Home with its positive incentives for good behavior could promote changes in thinking style which in turn would lead to changes in behavior. He proposed that this be tested directly in a prospective analysis of incoming youth.

A second paper described a family he was working with and the process he used to elicit information and to encourage communication among family members in family therapy. Specifically, he described this process as occurring in stages:

“Phase 1: Alleviate or at Least Minimize Early Apprehension; Phase 2: Ask each client family member to Explain What is Wrong; Phase 3: Establish Agreement among the family members about What is Wrong” Using materials from his family therapy class, he described in detail the steps he would take to facilitate each step of this process.

Bill talked about being “happy to help families get along better. It’s amazing how much of a difference it makes to get them talking to each other. Once you can get them motivated to share their feelings the rest usually solves itself—or at least a lot of it does. I feel that by being a social worker I can make a practical difference in the lives of others. I can be sure that they receive the benefits to which they are entitled and I can make sure they receive follow-up services and that they are connected to community support services. In addition, because I have “been there” myself I believe that I can offer a unique perspective on mental health services and on the need to obtain stability.” …“My career goals are to be hired at a job that works directly with the mental health population. I have met, interacted and talked with so many people in the mental health community over the years that I have an intuitive grasp of the life situations of many who are involved at different levels of the mental health system. I have been there myself, from the bewilderment and euphoria of hypomania and mania, to the heaviness of depression. I have witnessed the paranoia and confusion experienced by schizophrenics and the grandiosity, unbridled energy and delusions of manic psychosis. I am personally familiar with the expansive joy in being discharged from the hospital and finally breathing fresh air, and the feeling of appreciation in knowing that competent social workers are helping to facilitate one’s interests.”