Breaking Stereotypes of Mental Health: October 2017 Series

Oct 7, 2017
5 min read

Breaking Stereotypes of Mental Health: October 2017 Series

Did psychology choose me or did I choose psychology

Hi, everyone! My name is Dr. Tekesia Jackson, also known as Doctor TK. I am a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and Empowerment Coach.I have begun the series for the month of October, 2017: “Breaking the Stereotypes of Mental Health.”

The reason why this topic is so important to me is because after working in this profession for over 13 years, i have come to the conclusion that most people do not know or even understand the true definition of “mental health.” They also lack an understanding of the benefits due to possibly experiencing poor mental health services in the past. As a result this at times can cause one to become to less receptive to treatment in the future

A little about Doctor TK’s background:

I grew up in Compton, California. After moving from Portland, Oregon at 2 years of age, I resided in Compton where I also attended K-12 school. The story I am about to share can be described as “Did psychology choose me or did I choose psychology?”

I was 14 years of age and attended Compton High School. I’ll admit, I had a slight temper problem. I would often talk back to my teachers. I would say things that clearly my teachers did not like but I didn’t like their approach as well.

[As I continue, I want you to think about any teenagers that you know, that may have had the same struggles; may have been introduced to mental health services in the wrong way or forced to attend sessions and they didn’t believe they had a problem. Please share this video with them.]

In the early morning hour of the school day, I received a notice to go to the administration building. Now we all know, usually when teenagers are called to the administration building, we typically think that we’re in trouble. I reported to the designated computer room and I quickly noticed that a couple of my peers, not necessarily my friends, were also coming into the classroom as well.

The one thing that noticed right away when I scanned the room was that even though I know I had a temper an anger problem; I hadn’t gotten into any fights, I hadn’t been suspended or anything like that. Maybe kicked out of class a few times but nothing to the extent where I should’ve been grouped up with the people that I was grouped in the classroom with. In total, there were six to eight of us. Two females, myself and a girl that I had grew up with in elementary school and the rest were males. All of us are African American.

Other than myself everyone was a part of a gang. Then I also noticed I carried above a 3.5 GPA and the people that were in there with me, they barely went to school, let alone class.

After all students were present, two adults entered the classroom. One adult was a person from administration and the other was an unknown woman to the students that wore a suit, looked fairly young and was African American. She did not introduce herself with a title, only her name. Of course, I am a very curious adolescent. Therefore, I asked “Why am I here because clearly don't belong here, especially in a group with these other kids. We do not have anything common other than the color of our skin and that we attend the same school.”

Unfortunately, they wouldn’t tell us why we were there. They just told us that we needed to fill out a sheet of paper. They handed out one page, gave us a pencil and the first question, read something like, “When you look in the mirror, what do you see?” The second question read, “How would I rate my self esteem?”

I became irritable and thought to myself, you pulled me out of class for this! This was a poor introduction to whatever intervention you were attempting with teens. To make matters worse, I became angry, raised my voice and stated, “I don’t’ understand what you’re requesting for us to do. This sounds stupid so I’m going to go ahead and leave.” They told me that the administration specifically picked out certain students to participate and I told them, “I didn’t belong. Again this is dumb! I’m going to leave.”

So I left, went to my class. To my surprise, no one followed me to my classroom nor did the facilitators pull me back in the classroom. They did not even call me back for the following week. My conclusion: The program was null and void and ineffective. A waste of my time!

I ran into the other students that were in the group during lunch time. They informed me that they also left shortly after I did as they didn’t agree with the approach, nor did they agree with the questions on the paper.

Conclusion:

The reason I’m sharing this experience in particular is that it goes back to the topic of this month's series “Breaking Stereotypes of Mental Health.” The goal for all clinicians is to introduce mental health services to the identified patient in a manner that will be receptive. In addition, the first step should be rapport building, especially with adolescents. Remember, most of the time, they are mandated to attend via referral from caretakers, school officials, the law etc. Please note, most children and adults will not be responsive if they also do not understand why they are being referred for mental health services. Therefore, it is the duty of the referral source and clinician to ensure this message is clear about reason for treatment.

Steps to Introduce Mental Health:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hveAU2tNh1U

Inform client of benefits
Explain Confidentiality in a reasonably language based on age
Ask them what they feel or think may need to change about their behaviors
Determine is group or individual treatment is best for the client
Help them understand the stages of change to identify if they even believe there is a problem to be fixed. Dont’ waste time, co-payments, gas and an hour of time for an individual who may not be ready to change. Yes with teens, they may not see their issues as problematic. My general rule is 3 sessions to get to know this process. On the 3rd session, the ball is in your court. You decide if you want to proceed. This allows them a choice!
If you feel like that this was a good topic for you to share not just with adolescents but also other individuals who may have been introduced to mental with the wrong approach, please share this video.
Video Links: