Posted by saintjames on June 28, 1999, at 19:56:45
Someone mentioned me "treating" people and I wanted to correct any misconceptions on my qualifications. I am a lay person who works for New Vistas, a non-profit in Santa Fe. I am a peer counsler, a position were disabled persons who are very functional and able are trained and paired (usually I see clients at their home) with other disabled persons who ask for help. The big thrust is independent living skills but we work on whatever the client wants to work on. I do a whole lot of listening. New Vistas keeps me in touch with area resources so I provide lots of referals and networking. I print out tons of info from the net to share with my consumers.
As I said I am a lay person, not a mental health professional, but I can spot unhealthy behaviors and provide info on how to get better. If a consumer has a disibility like mine I talk about what has worked for me. Since Peer Counslers tend to go to people's homes and are viewed more as a peer it is common that we are the first ones to witness unhealthy behaviors. many times consumers will not tell their doc's what is really going on (as in the case of the person who was self mulilating) After this person showed me what was going on, and I did not freak out, he/she still did not feel there was any way they could every admit this to any doc. I related a story about a friend who did this and got better. This person did not realize others do this too. Together we worked out that I would go along to the doc as moral support and with proper meds and support (This person signed a contract with me so they call me anytime they feel like hurting themselves) the mulitation has stopped.
james
poster:saintjames
thread:7963
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19990628/msgs/7963.html