Hey everybody, happy Thursday!
And when it's Thursday here what do we do?
We usually do FAQs or we talk about things in the media.
And many of you have pushed
different - and I say pushed like
forwarded it to me on Twitter,
or sent it to me on the website,
or flopped it over to my email
- and I've looked at a lot of the
things that are happening in the media
that you've sent over, and thank you very
much for doing that. And I was actually
gonna talk about, um, a study that came
out saying that depression shrunk the
hypothalamus within the brain, but then
somebody after that person pushed that to
me, somebody else was like, "But I read
this", and it was like, "But if you get
treatment it goes back to regular and it
can heal your brain!" And so I was like
"I don't know what I want to talk about,
because we don't know yet." So stay tuned!
But, thank you all for sending me in that
stuff and don't think that I don't read it
or that I don't take it into consideration
for today's video. However, today, I have
two very great questions that are things
I hadn't thought about before, so thank
you all, that's why I love our community
- because you force me to think outside
the box and try different things and think
about what your questions could really be.
Now this first question says: "Hey Kati, I
often hear the word 'stigma' when people
talk about mental health, but I don't
understand. What is the stigma? Or, what
even is any stigma towards mental health?
Does it make it worse, or better? I'm
totally confused by this term towards
mental health." So I looked up the
definition for stigma. And it says:
"A mark of disgrace associated with a
particular circumstance, quality or person.
Synonyms are: shame, disgrace, dishonor,
humiliation, 'bad'. Like the stigma of
bankruptcy or going bankrupt." And so,
that's really what stigma means; it's when
- I'll go back to the thing - people like
'mark' you in a bad way, like a disgraceful
way, based on some circumstances you have.
So, it could be like religious people thinking
that you're terrible for having an abortion
or getting a divorce. People like 'stigmatize' you
like, "Oh," you know, "She got pregnant
when she wasn't married, she's a 'bimbo'."
Like, that would be a stigma. So when we
talk about it as it pertains to mental health,
we're saying that people will judge us, or
have preconceived notions of us (having a
"stigma") due to our mental health issues.
Like assuming that people with eating
disorders, every one of them is rail thin,
or they "just need to eat". Those are all
like phrases based on a stigma. So it's
almost like "stigmatization", has anybody
heard of that? Like you're "stigmatizing" me?
Or you're, um, it's like pre-judging. And
so that's really what we mean when we talk
about it with mental health. People will
have pre-conceived notions about us based
on our mental health condition, without
actually understanding it. I would liken
stigma to being ignorant. Completely ignorant.
Or potentially completely stupid - those
are two seperate things by the way, if
you wanna know more about it you can look
that up. But, I think that a lot of people
don't understand mental health, and therefore
have pre-conceived notions about it not
based on any fact, and judge people based
on that. And that's what I'm trying to stop!
So the more we share the videos, the less
stigma hopefully will exist and the more
understanding there will be out there. I
hope that helps. If there is still any
confusion let me know below. Okay?
If anybody else thinks they have better,
you know, descriptions, let me know.
Question number two: "Does anyone have any
experience with getting a 504 Plan for a
mental health problem? I get really bad
anxiety and panic attacks at school, mostly
during lectures and tests when I feel like
I can't leave the room. I'm totally fine
if I'm sitting in the back though and I've
gotten referred for a 504 Plan several times
by people at school so that I can sit in
the back at all my classes and take my
tests in the office, but my parents always
say it seems like too much work, because
they aren't super involved and don't
understand. Has anyone ever had any
experience with one, whether it's for anxiety
or something else?" So I'd like all of you
if you have experience, to give your
experience below. Now, I will give an
experience that I have had working with my
clients over the years. Now, a 504 Plan
for those of you who don't know, is a kind
of, I'll just lump it all together with
like an IEP - an "Individualized Education
Plan" - and this is something that a school
is pretty much legally bound, I believe,
yes legally bound to offer. And as a
therapist I've sat in on some of these
meetings for IEPs or for 504 Plans, and
I've put together a plan. And your parents
can do the very same thing, I've just been
an advocate so that the parents feel like
there's another professional there to, you
know, use the right terms and get their
needs met. And I advocate for my client.
And it's really when, um, as parents or as
a therapist you feel like you're, the
child needs more support - whether it's
taking tests in the office, or sitting in
the back of class, sitting in the front of
class, getting extra time on tests - there
are a bunch of things that you can ask for
and so you set these goals and things that
you're requesting from the school, and
then it's kind of a negotiation, and
you usually sit down with the school
counsellor, or whoever, it's usually, I
mean I think it's always been the school
counsellor, usually one of the teachers
or whoever represents the teachers, um and
oftentimes the principal or whoever's in
charge of the school. Um, and you come
together for a plan to better suit the
student's needs. And if any of you are
having trouble in school: it's the Summer time,
get people together. You get your 504,
your IEP plans together, start talking to
your parents, start reaching out to your
school, because having them in place when
school starts will set you so much better
up for success and less stress and getting
the needs that you have, getting them met
and making sure you have extra time and
all that stuff. So please reach out to
your people, and get this together because
these are so helpful. I'm always up for
doing them for my clients and I'm sure
your therapists feel the same. It's such a
benefit and it's something that we need to
y'know, utilize, it's a great resource.
And like I said, leave your comments below
of any experiences you've had and I'll see
you all either tomorrow or on Saturday
with a journal topic. Okay, bye!
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