- Hey everybody, Happy Wednesday!
Or hump day, or whatever you wanna call it.
Or the middle of the week and the worst day ever, maybe?
I don't know.
But anyways, Happy Wednesday!
When it's Wednesday, it's a W!
So I'm on the website, and I'm also on YouTube.
So if you asked your questions on yesterday's video,
or you went on my website under,
#katiefaqvideos I believe is the topic.
Across the top, you scroll down.
Anyway, I found 'em,
and I've already answered many questions
on both of those sites,
so if you're wondering if your question got answered,
you can check it out and see if it did.
So I have three questions today as well as a journal topic.
So let's get going.
First question.
Hi Katie, I was curious about your thoughts
on changing counselors when you cross
the line from childhood to adulthood.
I'm in my 20s, and I still see my counselor
that I have when I was a teenager.
I like her, and I don't have any major problems,
but could I be hurting myself in the long run?
Thanks so much.
Thought this was a great question
because it's something that, to be truthful,
before I read it I hadn't really thought about that much.
With a medical physician, we see a pediatrician.
And then when we're 18, we're forced to see another doctor.
Someone who isn't a pediatrician.
Who sees adults.
And in the psychiatry world as well as in the therapy world,
some of us don't see certain ages.
I don't see really little kids.
I think the youngest that I've seen would be like 12 or 13.
I see teens and then older.
And some people only see children.
So I would say that based on the fact
that you still like your counselor,
you've been seeing your counselor since you were a teen,
if you feel that you're still benefiting from seeing her
and you're comfortable talking about adult topics
like potential sex life, dating, careers.
If you feel as you grow up and you have different issues
and different situations come up,
if you can still talk about it and can still get insight,
and you feel like you're working through your issues,
and you're gaining it from her or him.
I think you said her.
Yeah, her.
Then I would keep going to her.
Because therapy, if it's talk therapy,
it's not like medicine.
There aren't different amounts of medicine we're giving you.
It's simply how well we're working together.
And if you feel like you're benefiting
from the work we're doing.
So that would be your answer, okay.
Question number two.
Hey Katie, I was wondering what your thoughts were
on working with children when you have a mental illness.
Or if there are any rules or limits.
I've had my heart set on being a primary teacher for years,
but also I have severe depression,
anxiety and self-harm for years,
and I'm also in assessment for schizophrenia.
Overheard someone saying that someone
with these issues would never be allowed near children,
but I feel like if I can't teach then there's no point
in me being here or resisting the urges.
Help! Thank you so, so, so much.
I thought this was great and all these questions,
they got a lot of thumbs up.
And that's kind of how I decide which ones to answer.
So if there's a question below a video,
and you really like it,
then make sure you give it a thumbs up
'cause then that will tell me that there are other people
who have very similar questions and concerns.
When it comes to working with children,
and when it comes to getting a job,
this is actually one of the topics
that I proposed to Paul for the podcast
because it's something I know a lot of you worry about.
Having a mental illness does not stop us
from moving forward in our careers
and selecting a career of our choice.
There are obviously some careers
that are very, very, very specific
and have extremely rigid guidelines about that stuff.
I know working for the federal government in many ways,
especially if you want to do the navy, the army,
if you wanna work for the FBI or the CIA
or you wanna be a police officer or a firefighter.
I know a lot of those have,
I don't know how different they are,
but I know a lot of those do have,
not only mental health testing that we have to go through,
like whether we're doing a MMPI
or other standardized mental health testing.
But they also wanna know our history.
And that makes sense because we have to be abled.
One of the psychiatrists I work with in one
of the eating disorder clinics, her husband was a SEAL.
And he had to go through crazy amounts
of psychologically distressing situations
and still come out on top to be accepted.
So that stuff makes sense.
When it comes to being a therapist,
when it comes to being a teacher,
when it comes to, let's just say,
any non federal or non,
any other careers not like the ones I mentioned,
there's no problem.
There's no reason why we can't work with children.
If we do have schizophrenia, we're floridly psychotic,
and we are sometimes dangerous.
Then that would be an issue,
and that would be something you have to tell your boss
or whoever your hiring manager is.
Because that's something that could potentially
cause an issue down the road.
As long as you're working on your mental illness,
you're getting help for it,
you feel like you're moving forward,
your urges are under control,
you're not a danger to yourself or people around you.
There's nothing to stop you from doing
whatever you want to do.
Also, when you get a job, they don't have the right
to ask you about your mental health past.
Unless it's because you might endanger
yourself or other people in that job.
Like the police officers, stuff like that.
But for therapists, for teachers, there's no regulation.
The only thing is if you're a danger to yourself or others.
Which is kind of like the 51 50.
I assume that if you are a danger to yourself or others,
chances are getting a job is like
the last thing on your mind.
I wouldn't worry about it.
I think you're doing great as long
as you're working on everything.
Taking the medication that your
psychiatrist potentially prescribes.
Working on the homework that your therapist gives you.
I think you're all set, okay?
Question number three.
Everyone wants a piece of my time.
Tell me about it!
I am self-employed and set my own work hours,
so it's easy for me to help others.
Every elderly neighbor knows that they can call me
to mow grass, clean gutters, take them anywhere, etc.
My dad is disabled, so I have to help my mom a lot,
and my husband who was laid off last week,
thinks I should be home to be the perfect wife.
I've been struggling with depression for the last 10 months,
and all the stress with keeping up
with everybody's needs is just wearing me down.
But I don't want to be selfish and tell everyone no.
Help!
I thought this was a great question
because I think a lot of us struggle with it.
I even struggle with it.
Just saying no.
Practice it with me.
No. No.
I can't. I don't have time.
It's hard.
And we feel that it makes us selfish or it makes us rude.
Or people aren't gonna like us because of that.
It's gonna be negative in some way.
No is taken as negative.
We're yes people
We like to please people.
And to the detriment of our own
healthy mind, healthy body, right?
We can't give all of our time to everybody else
and not keep some for ourselves and maintain a level
of healthy mind, healthy body, am I right?
Hopefully you're nodding on the other side.
So I would encourage you to start practicing.
The little things.
Those little to dos that are the easiest thing to do.
Let's start putting them off.
Let's start saying no.
And I wouldn't just say no.
What I would practice.
Let's pick one thing this week, or one person.
Maybe there's somebody you know won't be offended
or won't be aggressive or rude when they ask you
to mow their lawn, let's say.
You can say, "I'm sorry.
"I just don't have any time.
"I'm so sorry, you'll have to ask someone else."
Make sure you say it that way.
Don't say, "Oh, I just can't do it today.
"How 'bout tomorrow?"
You're just gonna pack in your other days.
We need to say no completely.
We need to say something like,
"You know, I'm sorry, I just don't have time.
"You'll have to ask someone else."
Maybe even think of someone else they can ask
if you know someone else has time on their hands.
It's okay to say no.
And we're gonna have to start practicing in little bits.
We can't go all or nothing, black and white.
We know that's not healthy.
We need to do a little bit in the gray.
So with those things that are a little
more simple and easy to let go of like,
cleaning the gutters or taking them somewhere.
Those are the things we're gonna have to try to trim down.
Let's practice.
It may not go well the first couple of times.
But the more you do it, the stronger you'll feel,
and the more you'll realize that
sometimes people take advantage of us.
Because they know we'll say yes.
And it can give you the sense of confidence and realization
that people will like you and love you
and wanna be around you regardless of you giving them all
of your time and leaving none for yourself.
And so as you practice, I would encourage you
to set aside an hour a week.
We'll start out with that.
I hope an hour a day in the end.
But an hour a week where you do
something that just you wanna do.
Maybe do it by yourself.
Maybe take yourself out to lunch.
Maybe go get some frozen yogurt.
Maybe get your nails done.
Maybe go for a walk with the dog.
Whatever.
Do something that you and only you wants to do.
And it may even be hard for you to figure that out.
But it's something that we all need to practice.
And turn your phone off when you do it.
I know it's very challenging, but I promise,
I swear on anything I could swear,
that the world is not gonna crumble
if you just take a couple hours off, okay?
I hope that helps.
Journal topic today
is from Kat on my website.
Thanks, Kat.
So it says, "Life goes on whether you choose
"to move on and take a chance in the unknown
"or stay behind, locked in the past thinking
"of what could have been."
I really like this because sometimes
we forget how many chances and choices
we're making to not move forward.
There's so many ways in life where we can take a chance
on something, we can do something out of our comfort zone.
We can call that friend, we can get out,
we can challenge ourselves.
And there's so many ways we can do that.
Often times we forget and we get stuck in the past.
It's almost like my dad used to talk about
when he was like 50 years old.
"I remember back when I was
"in high school playing football."
We all know people retell those stories.
Let's make new stories.
So I challenge you to do one thing to challenge yourself
to step out of your comfort zone,
and then I want you to tell me about it.
Okay? Let me know how it goes.
I love you all.
I'll see you tomorrow.
I'll be on Twitter, so ask your questions there.
Bye!