- Hey everybody, happy Wednesday.
And when it's Wednesday here, I'm on the website,
katimorton.com as well as on YouTube.
So if you asked your questions underneath Tuesday's video,
using the hashtag KatiFAQ, I found some
and I answered some already.
And I've been on the website
and going through a bunch of your questions
as well as some journal topics.
And I have a journal topic from Millie.
Thanks Millie.
And I'm just really worn out today.
I'm sorry if my energy is not as great as normal.
I spent the day at Fred Jordan Mission, downtown LA
and sorted a bunch of food
and put it into food bags for the homeless
and we feed them fried chicken and rice
this afternoon for lunch.
And surprisingly it's lotta work.
Like moving all these palettes of veggies and stuff,
like canned veggies.
I'm like, I'm sore.
It was like I worked out in a weird way.
But anyway, it was a great day
and that stuff always just warms my heart
and puts things in perspective
of how lucky we all are to have a roof over our heads
and to have food in the fridge
and you know, have the ability
to choose what we want to eat.
Oh I'm in the mood for Thai food.
No I want pizza.
Like are you kidding me,
some people don't even get to eat,
so just sometimes it's good to go volunteer
and put things in perspective for you
and we get to help other people out,
you know and when they're struggling
and when they're down and out.
And when we're down and out,
we want other people to help us.
Am I right?
So anyway, so that's why I'm a little (sighs)
'cause I just kinda wanna watch some Modern Family reruns
and take a nap.
But anyway, okay, so question number one.
Hey Kati, is okay to write a suicide note
even if you're not planning to ever act on it.
I find it makes me feel better to write the actual note
like I am to do it, but never go any further.
Is this okay, or should I do something different?
Now this got a ton of thumbs up
and for any of you who are new to the channel,
when I have a YouTube thing
or on Twitter where you can actually like
or thumbs up things, give 'em you know,
hearts or whatever it is,
the ones that get the most get my attention the most
and they're most likely to be answered.
So this one got, I think, like 16 or something,
so that's a lot.
And it's definitely okay to write a suicide note.
Many of patients have done it.
I never really,
I wouldn't say I encourage it.
Like, oh this is really helpful, blah, blah, blah,
but if it's something that helps you,
there's nothing wrong with it.
Honestly, it's like journaling,
but you're just not calling it that,
because it's a way to express what's going on inside.
Like put it out there and be like, this is really shitty
and this is how I feel and this is what happened
and then it can feel good.
Like, (sighs) I got it out.
Like it's not just ruminating inside of me.
I put it out there.
And anything that helps you feel better
that's a way to express in a healthier way
what's going on inside, is a good thing.
And if it works for you,
I never question stuff like that for my clients,
as long as you're not putting a plan together
and actually going to commit suicide.
That's the only thing.
As long as it helps you express what's going on
and you feel better about it and it's healthy,
this is a healthy way, that's fine.
It's just writing things down, I think it's really great.
And that's how I feel about it.
Okay, question number two.
I was in inpatient a little while ago
and when I was admitted one of the nurses
had to take pictures of my self-harm cuts
and put them in my file.
Is there a specific reason why they did this?
Now, this really surprised me.
First of all,
I mean in any of the clinics I worked in,
I never worked in one that was specifically for self-harm,
although we had many patients who struggle with self-harm,
we never took pictures of their cuts.
I would, at some points, if my patients were struggling
and they were not really telling me what was going on,
I would say, do you have any fresh cuts?
Is there anything you want to show me?
You know, should we get the doctor?
Blah, blah, blah.
I would ask questions like that,
kind of for safety and health reasons,
making sure if they needed stitches or whatever it was
that it got taken care of.
Now...
The only reason I can think that they would do this,
is that if they do check you,
I don't know, they might check every week,
to be like, oh do you have any more cuts,
or burns or bruises or whatever.
This way, they already have a record of what's happened,
so you can't say, oh I did that before I came in here.
'Cause they're like, no, we have record of what you did.
And to me it seems a little,
I don't know, ridiculous and kind of like,
invading your privacy because,
it's all up to you wanting to get better
and understanding what triggers you
and then helping you learn new coping skills
and we're gonna slip up.
But whatever their policies are,
I would assume that's what it is
and that we might only guess.
But I want you all to know,
if you go into a treatment center,
if you go to see a therapist,
if you go to get any help,
it's help that you're getting for yourself.
You have rights.
You can always ask.
Like, hey, I don't understand.
Why the hell do I have to fill this out?
What's this mean?
You can ask questions.
It's okay to say, this makes me a little uncomfortable.
Why are you taking pictures
and putting them in my file?
Is there a real reason?
What's the purpose of it?
That's okay, you can ask that.
That's fair.
We should all know why things are happening.
So yeah, I would ask,
but that would be my guess that it's
so that they know.
So if you say something was from before
they can prove that it wasn't.
Not that that helps anything.
But that would be my only guess.
Okay, question number three.
Hey Kati, I really wanna recover from my eating disorder
but other than my therapist
that I see one or two times a week,
I don't have any natural support.
I don't feel safe reaching out to the people closest to me,
because of things that they've said in the past
and I know that internet can be great for support
but it doesn't seem to work for me.
Not having support makes me sad and depressed
and I don't know how to build any kind of support system.
Please help.
Now this can be really difficult.
I'm just gonna be honest.
Building a support system is something that takes time.
It doesn't happen overnight.
The best way that we can build a support system
quickly and effectively
is through building a bigger treatment team if you can.
Like if you can see a dietician
and you can see a psychiatrist
and you know, that kind of a thing, whoever.
I mean, you have a therapist, so that's great.
So you can kind of add to that for your own support
for different issues.
And you can join a group.
Now, I know many of us are nervous about groups
and we think that groups can be really scary
and we don't know what to expect,
but I promise you they're not that bad.
It's a great way to recognize that we're not alone in it.
It's a great way to learn tools from other people
and it's a great place to express what's going on
and to potentially make friends
and create a whole nother support team, support system.
You can text and call and meet up,
because you're all working together on your recovery.
So that would be my advice.
Now if you're looking for groups
for eating disorder recovery,
almost every treatment center
has a group for people who aren't at the treatment center,
who people who are working on recovery,
who are recovered, who've been through their program
and want like an alumna group.
A lot of them have groups.
So I would contact any of your local eating disorder
treatment centers or hospitals
and ask them if the have any groups for that.
Like even if it's DBT groups, if it's eating disorder focus,
any of that would be wonderful.
So that would be my advice.
Now I'm gonna ask any of you.
If you have ways that you've created a support system
when you were struggling like this person is,
can you let us know below,
because this is kind of tricky and it takes time
and we don't just wanna have just anybody
in our support system and be our close friends.
It takes time for us to figure out who they are
and trust them and understand them
and them understand us and all this stuff
that goes into building a relationship.
So that's why I think groups and treatment teams as a whole
can really help, okay.
But let me know if there's something else you've got.
Now journal topic.
From Millie, and this is really cool.
I had no idea about this.
It says today is Bonfire Night in the UK.
I didn't even know what this was.
It's one of my favorite nights.
Everyone wraps up warm with...
Wraps up warm with hot dogs and mulled cider
around a bonfire.
Oh yum, that sounds really good.
We have fireworks and sparklers and Catherine Wheels.
It's such a great community experience and I love it.
It started as an annual anti-Catholic celebration,
following on from a failed plot by a Catholic group,
including Guy Fox, to blow up the House of Parliament
attempting to kill King James I and the rest of Parliament.
It always makes me think,
that an attempted mass murder which incited a group hatred
could eventually lead
to such a wonderful community festival.
Isn't this amazing?
The whole of the UK still celebrates it to this day.
If something that horrible can lead to something that good,
then there's no telling which great place,
whatever horrible thing you're going through now,
will lead you.
Think of things that happened to you
that seemed like the end of the world,
but actually turned out for the better.
Take heart from those and let this period play out.
It may just turn out better than you could have hoped.
And happy Bonfire Night everyone.
I thought this was great.
I can tell you personally,
I've had some shit times in my life
where I'm like are you kidding me, is this happening?
Oh my God.
And you know that Country song,
If you're goin' through hell, keep on going, it's true.
And you get out the other side,
and honestly I look back on some of those hardest years
and it's when I grew the most
and I learned more about who I am
and what I'm really about and what I plan to do with my life
and I wouldn't have known that
if I hadn't had that shit time.
So I think this is great.
This is a great journal topic
and thank you Millie so much for it.
I love you all.
(kisses the air)
I'm gonna take a nap, I'm gonna recharge my batteries,
and I'll see ya tomorrow, and I'll be on Twitter
so ask your questions there using the hastag KatiFAQ.
Bye.