When The Interview Ends, The Healing Begins (Part 3 of 3)
- Aug 11
- 45 min read
interviewed a lot of counselors in the community and a lot of them were very unsure about working trauma cases and working with The Bridge. Yeah. They people are very nervous about working trauma consistently. And also the concept of court testimony. the word court's not brought up in most of our schooling. Yeah. So we don't go to school to be to be a court. We go to school to help people. yeah and we don't
We're not really explain it's not really explained to us the connection between what the legal system and what we do. That's kind of a gap in the education process for counselors.
Hello and welcome to All Things Foster, a place for coffee, connection, and community. I am super excited with our guests that you guys are gonna meet here in just a minute. we're getting we're head to having a really important conversation. But guys, before we do that, Sundy Sharp with AMC Mortgage is our episode sponsor today. She can help with any residential mortgage needs and specializes in first-time home buyers to help their journey to generational wealth.
She's a local lender, but is licensed to write mortgages for the whole state of Texas. They have lots of special loans available, and AMC is an equal housing lender. So call her or text her today at 806-683-0313 or check out her website, www.buywithsundy.com And again, we'll link we'll link that down in the show notes below. you can also go to
https://amcmtg.com/ Sundy's just a wonderful, wonderful friend. And so if you need a mortgage, definitely, definitely touch base with her and and she can get you get you going. So
today we are joined by some folks from The Bridge. And I'm super excited to have you guys on today. Thanks so much for coming. Thank you for having us. We're happy to be here. For sure, for sure. So we're gonna we've
We started a series last week where we're talking about The Bridge and kind of all the different things that you guys have going on kind of underneath them the one umbrella. So today we're gonna talk about the counseling services that you guys are s getting off the ground with with The Bridge. So kind of before we get into that, ki if you'll give me just an intro of kind of who you are and and what what
what your role is and that kind of stuff. So Bobbi, we'll start with you.
Okay. my name is Bobbi Britto I'm a licensed professional counselor supervisor. I have been licensed since two thousand eleven. I initially started out my counseling journey in my training at what used to be called the Panhandle Assessment Center PAC. then was sold over to Arrow Child and Family Ministries. So that's where I did all of my training in my schooling, practicum and internship phase and then my
pre-licensure or I should say early licensure stage. and then after that I moved over to Jennings Counseling and I was one of the associate counselors there for about ten years. and then about three years ago I took the position as clinical director at the Bridge Children Advocacy Center. it was a brand new position. it had not really been put into practice. They had, you know, initially started it and then it kind of paused. So
I was really the first official person getting plugged in to actually get that work going and get that wheel turning. so it was really interesting because it's a new program. And so we'll get into it throughout today's meeting. But yeah, I've focused on trauma primarily in all of my training and education over the years. always worked with kids from trauma backgrounds, starting out at the youth shelter that I was serving.
and of course in practice I saw all kinds. I mean did marriage and family, I did, you know, anxiety issues, depression. It wasn't just trauma, but that was my area of of specialization. So makes sense that I'm doing things at this level now.
Absolutely. For sure, for sure. Awesome. Well, Heather, what about you? what's your background? Well, I have been with Bobbi for eighteen months now.
I have an interesting journey to get to counseling. It's actually my would be considered my second career. Late career. Actually, I started in education, taught at the high school level, assistant principal at the middle school level. And through that journey, what I realized was abuse was everywhere. Yeah. And in my classroom and in my office I had this huge chair and kids would come in and just sit and talk and
Noticed especially in big high stress situations, kids would sometimes just completely lose their composure. And then at the high school I was at, I taught a higher level biology course. And what I often would find out is they would come in and start talking about home life and things that have been going on, had a couple of students and
that all had also gone through The Bridge. And I found myself drawn to it, but also felt like I had no ability to really help outside of listen. And I know as a teacher and any teacher that's listening, that's is amazing. It's a huge role. but felt like this shift and calling of my life. And so when I left teaching and went to administration
I had actually one of a colleague of Bobbi's that was our behavior specialist at the time. And we just began talking and I quickly realized that my role as assistant principal was probably not really my calling, but a threshold that I got to kind of step into something that I felt like had been part of my journey for a long time. And so she encouraged me to go back to school.
I was preparing for my practicum semester when Bobbi started the program at The Bridge. And she said, Hey, check this out. I know it's not quite time, but I know Bobbi I have worked with Bobbi. She would be an amazing person for you to work under and learn from. And really one thing led to another. I interviewed with her, made what I felt like a pretty immediate connection. And
I went home and I told my husband, my gosh, I just hope that's where I get to work. And so I spent my practicum and interns semester there and graduated this last December. And she offered me a position to be an associate there. So I'm licensed, I've taken my tests, I have a license through the state of Texas.
But I'm considered an associate and I'm working under a supervisor.
Yeah, 'cause you have to have what, three thousand hours or something like that. Yeah. So I'm working towards that. Yeah. And just getting to enjoy the camaraderie of The Bridge, the amazing staff that works there, and getting to sit under Bobbi's mentorship, leadership, expertise, compassion, all the things, is also just kind of transforming my
Second career, I guess. So
That's awesome. Very cool. Well, one thing, Bobbi, you didn't say, or if if you did I didn't catch it. What is it that drew you to this work in the first place?
You know, I feel like in my lifetime I have always been a counselor. Mm, you know, we know, you know, adults
shouldn't dump their problems on kids, but even growing up, adults came to me. Strangers would come talk to me. I'd be standing in the checkout line at the store and all of a sudden somebody's disclosing some of their trauma. I'd sit in my son's school office area waiting for to check him out and a mom walks in and starts telling me about what's happening in her home. And I felt like God was just pointing me in a direction of hello, I you know, there is a career path for you. because I really I care a lot and I wanna help people, but I also
wanted to know how to do it in a healthy way that would be sustainable and not
you know, cause damage internally for me in the process. and so that's when I started looking into going back to school. I had met my husband. My husband was military and I had met him when I was in a graduate program for a different field. but when I met him, I kind of shifted my focus and realized that wasn't the path for me at that time. So I followed him in his military career and finally when we were kind of getting
towards the end of his career, I thought, let me let me go back to school and start doing some things in this realm. And I kind of did a little test here. We were stationed in Hawaii and I did a little test here to go back to school. And I went to the University of Hawaii and took some classes for a academic subject certificate in psychosocial developmental studies. So it kind of got me into that whole introspective counseling mindset, that world to help me kind of say, am I ready for this? Is this really what I want? And it really was. It was.
So I had to look for something portable because we were military. We weren't sure where we were gonna go next. so I was led to Capella University and Capella had a high accreditation called the K Crep accreditation. It's counseling for accredited and counseling education programs. It's the highest accreditation for these types of degree programs. and so I felt good about that because it was something that was reputable. Yeah. expensive but reputable.
But it allowed me to kind of get started while we were still stationed in Hawaii and then just kind of finish it along the way wherever we were going next, which was Amarillo, Texas. And here we are. Yeah.
Well, very cool. Very cool. All right. Well, so so let's talk before we kind of get into why do you why do you think that like the specialization of trauma
matters. I mean, there are counselors in in all different types of arenas, but be really being focused in and having that specialization in trauma. why do you think that that's like super valuable?
So when you are in school to become a counselor or a social worker, I'm not so sure one hundred percent about the social work programs, could I but I can speak to the counseling programs. There is about one class on trauma.
And it's always perplexed me because there you can get a specialization in drug and alcohol treatment, marriage and family, you know, and I'm thinking, but a lot of those issues stem from trauma. Why aren't they focusing on that more? And I had the opportunity to speak to the licensing board at a luncheon learn one time and asked about that. And they said, well, they they align their school programs with the licensor programs available. So there isn't a license for trauma.
therapy per se. You can specialize in it. Yeah. But you have to do your own training and education outside of your general education. Sure. so so what I find is there's a lot of people who are trauma informed.
and that is a requirement, right? Most of us should be. We we should be trauma informed. However, there's not a lot of people who are trauma focused.
Right. and trauma trauma informed is such a broad, there's not really like lined out standards of this is right, right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so the trauma focus is where I tend to go to when I'm trying to explain the difference between counselors that aren't part of The Bridge community.
and those who are. Not to say that there aren't good counselors in the community that have trauma focus as well. Sure. a contract with our bridge, working with The Bridge does not mean that you're the only person in this community that can work with people. but the people who do choose to focus on trauma and choose to contract with us and work with us, it is a very, very niche field. Yeah. you are more than just a counselor in this realm.
You are an educator. You are an advocate.
You have multiple roles. So obviously as a counselor, you're the counselor for the the client that you're working with, but you are also helping the multidisciplinary team that we work with, which consists of law enforcement, prosecutors, child protective services investigators, you know, say nurses, forensic interviewers, all of these people come together and we are a team to work these cases and we're helping them understand things about abuse and
behavior and things like that. And then they also have us in a expert witness type role for for court. So we go to court not just for factual based but also for expert testimony to help educate the jury and the judges and help them make informed decisions that hopefully lead our victims to justice.
Sure. Yeah because that is that is such an important piece.
of the of the process is you know, trying to find some level of justice after there's been an issue. You know, if the kids are coming to The Bridge, there's been a significant issue. And so I think walking alongside the child and the family and all the things and we'll talk about that more as we get into it, but I just I think that that's such an important
What was kind of the impetus who kind of started and said, Hey, under The Bridge, we should have this. Do you know where that conversation I know you said it started about three years ago?
About three years ago. Well and really it started much earlier than that. so our executive director, Shelley Bohannan, met with doctors Lynn and Stephen Jennings, who are are some of our oldest contract providers, oldest in terms of length of time, not not age.
But in terms of how long they've been working with us with The Bridge and they were basically helping consult on what a clinical director would look like and be and what would be
needed of them if they had somebody internally. Yeah. And so they came together and put that job description together. And that was probably about almost six years ago, maybe even longer. But they just really weren't able to find a fit for the agency. And it was brought up to me and I wasn't ready for that. I was quite content in the private practice world. In fact I was even when I left. It was more about me really feeling driven to do
something more and to give back in a different way. Yeah. and the idea of being able to impact the entire Texas panhandle in some form really gave me a sense of purpose. Yeah.
beyond what I was doing. Sure. And so this came out of there are other children's advocacy centers in the state and there's many there's plenty nationwide. but some of them in the state do have in-house counseling and clinical directors and the such. we just hadn't gotten there yet. and so even though I love to tell people this story, The Bridge is the very first children's advocacy center in the entire state of Texas. and so now they're seventy. so but and we lead
in a lot of ways, in a lot of capacities, but we hadn't gotten to the the point of having internal mental health services offered. We were contracting with counselors in the community. and when I came as clinical director, I was one of twelve that was contracting with The Bridge. And that's twelve contracted providers to serve the top twenty six counties of the Texas Panhandle. It's not sustainable. It's insane. It's unfathomable I don't know how we did it. But we did. We did our best. but we were also burning counselors out.
Yeah, no doubt. We were burning them out. And so when I came, there really wasn't a clear picture about what this role was gonna consist of. they weren't sure what was gonna happen.
Some of the people that I had worked with part of the multidisciplinary team over the years were like, great, Bobbi's there. We could just start sending cases to her. That wasn't the case. I was developing a program and I had to figure out how I was going to multiply the services that we provided in community counseling. And so that's when I kind of started brainstorming on doing this. Shelly Bohannon our executive director, had initially thought, well, let's bring on some LPC associates. I had to get my supervisor credential.
to be able to fulfill this position fully. but I thought, you know, I don't know that that's where we need to start. We need to start at the school level 'cause at that point I'd interviewed a lot of counselors in the community and a lot of them were very unsure about working trauma cases and working with The Bridge. Yeah. people are very nervous about working trauma consistently. And also the concept of court testimony. the word court's not brought up in most of our schooling. Yeah. So we don't go to school to be to be a court. We go to school to help people. Yeah yeah and we don't
I love that.
what are kind of the unique challenges that as families are walking through this process of you know, the kids have been brought there for a forensic interview because something has happened. what kind of challenges are they facing?
So many. So many.
You know, of course we're always thinking of that primary victim. the child that may have been abused directly. But there's a trickle down effect. Yes, right. everything changes for that family a lot of times. When they come to The Bridge, there's some parent parents, many parents come to our agency and they're not really clear on why they're there sometimes. Yeah.
And and that is unfortunately a necessary process to help protect the integrity of an investigation. and I struggle with that. I'm a parent as well, and I feel like I have rights to every information about my child and anything that's going to happen to my child. But thankfully I have not had the experience of them being involved in a proceeding that involves court and law enforcement and an investigation. And so being on this side of it, I do understand the caution.
And how much information is shared. So we get these parents coming with their children, the non-offending caregiver brings a child for a forensic interview, and it may be the first time they're finding out what may have happened to their child. Right.
And for some of them, their world is just are is turning upside down as as they're speaking to our our multidisciplinary team. Yeah. so there is a entire family sitting here that the siblings are going to need help adjusting to what may have happened to their sibling or even possibly to them, and maybe we don't know it yet and they haven't been ready or felt safe enough to talk about it. Right. the parents are struggling.
with the changes that are happening and what that means, depending on who the person was that might have hurt the child. That could be a close family member and now you're losing family relationships. That could be somebody in your home, like a significant other. And now maybe you're not only using losing that relationship, but you are also possibly losing income, housing. I mean, there's so many things that come with what might come out of what children are brought to The Bridge for. Right.
And so families need support wrapping around them. They need support. and of course, a lot of parents are mostly focused on their primary victim child, like the one that was directly impacted. And I just want them to get help. I just want them to get help. Well, you if you get help also, yeah, you're going to be able to help them better. Right. And so that's kind of where this mental health program steps in, is to try to ensure that everybody in the home that is
in a position to get our services is able to have access to that. Right right. as far as it seems like we've kind of talked it through, but as far as like it fitting in, I mean it just seems like a kind of a natural linking in of you know, with The Bridge doing all of having everybody at the table and now, you know, the big
event has happened and how do we move forward from that? Right. I mean that's that's kind of the way that I'm understanding it is it's
You know, we've had an accusation, something's happened, and now we have to learn to live with that. And so rather than saying, What do I do now? you're able to come alongside them and walk through it with them. Absolutely. Our family advocates are there to support that family throughout the duration of their case. That's something that we've recently changed. you know, we don't we've always done follow up check ins on them and so forth, but we have moved to
More of a type case management role for our family advocates who sit down and meet with that family when they arrive to their appointment at The Bridge. And they sit down and kind of do a check-in on where are things at? What are your needs? How can we help you? And yes, of course, counseling is one of the things that they plug them into, but they're also checking for other things. So do you feel safe? Do you have hygiene needs? You have food needs, you have housing needs, you need legal help. And obviously, we don't have all of those services in house, but we have relationships in.
the community to get them plugged into what they need.
Yeah, for sure. Wow.
Let's kind of transition to talking specifically about the kind of the training of the counselors that you're doing. what does that look like? how do they get started? what does it look like from your perspective? And then Heather, from your perspective, I'd like to hear that too.
Yeah. So
The intern program, because I'm the only person there that's running it basically, that can, based on licensure needs and things of that nature.
It starts with that master's level intern. So they a student is in a master's program for counseling or social work, and they are at the phase of their education that they now need a site. They need a place to get their hours. They need to do what we call direct and indirect hours. Direct meaning working with clients directly in a counseling capacity. Sure. And then indirect is all of the things that go behind that. Right. And so it is actually quite difficult to find
A site in Amarillo just because there's so much involved with training somebody and so there's limited locations to go. Sure. and because I'm one person, there's also limited spots available in our own agency. As much as I'm passionate about this program, I can only take so many people at a time. Yeah. So it starts with a phone call where somebody might call me. The school might refer them to check and see if I have any availability, see if it's a fit. And so that starts with an appointment with me.
we sit down and we talk about what that looks like, what the interim program is, what it looks like, what it consists of. and on top of just their application, we require recommendations, two letters of recommendations from somebody who's either in the counseling profession or who is one of their instructors in the counseling field, references, background checks, all that. Sure. Let's say all of that is golden. Let's say that's all green-lighted. We also want to make sure that they're strong, solid students.
and we want to make sure it's a fit. Yeah. It's gotta be a fit personality with me because I'm the supervisor, but also with the agency and with the demeanor, the capacity. I mean, we've gotta find somebody that can respectfully
learn without inserting themselves immediately as as somebody that's learning with the team instead of calling all the shots or forcing their opinion on people. you know, it's taken a long time for a multidisciplinary team to see counseling on equal playing fields as the rest of the team. You know, a lot of people in law enforcement and CPS, you know, historically counseling has this kumbaya kind of aura that people associate with us. And so
To be taken seriously as a professional, it's it takes a certain presentation in how you work with them. So that starts to get them in. And then once they're in, We do trauma-focused cognitive behavioral training. we do suicide assessment training. we did a short CPT
recognizing and reporting abuse training to make sure that they know about that process. Yeah. HIPAA training. HIPAA training. Yeah. Absolutely. Yes. so just to name a few. I think that's the bulk of them to get started. We just get them started with all of that. And they gotta cram that in in a week. Wow. Yeah. For us to count it towards our hours in our semester that's upcoming when we start that. You can't start till
officially your school has started. Right. But then we have to have all that before we can see clients the following week. And so it was that week prior to the first night we were all together. It was a lot of here, you have all this work to do. It was a lot like kind of like drinking from a fire hose. and then that first night we get together and we have our first clients and it's, you know, moderately terrifying. 'Cause I remember Bobbi saying you just get to jump in. Yeah.
You just jump in. Yeah. And our clients don't know if we're doing it right or wrong or whatever. They're just happy for someone to hear to sit with them, hold space for them. And so we go from that to then Bobbi and The Bridge as a whole for our intern program. Tuesdays were our days and we would start in the afternoons and that.
My first semester we worked like it was nine or ten before we would leave by the time we had seen clients. And then Bobbi was always very mindful about making sure we were all good debriefing anything that was, you know, particularly difficult for us. and so then it was every Tuesday night. And slowly over the course of the semester, you build clients, you understand things. Bobbi sits in on stuff, we're writing our notes.
And all of the things that we're learning in the process of actually practicing the skills that we were learning in school.
Yeah. So talk to me about that first time you're sitting there across from a patient and they're looking at you because they're thinking you got all the answers. I mean, you you're the counselor here, right? Yeah. What's what is that experience like?
Well, I'm gonna step back one step from that.
the first night all of us were together, we were all terrified. There was one, two, I think there was four of us the first time. And none of us knew each other. And so I will even add a small caveat to what Bobbi's doing, what we're doing at The Bridge, is
With online learning, the main way you learn, especially in a master's level program, like we were told like go out and go to a group or different things like that. But we didn't have relationships with our fellow students. Yeah, because it's mostly online. Yes. So you see them online. True. But that is not the same as walking this process together. Absolutely. And so I think all of us at first kind of deer in the headline.
Lights. my gosh, really? What did we get into? This sounded really great 18 months ago, but terrified at the moment. And anyway, one of the things Bobbi did do with us is we had to mock, she would give us all scenarios and we would counsel each other to kind of take some of that initial breathtaking feelings away. And so the first I distinctly remember my first little one that I had and
What I've learned in the process is a lot of times people just want someone to hold space for them. Exactly. And even if they're not talking about their trauma right away or they're not refusing to even won't won't even look at you in the eyes with it.
They just need someone to play a game with them. Exactly. To sit with them. I mean, we had some clients one time and I think that was the purpose of it was they needed someone to know that they were important and they were seen and they were heard. And the process of walking through that and realizing I don't I don't have to have all the answers. I can guide someone and my job isn't to give them the answers. My job is to help them
Find coping skills and listen with compassion and empathy to a story that maybe is terrifying to them and not to retell the story, but to understand the feelings and give them give them the tools to handle the feelings and be with them. Like just really be with them.
That was probably the part to me, it that's not what they show you in movies. Mm-hmm. You know, in movies you're sitting back, you know, on a couch and you have them there. And with kids, you're on the floor playing. Yeah. You know, you don't always dress super professional because you're probably gonna be on the floor playing, you know, soldiers and cars or Uno while you're building the rapport with them. Exactly. So they begin to see you as safe. Yeah, they have to develop that felt safety. Yeah.
so that first semester was a little scary, but as we moved through it, it was it was really cool to build relationships, not just with Bobbi, but the other ladies that were on our team there. And then the second semester, there was a little more confidence going in, but but still it was I remember the summer off and coming back and like, wait a minute, did I learn all this for real last year? and our team changed a little bit. We had male.
the team which was a great edition that semester and as you're getting ready to graduate and discussing you know all the the things that you're learning but realizing how important that collaboration is with your fellow
colleagues. Yeah. And that was a major piece of this that I feel like has helped me because I don't have all the experiences, but Bobbi's had a lot. And so has my friend across the way that we've worked with families together. And so learning the collaboration piece and sharing in order to grow and become better at our craft and our passion is something that The Bridge really
was able to pour into me. So I love that.
Yeah. That is cool.
Yeah, so I've read a lot and I remember Dr. Perry and The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog as he's going into his first session and he's like, I have no idea what I'm doing here.
Yeah, yeah. And so I think that's such the importance of supervision too, is that I don't, I mean, I'll finish I did yesterday, finished a session and I walked in and I was like, my gosh.
The beautiful thing about what The Bridge has built and what and Bobbi's personality is that we don't have to wait till our official supervision hour. It's like it's a very organic and how things come out and how we're supported. Yeah. Because we don't have all the answers in any given time we don't have all the answers. And so but I agree with you when I read that book, those were some of those feelings. Yeah. Same thing. Yeah. I don't know what I'm doing. And I still walk into, you know,
In
my just building my hours, I still walk in and I don't think I know most of the time. Well, if it makes you feel any better, I still feel that way too. I was gonna say, I mean, counselors with thirty years experience I'm sure still run into scenarios where it's like, I don't know what to do with that. I get real nervous from people who are overconfident in thinking that they do know everything. Right. Because each person that sits in front of us is an individual and their experiences has formulated and gotten them to where they are and who they are. And just
Just because you might have two very similar cases doesn't mean that both individuals are responding the same way, feel the same way, have the same, you know,
ideas about things. And so you cannot walk in there thinking you know everything. Yeah. Because you don't. I learn from my clients all the time. I learn from my associates all the time. The interns. It's you have to be open to lifelong learning.
Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Well and and and you know the the field is is just growing and and studying and learning so much more than even when I kind of stepped into this kind of
environment myself and and read the books that were available then versus the the stuff that's available now. I mean we've learned so much more and so you do you have to you have to be willing to you can't say well this is how we did it you know five ten years ago and so it's the way it's it's the right way. Yeah. You know, because they're we're learning so much so so fast.
What do you think has challenged you the most, Heather?
The not knowing. and the fears of making mistakes, doing the wrong thing. Yeah. You know, coming against my and I shouldn't say against coming up of on my my own trauma history is also something that I have to be really mindful of. But I think what we what I've learned is that
So many people have trauma. It may not always fit this mold over here or this mold over here. and so
challenging my perspective on what I'm seeing in front of me and knowing that it's probably not gonna go by the book. Like ever just like Bobbi said, every one of these individuals that sit in front of us are whole unique human beings that bring their own layers of things to the table. And my job is to listen and
and respond
in the situation that they're in. Yeah. And it not like there's a lot of amazing research back stuff that you can do, but it's still not gonna fit that mold every time. And my check off the box list, a little bit of perfectionist personality has to really be okay with sitting in the not knowing. And so it is like Bobbi said, it's forcing me to be to grow. And I
love learning anyway. So give me a book, let me learn something new. But I still want to know that I'm doing right by my client. And so knowing that the edges can be gray and I'm still in a good place. I'm still doing I'm still practicing with equity and fidelity is really important. Yeah.
Yeah. So yeah.
Let's kind of get nuts and bolts. Who are you serving now in the program? Are you are you serving just the kids, the parents? Who who are y'all serving? So in the situation. So I I have a responsibility of of getting an appropriate flow of exposure.
for the associates and the interns to meet their hours requirements. So in order to do that, I had to kinda think outside of the box a little bit.
so we all we do receive referrals for the intern program and the LPC Associate program internally from The Bridge clients that come through our doors. however, because we're talking about master's level students that are not licensed or newly licensed providers, I'm very selective about the kinds of cases that they get. Yeah. So yes, we may serve a huge population of people, but not all of those cases are appropriate fits for either non licensed learning.
Or newly licensed and still learning counselors. So primarily we're serving the non-offending caregivers and the siblings of the family. On occasion, we will have the direct victim as part of our program, depending on how severe the abuse was, and if this is a case that
may go to court, then that might not be a fit for our program. It might be a fit for one of our contract counselors who are fully licensed and more experienced. so I kind of weighed that out. We also work very closely with CPS's family-based safety program, FBSS And so those supervisors and their caseworkers will send referrals to me on families that they're working closely with as well. And so we've received them. And then we are also working closely
with High Plains Children's Home currently and their youth shelter. and they are calling us and one of my LPC associates is going there to see some of the kiddos there as well.
Heather, how do you think your understanding of trauma has changed and developed in your licensing process? That is a good question.
so I'll give you a little background why he even kind of went this way outside of my education. my husband's a firefighter. I have a kid that's a police officer, I have another son that's a firefighter, and a son-in-law that's firefighter. So I have this
also interesting niche of first responders who see a lot of trauma. Sure. And so when I initially was in school, I met with one of my professors and said, Hey, I really love this this niche of trauma. This would be a direction I would like to go. And initially she was very cautious with me, like I'm not sure that's the, you know, that's your family, your husband comes home. That's what you're dealing with all the time
I would be very mindful of that. then The Bridge came up with trauma. And so in my mind initially, I had an idea of trauma as like this one event that happens, or in the case of first responders, like we're seeing these events over and over, not secondary, not necessarily happening. To vicarious trauma. The vicarious trauma. And so when I went in, that was kind of my
idea of that we've had a someone that's been sexually abused or physically abused or and did not fully understand the layers of what abuse and trauma really look like. Right.
it was probably one of my first initial cases that you begin to realize it's not just this initial abuse that happened. It is the family home environment. It's mom's four boyfriends that have come in and out and done horrible things or just been neglectful. It's so much more than that initial that initial thing. So when you begin seeing a child
And I would even say an adult, if we're seeing a parent, it's not that thing brought them here. But oftentimes we have layers of other things that we need to address before even we get to that one, that trauma that got them there. And it's interesting to me, one of the things that I've noticed in my little bitty short career is that if I see a mom,
oftentimes they have very similar traumas to the child that it's a cycle, it's generational. And so it's so cool this program because where the availability of counselors was not readily available without it now we have the ability for me to see the caregiver
Of a kiddo that needs to go see Lynn Jennings because of her type of abuse, but I can help mom. I can help mom guide her through it, help her support her child. And so you begin to see how important supporting the whole family becomes in that. And I had no idea. Like I would not have known that coming in, and yet my desire to help.
you realize you really do have this the ability to change generations right in what we're doing at The Bridge. Yeah. And it's so powerful when you can step back and go, wow, this kid may not choose
may be able to say you don't get to touch me there or whatever, you know, body safety things because mom was got hit her help and son got his help and now this next generation, they're making better choices. They have tools to actually work with. And man, like that's what gives you cold chills and that's what keeps you going when it's really hard.
Yeah. Sure. Yeah.
So I and this is a question for both of you because this is something I've wondered is, you know, you're both you're carrying heavy loads, right? These patients are coming in and they have, you know, just so much pain. Like what do you do with that? how do you how does it not I mean you talked earlier about counselors burning out, but
how do you not just carry this heavy heavy load?
So
I literally just did a training for our multidisciplinary team on secondary traumatic stress and how to manage that and how to navigate it, especially working child abuse cases. so Dr. Lynn Jennings did her dissertation when she was going for her PhD on secondary traumatic stress for our multidisciplinary team. And so we've been teaching it to our team for about eleven years. And so I know it well, but knowing something and putting it into practice is not always the same thing. I don't always give follow my own advice exactly well.
however, number one I think is quality relationships with other people who do this work. Yeah. our supervision weekly and as Heather indicated.
whenever needed. not even just supervision, but the conversations. The conversations with people who get it. The conversations with people who are safe to talk to. Yeah. That we can ethically talk to. Yep. that's a huge, huge variable. because we need to talk through it. We need to process it. We can't just sit with it in our brains because our imaginations are wild. And we can sit and ruminate and and just regurgitate things over and over and over again in an unhelpful way. Yeah. So having somebody to talk
To about it appropriate is first and foremost. I'm gonna say the cliche of self-care because it's true. Yeah, it's true, but you've got to find that balance. And in that self-care, I'm gonna add boundaries. Having healthy boundaries is really critical. And if you have a trauma history of your own, which many people do in a helping profession, statistically, it's just the odds are pretty high. Yeah. get help for that. Get help for that because you cannot
effectively help people if you haven't worked through your own issues. Yeah. You know, and so those are some big ones right there. I'll tell you more practical like yes to all of that. and that's one thing Bobbi's created for us as associates is we can pop in and be like, well this just happened.
And the fact too that it talk just talking to the having healthy relationships with people doing the same work very initially, I shared with Bobbi my trauma history and said, I've I have worked through this, we've done I've done the work, but I know that that's gonna come up. There's gonna be things that come up and
but I needed her to know because she's walking this journey with me. So that was really important. for me, making sure I'm getting enough rest, that I'm having my own journaling and quiet time in the mornings, my boundaries, which Bobbi can attest is something I'm always working on. Right. just how I'm scheduling my own self, making sure that I've got, you know, time that I'm being mindful of what I'm needing.
in school I did this and I find myself doing the same thing here is when I leave, I visualize myself taking off a coat that I've worn while I'm there. And sometimes those coats get a lot of rocks in the pockets and I don't need to carry them home with me. And so when I can remind myself to take it off and leave it there, and then I love to crochet and knit and the repetition of that kind of helps me unconsciously separate things out.
They need to be interesting. And so about putting things in order. Yes. Yeah. It's like helped me put things in order. And I'm not consciously thinking about it, but it's really helped me once I kind of figured out that was something that was good for me. it's just I usually will come home and I'll just sit and knit for 10 15 minutes. I try to do that, it doesn't always happen. Sure. but like especially nights that my
husband might be at the station. I need to come home because I'm coming home by myself with whatever I've heard. And so I try to be super mindful about that. And so practical things that I go, yep, I've you know, I'm doing this so that I can be who God called me to be really and healthy myself. Yep.
Do you know do you all know how many roughly families that that you guys are providing counseling for in a given year?
I'm certainly. I should have looked that number up. so when we do our annual statistics, sometimes the number is not accurately reflected in how we're reporting, depending on who the reporting source is, who's asking for the content, right? Yeah. So one of our
literatures in the agency says that last year we funded 150 counseling sessions but though the key word there is funded because since we're a nonprofit and we function off of grants we have to be payer of last resort so if a family has insurance we're going to try to plug them into a council that takes their insurance. So that that number is not reflected in that count.
Definitely hundreds in a given year. Hundreds. I would probably venture to say easily between three and four hundred.
We see more families than that, but not all families accept counseling referrals. Yeah. Or go on to secure their counseling appointments. or some of them come and they already have counseling. So they're not really being counted in how we're kind of measuring. because whoever they're seeing isn't part of our team for us to be able to kind of get that information. Right. so but I would say at least three to four hundred maybe in the intern and practicum and internship program and the LPC associate program.
Every semester it kind of fluctuates. since we've been existing in the past three years, I would say that we've easily served about at least a hundred, maybe a little bit more.
So so let's talk future. What is the mental health program at The Bridge look like next year, five years, ten years down the road?
So we're in the process of a capital campaign right now, which I'm sure you've heard about from our other colleagues. so in our current facility, when it was built, there was like six employees at The Bridge at that time. And the building was huge for those six people. But we are now about nineteen, nineteen twenty.
And people are stacked up in offices. You know, as a clinical director, I get my own office, but I share my office with all four LPC associates and my master's interns. So it's a nice space, but it's definitely not enough space when we're all there together. we don't have counseling offices. Right. So we use the employee offices for counseling, which means we have to ask people for their space. Yeah. So our our leadership team will offer
And work from home to allow that space to be available. and some of our employees, if we need more, they may
go room share with somebody else and stack up in there or go work in our break room or something like that. the agency has altered their operation hours to accommodate our Tuesday evening internship program. So our first appointment on Tuesday evening starts at four o'clock typically and the agency closes at four o'clock so that we have all of the offices available to us. Right. So so in this process, with this new building, we will have an entire area dedicated to counseling.
Love that. And so there will be full-time offices available. and that allows us to increase our operational hours for mental health services.
Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. So I see that growing. I mean, you know, an office is not in my experience, an office doesn't have the same kind of feel as a therapy room. Yeah. So so in in my private practice, my office was my therapy room, but it was designed accordingly. Right. You know, I had my desk and I had my office stuff over there on the desk.
But I had very much like this, like a living room. My my style is to have this very conversational relationship, this very informal conversation with my clients. And so chairs, coffee table, you know, things like that for adults and teens. But then for the littles, I also had to have toys and all of that. But when I was in private, because I did couples as well, you know, you don't want to sit there and talk about your marriage problems with Candyland in front of you. You know, you kind of want to feel like you're in a serious space, so I had to find ways to do that.
In our offices currently at The Bridge, you know, these offices are functional for the staff. Right. And so we do have our counselors kind of carry in toys and other tools needed for the client that they're about to see. but it's just not ideal. Yeah. It's not ideal. And then it's other people's stuff, right? So I tell the staff, thank you so much for your space. I promise we will keep it clean, but I can't promise that kids won't touch things and we'll put back exactly where you had it, because I
Yeah. Yeah. So what's the time frame on that? Do you know? I mean last number I heard, you broke ground on it, right? Well, we we did a ceremonial groundbreaking in April because it was child abuse prevention month. And we wanted to kind of tie that in. Yeah. Dirt Works I believe starts in a couple of weeks officially. And last date I heard was hopefully to be in the building October of twenty seventh. Okay. Which is not that far from now. Fifteen months or so for.
15 months. Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah. That's very cool. And I know that I the last numbers that I heard it was it was like 85% funded. So we'll put a link down for the donate link for you guys if if somebody you know feels that way. I just think it's it's great again having
You know, all the different cause if I remember right, there's there's like gonna be an office for the police department in Yeah, we're gonna co house with the law enforcement and CPS who work these cases. So they're gonna be in completely it's all under one roof but separate buildings, so to speak. I tend to call them wings. I don't know if I'm the only person doing that, but I call them wings. Right, right. and so they're gonna have there's gonna be secure doors to kind of keep them separate when needed. but yeah, the plan
is to have all of us so close together that we can more effectively work these cases, more effectively build these relationships and and communicate and just have one facility serving. Yeah. I love the direction it's going. I think it's I think it's really really awesome to, you know, like you said, the
There's just there I know the personal experience, there's nowhere near enough counselors that have the experience to help folks that are dealing with either their childhood trauma or their child's trauma and that kind of stuff. There's just not, you know, so many of them are booked way out.
They are. In fact, I was looking through my paperwork because I have just read a research article about
Timing for counseling, right? So with this program we have
effectively reduce the amount of referrals to our contract providers that are less in need of their specialization and expertise and experience. So as I mentioned before, the non-offitting caregivers, maybe the siblings, not the direct victims, are getting served largely by our LPC associates and by our intern program when that's running. So that's less referrals going out to our community counselors, right? And so the community counselors are being reserved for the more complicated
Cases. Right. And so one of the research articles I was just reading, it says, I'm going to pull this up because I don't have it memorized yet. It says a recent study found that 11% of youth report suicidality within 90 days of their disclosure. And of that group, over 20% have actually attempted suicide in that window of time. Goodness. So when we have a completely congested referral.
pipeline with a limited amount of community counselors who are specialized in this work. Yeah. The wait lists could be anywhere between a month to three months. Yeah. And when you look at those numbers, they need to be seen. Yes, they need much sooner attention. So we're able to facilitate that better with the dynamics we have going on right now. and so what is the
the landscape in the twenty six counties. I mean, because you know, you you may have a family coming in from Perryton, right? I mean there because there's like no resources, very, very few resources outside of Amarillo. I mean and so, you know So a lot of our families are driving. Yeah. They're driving to Amarillo for their services. Now we have satellite offices. So we have one in Herford, we have one in Clarendon, Dumas and
Pampa. Okay. Okay. Now those offices are not manned full time. Sure. but a bigger picture goal is also to utilize the LPC associates and any as as they graduate and move in, as we have funding available to hire them as LPCs, maybe one day, right? to be able to have them go out to those satellite offices and hold office hours so the families aren't having to drive all the way into Amarillo for their services. Because you have to remember that counseling is not like a dentist appointment or an
Eye doctor appointment where you go like twice a year. Yeah, yeah. We're talking about weekly or every other week, and it's a lot for a family, you know. being able to offer these services through The Bridge, because services offered through The Bridge directly are at no cost to families, right? Our grants supply that. and so if we can get that going, we can help families. Not we don't have a lot of families actually that aren't uninsured, most of them are Medicaid.
But of course, lots of other insurances as well. But if we can get these families served through us, where there's not billing, we're not worrying about deductibles, we're not worrying about co-pays, we're not worrying about gas. Because if you have to choose between those costs and your groceries for the week, people are going to meet their basic needs all the time first. And so the landscape currently is very sparse in our rural communities. We want to better utilize our satellite offices.
And then, you know, with that, we are also slowly starting to improve on our telehealth services being offered. Heather's a big variable in that. She she and I were very similar where we I I'm old school and I don't prefer telehealth. I'm not And neither did she until I sent her through some training that she really felt you you speak to that. Well, you know, I was teaching during COVID.
And then that shift that started coming, we've got these Chromebooks, we're going to use them. And I went I my first telehealth client it was a good fail. I saw this client
Every other week in person, but they were also driving from out of town. So we were attempting to use telehealth with a teenager. And it was a little difficult and I did not feel like I had the skills to do it. So I told Bobbi I was like, I don't like this. I'm not gonna do this. I don't think there's you know, I it's just not for me. And you did have a basic training at that point I did. I had require that before they are able to do telehealth, but it still isn't
as in-depth as it could be. It could be. And so there is a organization that they're up in the north somewhere like out in the middle of Minnesota where there's nothing. Right. And these kids that are coming into their agency, they have to have it or they get nothing. So they have kind of perfected this idea of doing telehealth. And so I watched one of their three hour trainings and I my aha moment was my gosh
really isn't much different than teaching online. Yeah. and so I said, I I might be willing to play with this with adults. Let's start with some moms. And we did. And I currently have one, I think that's I have five that I see telehealth. They're parents, they're moms, but they wouldn't be getting anything without. Yeah. And so man, it's super cool. Yeah. Because there are ways and we do have the technology to do it. Yeah. And
And so I just kind of went, pulled out my teacher hat and started creating some slides and some interactives and this is what we do. we're working currently on doing all digital forms so that we just email them and they email them back. But right now I mail them old school. Or if they're in the Amarilla area, they'll stop by and pick them up and fill out all our paperwork. And I have a set of papers that I like them to have that we reference through. And I just like for me that.
If I can get that into their hands, then we can do the sessions that we need. And when they do come to Amarillo, they'll stop by and I get to meet them for the first time. And that's just the neatest thing. But what I learned was is that people are desperate for it. Right. And you can still connect. Yeah. And it's better than no connection. Absolutely. And so that's why that's why, you know, our you talk about the connection. Our podcast, All Things Foster, a place for coffee connection community, right? Because we
You know, the hope in this podcast is, you know, foster families are so busy, they're so overwhelmed that it at the minimum they can they can listen to, you know, stories of other foster and adoptive families and resources that are out there for families and stuff. And no, it's not the same as sitting across s from the coffee table with somebody, but it is
Something. And it's it's connection. I mean you hear someone have a similar story or whatever. And like for me, some goal within that is of these five clients that I've got, they all have
their own connection if they all knew each other. And so like long term speaking in my brain, I would love to be able to do online groups with these moms that are in all these counties in the panhandle wouldn't don't have the time because they're working and they have all these children and they're really the resources to drive. Yeah. But if you can meet online, then they find some camaraderie and some I'm not alone in this and
this person might really understand and be able to relate. And that's just we need that. They need that. And so it's really cool the thing that I thought I wouldn't do is the thing that I'm finding I have a lot of creative ability to be able to help people that couldn't get help otherwise. And so that's been a really fun way to get to serve people. Yeah. That if we stayed traditional and the way we've always done it, then we wouldn't be able to
Help people and then looking forward, change generations of children coming up behind. And those are the kids that are gonna be in our communities doing the things in the future.
Absolutely. So so that you kind of answered a question I was gonna ask, which is what gives you hope. You kind of answered some of that. But Bobbi, what about you? What is it about the work that you're doing that really gives you hope?
So from a professional counseling capacity as far as the training counselors, I love watching counselors and interns grow and their eyes light up with the reward of helping somebody heal. When when you see progress, even if it's small
It's so rewarding and so encouraging and so inspiring. So what gives me hope for the counseling community is this program is guiding people into this niche area of this profession in a way that makes them feel capable and supported. in terms of the clients that we serve, I've had the privilege of walking with hundreds of children.
from childhood into adulthood. Yeah. And seeing their growth and seeing their healing, every now and then we're given a gift of them giving us feedback. Because as counselors, we don't get a lot of feedback actually. but every now and then I get the gift of somebody coming up to me in the grocery store saying, You helped my daughter. Yeah. Or somebody saying
I stood up to this person because of what you told me. Right. That is such a privilege and a gift that I will always cherish and it just keeps me going. It sustains me for certain.
For sure. For sure, for sure. What for me it's like I don't get to do nearly as many placement package deliveries as I used to do them all. And so but I'll tell Jennifer, my coordinator, I'm like, hey, I'm gonna go do this one because I mean, this is why I started. I didn't start this organization to like do spreadsheets.
budgets and all this stuff and you started it to to help people and so getting that you know getting that that feedback that says you you changed my life
yes that's yeah and it's not about me so much it's just knowing that the training that I've had and the passion that I have and the gift that God's given me to help people has all come together to truly do his work. Right. And that is so that is just overwhelming yeah in a good
way. Yeah. you know, and it's just it's an area that I love watching people thrive in it. Yeah. And I hope it keeps going. I hope it keeps going for years to come.
You know, another area that I think is something that we are learning, they haven't gotten a whole lot of court exposure yet, is learning how to help a victim through their court process and process that emotionally. especially if I had one recently that was not guilty and that was very, very devastating for that victim. Being able to walk through that with her and reframe some of her thinking or at least give her tools to try to reframe her thinking about it and and in terms of
That hope is that's an example of somebody who came back to me and said, You said this and that that really helped me through it. And and that was half the time I don't remember what I say. That's that's it's a God thing. It's kind of
Yeah. It's it's it it gives me lots of hope for our future. For sure. For sure. And and just the the like we've talked about it, but the generational impact of training up more and more counselors and then those those are just helping that many more individuals get work through their traumas and things like that. I mean that's just that is that is you talk about a regional long term impact. Yeah. Thousands. Much like yourself when you said you don't get to do so many packages delivering packages anymore. I don't have a caseload.
anymore right because of the development commitment that I have and how much time it takes because I'm running the interim program but I also facilitate supervision for our support services supervisor at The Bridge who supervises our family advocates our data department you know our family creator position and so there's a lot of other things that I have on my plate that I don't have the capacity to give the commitment that's required for these types of cases anymore. So that makes me a little bit sad yeah because that was very
Very
rewarding, but at the same time I know that me shifting from that is making a difference in other ways that I otherwise could not have. Right. Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, and it's a gift to have someone watching over you that has the years of experience she has and the connections that she has. And so it's her own generational giving back and giving that up and pouring into us to make that river bigger. Yeah.
As a visual. because it's
You know, I have friends that went through counseling programs and didn't come out on the other side in the way that I have where a supervisor is concerned. Cause it is a relationship and a rather long term one when you have to do this many hours. But like what a gift she is to the community and to The Bridge to give up what something that she loves and finds joy and and hope in to pour into others to
Walk that same journey behind her. Like she's walked the trenches before and cut down the bushes, her and the Jennings and some others in town. But we get to follow behind and continue the work in a different way. And it's a joy and an honor to be with her in that way. and catching the vision that she and Shelly set forth and be like, I think sometimes I'll come in and I'm like, my gosh.
We could do this too. And she has to remind me to settle down. First let's do something. Let's get the room for it first. Exactly. Exactly. Let's get the funding for it first. Yeah. But to be able to cast the vision for us to fall in with that and see that in our future for Amarillo and the panhandle because it's really needed. And so it's exciting to be a part of it inception. Yes, yes.
That's that's what I love too, is to be a part of it from its basically from its inception. Yeah. you weren't in the very first or second semester, I think you were in the third semester.
Somewhere in there. Somewhere in there. It wasn't the very, very first person. You were very, you know, I mean, you're one of the originals, the OGs. And I remember that for I don't know, the first couple of weeks I went home and my husband was like, How is it? And I said, This is like it's terrifying, yes, I'll be honest. But it's also the place that I knew that was waiting for me. And so when I was done and I graduated, like when I got my test results that I passed, she was the first.
Place I went, I was like come barging into The Bridge. my gosh, I passed. but when that was offered to me, that I could come back and work as an associate under her was, I mean, we had lots of conversations about the logistics because it was brand new. but to be a part of the beginning of something that can radically change what we're doing in this area is a very powerful and humbling experience. Absolutely. I'm like a proud mama. I have I have their I have four LPC associates that I
supervise and I have all of their license up on my wall like a refrigerator with the kids are excited. Yeah it is it's really really really amazing.
So very cool. Very cool. Well I I'm super grateful that you guys came on and shared just you know the work that you're doing because I do think that it's incredibly important. in the trenches being willing to to kind of get down in the mud with
kiddos and families that are that are
They're in a tough spot. And so I just I I appreciate the work that you're doing. I appreciate you taking the time out to kind of tell our listeners what all's going on there. I'm super, super excited to see where things go and I really appreciate it. Well, we were super excited to come. Very honored. I you can wind me up and let me go talking about this program. Well yeah, you're passionate about it. We want to see see these families have help. You know, I mean if you if you've been in it since two thousand el eleven.
Then you know like
the dryness, the the limited of availability of support there was back then. Yes. And and that and not that there's a plethora now, but that it is becoming more accessible for more people. Yeah. And and really 2011 is when I got my license, but I had you when I think about practical and internship, I went all as far back as 2008. Yeah. So Yeah. So it's I mean you've seen a lot of change and a lot of growth in the just in the in the
availability and stuff of of support for for families that are kind of going through hell. So it's awesome. Well I really appreciate it, ladies. Thank you so much for coming. Thanks for having us. Absolutely.
Guys, we just a reminder, thank you to Sundy for your sponsorship. If you're if you're needing a mortgage, definitely check her out. Guys go to our website and check out check out the work that we're doing. It's www.panhandleorphan.org
We need we need support. Every nonprofit needs funding to survive and to for us to be able to provide more and more placement packages each year. there's about six hundred kids that come into care in the 26 counties a year. And so we've done like 88 placement packages this year. The goal is 250.
But we need we need folks to step up and help with that. So $100 a month is we call it our placement package partners. A hundred bucks buys us all the clothes we need for a placement package. And fifty dollars buys us a a case of diapers and ten dollars buys us an outfit. So if you're interested in helping us out in that way, then go to our website, check it out, www.panhandleorphan.org Guys, thanks so much for tuning in to all things foster. We'll catch you next week.
Comments