Blog 22: Senior Project Reflection

(1)Positive Statement
Something I'm most proud of is that I've been able to progress throughout these couple months. My 10 minute presentation, and 30 minute presentation were alright, but I feel like I did a lot better during my block presentation because I actually knew what I was talking about.

(2) Questions to Consider
a. I would give myself a P. I think I managed to hit every point that I was supposed to.

b. I would probably give myself a P- just because I started lagging on getting stuff done and I didn't try my hardest on certain components.

(3) Something that really worked for me during my senior project was taking research checks and the iSearch Paper seriously. At first I felt like they were tedious and pointless tasks, but when it came down to my final presentation, I was able to get everything done and organize myself because of those two components.

(4) Something I would have done differently is definitely my mentorship. I wasn't able to find an actual substance abuse counselor, but if I had asked my friends and teachers for help, I probably would have, and I probably would have been more knowledgeable too.

(5) The Senior Project has helped me because it's allowed me to step out of my comfort zone and take initiative to finding the answers I need. I'm not the type of person who will just go up to any person and talk them, but I had to for this project. Looking for interviews and mentorship  forced me to be able to talk to professional adults and not feel intoimidated, even after I was turned down.

Blog 21: Mentorship

Content:

LIA Response to blog:

    Literal

·     Log of specific hours with a total and a description of your duties updated on the right hand side of your blog

Okay.

·     Contact Name and Mentorship Place
Isabel Godoy, Soledad Enrichment Action.

 

    Interpretive

     What is the most important thing you gained from this experience? Why?
The most important thing I gained from this experience is the opportunity to put myself in the shoes of a counselor and experience firsthand what it takes and how much effort you have to put into improving someone else's life. Although I don't plan on majoring in Psychology, this project has opened the door to me having future connections and experience/knowledge about a topic that is worth going into, if I ever change my mind.

   Applied

     How has what you’ve done helped you to answer your EQ?  Please explain.
This helped me answer my EQ because I got to work with a lot of different counselors that have dealt with a lot of different clients and I was able to listen to their feedback and take advice from them and interpret it into a way that fit my essential question. All these counselors deal specifically with adolescents, which was a plus, because it made it evident how this problem is so huge yet unnoticed amongst young adults. Not only was I able to get insight from my mentor, but I was also able to get insight from her coworkers, which helped a lot.

Blog 20: Exit Interview

Content:

(1) What is your essential question and answers?  What is your best answer and why?

Essential Question: How can a drug rehab counselor best help a teen with a history of substance abuse?

1st answer: Implement behavioral therapies

2nd answer: Create a personalized treatment plan based around the clients situation

3rd answer: Implement medication assisted treatment

My best answer is my 2nd answer, to create a personalized treatment plan based around the clients situation. The reason I chose this as my best answer is because although my 1st and 3rd answers are effective, they are too general and are not able to help the patient to the best of its ability. Implementing behavioral therapies is only one of many steps required in order to allow the patient to recover and isnt able to sustain itself on its own. For my third answer, medication is only used to treat opioid addiction, but those addicted to opioid only cover a small percentage of the addict population. Creating a personalized treatment plan ensures that the patient is receiving all the care that they need in order to treat every aspect in their life so that they're able to fully recover and remain sober. 

(2) What process did you take to arrive at this answer?

I noticed my answers came as my research progressed and became more in depth. After doing tons of foundation research, I noticed that behavioral therapies were the most commonly mentioned, from a bunch of different sources. Every site that I went to said the same thing, that behavioral therapies are effective in the treatment of substance abuse. Every piece of research that I had on that only kept reassuring my answer, so that's why I picked my first answer.

 As for my second answer, this came after my first independent component. My first independent component was very research based, and i spent those 30 hours doing research, watching documentaries, reading books from the library and reading stories from addicts themselves who shared how they were able to get over their addiction. There was one specific article by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, called "Principles of Effective Treatment," where I was first introduced to this answer. After I completed my first independent component and had done hours from mentorship, I concluded this answer made a lot of sense and should definitely be included. My mentor has to follow certain guidelines when counseling, but she also told me that following those guidelines don't work for everyone, and often times the treatment has to be adjusted and altered to better fix their situation. Numerous articles of research also reinforced the idea, and that's how I chose my second answer.

For my third answer, this one came from strictly research, but was later backed up by my second component, which was attending NA meetings. I was hesitant on picking this as my third answer because it seemed very controversial, but after reading numerous articles and hearing multiple people talk about their positive experience with this treatment, I figured it could definitely be an option.

(3) What problems did you face?  How did you resolve them?

I'm not going to lie and say pursuing this topic was a breeze, because it definitely wasn't. My topic originally wasn't substance abuse counseling, it was counseling at risk youth. But after an EQ meeting, the teachers decided it was too general and I needed to narrow it down, so I chose substance abuse. However, my mentor worked with teens struggling with substance abuse, but didn't study substance abuse specifically. So i had to go on a hunt and find a different mentor after my topic change. I visited and called numerous sites in Pomona, but none of them ever got back to me, even after I tried contacting them again. This went on for about a month, until I eventually just gave up. I continued doing mentorship with my current mentor, but asked her if anyone else could help me. Luckily, she said she knew people that worked with her, and they were able to mentor me and give me the information I needed.

(4) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?

I would say

Website:

National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Book:

Substance Abuse: Information for School Counselors, etc.

Person:

My mentor, Isabel Godoy.

Blog 19: Independent Component 2

LITERAL
(a) “I, Stephanie Salas, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.

(b) Cite your source regarding who or what article or book helped you complete the independent component.

Fish, Gary. Harrison, Thomas. "Substance Abuse: Information for School Counselors, Social Workers, Therapists, and Counselors." Massachusetts: A Pearson Education Company. 2000. Print.

(c) Provide a digital spreadsheet (aka log of the 30 hours).   Post it next to your mentorship log.
(d) Explanation of what you completed.    
For my independent component i did a combination of attending NA Meetings and mentorship. Throughout the month of April, I attended NA meetings 3 times a week, two hours each, for 4 weeks. Narcotics Anonymous Meetings are a support group that are designed specifically for those dealing with drug addiction. They are based off of the Twelve Steps and Traditions, which were first used in Alcoholics Anonymous. The meetings that I attended were at two different sites: One was a residential treatment facility called BHS Recovery Center, and the second was a building on Holt Ave. I was able to sit in and observe how these meetings functioned.

INTERPRETIVE 
Defend your work and explain how the significant parts of your component and how it demonstrates 30 hours of work.   Provide evidence (photos, transcript, art work, videos, etc) of the 30 hours of work.  

This is a picture of BHS Recovery Center, the residential treatment center where they hold NA Meetings. It's actually right down the street from iPoly so that's convenient. The meetings also usually start at 7:30 P.M., which is why you can see the sun setting in the background.

Unfortunately they did not allow me to take pictures while the meeting was taking place. BUT i was able to sneakily take one. At this center, since it was a residential treatment facility, the room was split into two sections. One section, the one where I was sitting, is the seating for the public or for people who are new. On the other side that wasn't photographed, however, is the seating for all the addicts who are currently residing here. In this photo, you can see a speaker in front of the room. And also, in back of him are two posters: One is the Twelve Steps, and the other is the Twelve Traditions At every meeting that I attended, an alumni who had remained sober for a number of years came up to talk about everything that he/she went through meanwhile their battle, and why the Twelve Step system helped him/her remain sober.

I did not take these pictures, but it is an exact replica of the posters that were hung up in BHS. In every meeting, they went over one specific step, and a different speaker came up and talked about his/her own experiences and consistently referred back to that step as being a vital factor of them overcoming their addiction.

This is where I do my other hours. It's at the SEA Charter School in Pomona, and it's held at St. Paul's Lutheran Church. 

Teresa handed me this stash of files and told me to get busy on inputting and sorting. The files include documents that social workers, probation officers, and counselors have to fill out when dealing with their client. I still have a lot left to do.

APPLIED
How did the component help you answer your EQ? Please include specific examples to illustrate how it helped. 
This component helped me answer my EQ because it taught me how effective support groups are, which is a type of behavioral therapy, which relates back to my first answer. Throughout listening to the speakers talk about their personal experiences, I noticed that they referred a lot to what I had already learned through research. They mentioned over and over that addiction is a disease, and it takes constantly falling down and pushing yourself back up to overcome it. They also mentioned that they were grateful for being given the opportunity to go through treatment, and without it they would have never changed. From what I noticed, everyone attending the NA Meetings all treat each other like family. Even I, who was no one but an observer, was treated with respect. And after every meeting, they all hugged in a group and recited the goal of NA, which I thought was comforting and intriguing.

March Extra Post

I've been doing a lot of my own research lately, but it's more like watching TV Shows, documentaries, youtube videos, etc. and I recently came across a video that I thought was quite interesting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54na9_oMPKA

Lindsay Lohan is known as a "trainwreck" for "ruining her life" by letting drugs consume her, but she recently came out on the Oprah Show and talked about how she's managed to stay sober. I thought it was quite an uplifting story to look into instead of all the negative stories we tend to hear.

But besides that, the fourth interview is due next week! And i think I might have found a person to interview, but I am going to go again tomorrow to confirm.

It's at the American Recovery Center in Pomona. It's literally right in between my house and iPoly and i'm so mad that I barely found it. Better late than never though, right? But yeah, here's a picture!

Blog 18: Third Answer

Content:

Just like you did for answer 1 and 2 post your:

• EQ

How can a drug rehab counselor best help a teen with a history of substance abuse?

• Answer #3 (Write in a complete sentence like a thesis statement)

The best way for a drug rehab counselor to help a teen with a history of substance abuse is by combining medication with their treatment.

• 3 details to support the answer (a detail is a fact and an example)

- Detoxification is an important part of a treatment plan because it eliminates the drugs from the body and it also gets rid of the physical dependency. However, there are withdrawal symptoms and medications can be used to help the patient cope.

- They are effective in helping the addicted teen to stabilize their lives and reduce drug use.

Ex: Those addicted to heroin are given methadone during treatment.

-Drug abuse treatment must address brain changes caused by a long history of abuse, which requires the use of medication.

• The research source (s) to support your details and answer

SAMHSA: The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

National Institute on Drug Abuse

• Concluding Sentence

The best way for a drug rehab counselor to help a teen with a history of substance abuse is by combining medication with their treatment because they help the patient learn to cope without the illegal drug by getting rid of the physical dependency.

Fourth Interview Questions

Content:

Post 20 open-ended questions for approval you want to ask an expert in the field of your senior project.  The focus of your questions should be on your many answers.

1. How can a drug rehab counselor best help a teen with a history of substance abuse?

2.What should counselors be aware of when helping a teen dealing with substance abuse?

3. What are the steps that need to be taken in order to put a teen into a treatment program?

4. Why are treatment programs necessary in helping a teen dealing with addiction?

5.  What is the best way to prevent a teen from relapsing during rehab treatment?

6. Are there different types of therapies that work better depending on the substance that is being abused?

7. How cooperative are teens during treatment?

8. How effective is Narcotics Anonymous?

9. Which drug is the most commonly abused amongst teens?

10. How do you keep teens motivated to continue treatment?

11, How big of a role does medication play in treating the addiction?

12. How big of a role does family counseling play in treating addiction?

13. How many different types of therapies are there?

14. Of those, which do you consider to be the most effective and why?

15. What is the best type of therapy to approach those who are dealing with addiction?

16. What are some questions to avoid when dealing with a client?

17. Which specific drug, in your experience, has the worst effect on the clients you've worked with and why do you think that is?

18. What are some stories that your clients have gone through that have stuck with you forever?

19. What is your number one priority when it comes to helping these struggling with substance abuse?

20. How many teens that complete treatment remain sober after?