Let the Story Begin

      So today begins the journey of two social work students embarking on a journey in to the unknown, simple because we don't know what the hell we doing, well kinda. Myself and my partner Natasha are doing a documentary called, (get this) "Healing for the Healer". Kinda catchy, I thought you'd dig it.

Well the concept is to document the health of some mental health works. We are going to take a look at an outpatient program that provides therapy and other services for the homeless and runaway youth population of San Diego. I have worked in this program for about 2.5 years. We do amazing work if I do say so myself, but what intrigued me about this subject matter was recognizing that I have some pretty cool co-workers. I can honestly say we come from many different walks of life, but it works to the benefit of the youth we serve. We have had different leadership which has enabled me to see the difference in how effective leadership can change for whole atmosphere of a work environment. I have established some very meaningful relationships with some of my co-workers that truly influence who I am as a person. We learn and grow through each other. At times it really feels like we're a family.

But beyond all that, I wanted to take a look at how theses mental health workers are able to stay healthy. Dealing with such things as burn out and vicarious traumatization, along with many of our own personal issues. I spend 4 years in the field of alcohol and substance abuse. For many years, it was field where many of the counselors were also previous addicts. And although the overall mental health field is not exactly the same, we still have daily issues of family, relationships, health, work demands and personal ambitions that we deal with on a daily basis, that the people we service never know about. We have all find ways to cope. We have challenges on our jobs because policies that are made that impact us, as well as our clients, some for the better, though it feels that most are for the worse.

So we are looking to tell this story to anyone who will listen. I would like us to take an artistic approach to this venture, maybe add some spoken word, or get creative with some of the cinematography. But the first challenge will be finding what footage to bring down to this 15mins of film that we will need share. So we will see.

Let the story begin..