My clinical/practicum experience

This is a summary of my clinical/practicum experience, I need help with the intervention.

Day one:

          JA is a 50 year old mother of 3 children. She lives in the community and we attend the same church. She has a history of mental illness which was well managed and under control for some years. According to her, her mental state started getting worse as the number of Covid 19 cases went up. She was so worried about what will happen to her kids if anything happens to her. Things got worst after she was fired from her job due to poor performance.

         I spent a good portion of my 2 practicum hours listening and gathering some background information of the patient. I choose JA because we attend the same church and her diagnosis just happen to be what my Capstone Project is about. In addition to that I wanted to know what people especially women with mental issues go through in the community. The first meeting went smoothly, though she was trying to hold back information for fear of being misjudge and treated differently, she was more vulnerable towards the end.

Day Two

         The individual I met with is called JA. She is a single mother of three children (9, 10 and 13 years) battling depression and anxiety. She is currently unemployed but she is receiving unemployment benefit due to her health condition.

        During our meeting, JA refused to have experienced any serious safety events due to her health problems. Her biggest problem is the safety and wellbeing of her children. According to her, when her condition returned, her kids were left unsupervised for longer periods of time and occasionally, the 13 years old had to take care of the younger ones. Currently, her 68 years old mother live with her to help out. She has been in the ED once since August of 2020 which ended up in a three nights hospital stay. After the hospital stay, she was visiting her Psychiatrist twice a month, but as of now the visits are monthly through Telehouse. JA is currently on three medications for depression and anxiety, she said the medications makes her feels sick, anxious and her mouth feels dry some times. She also gets psychotherapy every other week. She has U-care through the state of Minnesota which covers her doctor’s visits and treatments, she has a small co-pay for her medications. According to JA, she feels much better than when her symptoms started.

Day three:

         Today was a very interesting day, I met Miss JA’s mother and all of her three children. The kids were outside playing, while her mom supervise them. Miss JA was in the kitchen making lunch when I walk in. She seem very excited that I was there. She asked/answered questions without any hesitation and was very appreciative of the time we spent together.

         Today I learned a little bit more about Miss JA, beside Depression and Anxiety, she also has hypertension. She uses an automatic blood pressure monitor to check her blood pressure and heart rate every morning before taking her blood pressure medications. She also checks and text a set of vitals to her doctor before their virtual meeting. According to JA, the use of technology especially during this pandemic period has made it easier for her to communicate with doctors/therapists and hence manage her condition better. JA uses zoom, tele health and tele therapy to connect with the doctors and therapists for treatment, she also communicate through text messages and emails. In combination to her medications, she attends psychotherapy sessions every other week at the treatment center, she has the option to attend it through tele therapy or zoom but she prefers face to face visit with the therapist. Transportation is not a problem anymore as she can safely drive herself, at times, her mom or a friend drops and picks her up. JA attends a support group through Lee Carlson Center for Mental Health and Wellbeing. They bring hope, healing and health to the community. Their mission is to support the mental health of every one they encounter. She also attends a bible base support group once a week at our local church. These support groups provides emotional, food/shelter and coping strategies to the mentally affected and their families.