Transcription
Hello Jordan. It's nice to meet you again. I want to thank you for coming to our second session. Uh, I first off want to explain a few things. I wanted to again ask you if it was okay if I record this session.
>> Yes, it is.
>> Thank you. And I also wanted to remind you of our HIPPO policy that everything that we say here is confidential. Uh, I cannot give out any information unless you resign a release to do so. And you can also limit who and what information I give even on a release.
So, in our last session, we talked about your food insecurities and we also talked about the transportation issues that you were facing with uh getting to work and also doing the things that you needed to do with your social life with your friends. So, I wanted to kind of give you an update on the things that I have been working on and what I was able to do. I was able to get some bus passes for you. And what kind of bus passes these are are 30-day bus passes. I was able to acquire three of those for you. And what these do, each bus pass is good for 30 days. So, these will be good for 90 days for you. And with the 30-day pass, you are able to ride the bus as many times as you want in a single day. There is no limit. And once that 30 days is up, you would discard that card and then go to the next card and use it in the same fashion.
I also researched some charitable organizations in your area. Uh, food pantries are what I want to talk about now. So, I looked into some food pantries that we can uh that you can have access to to help with the food insecurities that you're going on. Uh, I looked up information of kind of the things that they are able to provide and most of them provide non-perishable food, but there are some that provide perishable food. So, I wanted to give you information on those so we can um so you can have access to those and do the things that you need to do to kind of release some of the stress from your food insecurities.
And also, what I wanted to do today was do a biopsychosocial. And what this entails is just us going a little bit deeper into the things that we need to to get a better plan and formulate and set goals for the process that you're going through and relieve some of those stress and relieve some of that tension that you're going through. So, the first thing I wanted to ask you about was your medical history. And uh, I know you're young, but I know I wanted to ask you if you had a personal care physician.
>> Yes, I did.
>> And that's awesome. So, having a personal care personal care physician or PCP as they like to talk about uh, they help you with any medical conditions that you have, any health issues that may run in your family. So, I wanted to ask you, are there any significant medical issues that you do have or you are encountering right now?
>> No, there isn't.
>> And and that's great to hear. And uh, so that would mean that with those, we're talking about like there's different things. So, I know in our last session, we talked about the physical symptoms that you may be going through like with stress and anxiety and any worry that you may be feeling. So, since you don't have anything going on like that personally with your PCP with the physical symptoms, I wanted to go more into the emotional side of it. And I wanted to ask you like, with your day-to-day, how would you describe your feelings on the day-to-day process? Do you feel overwhelmed? Do you feel anxiety? And like, try to nail down certain times that you might think that you feel overwhelmed the most. Is it in the early in the morning? Is it later in the day? Or is it in the middle of the day?
>> Most generally, it's around lunchtime. Uh, when I know I've got to do lunch and then after lunch, I've got to make sure I've got transportation and it kind of gets a little overwhelming with my classes and all that going on. That's the probably the most time that it's the most stressful for me.
>> And that's completely understandable. and I wanted to commend you for just being a college student and being able to deal with the things that you're going through. So, what I would like to suggest that we start doing it and one of the first goals I would like to try to set for us and again, I want you to know that anything that is suggested, this is your this is your plan. So, if it's anything you don't feel comfortable with, any question that I ask that you might not want to answer, you don't have to do so. So, I wanted to suggest journaling. Like, when that time of the day comes that you're feeling overwhelmed or that you're feeling that you feel the most stressed, I want you to journal. Just write down a few sentences or however long you would like to write about or like how you're feeling in that moment. Where do you think the overwhelming feeling is coming from? Where do you think the stress is coming from? And with that, I think it'll be a better way for us to to build those coping skills because those uh in that u those coping mechanisms when we understand how you're feeling so we can use CBT techniques and what CBT techniques are are cognitive behavioral therapy. And with that journaling, I think it'll give us a better understanding so we can know what coping me coping mechanisms work the best for you because we were talking last session about how anger is a big coping mechanism for you. And the thing I want to want to get more in depth with about the anger is we think of anger as an iceberg. So, you got the the peak of the iceberg peeking out of the surface and we'll call that anger. So, with that anger being above the surface, I wanted to go into what was underneath that surface. So, what what feelings are really causing the anger? Because we might think that prime that anger is the primary emotion, but really it's the secondary emotion and it's the things going on under the surface like whether it's that frustration of not being able to have transportation like you need. Is it that anxiety for am I going to be able to get my studies done? How am I going to do on that test or just feeling overwhelmed from the schoolwork and working a job and trying to maintain a social life and social network with your friends and find those coping mechanisms to deal with those primary emotions and the things that are buried underneath the surface. Bring those out so we can form a better understanding of the things that we need to do.
And um, with that being said, I wanted to talk about the equity of a person cuz all of us have our own personal equity. And when I mean by when I'm talking about equity, I'm talking about the strengths of a person. Like, what do you feel are some of the things that you're good at or some of the things you take pride in your life? Whether it be perseverance or having the courage to to go to school or dealing with the things of not having the family support you have. So, I like to ask you, what do you think some of your strengths are? And again, if you ever feel uncomfortable with asking a question or answering a question, you don't have to do so.
>> I feel the perseverance is with the struggles I go through with my transportation and food insecurities and still been able to get up, go to class and keep moving forward.
>> And that's awesome. So, we have to we have to focus on those small milestones, those little personal victories because we like to I think sometimes we look too far ahead and that gives us that overwhelming feeling. But just getting up to go to class every day. Uh, after class going to work and and still trying to find time to have that social life with friends. I think you need to be commended for that, you know, because those feelings of being uh of underachieving and uh not feeling good enough can start us to build that negative self-talk within ourselves. But the way that we reverse that is by giving ourselves positive self-talk with with positive affirmations and stating that you know, I did a good thing today. You know, I made it through this class today. I made it through this shift at work today. So, let's focus on the positive things and those small milestones and use those as coping mechanisms to deal with the things that we're going through.
And I I touched on what we we talked about in our last session about your family support. So, I wanted to ask uh, has anything changed with the relationship you have with your parents?
>> No, it hasn't. We're still trying to work on that as time goes on.
>> So, and with that, I think a good thing that we should focus on is the relationships you do have. you know, not focus on the relationships that we don't, but we will continue to do the things that we need to do in your time to work on that relationship with your parents with the hopes of that we can build upon that and hopefully things will get better. But the support network that you have with your friends, uh, you say you like to go out with your friends and do things with your friends. So, I think focusing on that support system and that support network with the bus passes and being able to find more transportation. And I also looked into some programs at college at the college you go to that they have scooters and I'll need to look more into it because I'm unsure if you can take the scooters off campus or do things like that.
And um, I also looked into a program called Jobs and Hope. And uh, I wanted to ask you if you have a driver's license.
>> Yes, I do.
>> Which is awesome in itself again. So, Jobs and Hope, they offer um trade school services, but what I wanted to look in for you is they offer grants for college. And these are grants that you don't have to pay for. And they also help with getting vehicles. And I'm not saying that there will be a new vehicle, but it would be a vehicle that is um dependable. And um, so with that, these would also not put more financial strain on you because these are free services. And with that program, you can you can get more grants to help with having to take out so much financial aid. And what you have in your driver's license, they can help you with finding a vehicle. So, I would also like to set that as one of our goals of us filling out the application for that program and uh getting you they will give you what's called a transition agent and learning who your transition agent is and reaching out to them so we can get you access to those resources. And again, continue to build on the strengths that you have and that personal equity so that we can start acknowledging and being more self-aware and motivated for the things that you are achieving and not focusing so much on the things that you aren't. Because like our first step, you know, with um building with the food banks and with the and with the help of the the um bus passes and then now for a more long-term goal with getting in the Jobs and Hope and getting that grant help and trying to find that vehicle and continue to build on those personal attributes and things that you have so we and build on the goals that we have now and come up with strategies for the coping mechanisms that you can use future to help with the stress and things like that. And I think this session has been a good session and I want to build upon this session next week and uh I want to thank you for giving me your time.
>> You're welcome.