JulieMagers.com

Behavioral Health Advocate

Family partner and advocacy coach, working to improve mental health care experiences for children and their families.

Visit www.DIYAdvocacyCenter.com for more current information.

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Welcome to JulieMagers.com!

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My name is Julie Magers and throughout my career I have had the privilege of helping children and families navigate the turbulent waters of dealing with behavioral health needs. Recently I have had the opportunity to participate in some great programs and I’ve learned how to greater assist families in need.

This blog is a starting point where I will share my learnings and experiences.  I hope you will find my knowledge useful and I look forward to assisting you in your journey.

Please visit my website www.DIYAdvocacyCenter.com for more up to date information.

Searching for Normal: The Story of a Girl Gone Too Soon

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From One Parent to Another  

(Excerpt from) Karen Meadows, Dec. 09, 2016, author of “Searching for Normal: The Story of a Girl Gone Too Soon.”

My daughter lost her battle with mental illness. Through this heartbreaking experience, I’ve learned a lot from my mistakes. …and I hope that even one of these suggestions might prevent another lost battle.

  • Accept Your Child’s Diagnosis – You may want so badly for your child to have a normal life that it’s easy to believe, on good days, that they have overcome their challenges. Accept that the way their brain works is a unique part of who they are. Help your child find a new normal.
  • Get Educated and Network – Read as much as you can. Get on the distribution list of as many mental health organizations you can. Talk with trusted friends, colleagues and family.
  • Listen and Don’t be Judgmental – Instead of focusing on your child’s behaviors, try to understand their feelings. Rather than asking “why”, which can sound judgmental, ask “how” or “what” questions.
  • Consider taking effective communication training. After Sadie died, I volunteered to work on a crisis line. I learned how to defuse anger, connect with people and partake in collaborative problem-solving–these skills would have helped me communicate with Sadie more effectively.
  • Don’t Let Shame Interfere with Getting Help – If your child had a physical condition, you would seek medical help. Do the same for your child if they have a mental health condition. Find a mental health specialist who provides the right kind of therapy, is highly recommended and is someone your child connects with.
  • Empower Your Child – Teach them positive lifestyle habits, such as diet, exercise, regular sleep and mindfulness. Talk about the dangers of self-medicating with drugs or alcohol.
  • Have a Discussion About Suicide – Find out whether your child is having suicidal ideation, and if they have plans to act on those thoughts. Talking openly and showing genuine concern are key elements in preventing suicide. Make sure they have crisis phone numbers saved to their phone. Also, have a crisis plan prepared for them.
  • Have Hope – Remember: new developments are happening every year. Don’t give up, because your child’s life may depend on your perseverance.

Emergency Department Crisis Care

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teens

In Crisis – Out of Room is a report of a very challenging crisis, presented by Ross Jones in the form of an article, video, interactive feature. Jones’ exclusive reports on a Scripps News investigation that “reveals psychiatric boarding doesn’t discriminate by families’ race, income or whether they are insured, and there are no geographic exceptions. It’s a nationwide problem.

Boarding in the emergency room isn’t unusual for patients waiting for other types of treatment, but hospitals report mentally ill patients are boarded most frequently. Doctors and nurses said the long waits could be traumatizing for young psychiatric patients.”

As a Family Advocate, I work every day with families in Portland, Oregon who struggle to get help for their children and young adults. This is a highly complex issue and doesn’t have one “culprit” to blame as the cause, nor are there easy answers. I urge if you are reading this, to click on the link and learn about the crisis we face seeking mental, behavioral and emotional care for our children and the many barriers that stand in our way. I will add to the story that this isn’t just about having more hospital beds. Kids are discharged from these hospital stays without full evaluation, treatment plans, or being connected to providers who can see them right away. According to the stats in this video, in 2015, suicide was the second leading cause of death for our teens. We must come together to value comprehensive care for our children and their families. <3

If you are in Oregon and you are motivated to learn more or to get involved in youth suicide prevention, legislation we are introducing for better continuity of care, or if you know someone who needs help, contact me: [email protected]

The Thoughts Inside Our Heads

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“I wainside-your-head-imagent to trip inside your head
Spend the day there
To hear the things you haven’t said
And see what you might see…
…I want to see your thoughts take shape and walk right out.”
(Bono, U2, Miracle Drug)

I attended a wonderfully enlightening seminar yesterday at OHSU in Portland on something called Mentalizing and Adolescence.  It was presented by Trudie Rossouw from the UK.  I left the experience feeling excited at the potential of what she presented and with new insights about self harm and the severe emotional struggles that are overwhelming so many of our teens and young adults.   Mentalizing is a form of imaginative mental activity about others or oneself, namely perceiving and interpreting human behaviour in terms of intentional mental states.  In other words, what we think about our own thoughts and those of others as related to our needs, desires, feelings, beliefs, goals, purposes, and reasons.

Some of the presentation slides read:
Mentalization renders behavior intelligible.
It is the basis for self awareness and sensitivity to others.
It is seeing oneself from the outside and seeing other from the inside.

Trudie went on to say, “if we can help youngsters mentalize, we can help them develop protective factors.” We know that perceived burdensomeness often accompanies suicidal ideation.   When our youth  struggle with severe emotional experiences and they know their families are trying to help them and we are all failing to access effective help to reduce their emotional suffering, our youth often perceive themselves as a burden.  This concept of mentalization provides a very hopeful perspective.  As we get more skilled at accurately perceiving the minds of others, we can experience lower internal stress that leads to our perception of being a burden to others and the suicidal ideation that often follows.

In a room that had 480 seats, there were only about 70-80 people in the audience.  I think I was the only peer services provider in the room.  I couldn’t help but wish that the room was filled with the mental health care workers who evaluate, treat, support and/or refer youth in our community.  It seems to me that MBT (mentalization-based therapy) may be the 3rd leg on a three-legged stool, with the other two being CBT (cognitive behavior therapy) and DBT (dialectical behavior therapy).

If you are interested in doing your own research on this topic, visit the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families.  Stay tuned for more to come here on my blog – I think you’ll see more of these concepts incorporated into our parent and family group seminars 😉

 

Media & News

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Mental health funding has suffered cuts and negligence in recent decades, leaving hundreds of thousands of Americans on the streets, behind bars, in homeless shelters, or simply isolated and miserable. With their new series “The Cost of Not Caring,” USA Today hopes to incite compassion for the mentally ill by telling their stories. Judy Woodruff talks to Liz Szabo of USA Today.  Watch here: PBS NewsHour

 

 


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