A bit of culture in Wellington last weekend

Last weekend, I was fortunate enough to go to the World of Wearable Arts in Wellington.  It was an amazing event, that showcased so many amazing creations. It was different than our Wearable Arts in Juneau, and was choreographed beautifully, without each piece being introduced, instead it was part of a whole expression.  Quite an elaborate sight!

My friend from Juneau, David Walker was the Supreme Winner in 2009, and his wooden dress was showcased on the program, as well as on billboards and flyers all over the city.  I got to see David for a few minutes at Te Papa, the NZ National Museum, like out Smithsonian, only better!  David took a third place this year in a new category, and it was great to get an Alaskan hug after being away from home for three weeks.

  The city is full of life and energy, and was a great break from the internship and schoolwork.  It was a social weekend, so that makes it social work related, right?  I enjoy the city life, just as much as the farm life.

Community Mental Health with Andrew

This past week, I was fortunate enough to spend two days with Andrew, a Massey University Social Work graduate, who let me shadow him throughout his busy days.  He explained that they work with the recovery model, which refers to individuals and families/whanau developing skills and strategies that enable them to realize their potential despite the existence of mental ill health (Mental Health Commission, 1998).  He works with a caseload of about 30 people, and fills his days with phone calls to consumers, documentation, scheduling, visits to the home, calls to pharmacies, and partner agencies.  E likened himself to the the "sheep dog clinician" chasing after things, and rounding things up.

Ome observations I noticed:  In this field, knowledge of medications and their effects on someone is extremely important.  Not only did I see Andrew discuss with a psychiatric nurse and psychiatrist, the side effects he observed in consumers, but he also had to interpret what their advice and implications were.  He also provided a good deal of education about meds to the consumer and family during a home visit because they had questions about the tapering off of one medication and the increased agitation that he felt.  Andrew used the analogy of a car-meds are like air in the tire.  They help the car to go, but you still need petrol, motor, key, etc and they aren't the end all, be all.  I appreciated the analogy, and the message it represents.

I also noticed that Andrew was very organized to clearly present information and updates to the multidisciplinary team about his assessment and the risks that he felt concerning his consumers.  I felt really lucky to get a glimpse into a day in the busy life of this skilled Community Mental Health Social Worker.  I also know that I have lots more to learn to feel more confident in this field.

Social Workers Day in Aotearoa

Today was National Social Workers Day in New Zealand.  Palmerston North celebrated this with a lunchtime gathering of the social workers form the Mid-Central Health District Board (43 social workers in the hospital and associated agencies and services), with 18 of us for lunch.  It was a nice gathering, and nice to visit with social workers working in so many different capacities, pediatric social workers, mental health, disability social workers, geriatric social workers, rehabilitation social workers, community based social workers.  Went for a drink after work with several of them and continued our conversations about the differences and similarities in our world perspectives.  I sensed a bit of pride in stating that your profession is a social worker, and it was nice to be with a group of similar minded people.  They were very interested in my impressions so far, and my thoughts on social work in the states.  Two of the women had done some training in California for a few months, and they had their impressions of our social work system and government funded benefits and such.  I will blog about benefits soon.  It is very different over here, at least the bit that I have been exposed to thus far.  No 60 month lifetime limit on TANF or Temporary Assistance.
It was a nice day to connect to others who are working in this field, and dedicated to social justice and all of the other things involved in this profession.
Thank you Mathew for being a great ambassador and field instructor for me!  Here's a photo of us today.

Today-Powhiri-The formal Maori welcome ceremony

Today was a special day for me at the New Staff Day with Mid-Central Health District Board.  Fifteen of us spent the day learning about the District Health Board that governs the health of all of the people who live in this Mid-Central District of the North Island, covering the needs of _________people.  We learned about the geographic division of the country, and the responsibilities that this Health Board has to the people that live here.  If a resident of Manawatu is traveling to Auckland and needs to see a doctor, the Mid-Central Health District Board will cover the cost!  Wow.

We were welcomed in a "powhiri", pronounced poe-far-aye, which is a welcome ceremony which is performed only in Maori and has strict protocol.  The powhiri is often the first step in developing a relationship with Maori.  First, we were given the instructions and the coaching of the response song that we will call to the other side.  This was new to almost all of us, and it felt very sacred and spiritual to be a part of this.  We were called in and serenaded with a beautiful song, and received into the large hall.  A Te Karanga was a the call onto the room, and the whaikorero-men's speech was structured and showed acknowledgements of their tipuna, and the spirits of the dead.  This felt a bit familiar and like a Tlingit greeting or start of a formal speech, with the mention of the line of ancestry.  We responded with our male representative returning the thanks and welcome, and then with more enthusiasm than talent, we hanuhiri (visitors) women warbled our way through the unfamiliar words, but it was deeply touching.

The final step in the welcome ceremony was the hongi, a tradition symbolizing trust and friendship.  Each guest and host took a turn standing with foreheads touching, and silently breathing in one another's "essence" .  To come so close to strangers and share one's breath was an experience that wasn't too familiar to me or the other American-from California, yet it created a bond and connection with our hosts.  A shared tea and stories followed with our hosts, and it gave a great perspective for us to start our day, and for me to start my practicum.

Hongi is a traditional Maori greeting, which literally means “to share breath”. Hongi is done by pressing one’s nose to the other person when they meet each other. It is believed that when the two noses meet, people exchange their breath and the visitor becomes one of the local people (tangata whenua).

First week of work!

It has been a really busy and long week, but I am feeling so thankful that I am placed where I am.  I feel like I am learning so much, already, and have a very approachable supervisor, Mathew, who is helping to connect me to the Social Work community in Palmerston North.  He he has many years of experience in mental health social work, and has a vast knowledge of the resources to connect people to, when it is time to help them transition from the ward, into their homes.  The staff here seem to demonstrate a high regard and respect for the consumers that have come into their care.  They take a very holistic approach when helping people while they are "unwell", and seem to look at all dimensions, physical, emotional, spiritual and extended family to help work toward wellness.

Today there was a difficult morning report with a very unwell 20 yr old, who has done some serious self harm on herself, and in the brief time since she had been admitted, she had braided a very dangerous cord that was discovered before she could do anymore harm to herself.  I will be shadowing Mathew as he works closely with the multidimensional team to help her to get in a safer and better place.  I have not worked this intimately with individuals in acute mental health crisis, in a long time.  Each morning, at the 8:30 staff meeting, I walk out feeling a bit overwhelmed at the severity of issues and challenges ahead for these folks.  I then take a breath, look at the huge talented team committed to this Ward, and the individuals who find themselves here, and I feel thankful to be here to learn, and to contribute what I can to the healing.

Maori Concept for the day:  Te Whare Tapa Wha

The various elements to be considered within each Maori approach to wellness can differ. For example Te Whare Tapa Wha model takes into account taha wairua, taha hinengaro, taha tinana and taha whanau.

Lecture at Massey University

Today was a busy day as well, with 3 Multidisciplinary Team Meetings (MDT), my first family meeting with a very skilled doctor facilitating, and an afternoon at Massey University, meeting the faculty in the Social Work Department, and attending a lecture on Ethics in Research, by Dr. Mary Nash.  It was good to be on their campus, and I felt like a dignitary when Kath introduced me around from the University of Alaska.  During the lecture, Dr. Nash often conferred with me on facts, such as the Tuskegee Syphilis Study done from 1932-1972 (without informed consent or good ethics!).  It was nice to hear reference to good old Rubin and Babbie, and to know what she was talking about, and that the UAA MSW generalist program had prepared me with some of the same historical information.  Afterwards, I let her know that I had just survived my Research Methods classes, and can now appreciate the importance of understanding it better.

The MDT's and Family meeting brought to light some of the areas that I have not had much experience to or exposure of during my work in Juneau.  Some of those from today were:  gang affiliation (Black Power, Nomads and Mongrel Mob are the main ones in town), "P" which is methanphetamine , refugee issues and last but not least ECT, that was discussed as a treatment option for a inpatient on Ward 21.  Any insight any of you have on these, or experience with them, please don't hesitate to comment or email me.  Tah.

Each day, I learn how much I don't know.  I am so thankful to be here though and soak up what I can.
Maori Word for the day: Tangata Whaiora- which is the preferred word for consumers in NZ
Cheers- Photos soon!

First Day at Ward 21

Whew!  My head is so full of information and observations of my first day at Ward 21, Acute Inpatient Mental Health Services.  I have so many thoughts and observations that are swirling around in my head.  After a tour of the facility and introductions all around, I attended my first Multidisciplinary Team meeting with professionals.  I will be attending seven of these meetings per week, each with a different composition of team, MD, Psychologists, Psychiatrist, Occupational Therapists, RN's and more.

I am so excited to have begun working in this environment, and to finally meet Mathew, my supervisor, who is a well respected Social Worker who has worked in this field for over 20 years.  He has a great sense of humor/humour and there seems to be quite a bit of teasing and joking that is used in this workplace.  I am the one with the "accent" and have heard even more commentary on our former governor, and am finding that my political views appear to be in line with the social workers and residents that I have come across.

Maori Word of the day: whanau, which means family-and there are many definitions for family in Maori-extended family network.

Arrival in New Zealand

After a 12 hour flight from LAX, I have now rested and enjoyed reacclimatizing to New Zealand and getting used to the wonderful little things that are unique to my NZ; such as the toilets that have both a half flush for a pee and a full flush for a poo, walking down the sidewalk needs to happen on the left side of the sidewalk, or else you keep bumping into people and end up like a spawning salmon, ...........I promised to try to keep this on the social work aspect, but forgive me for throwing in a few "Margie-isms"  because I just can't help it.

I have had quite a bit of thinking time on the bus ride  to Palmerston North and many things have crossed my thoughts during this 10 hour ride.  I picked up a NZ Herald newspaper, and there were articles about social issues all over the place.  I decided to look at the paper with a critical eye, as taught in our early classes, and take note of issues related to social work.  There were many articles about the week old Christchurch earthquake, and the increase in heart attacks or the 500 professionals going down to assist and relieve the exhausted healthcare workers in Christchurch.  During a conversation with an elderly man about the devastating earthquake, he explained that "In this country, we take care of our own." And I sensed that there was a lot of National pride behind that.  It does tend to appear that they have quite a bit of positive, sustainable things happening in this country.

My thoughts jump to the sustainable issues on these two islands.  In most of the grocer stores that I have been in, the produce is labeled by where the produce was grown and how many kilometers away that was.  Contrast that with the produce that we get in Juneau, that only looks like a red tomato, but tastes like a flavourless (I put the u in there because that is how they spell it here) mealy mush. I will take exception for the garden grown items that a few of you in Juneau produce.  The reduce, reuse and recycle efforts here seem to be quite high, with many participating.  Even the food courts had several workers sorting the trays for recyclables and minimizing the waste.  I will have to see what they do with their waste, burn it, bury it, ship it out or how they dispose of it.

I had a conversation with woman in the yarn store about American politics, and she shared that she  follows it closely as a “hobby”.  When I said that I was from Alaska, she stated "Oh, Sarah Palin's home", and she is  “Quite amusing actually".  She felt that Sarah has been quite interesting to watch, and is a hoot-but can’t believe that Americans take her seriously.  She quoted several different amounts of dollars spent by her on the campaign trail for shoes, and “Girdles”-new items for me.  I shared a bit of my own personal thoughts on our former governor, and I'll just leave it at that.  Delightful and perceptive woman.