Corinne Foster

Partial Transcript: This is Hannah Kenny in Holland Hospital. Today is July 18 and I am here working on "Self Care: The Social Worker's Story."

Segment Synopsis: Foster shares about her early years as a social worker in Chicago through a community mental health center. She talks about the value of quality supervision and training she gained through this role. She also discloses some of her emotional processing in this role.

Keywords: Holland Hospital; advice; call; community mental health; crisis; degree; mentorship; partnership; psychology; supervision; trilogy; undergraduate

Subjects: early years; social work

Partial Transcript: So, as you took those experiences and transitioned to another job, what were your presenting problems of your clients, perhaps in your job now or in whatever you did next?

Segment Synopsis: Foster speaks to the transition into her current role as a medical social worker. She says that the clients she works with have a variety of presenting problems, ranging anywhere from psychiatric crisis to substance abuse and interpersonal violence. She also notes that clients in Holland seem to maintain more relationships than her former clients in Chicago because they rely on support from others for transportation.

Keywords: community based; direct service worker; executive; medical social work; mental illness; persistant; private practice; psychiatric distress; risk factors; severe; support; transition

Subjects: medical social work; support

Partial Transcript: Well, it really sounds like you've had such a variety of experiences, and I'm curious, if you don't mind elaborating a little more on how different stories of trauma and crises that you've encountered have impacted your life.

Segment Synopsis: Foster explains the role of secondary trauma and self-care in her role as a medical social worker. She notes that early in her career, the value of taking care of yourself was instilled in her. She talks about self-monitoring her emotions and giving herself time to be her own priority through counseling. She pays attention to how she treats herself and the people she loves. She also surrounds herself with intentionally positive media and is mindful of staying connected with others.

Keywords: connect; counseling; eating; emotion; exercising; intentional; mindful; monitoring; positive media; priority; secondary trauma; self-care; serving; trauma

Subjects: connected; self-care

Partial Transcript: Yeah, like bringing other people into your self-awareness helps you take care of yourself because then you're not putting that pressure on yourself to shove that aside and pour that energy somewhere else.

Segment Synopsis: Foster talks about how she takes care of her own needs while showing empathy to her clients by compartmentalizing. Through this process, she is able to have a more meaningful interaction with clients because she can recognize and refocus her feelings back toward the client. She reiterates the important role that her supervisor played in her development as a social worker and in learning these mindfulness skills.

Keywords: acceptance; case consultations; compartmentalizing; cultivate; empathy; information; judgements; mentor; mindfulness; needs; notice; perspective; recognize; refocus; shape; showing up; supervisor; thinking; unconditional positive regard; valuable

Subjects: mindfulness; supervision

Partial Transcript: So you've talked about supervision, and a little counseling or therapy, you mentioned mindfulness. Do you have any other resources or skills that you emphasis for self-care?

Segment Synopsis: Foster elaborates on the other methods of self-care that she implements. She speaks to the importance of spending time with friends and having boundaries between her work and home life by not checking her email and not doing follow-ups outside of her time at the hospital.

Keywords: balance; boundaries; connected; hospital; outpatient psychotherapy; private practice; respectful; socializing; support; understanding; valuable

Subjects: boundaries; socializing

Partial Transcript: So, as you're kind of reflecting on these times in your profession when you've experienced secondary trauma or encountered situations of crisis, how has your thought process about self-care changed and grown?

Segment Synopsis: Foster says that self-care is inherent in her family culture and is a priority for her functioning. She shares that emerging social workers should find a mentor, go to therapy, and have a balance of things outside of the social work realm that are fluffy and not infiltrated with trauma.

Keywords: balance; crisis; media; mentor; nature; numb; overloaded; priority; self-care; therapy; trauma impacts; traumatic; vulnerable

Subjects: advice; priority