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Jul. 3rd, 2007 09:40 pmWent to an Inservice at DVSAS this evening on the county's mental health services. The DMHP (designated mental health professional, whose job is to evaluate, not treat) was a great guy. At first, he droned on about the bureaucracy, but then he started talking about actually working with people, and the passion showed through. He talked about all sorts of ways to help people talk through their issues. Often, the best thing is to say nothing at all, and just to listen. But really listen. Ask the obvious questions, that what running an ad agency taught him before he learned psychology. He talked about turning thoughts into feelings, having people work through the adrenaline rush of anger to the calming endorphins afterwards.
When some people talk about themselves, you can feel their ego oozing out. But other people, you can tell they just need to get things out. Most people never listen. And not being listened to is why a lot of people go suicidal. He talked about the value of debriefing, (when someone who deals with people on a psychological level talks over how that affected them with someone else.) and how in a public job, you don't get to do that at work. He does have some outside friends he goes to, but when he talked briefly about a recent case, and how it traumatized him, I could tell that this worked as a mini-debriefing for him, because he was surrounded by people who, like himself, are trained to listen and be sympathetic. By the end, he was obviously very happy, and we'd all learned a lot. There was a definite rapport going on.
The time I started volunteering at DVSAS coincided with my transformation from INFP to INTJ. That means that I've gone from being someone who viewed people in terms of my relationship to them, to a more distant perspective. I haven't worked directly with clients/victims of domestic violence. I've done paperwork. Everyone's happy with that, but I do need to get back in touch with that relating side. I've got ideas for what to do, including writing my family history, and writing a little about an old character who embodies the old, innocent INFP me, but who's been pushed aside for years and years.
When some people talk about themselves, you can feel their ego oozing out. But other people, you can tell they just need to get things out. Most people never listen. And not being listened to is why a lot of people go suicidal. He talked about the value of debriefing, (when someone who deals with people on a psychological level talks over how that affected them with someone else.) and how in a public job, you don't get to do that at work. He does have some outside friends he goes to, but when he talked briefly about a recent case, and how it traumatized him, I could tell that this worked as a mini-debriefing for him, because he was surrounded by people who, like himself, are trained to listen and be sympathetic. By the end, he was obviously very happy, and we'd all learned a lot. There was a definite rapport going on.
The time I started volunteering at DVSAS coincided with my transformation from INFP to INTJ. That means that I've gone from being someone who viewed people in terms of my relationship to them, to a more distant perspective. I haven't worked directly with clients/victims of domestic violence. I've done paperwork. Everyone's happy with that, but I do need to get back in touch with that relating side. I've got ideas for what to do, including writing my family history, and writing a little about an old character who embodies the old, innocent INFP me, but who's been pushed aside for years and years.
