The Insider helping all the Outsiders

This is another "Nobody Interview". Today I have my good friend Gina Schwarz. She has worked for several years with dually diagnosed individuals with some form of mental illness and a developmental disability ranging in age from 13 to 22 years old. She has two Masters Degrees: Social Work and Criminal Justice.

1.How do we know each other?

(We were) assigned as school roomies and then friends for almost 8 yrs now


2.What first got you interested in working in the Mental Health industry?

I took a random job working in a IRA (individualize residental alternative) right before I graduated undergrad. After my experiences with the residents of the house I decided to get my Master's in Social Work

3. What were some of the most challenging aspects of taking a job in this field?

Realizing that nothing is personal and that the smallest accomplishments should be treated like the biggest because most of these individuals will never be able to function or live completely on their own

4.I know a Masters in Social Work provides course work to prepare you, but what did you find you learned from in the field as opposed to the classroom?

Everything is learned in the field. Coursework teaches you how to document whats occuring in your clients lives and how to get paid for the services you provide. Most of my training while in my position is what taught me how to de-escalate crisis and get to the bottom of whatever issue presented itself.

5.What specific tasks were you required to do at some of these places?

Basically, the every day was that you were someone's parent...you took them shopping, helped them bath, taught life skills, how to brush their teeth, clean their room, how to socialize...all the things we learn by watching our parents or having relationships with our peers. I also had to perform restraints and help my clients remain safe even in their most unsafe mental states.

6.Were you ever hurt on the job by one of your patients?


There was only one time that I was hurt. This was an adult male that was diagnosed bipolar, paranoid schizophrenic and developmentally disabled. I was put in a situation where the staff I was working with was inexperienced. When the resident starting having a crisis, my support froze and I was required to perform a restraint on someone that required three people to restrain him due to his strength and flexibility. So, to assure that he would not hurt his mother, sibling, or the others in the residence, I performed the restraint myself and was bitten badly. We both went to the ER...me for a tetanus shot and him to the Behavioral Health Unit. They said he had a psychotic split due to something that happened on his home visit that day and they sent him home. Well because of his reputation, no one would work in my house so I ended up staying another 10 hours to work with someone that just injured me and was unpredictable.I often did 18 hour shifts in the house because of low staffing and this was one of the days.

Then I went to my primary care the next day where they gave me this awful antibiotic that made me horribly sick so that they could ensure that I would not get some awful infection

Lucky for me, this was a resident that was there since 13 so they knew his entire history including that he did not have TB, HIV, or anything else so serious that it would change my life forever

7.Can you tell us about one of your most positive experiences working in this field?

Its gonna sound crazy but my most rewarding time was definately when I taught the same resident that injured me how to put his shoes on the right feet, wash his own private parts, and when I was able to bring him to almost ANY public place with no crisis or outbursts at all.

8. How do you prevent yourself from forming attachments with the patients you work with?

you cannot prevent yourself from forming attachments with those that you work with daily and see even more than your own famaily. you have to remind yourself regularly that they are clients, but we are all human and we are bound to make attachments that can be helpful or harmful...just have to be sure that the attachments we make are positive

9. From an "insiders" perspective, what are some chances you would like to see in this field within the next 5-10 years?

The field has moved to focus too much on the dollar and how much money can be made from serving these individuals instead of focusing on their needs and the support of their every day lives. I would also like to see the educational requirements or hiring policies to be more strict when making a selection on who will spend all these hours with those in need of positive guidance and not just any warm body.

10. As always, my version of the happy ending. If you can be any breakfast cereal, what would you be and why?

Cap n Crunch cause it makes me happy...even in my body's crazy state of pregnancy I can eat it everyday and still not feel sick!!