Join Maddie And Gabby as they talk about some of the services, we offer at The Grove. With Special Guests Stacy, Our Mental Health Clinician, and Nadine, our Nurse Practitioner
Join Maddie And Gabby as they talk about some of the services, we offer at The Grove. With Special Guests Stacy, Our Mental Health Clinician, and Nadine, our Nurse Practitioner
Hey folks, welcome back to the Get with the Grove Podcast. I'm Maddie.
Gabby:And I'm Gabby
Maddie:And for this week's episode, we are going to be talking about navigating some of the wellness services offered at the grove. Today we are lucky enough to have two of our service providers Stacy, our mental health clinician, and Nadine our nurse practitioner here to share their expertise. Stacy and Nadine , would you like to tell our listeners a little bit about yourselves and describe your role at the grove? I'll start with Stacey.
Stacey:Sure. Hi, I'm Stacy. Like Maddy said, I'm a mental health clinician with the grove. I've been working in the field of child and youth mental health now for about four years. Prior to that I actually worked with vulnerable seniors and adults with disabilities in the community. I have a Bachelor of Social Work from Ryerson University and a Master of Social Work from Wilfrid Laurier University.
Maddie:Love that. And Nadine, would you like to give yourself an introduction?
Nadine:Of course, hi, everyone. My name is Nadine. I'm the nurse practitioner at the grove. My pronouns are she/her a little bit about my role. Nurse Practitioners are people that are registered nurses and have completed advanced training in order to diagnose and prescribe, order imaging and labs and interpret those results as well. My role within the youth hub will be to provide youth focused primary health care. So similar to what you would see at your family doctor's office or if you have a family nurse practitioner, but just bringing those resources to you in order to decrease any barriers and increase access. So we know that the people in this age group may have limited access. So that's what my role is, is trying to help support.
Gabby:Awesome. So do you both want to tell us a little bit about how long you've been working in this field slash How did you get into this line of work? We can start with you, Stacey?
Stacey:Sure. So like I said, I've been in child and youth mental health now for about four years. When I was completing my master's degree, I actually did a placement with Children's Services at CMHA. And right after that I was offered a contract position with CMHA. And that was sort of how I got to learn about the growth, because there's a connection between CMHA and the grove. And yeah, from that position, I applied for the Mental Health Coalition role at the grove and that brought me here
Maddie:yay. And how about you, Nadine.
Nadine:I graduated in 2015 as a registered nurse and was working in rural ICU and emerge and it's in pediatrics, I did my master's degree in 2018. Since then, I've done extra training in neuro divergence, mental health, trans care, sexual health. What got me into this line of work? Honestly, my journey through school was a little bit roundabout. I started off in psychology, and was kind of a no man's land for a while, which is completely understandable.
Maddie:Me, right now
Nadine:What got me into thinking about nurse practitioner at my little rural community in Aylmer, Ontario, which is actually where I'm from.
Maddie:Never heard of that before.
Nadine:Yeah I know
Stacey:Really?
Maddie:Elmer?
Nadine:Elmer Ontario, Oh Elmer
Maddie:like the glue?
Nadine:like the glue.
Stacey:But isn't spelt with an A it's, it's A. Y. L. M. E. R.
Maddie:Amer?
Nadine:Elmer
Gabby:Elmer
Nadine:it is actually known for its canned tomatoes.
Maddie:Interesting
Nadine:Yeah, I know, a little bit of a tangent there. But when I was growing up in Elmer, there was a nurse practitioner that supported the family health team there. And that person was really supportive when I was a young person, and that's kind of what helped me decide that. I wanted to support people the way that I felt supported.
Maddie:That's awesome.
Gabby:Yeah.
Stacey:Right. Add to my previous
Maddie:Yeah
Gabby:Of course
Stacey:No, I was just thinking like hearing Nadine Talk about like growing up in a rural community, I have actually grown up in center Wellington my entire life. And in my previous role, when I was working with youth, it was actually in Halton Region. So I was really excited about an opportunity to work with youth in my own community. Oh, really important to me. That's awesome.
Maddie:Talking about things that are important to you. Stacy, what do you love most about the work that you do?
Stacey:There's a lot of things. I think it just feels like such a privilege to be included in a young person's mental health journey and just to be invited into some of those like most vulnerable spaces and to watch young people grow and recognize their strengths and their resilience. It's just, it's a really great part of the work that I do.
Maddie:Oh, that's really nice. What about you, Nadine,
Nadine:Similar to what Stacey was saying, I think the the part that I like the most about the work that I do is being able to be that team member alongside that person that's navigating things that can be tricky or feeling isolating. Healthcare can be this really big, vast, confusing thing to navigate. And when when you're not feeling very well, or when you don't understand things about yourself or your your wellness or your mental health, you can often feel a little bit lonely and lost. So the the thing that I like the most is collaborating with people and walking alongside them and helping them to understand so that they can make the better choices for themselves. And along that I think one of the pieces I like the most is that education piece, being able to empower people through information so that they can make the choices that are best for them. And that I can I can be in their corner to help them navigate that.
Maddie:That was educational. That was awesome. I'm glad that you mentioned the like overwhelming piece of like the mental healthcare system. And I think that's why the grove is here to like make that sort of process a lot less overwhelming. So with that, what would you say are some key things you would want youth to know about the services that you offer? Either of you,
Gabby:go ahead.
Stacey:I think like the services that we offer are really aligned with the grove model as a whole in the sense that like, they're, they're youth driven, like the young person is always in the driver's seat. Like I will always go into every session with a bit of a plan. But if that young person comes in that day, and they want to talk about something entirely different than that plan is out the window, and we're talking about that. So yeah, they're always in the driver's seat. It's whatever they need in that moment. That's what we're here to provide.
Nadine:Yeah, I can't agree more. I think something important for people to know is that you are at the center, it's youth centered. And I my role, I think our roles can be flexible, depending on what is needed. We really want to get rid of that rigidity that people think of when they think about like institutionalized health care like that role is we're using this as an opportunity to flip that and to really change things and put youth and that person in the center. And then we are the peripheral supports. We are the team around you and you let us know what you need. And if you don't know what you need, we can help you get there together.
Maddie:Right? Yeah. Awesome. And what should you expect when booking an appointment with you?
Stacey:So in booking an appointment with me, typically that first appointment is pretty assessment based, I will take time to review sort of all the information that young person has provided through my wellness passport. If I have any questions about some of their responses, I'll jot those down and make sure to discuss them in that first session. I mean, appointments obviously look different depending on that young person's need. But I really try to use at least that first appointment to like establish rapport, spend time getting to know each other, what are the presenting concerns, what's going on? And what did what what are those young person in schools? What do they want out of our relationship? And then future appointments are obviously aligned with those goals, right? What skills and strategies can we introduce to help sort of get them where they want to be? And things come up along the way that aren't necessarily like things change right in between that first appointment of future appointments? So like, Maybe instead, we're always flexible in the services that we provide?
Maddie:Yeah. What about you?
Nadine:Yeah, totally everything, Stacy said it'd be quite similar. There will be an intake with staff, that will just be kind of symptoms or questions just to get you into our systems, but we can follow a documentation. And then for myself, appointments are dependent on what the need is, if you're looking for a formal diagnosis, or informal discussions, if you're looking to just have some more information, all of that's appropriate and completely understandable. And I'm so happy to support those things. Your appointments are flexible, there's really not that rigid idea of like, you have 15 minutes to talk about everything. And that's ah, it's really this journey that we do together. Or if you just want to talk with me for 20 minutes about one thing, and then have it be that that's okay too
Maddie:our sorry, go ahead.
Stacey:I was gonna say I also mentioned that sometimes in that first appointment, I might realize that that youth needs are, they might need more support than what we can provide at the grove. So if that's the case, then I can play a role in getting them connected with more appropriate supports. But what's really neat about my role at the grove is that usually with those other supports, there might be a waitlist involved, but I can continue to support that young person while they're waiting on a waitlist for those more intensive supports.
Nadine:I think that's really important too. And I would like to add on to that, that sometimes people come into the hub and they already have a really solid care team. But you might just need a little bit further clarification about things or more information. That's something that I can and provide as well. And we would just loop in the people in that team as as you would want. Right? So you can tell me, Nadine, I want you to forward everything that we worked on today to my family provider, or even to Stacy or psychiatry that I'm seeing, because we're all a team. But if you ever wanted that visit to kind of stay in that room to write like that, again, like what Stacey said, you're in the driver's seat. And that's very important that you understand there's privacy and their safety with those communications that you do with us too.
Maddie:Yeah, I think that idea of like, interconnected care, and how like, youth often are like, do I have to, like, repeat my story. So like, you know, having that information and like being able to, like, share it with other service providers, I think is super valuable. Yeah. And just having support that you don't require waiting for? Yeah, like, you know, how long it takes to book appointments in our community, and how long like a waitlist can be and how that can affect mental health when youth don't receive the support that they need. So having that like ongoing care, yeah, is very important. Yeah,
Nadine:Absolutely, The consistency, the continuity, and reducing some of those anxiety levels, which are completely understandable. And we know that we messing with this age group, especially to so I think everyone's touched on like, super important things.
Maddie:Do you have like some frequently asked questions that youth will come to you with like, or do you find that like, they're a little more reserved at the beginning of an appointment? And then they open up more? Or like, right off the bat? Are you seeing like some common questions that come from youth?
Stacey:Yeah, and it really depends for a lot of the youth that I'm seeing, they haven't ever seen, like a mental health therapist before, right? So I'm sort of their first exposure to what counseling can be. So a lot of that first appointment, a young person might be more and more reserved, right, sort of feeling me oh, we're building a relationship, all of those pieces. I got a lot of questions around like symptomology, and what's normal and what's not normal? Right, like feeling anxious, feeling depressed, stressed interpersonal challenges with family and friends? And then a lot of questions around like, what else is available to me in the community? What else might be helpful? Right? I'll give young people resources for apps and websites and different things like that. Yeah,
Maddie:cool.
Nadine:I think a lot of the questions that I get are kind of around different things that are important to people at that stage in their life. And because the hub's services, people that are 12 to 26. Like that's, that's a big difference on what would be most important to your health and your body and what's going on at those times, I do get a lot of questions about sexual health, and just better understanding reproduction. It's something that we all deal with and navigate, and there isn't really good understanding about it. So that's something I really love talking about. And it's one of those moments of education as empowerment to helping people to understand what contraceptions are available to them, how they might get it to the pros and the cons. But so much of Stacey, there's a lot of questions about mental health, too. And I think people are trying to understand and I think that there's some bravery in this generation, too, that we're talking about things or asking those hard questions. And it might look like it's about diagnostic clarification, right? Like, what's the difference between autism spectrum disorder and ADHD? Is there overlap, but really, what's underneath that is I'm trying to understand my symptoms. And I'm trying to know how that makes me unique, and how I can still follow my goals and values in this world while having these symptoms that I don't understand. Right. As far as are some people reserved? Yeah, for sure. Because as JC was saying, like, some people need that time to build that trust. And that's what we're here for. Like, we're not a one time service, like we build and people will see me out and they might just ask some informal questions. And that's one way of kind of building that rapport to completely okay.
Stacey:Yeah, again, social work in general, like there's an inherent like power imbalance, right, like to expect someone to come in and immediately share the most vulnerable parts of themselves. With me, that is a big ask, and I would never expect that there's a relationship. There's a therapeutic alliance that has to be established first before before I can expect that from a young person.
Maddie:Yeah, for sure. So as you folks know, there are several hubs in our area. We have Fergus, Erin, Guelph, Palmerston. So are both of you available at all of the hubs. Are you available virtiually what does that look like?
Stacey:So I am at all of our hubs at least once a week. My plan right now is to be in Guelph on Tuesdays, here and on Mondays. Palmerston on Thursdays and then Fergus on Wednesdays and Fridays, and maybe Guelph again on Friday. There's a need. My schedule is always subject to change. That's hopefully what I'm aiming to be able to do. So yeah, I'm available to all of our sites throughout the week. I also offer virtual appointments I'm available by appointment or or walk in depending on my availability, a young person might have to wait if they just walk in with I'll do my best to make myself available for them. Cool. What about you Nadine?
Nadine:Yeah, so similarly to Stacey, I think we're just trying to make ourselves available. People need different things. So we can do pre booked appointments, just so that you have that kind of anticipation that you know that your time is there. Or we can do walk ins virtual definitely, if you're having trouble accessing computer or telephone in order to book and then we can help you with that too. We want there to be no barriers. I have less hours than Stacey I'm on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I'm at the different locations. But I like Stacey I kind of go between all four of the different locations. So Erin, Palmerston, Guelph and Fergus. Fergus is where I have my main clinic, which is just starting to grow and build up from the from the ground up, which is really exciting. But again, like my role is just in its infancy, and there is definitely room to have that expand and to have it fill those spaces, as we see the needs
Gabby:and more hubs popping up too
Nadine:so exciting.
Gabby:Along the lines of appointments, is there a typical like length for appointments like half an hour an hour, like our youth, like needing to, like, talk to you for a certain amount of time, like what does that kind of look like.
Stacey:I will always set aside a full hour of my time, we may or may not need that, I usually do try to keep it to an hour. But if there's things that needs to be addressed within that specific appointment, then I can absolutely be flexible with my time. But sometimes it's shorter than an hour, sometimes maybe it's just more of a check in and it's 20 or 30 minutes, and that's fine, too. There's no pressure to to sit with me for a full hour.
Nadine:And then for me similar with Stacey, there's flexibility to it. Again, like we're not rigid scheduling 1520 30 minute appointments, and it really depends on on what we need to discuss. If it's more complex things like mental health medications, that kind of thing, then we can do the full hour. Typically, you can expect to have at least like 2030 minutes with me. But again, it depends like is that an appointment? Or do you just want to chat with me when you see me around the hub? Like, you know, there's flexibility with it. But as far as appointments, probably between half an hour to 60 minutes, depending on what what are the reasons for the visit?
Maddie:Stacy, how many sessions of care can youth receive from you?
Stacey:So my involvement is fairly brief. Because we don't provide ongoing counseling at the growth, I generally say anywhere between one to five sessions, and if a youth still needs additional supports after that fifth session, that I can work alongside our youth outreach workers to get them connected with more appropriate supports.
Maddie:Cool,
Gabby:that's awesome. And kind of just wrapping things up. So Maddie and I are Youth Ambassadors. So we are interacting with you on a daily basis. So we were kind of wondering how our role as Youth Ambassadors can complement your role as service providers. Tough question.
Stacey:I don't think it tough, so much So many layers. Yeah, not be what they are without our Youth Ambassadors, right? Like you were that first point of contact you are. You're the first person people see when they come in, you're sort of that welcoming face. I love when I see you the ambassador's having conversations with our youth about like reminding them like we have a mental health clinician, do you want me to introduce you to Stacey like that alone is huge. Yeah, just reminding you that, that we're here. There's other services that they can access. And I love when you the ambassador's introduce me to tell young people in the hubs I really, really value to know. Yeah,
Maddie:I was gonna say like, as Youth Ambassadors, I feel like we have a relationship with youth that is so special, because we are one of them. And they are most of the time very comfortable coming to us to initiate those conversations. Whereas they wouldn't just walk up to our mental health clinician and start a conversation that could lead into Hey, would you like any of these services? So I don't Yeah, I definitely agree with that.
Nadine:Yeah, I would just say exactly what Stacey was talking about getting the word out, because my role is actually quite new. Not a lot of people know that I'm even available. But same thing, people grabbing me and saying, Hey, this is Nadine. She's a nurse practitioner. And it just kind of creates that like safe soft introduction so that people can see my face and know that I'm not scary and that I kind of bumble around in the kitchen. So Just popped her. So it's gentle. It doesn't have to be this the scary official thing. We're around. And the other thing that I'm Youth Ambassadors can do is just confirming open and flexible, because my role is going to change as we understand what the need is. And that'll require a lot of back and forth trust. And I want people to feel open to give me feedback, like what is working, what's not working? What are you finding that people are asking for with me? And do you think that there's someone that could benefit from chatting with me? And how do we get them feeling ready to do that. And we're also getting together too. And the other thing that I want to mention is that my role is also to support staff. So I'm available, that was one thing that I thought was important to actually carve out some specific console time, because I want everyone to know that I'm on the periphery. So even if someone's not feeling ready to chat with me one on one, or in a small group, if they are bringing up like health concerns, or you're just not sure what to do next, like please reach out like I can be on the outskirts and kind of like helping people at the sidelines too. So reach out like cell phone, email, whatever. Like we're our I think that because we're we are all new and we're all growing together. Like we're a team and outside of the US like they're entering into a team, but then the youth becomes part of that team.
Gabby:Yeah, that's a good way to think about it.
Stacey:Yeah, I can definitely echo that like consultative piece I've had with Ambassador has come up with me with questions about like risk behaviors and what they should do next and things like that. Even our youth outreach workers like we regularly meet to discuss the young people that that we're supporting and how best we can meet their needs. Yeah.
Gabby:Thank you both for being on our podcast today. I think this is going to be a very informative episode for you to listen to. And thank you to all of you for tuning into this week's episode. Be kind to your mind and we'll see you next time. Bye.