Good Neighbor Podcast Northport
Bringing Together Local Businesses and Neighbors of Tuscaloosa and Northport!
Good Neighbor Podcast Northport
Druid City Wellness Center: Pioneering Mental Health Care with Ella Williamson
Ella Williamson, a member of the Druid City Wellness Center, joins us with dedication and enthusiasm, shedding light on the groundbreaking strides being made in mental health care in Tuscaloosa. Our discussion will explore the innovative methods employed at the center, such as gene site testing and ADHD testing, which are transforming the way in which psychiatric treatment is approached and personalized. We will also delve into the misconceptions that surround mental illness and how they compare to the treatment of physical diseases. Ella will take us on a journey through her life, where we'll learn about her passions for transforming lives through compassionate care, as well as her love for spending time with her family, upcycling furniture and finding peace and tranquility in nature.
Druid City Wellness Center is a haven for accessible mental health support in the bustling hub of Tuscaloosa. We will guide you through the seamless process of connecting with their services, either through their user-friendly online portal or by visiting their inviting space on Helen Keller Boulevard. We will highlight the advantages of their weekend hours and direct communication avenues, which demonstrate the center's deep commitment to the community. Finally, we will honor the outstanding contributions of local businesses like the Druid City Wellness Center, and encourage you to nominate your favorite businesses for recognition. #GNPNorthport #DruidCityWellnessCenter #TuscaloosaMental Health #Tuscaloosa #MentalHealth #ADHD #GeneTesting #Depression #Psychiatry #PediatricPsychiatry #AdultPsychiatry #Anxiety #Bipolar
This is the Good Neighbor podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Patricia Blondheim.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Good Neighbor podcast. I'm your host, Patricia Blondheim, and today we have Good Neighbor Ella Williamson. Ella is the partner one partner at Druid City Wellness Center here in Tuscaloosa. Ella, how are you this morning? I'm good. How are you doing? I'm doing great, Thank you. I'm really eager to learn more about Druid City Wellness Center. Tell me all about it.
Speaker 3:Well. Druid City Wellness Center provides mental health services for people starting at age six and throughout the lifespan. We treat the full spectrum of psychiatric diagnosis. We also provide gene site testing which helps to identify the medications. Say, you are having problems with your medication and you've been on medications that should work, but for some reason they don't. We do the gene site testing which identifies what medications will metabolize in your body and which ones won't. We also do the ADHD testing. We use the DSM-5 questionnaire and the FDA approved QB check computerized testing to identify those needs.
Speaker 2:So that's a unique blend of services for a psychiatric center. Would you classify yourself as psychiatric or psychological Psychiatric, Psychiatric? So we're dealing with diagnosis, with medication and with administering the correct medication to individuals that have imbalances that need to be addressed medically Well, tell our listeners about how did you I mean you ended up in this really rewarding and incredibly complex sort of occupation? How did you get there? Did you just fall into it, or was there a journey?
Speaker 3:I've been doing psychiatric. I started out as an RN and did psychiatric nursing since 1999, all in all but there's a serious need for psychiatric services in Tuscaloosa. There's only a handful of practice in psychiatrists in Tuscaloosa which makes it hard for patients to receive the care and outpatient settings that they need and they were having. A lot of people were having to travel to Birmingham for those services and all which can be a struggle for a lot of people and I've always wanted to do something with helping and healing people so that they can be better than they've ever been before. And this our population is often overlooked and underserved and if I can return the patient to baseline status, but they can experience joy and happiness, it's very rewarding.
Speaker 2:I agree, and what a great service. And you're right, there's not a lot of resources. There are not a lot of resources here in Tuscaloosa. A lot of people do go to Birmingham. That makes it even more difficult to get the care that you need. You have to take time off of your off from work or whatever your obligations are. It's a full day to go on into Birmingham and it's nice to know that you're here, ella. It's nice to know that we have an option here, and I'm also open on Saturdays.
Speaker 3:Friday and Saturdays are the days that I'm open, so that helps a lot of people because they don't have to take off from work. They can come in on Saturday.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm sure there's a world of misconceptions. I mean, I can name about 12 right off hand. But are there any that come up for you that you'd like to address.
Speaker 3:Yeah, people just do not believe in mental illness. Mental illness they don't believe it's real, and when a person is depressed they can't get out of bed. Sometimes their families will say they're just being lazy and they need to just get over it. And most people don't realize that there's a chemical imbalance in the brain that leads to these life-altering effects in the mood or ability to perform the activities of daily living. There's also a stigma associated with mental illness, where people who suffer from mental illness are just brushed off and they're called crazy. I always like to think that the Lord can use me to help someone back to their joy and even experience a joy that they've never experienced before. Even amongst our peers in medical community, mental health care providers and professionals are sometimes stigmatized as being less skilled practitioners, and that's not the case. Like I have, I'm also a family nurse practitioner and I graduated with a 4.0 from UAB with family nurse practitioner, as well as a 4.0 in psychiatry. But we're sometimes looked as less skilled.
Speaker 2:Right, less skilled, maybe because the people that you work with are marginalized Undeservedly. So I lived with a mind over matter kind of family, and I think that's the kind of family a lot of people grew up with. You top your way through, you grit yourself, you grit it out, and for my mother specifically, that wasn't possible for her and it marginalized her inside of the family unit. If we had known back then what we knew, what we know now, that how important and intertwined the brain's function is to the rest of the body, it seems like something that everyone should have known all this time, but we didn't. Yeah, that's true, we're just coming out of it right now.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and it's all about the New York transmitters.
Speaker 2:I agree, it's how it's, just like you mentioned earlier, when we were meeting before we started the podcast, it's like diabetes, right.
Speaker 3:Exactly the medications for diabetes. They're going to either block the reuptake of the sugar or they're going to help absorb the sugar. They're going to stimulate insulin. And our medications, what they do? They block or reuptake the serotonin, your dopamine. They trigger the release of whatever chemicals that we are needing to provide.
Speaker 2:Well, this is important work. I could talk about it all day. But let's, let's. And obviously you work really hard doing what you do. But what do you do for fun when you're not working?
Speaker 3:Well, I enjoy my grandkids, my husband, my family. You know I like to redo furniture, old furniture, things like that. I go to the camp with my husband and we just hang out and grill and everything like that.
Speaker 2:Oh, I want to hang out with you. I love redoing old furniture and sitting around a campfire and just talking about nothing.
Speaker 3:Oh, you can. Yeah, it's nice, it's very relaxing. I'm on my way.
Speaker 2:So have you ever had something happen to you that kind of just sort of changed your life or changed your evolution that brought you here as a different person?
Speaker 3:Well, my mother had depression, really bad when I was young and I never understood it until I became an adult and of course, it was just brushed under the rug like most things back in those days and, you know, it made me always want to help people with depression and with different psychiatric illnesses, so I think that had a significant impact on me. One of the other challenges I've had to learn to do is time management, because I do work Monday through Thursday at Taylor Harden, which I love what I do here, but I also love what I do at the clinic. So I've had to learn to manage my time. Yeah, because it can be a challenge.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you still have time for fun? Yes, I do. What do you balance?
Speaker 3:it. It's difficult at times.
Speaker 2:Well, what would you like our listeners to take away about Druid City Wellness Center?
Speaker 3:I want people to know that we're here to help and if they're dealing with mental illness, we will do everything within our power to get them back to so they're able to experience the joy in their life. And it's more than just taking medicine. You need coping strategies. You know we refer for individual counseling. We help the client to identify their needs and what their needs are in their life and to overcome and return them to functioning and experiencing the joy in their life.
Speaker 2:Do? Just curious do people need a referral to come and see you?
Speaker 3:No, I do not require a referral. I see anyone that I can.
Speaker 2:Well, that's great to know. How can listeners learn more? How can our listeners we do have a website.
Speaker 3:We have a website and a portal where they can even go on and schedule their own appointment, because we're only there on Fridays and Saturdays and anytime they want to stop by on a Friday or Saturday and have questions, we'll be more than happy to talk with them. We're located at 653 Helen Keller Boulevard and between the website, the phone is 301-0769 and they can. You know they're welcome to call and just get information if they need to.
Speaker 2:Wonderful. I think that's the first step for most people.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I give a lot of the patients my personal cell number so they can text me if they have a question and things like that as well.
Speaker 2:Well, Ella, it's been a pleasure speaking to you and learning more about Druid City Wellness Center. Thank you for coming by and talking to us.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much, I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor podcast Northport. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNPNorthportcom or call 205-809-4910.