When did you start work at UTMB?
July 2022
What is the best thing about your job?
Getting to help inmates learn the importance of mental health and helping them develop healthy coping skills for their eventual release. Through counseling and coping skills these inmates may have a better understanding of taking care of themselves safely rather than with drugs or dangerous behavior.
What is the most challenging thing about your job?
With many inmates coming from a history of abuse and drug use, it has been difficult for many inmates to understand how mental health works and understanding that mental health medications need to be used along with coping skills to be mentally healthy. Many inmates believe that mental health medications and/or illegal drugs can manage mental illness alone and can be irritable or uncooperative when discussing ways to help themselves in ways they may never have tried before.
Is there anything about your job that surprised/surprises you?
What has surprised me the most about my job is how staff morale has managed to stay relatively positive despite being in a fairly stressful environment. With inmates being uncooperative and having occasional difficulties with security staff, it's remarkable that the nurses and other staff members have been able to come to work with a smile despite these issues. It makes me grateful to be a part of the team.
Who are your heroes?
I find my role model in life to be Obi-wan Kenobi from the Star Wars movies and shows. I'm not a fan of him for just fighting with a light saber, but because of how he manages to stay positive in the worst of situations. Even when things are at their lowest Obi-wan Kenobi was able to cheer up his team with inspirational quotes and jokes to help lighten the mood. He was able to keep calm in difficult scenarios and was not afraid to ask for help or admit his own flaws. I strive to be like him in that I'm able to bring joy and motivation to a place despite being in difficult times.
What is your favorite quote?
"In a world filled with misery and uncertainty, it is a great comfort to know, that in in the end there is light in the darkness."—Josuha Graham (Fallout New Vegas)