Empowering Community for Positive Change
Behavioral Health Therapy Help Michelle Overcome Panic Attacks
Michelle, a 10-year-old youth, moved to San Francisco from China 15 months ago. Suffering from cerebral palsy, she has already lost the ability to walk. She speaks English, but has never lived outside of her home country. Soon after the move and beginning of school in San Francisco, Michelle began to show signs of severe anxiety.
Her mom referred her to counseling at school. She reported that Michelle had recently developed acute anxiety related to her new medical treatment. In addition to her anxious concern over her medical treatment and her health, Michelle experienced a change in her care which deeply upset her.
Her grandma, who used to be her primary caregiver and by her side every day, had to leave the country and go back to China to take care of grandpa who suddenly became very ill. Michelle had been quite upset about not having her grandma around.
Michelle was given a diagnosis of Anxiety Disorder. She received weekly individual therapy at school from APA Behavioral Health Program's post-graduate intern. The clinical approach used in this program was based on relational or interpersonal psychodynamic principles, with a particular focus on multicultural and trauma-informed principles. Fortunately Michelle was committed to attending the weekly therapy sessions. By the end of the school year, her anxiety was significantly reduced and the panic attacks had ceased.
Latina Mother Escaping Violence Gets New Home With Our Help
Laura is a Latina single mom with two daughters aged 10 and 6. She fled her native country due to violence and death threats from gangs. However, sometime after arriving in this country, she became a victim to physical assault and robbery on the street.
Laura stayed with the grandmother and the sister-in-law, paying rent for a small room to live with her daughters, and sharing the bills. She has to work long hours to cover the girls' needs. Feeling her life stressors and overwhelmed by living in the same quarters with these relatives, she sometimes used excessive physical discipline on her daughters that could result in the minors being injured.
Through referral from Child Protective Services, Laura came to us for Differential Response (DR) services. Our goal was to provide support on family relations, parenting, family therapy, and stable housing. We enrolled her in parenting classes, family therapy; assisted her in low-income housing application and helped secure legal services for her.
Our case manager has been working closely with Laura for the past year to assist her during the legal residency process. She has since been approved for a U visa. This non-immigrant status visa is set aside for victims of certain crimes who have suffered mental or physical abuse and are helpful to law enforcement or government officials in the investigation or prosecution of criminal activity.
The pieces are gradually coming together in her life. Her application was selected through the housing lottery system and she was accepted for a two-bedroom unit in the Mission Bay. Laura can look forward to living a more peaceful new life with her daughters after moving into the apartment.
Behavioral Health Counseling helps Erica
Erica, a Latinx mother of three, is referred to seek counseling by her APA’s parenting class instructor. She has been struggling after a difficult breakup with an abusive partner and feeling overwhelmed with sadness about the past and worry about the future. Constantly thinking about everything that had happened kept her up at nights and triggered frequent stomach aches and headaches.
With the guidance of our Behavioral Health Program psychotherapy intern who provided a safe, non-judgmental space for her to share what had happened, Erica was able to explore her emotional struggles and difficult relationships. Our therapist supported Erica to work on accepting her feelings, rebuilding self-esteem, increasing confidence, and practicing assertiveness and maintaining boundaries in relationships.
She noticed that the headaches and stomach aches have decreased, and she is able to sleep a bit more. After 25 therapy sessions, Erica can now describe what a healthy and happy relationship would look like for her.
Pregnant, Homeless and Single
During one of our Community Family Day in June at Tenderloin, we encountered three women among our participants who were pregnant, homeless, and single. These women were high risk and have not received any prenatal health services. After intake, our staff immediately helped enroll them in health insurance and connected these expecting moms to temporary housing. We then scheduled them to stop by our family center so staff can accompany them to a free clinic for check-up. To further support the mothers, we provided information on our parenting and health classes, schedules for free baby diapers, clothes pick-up and baby boxes.
The good news is all three women continue to participate in our New Mother Support Group. They all gave birth to healthy babies. We are glad to have played a role in changing the life stories of these moms and babies.
Helping Families Find Home
Yin-Quin is a single mother of a three-year-old daughter who had been living in a single room occupancy (SRO) unit for over 10 years. The living condition in the building was deteriorating. There was rodent infestations inside and around her unit. Her little girl had to go the the ER twice to get treatment for insect bites. That caught the attention of the hospital staff and they were very concerned.
Our case manager and a Public Health Nurse stepped in to help. First Yin-Quin received general assistance to purchase a new mattress.
Then they wrote letters to the San Francisco Housing Authority which helped expedite Yin-Quin's application for low-income housing. She was finally able to live in a unit with its own bathroom and kitchen, a roomier place where she and her daughter can call home.
Supporting a Family In Crisis
Mrs. Rodriquez, a monolingual Tagalog speaking mother came to APA with concerns about her son's situation. Her son Rogelio was sent back to the Philippines when he was only 16 months old. When Rogelio returned to America at the age of 18, he had a culture shock.
Everything was so foreign -- the language, the lifestyle. He felt helpless and didn't want to speak or engage in any activities. Different resources were needed to help him adjust to his new life and most of all, he needed emotional support.
Together with a Filipino American social services agency, APA's Family Advocate provided support on various levels. Rogelio received guidance to deal with his worries and concerns, to feel like part of the family and that he can be trusted. He got help to find schools suitable for a new immigrant and to enroll in an ESL program to better his English.
Mrs. Rodriquez and her husband were referred to attend APA's Parent Support Group and Parenting Education course to become better parents for Rogelio and the other children in the family.
It took almost three years to support the Rodriquez family, and to help boost the confidence of Rogelio. He persisted and did well at school. With our help he was able to connect more with his parents and family, which made things smoother at home. While rocky at first, he made it through eventually.
Assisting Mary with Appropriate Medical Care
Refusing to be examined during pre-natal visits, Mary, a pregnant monolingual Chinese woman, was carrying a pair of scissors in her purse with the intention of delivering the baby herself. After numerous visits and family counseling sessions, APA made sure the client came in for weekly pre-natal checks. During her seventh month of pregnancy, the APA Social Worker convinced her husband to commit her for psychiatric assessment and evaluation. One month later the woman gave birth to a healthy baby boy and the baby went home with the father. The mother remained at San Francisco General Hospital psychiatric ward and was put on medication. Her symptoms improved markedly and she was able to join her husband and baby at home.