Well Dukes

Ep. 2 Self-Care and Self-Medication

September 09, 2020 Paige Hawkins, Magali Laitem & Mindy Koon Season 1 Episode 2
Well Dukes
Ep. 2 Self-Care and Self-Medication
Show Notes Transcript

Mindy Koon, The Well's Assistant Director for Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Prevention chats with Paige Hawkins who facilitates the Reflections Program in The Well and Dr. Magali Laitem from the University Counseling Center. They discuss what self-medication is and how it can impact one’s life, as well as what self-care is and how it can be an important area to develop, especially in our current times.

A full transcript for this episode can be found here.

Resources
For more information on the Reflections program at JMU, click here.

JMU Counseling Center's information can be found here or follow them on Instagram at @jmucc_canines or Facebook JMU Counseling Center.

The Personal Assessment Wheel for Well-Being & Self-Care can be found here.

Be Well Dukes!

All episodes of Season 1 (2020 - 2021) were recorded  when The Office of Health Promotion or, The Well, was a part of the University Health Center and located in the Student Success Center. As of summer 2021, The Well no longer exists and we are now UREC Health Promotion. Check out Season 2 Episode 1 to learn more about these changes or visit JMU University Recreation's website.

Episode 2 Transcript & Resources

Links to Resources

Personal Assessment Wheel for Well-being & Self-Care: https://cplatform-files.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/venue-pdfs/Personal-Assessment-Wheel.pdf

 JMU Counseling Center website: https://www.jmu.edu/counselingctr/

Reflections Program website: https://www.jmu.edu/healthcenter/alcohol-other-drugs-updated/Reflections.shtml

Transcript

Intro: Hi there! Welcome to Well Dukes, brought to you by The Well. Each week, you’ll hear conversations from a variety of JMU staff and students that we hope will challenge what you know, think, or do in regards to your own health and helps you be Well Dukes.

Mindy: Hello everyone. Welcome to the second episode of the Well Dukes podcast. In today’s episode, we will be discussing self-medication and self-care. I’m Mindy Fabrizio Koon and I’m the Assistant Director for alcohol and other drug abuse prevention at the Well. Back when I was an undergrad, no one called me Mindy. After the first week of classes my first year, I became known as Fabs, thanks to my peers at the Campus TV and radio station, and maybe because of my cool last name. Today, I’m so happy to be joined by two individuals that I greatly admire. I’ll let them introduce themselves.

Paige: Thank you for joining us. My name is Paige Allen Hawkins and I serve as an alcohol and other drug early intervention specialist in the Well. I work most closely with our program called Reflections.

Magali: Hi, my name is Dr. Magali Laitem. My pronouns are she/her/hers. I’m a staff psychologist and Outreach Coordinator at JMU’s Counseling Center, and I’ve been at the center since 2016 so I’m actually going to be starting my sixth year here. I provide direct clinical services to JMU students as well as coordinate our outreach programming and social media platforms. Thank you so much for having me!

Mindy: Thank you for being here, and thanks for everybody joining our podcast today. Just to get started, Paige I’d like to begin with you. What is self-medication, and when could self-medication become problematic for someone?

Paige: Sure. Self-medication happens when we turn to prescription drugs, illicit drugs, or alcohol in response to a difficult situation. When we feel stressed, angry, overwhelmed, anxious, uncomfortable-- it’s natural to seek a solution. We want to feel better. When we believe that alcohol or other drugs are the best short-term solution, we can be setting ourselves up to experience substance abuse and related consequences. We may also be at risk for experiencing dependency. 

Mindy: You know, that’s a lot to take in. Magali, in the counseling center, is self-medication something that is relatively common among students using and seeking supports there?

Magali: We definitely have seen students who come to the Counseling Center, who have either tried self-medicating or who are currently still self-medicating. And what we’ve seen is that it is, like Paige was saying, a way that they’re trying to cope with either negative emotions or difficulty with sleep, or even as a way to help them feel like they can connect more easily to others, or deal with boredom, sometimes. And I think when they do reach out to the Counseling Center, they’re realizing that it’s not working the way that they were hoping it would. Or it’s actually causing them continued problems, or other problems have popped up because of self-medicating.

Mindy: Could you tell us a little bit more about the supports the Counseling Center does have available for students?

Magali: Yeah. We have a variety of different services that ranges from individual therapy, so one-on-one counseling. We also provide group counseling and we have specialized treatment programs that are evidence-based. And the focus of those treatment programs are to teach specific skills: whether it’s… it’s to learn how to, um, practice self-compassion, um, specific coping skills… To better manage anxiety, social anxiety, um… And I’m trying to think. We have a new one actually on how to better cope with, um, COVID related anxiety or all of the social justice incidents that have occurred over the summer. 

Mindy: That sounds like some really wonderful supports available for our students. I really appreciate the work the Counseling Center does for our campus community. Uh, Paige, if you could… Could you share with our listeners a little bit more about the Reflections program? And also if self-medication is something that’s relatively common for our participants?

Paige: Sure, of course. Um, Reflections is a one-on-one, early intervention program, typically for students who want to explore the role of alcohol or cannabis in their life. It’s an opportunity to meet one-on-one with a facilitator where we provide a space where students can be authentic. Where they can think about, when they choose to drink or when they choose to smoke, what are their intentions? What are their expectations? And so, in that realm, often, students will talk about their intentions being to feel more confident, to feel socially outgoing, to feel a little less filtered, perhaps, or a little less guarded when they are in a social environment. So, their intentions are very positive when they describe those in relation to alcohol and cannabis. Unfortunately, sometimes, the experience that a student may have does not align with their intentions. They experience, maybe, negative consequences as a result of their use. It may be experiencing more anxiety, or adding to stressors that already exist in their life because alcohol or cannabis has interfered negatively.

Mindy: It seems that self-medication is something that is relatively common for students as they might be facing a variety of stressors in their lives. It’s definitely an important topic to be addressed. And considering our current environment, I’m wondering what observations either of you have had in regards to how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted self-medication? And you know, we can think about that on an individual level and even more broadly in our society. 

Magali: I think all of the research that’s been coming out is saying that there has been an uptick in overall substance use. And it does seem that part of that increase in use has been ways people are trying to manage all of the uncertainty, and stress, boredom, that is happening… Due to all of the unknowns that have occurred with a pandemic, but also due to the social isolation.

Paige: I agree. And one thing I have really felt tuned in to is that the alcohol industry, specifically, seems to have really taken advantage of this global health crisis and they have pivoted quite a bit of their marketing to reflect social distancing, social isolation, um… The industry tends to do a good job normalizing self-medication, normalizing relying on alcohol or another substance to cope, to feel better. So, um, just in preparation for this podcast, I started looking into a little bit of that and finding messages like “A bottle a day keeps the boredom away” and “fourth bottle of wine, quarantine is going fine.” And I’ve seen commercials where individuals are in their bathrobe drinking, and it’s being very normalized and glorified, perhaps is a better word to use, that that type of behavior is not really normal, but is acceptable right now. And so I think that type of messaging, while sometimes subtle but sometimes it’s not, can reinforce the experiences that we have and the choices that we may make. 

Mindy: It certainly is interesting to, you know, take a look at some of the research coming out; and seeing the impact on substance use rates with all individuals, you know, not just the college population. And also, thinking about how this is being used by marketing companies to maybe normalize this aspect of life and turning to a substance to navigate life during a pandemic. And thinking about the times we’re in, I often myself think about self-care because I think that can be very important, especially in turbulent times. Magali, what are some important considerations when it comes to self-care?

Magali: Yeah, that’s a great question. I think the first thing that I would want to stress is that self-care is not selfish. It’s necessary to stay physically well, as well as emotionally and mentally well, and to also be able to support the loved ones in our lives. Sometimes, there’s almost like a stigma around self-care that, for some reason, it’s going to get in the way of taking care of others. But it’s actually the reverse, because if we don’t take care of ourselves, we’re more likely going to feel burnt out, and we will feel irritated, or not want to be with our loved ones when they’re struggling. And, um, the other piece about self-care is that it’s more than just doing an activity that makes us feel good, or distracts us in the moment from negative or painful emotions. 

Magali: The reality is self-care tends to be an intentional practice that… It’s meant to hit different dimensions of wellness. So that includes our physical self-care, our emotional self-care, mental self-care, our financial self-care, and spiritual or religious self-care, and then relationally how are we connecting to others? I think self-care has been media-sized in such a way that people think it’s: “I’m going to treat myself to the spa,” or “I’m going to go shopping,” or “I’m going to binge watch Netflix,” and those actually are not great examples of self-care. Because if it’s more towards the edge of distracting or numbing, it’s not going to help you long-term. And sometimes, you know this is just one example, but we can actually cause ourselves more stress if we do those kinds of activities like going on a shopping spree but not being mindful of our financial situation. Again, not good self-care. And so we definitely want to kind of challenge the view of what self-care has become in our day-to-day conversations. The other consideration around self-care is to keep in mind that self-care is highly individualized. And so what may work for your friend or family member may not work for you, and that’s okay. And sometimes it is, you know, trying different things and figuring out what actually works for you, knowing that that may change depending on the types of stress that are occurring to you, or just the stage of your life. 

Mindy: Thank you for sharing all of that-- I think there was a lot of good information that you presented because self-care can often be considered more materialistic and, like, buying something or those aspects that maybe aren’t contributing to our internal wellness… with that being considered and not the same things work for each individual, there are a variety of things. Paige, if I could go back to you for a moment. In thinking about if a student maybe sees using a medication kind of as a self-care activity in their mind, are there… I sphere anything we would want them to know, or what would be some things that would be helpful for that person to maybe consider?

Paige: Mhm… That’s a great question. I was just listening to Magali and I was thinking: How fortunate our students are to have providers that JMU who care so passionately about their success and their well-being. And that we have very intentionally created spaces on campus where students can safely explore for themselves the self-care that they believe is in their self-interest. And so I think what first comes to mind for me, Mindy, is that I would want students to learn about the resources that are available on campus. To perhaps step outside their comfort zone and learn more about resources in the counseling center and learn more about Reflections. And find themselves potentially in a space talking with a provider in the Counseling Center or with a health education facilitator in the Well bout their autonomy, about their intentions, about the choices that they want to be making for themselves, and the goals they have for themselves and allowing some of that to kind of all come together in a way that helps them connect the dots for themselves. So when I’m talking with students about Reflections, I often describe it as: students come in to meet with me and they have all the pieces of a puzzle that is their experience, that is their life, their goals, their hopes for themselves and we… really strive to offer a space where we can allow them to see all of those pieces of the puzzle and put them together in a way that provides some clarity and allows them to see the big picture. So I would encourage students to continue learning about the resources for support on campus and taking advantage of those.

Mindy: Thank you. You’re right, there really is so much available for students and it’s just nice to be, you know, part of this JMU community and be able to see the growth that can happen while someone’s here on campus. Magali, I’d like to come back to you. We’ve talked about self-care and I know there’s just so many practices that can contribute to self-care that have a variety of ranges. What do you think are some common things that folks find helpful that maybe meet some different areas of wellness?

Magali: It’s hard because I do think self-care is so individualized that it’s hard to maybe name common self-care strategies that would fit everyone. And at the same time, I think what will often come up is either practicing mindfulness, so being more in tune to the present moment. And that can take different forms. Whether it’s mindfully taking a walk and paying attention to your surroundings or paying attention to breathing, mindfully practicing eating. You know, those would get in touch with different wellness dimensions. Even mindfully reading, if you enjoy reading things of that sort. But, you know, I think what can be helpful for someone to figure out what self-care strategies that they would want to build their repertoire around. There's actually a great free resource that is a wellness assessment that they can download, and Mindy, maybe I can send this to you later. So that they have the exact link. But it assesses different wellness components and then they can look at which areas they are doing better in, and which areas they are struggling more, and then focus on that specific area and make it feel more concrete. Because sometimes we may think we are rocking the self-care strategies, but we’re still feeling tired or not doing… not feeling our best self. And it may be that emotionally, we are doing great in terms of the self-care practices, but we don’t have a good sleep hygiene. And so, that’s maybe where we would need to bulk up. 

Mindy: Sounds like that’s a tool that could be helpful for folks and we’ll be happy to include that with the information for this podcast. I’ve noticed... I thought I could go by Fabs but I really am Mindy now. So, um, listen learned… still like Fabs but that’s a flash from the past for myself. Um, this is kind of something just pulling that all together. What, if any, special considerations may folks need to consider in regards to self-care, specifically in the time we find ourselves and the COVID-19 pandemic?

Magali: I think what I want to… want everyone in our JMU community to hear is that it’s normal and it’s really easy, during times of high stress and uncertainty, for self-care to go out the window. That we try and be almost overly productive, or engage in a lot of activities that distance ourselves from the scary or painful emotions, and know that you’re not alone, if that’s what’s happened to you. But you can get that self-care back into your day-to-day. It may take a little bit of work though, and it can feel like there’s not enough energy or time in the day to make that a priority. But, i hope you hear from this podcast that if you do prioritize self-care, you’ll start feeling better and increase that energy in other areas of your life, and so it does pay in the long run to make that a priority. 

Mindy: Thank you, that is definitely important to keep in mind. For this, I’d like to start with Paige on this one. With everything we’ve discussed today, what is something you want our listeners to take away, or how could they apply what we’ve talked about today.

Paige: I’m- I’m thinking um, kind of perhaps in follow up to what we just said, that this is a time where we all need to extend a little grace to one another. And, that includes doing that for ourselves as well. And so, um, being patient and being kind and reminding ourselves that we’re all navigating unknowns and, so, continuing to think about resources, support, relationships, um. I’m thinking of a researcher and an author that I admire, Brené Brown, and I often have found myself recently… you know, “Talk to yourself as you would someone you love.” So I think, you know that kind of reminder, those things that resonate most with an individual that can ground them and can help them come back to a place of compassion for themselves and for others… and can help bridge to resources for support can be essential right now. So, empowering that in ourselves and we have an opportunity, empowering that in our friends and those who we care about. 

Mindy: I love that Brené Brown quote. It’s actually in front of me on my bulletin board in my office. Anything for you, Magali, that you’d like to share?

Magali: I think Paige said it so well, and everyone at the Counseling Center are huge fans of Brené Brown, so it’s also one of our favorite quotes and techniques that we talked about a lot. Yeah, I hope that everyone listening can just hold on to that self-care is not selfish, and it is needed. And don’t be afraid to try new things and see what sticks for you. 

Mindy: I think that is sound wisdom there. Okay, you don’t have to give us an in-depth answer, but we do have kind of some wrap-up questions. What advice would you give to your undergrad self, maybe pertaining to this topic, or more generally if you’d like?

Magali: I think the area of self-care that I still struggle with to this day is making cooking fun and nutritional, so I wish I could go back to my undergrad self and be like, “Learn how to make cooking fun, before going to grad school.”

Paige: Even though I knew this question was coming, I don’t feel quite prepared to answer it. I think of so much that I would like to go back and tell myself, and I’m not sure that it would make much of a difference. I… I remember feeling very focused on wanting to belong and trying to navigate what that meant. Trying to determine what was expected of me in my college culture and what the social norms were and how I would be perceived. If I went along with what I believe to be the norm, or if perhaps, I did not. If I challenged or did something differently. And so I think I would want to just come back and, if at all possible, remind myself to just be authentic. 

Mindy: I like that. I think both of yours I would use for my undergrad self, in reflection. Okay, we have just a fun question-- whatever comes to your mind for this please share with our audience. Who would play you in a movie about your life? 

Paige: I got it right off the bat. Reese Witherspoon.

Magali: I am so at a disadvantage because I am so bad with names! I never know names of actors. So, I may take a while.

Mindy: Well, as Magali thinks about that… Um, oh geez, I’m not sure but when I was posed this question before, I said Jenna Coleman, because she’s awesome. She could play the younger me for sure. 

Magali: Who’s the actress who played Juno? Is that a good answer? [Laughs.]

Mindy: So, so Ellen Page.

Magali: There you go. I will choose her.

Mindy: Well, great. Well, Dukes, that’s all we have for this episode. Thanks so much for listening and check back next Wednesday for an episode on STIs and Safer Sex Supplies. If you have any questions for us, you can find our email in the episode description or message us on social media @JMUHealthCenter. Magali, what is the social media link for counseling?

Magali: For Instagram, it’s @jmucc_canines and for Facebook, it’s JMU Counseling Center.

Mindy: Wonderful, thanks for sharing that. Well folks, consider taking time today to relax and recharge. Be well, Dukes.
If you're listening to this episode for HTH100, the passcode is "reflections".