Crises at Every Level of Service

HUMN 8110 Advance d Social Work Theory and Practice Week 3 – Crisis Theory – Part 1 (CT1) TYNEESE BOYD: My name is Tyneese Boyd. I go to Building for the Future. I'm 19. And I'm here to get my high school diploma. I found out about the school by another school I attended, and it wasn't the right fit for me. I had a baby. And her father went to that school. So it was like, his problems on top of my problems, and me not wanting to come. So they split us up. He went to one school and I came here. TW ILAH ANTHONY: Tyneese is a very, very energetic young lady. She wants the world. She's gotten caught up in her own world; because now she has a two year old that she doesn't know how to raise because she doesn't know how to read. And because she doesn't k now how to read, it's impacting her. Because she realizes that her daughter's going to grow up and go to kindergarten and first grade. And when the child brings work home, she's not sure if she's going to be able to help her child read or do the work that she can't do. She knows that she's low, and she kind of camouflages it with always wanting to be out of class because she doesn't want anybody to know she doesn't know the work. With that, she struggles with the fact of building a life for her kid, meanin g just being able to find a home for her, because she's been bounced from home to home to home. Right now, she has her own place. She had no idea that you had to pay her bills at a certain time, the due date, or they would turn it off. And then they would require you to pay all the money up front before you can even get it turned on. And so she was devastated about that. Or for some reason her social security check got cut off, as she didn't have a way to buy Pampers or milk. And she's brought the baby to school and was like, "We haven't eaten." How do you fix that? TYNEESE BOYD: Before I got here, from my other school I heard that I am going to have a social worker. And I was happy 'cause throughout all the years I've been going to school, I always had a social worker. And once you build a relationship with them, you're really going to just go talk to a friend about all your problems. So I was happy. When they told me I have a social worker, I'm like, "That's good," because there was a lot of things I n eeded to talk about and talk to someone that I trust. They know that they can't tell nobody. It's good to know that they can't tell nobody. AJIA MEUX: So this is a classic example of how theory informs practice, but sometimes practice has to stand alone. All those tools in your toolbox, you use what works. Tyneese can be manipulative. She can be manipulative in this sense that she absorbs a lot of what she hears. And she absorbs a lot of things around her. But what she absorbs doesn't necessarily become h er. It just becomes what she hears, and then what she knows. So in a 10 -minute span, Tyneese can string together five one -liners, and then when you ask her her opinion about all of these things that she just said, it will be completely the opposite. It wil l be completely the opposite. So a lot of work that I do with Tyneese is around challenging her true perspective on circumstances. And that can take a long time. It can take a really, really long time. TYNEESE BOYD: The challenges that I am facing is getting on my own and keeping it, knowing that it's not about me. It's about the baby now. Her name is Tynea. She's two years old. And every day I go to Miss Ajia and let her know how I'm feeling. My daught er's father, we were discussing two weeks ago that he was thinking about moving with me, and that it was a good idea. He can support and help. But it's not good right now for my age. I have a lot on my mind so I can't really deal with your problems, my pro blems, come to school, getting up. Miss Ajia explained to me just let him know how you feel. And however way he take it, he just take it. You have to be comfortable with yourself and let people know how you feel. And when she let me know that, I'm like, y ou're right. I gotta really let people know how I feel in a way that's going to make me comfortable because then it's about making me comfortable to make Tynea comfortable. Being a mom, for me, every day has been challenging. Dealing with problems has bee n frustrating, and trying not to take it out on her. But she's still a little baby. And she don't understand sometimes that I'm not in a good mood, and just go ahead and do something else. So I'm with my mom. So in the morning, I have to wake up at 7:30 a nd get her dressed, and make sure I feed her in the morning and get myself together. I have to get on one bus and walk up a hill to take her to daycare. And I got to make sure I'm at her daycare at least by 8:30, 8:45. I walk back down the hill, tired an d sweaty and ready to get to school so I can first sit down. And I know I got a lot on my mind, but I have to sit down and take a good breath.

I'm really doing it because I love her. I get on another bus. And it bring me all the way to the school. After I think about and I get here, I say, that's not too bad. Two buses? That's not really bad for right now 'cause it might can get worse. And so you got to appreciate what you're doing right now, and just take it and go with the flow. That's my everyday life f or me and Tynea. It's getting up, making sure I get to school on time, getting her to daycare, praying every day to make sure we get there safe. One problem that I had to deal with in life was dealing with my mother all over again.

My mother had been on d rugs ever since I was young. And I had to understand that people go through things in life. And it took me a long time to understand that. So that's why I had to deal with social workers. And this problem came up where my mom had stabbed me. And a casewor ker from the Child and Family Service had to get involved. And I had to learn that she my mom, and she had problems. So I can't take things to the heart all the time with my mother. It wasn't really her at the time. So my caseworker, his name was Mr. Jone s, he let me know you got a baby now, Tyneese. So everything that a mom do, they human. We make mistakes. So he taught me that can't always get mad at her. And everything's going to be fine. You can't always bring up what she did wrong. Let it go or you're not going to live right if you don't let it go. And ever since I had my little one, ways that she act now, it's like, sometimes you don't appreciate what your mother do. He let me know she trying. You've got to give her props for that. So if it wasn't fo r him, I don't know -- it was a long time I could have just been like, I really don't care. And I always wanted to say, “I just need to give up,” but I have a purpose for being here. If it wasn't for him, I could have just been like, "It just don't matter. Everything just don't matter." But he really let me understand. He talked to me like I was human and let me know that it's going to be fine. TWILAH ANTHONY: I take my hats off to the kids, because if I had to walk in the their shoes, I don't know that I would. And even though they had their difficult days, the baggage that they carry, I feel like I wouldn't handle it as well as they do. And so with that being said, they carry a lot of weight, a whole lot of weight. TYNEESE BOYD: Where I see myself in the future is being someone that can help children that's dealing with problems that don't have no one to talk to and don't see that someone every day, don't matter who they are, can help you. My social worker, Miss Ajia -- all the social workers that I had in my life -- show me that to us, it looks like it's just their job to be a social worker and talk to people. But then they have a life. And you don't know what they've been through. So all the ones that I meet and talk to and I let them know what I've been through, they say, "Tyneese, it's going to be fine. You're going to get through it." She made me want to help people that is in my situation. © Laureate Education, Inc.