Let's Talk UNLV

0:00:00
Alright, well welcome to another segment of Let's Talk UNRV on KUNV with co-host Keith and Renee. Renee, what's up?

0:00:12
It's been a minute.

0:00:13
How was your weekend? It was great. I was in Los Angeles for our regional conference of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated.

0:00:18
Shout out to the far western region.

0:00:21
It was awesome. I was downtown by the JW Marriott. We strolled. We took care of the business right we take care of business but it was such a good time that was the first time in two years two years that we gathered together as a body to carry out the business of aka for this region so it was great had some good food saw my mom as well so it was just a great

0:00:44
all-around town what time what about you now did LA take care of you like Las Vegas took care of you ladies when you were here. No, no, no. You know we had the Bellagio Water, you know, pink and green. And the airport all decked out. You know, you thought they were going to change the name of Las Vegas to like AfriCafé Af or something.

0:01:04
Yeah, but they did light the form pink and green, but it still wasn't to the extent that I heard about the Bellagio fountain. how exciting it was to have 1,300 women come together after like two years of a hiatus of being able to come together in that way was just I just can't express it. We have to talk about the after convention activities see how it

0:01:24
compares with the with the frat, with my frat. Alright first fam. My first fam that's right. That's right. Now my weekend was pretty low low-key I just watched some basketball you know I watched my Mammy Heat represent you know we closed out our other series and got a game one win the other day. So we're I'm riding high. So all right all right riding high. But anywho we could talk about our weekends all day but I'm excited we have two guests with us today. So we're just going to talk about we have Dr. Tanya Crabb who's a licensed psychologist, student counseling and psychological services. And then we also have Anala Muscate who's the wellness educator for the wellness promotion department. Ladies, welcome to the show.

0:02:06
Hello. Thank you for having us.

0:02:08
I feel like I'm always outnumbered, you know.

0:02:11
You are.

0:02:13
On a regular basis. Not just professionally, but at home as well, right?

0:02:17
I know. All the time. I'm always trying to secure support and votes to make my voice heard. But just welcome to the show and then we'll start out by just having each of you give a brief introduction of sort of how you came to UNLV.

0:02:31
And then we'll start with Dr. Crabb. Oh, hi. So I am one of those pandemic people. Like, you know, be about March, March 2nd, I think, in 2020. And I've been here a couple of years now. I originally came from California. I'm not from California, but I'm part of a military family. I'm a military veteran myself, Marine Corps veteran, and my husband is also a military veteran, so when he retired from the military, we migrated here to Las Vegas.

0:02:58
You wanna share?

0:02:59
Yeah, absolutely. So thank you so much for having me here. I'm actually from Southeastern Europe, Albania, and then I had the opportunity to reside in Philadelphia, so I'm from the East Coast, and I recently transitioned to Las Vegas, and I had the opportunity to work for Student Wellness here after working for the University of Penn Hospital back east and I work with children and adults and cancer services So I love having the opportunity to help the students here on campus from you know Health education needs a lot of resources that we can provide to improve their health

0:03:25
All right, I have to ask are you a Philadelphia 76 fan I am the Eagles Phillies all the way Well, you know Miami Heat were playing we're playing Philly so I feel bad for you all to unfortunately be with me. But you know, we'll seize the opportunity. We can we can close you out painlessly.

0:03:43
OK, OK. Slow, slow pain.

0:03:46
So now we're going to try to get over it quickly for you.

0:03:50
So we'll talk about student wellness and there's that's such a huge, huge topic. And maybe talk to us about how to each of you come into this profession. And how did you come to, you know, one to provide these holistic services for students.

0:04:05
So I got my doctorate in clinical psychology when we were stationed in Hawaii, but I've sort of always been gravitating towards mental health. It's been an interest of mine ever since I left the military. At the time, I primarily was thinking about mental health in terms of serving veterans, but then after I got into the field, it just became that much more expansive. There are a number of reasons why I love the work that I do. I feel like it has an opportunity to change lives and to also change communities. And it also personally resonates with who I am. You know, I am a first-generation college student. I'm an immigrant. There are a lot of struggles to get here, just as a person and as a person of color. So having support really matters. So I recognize the ways in which support can transform someone's life. So that's one of the reasons that I decided to go into this mental health professional field.

0:04:55
So in my scenario, I actually came from the East Coast where I worked for University of Penn Hospital and over there I worked with a lot of patients that had a lot of, you know, survivorship care needs. So essentially when it comes to health services, it's not just seeing a physician. There's other parts involved. There's other resources that a lot of people, students, the public is seeking. And I think with, you know, working in student wellness and being hired as a wellness educator, essentially what I oversee, along with the team of student wellness, is, you know, wellness promotion, health education services. And overall, what student wellness consists of is we have a student health center. That's when we actually provide our medical services. We have a medical team that consists of physicians, nurses, dietician services, and then we also have student counseling, psychological services as well. We have a behavioral health team that assists with not only helping students with all of their prescriptions and medications, but also helping them transition to that type of care. In addition to that, we have the care center that involves a lot of trauma-related events and services. And then we also have the wellness zone, which is where I'm housed. And in the wellness zone, we have a lot of services that offer resources for sexual health, nutrition health, and so forth. So we like to combine everything all under one roof so that students have more of an integrated service that they can reach at UNLV.

0:06:06
And then this is just probably more so for Dr. Crabb. You know, just from your perspective, we're closing our first year back in person on campus. What are you seeing as sort of some of the residual effects of, you know, the pandemic and students returning back to in-person and, you know, some of the general themes that you've noticed or observed through your work? It's been rough. We're coming out of, well, I don't even know if we're fully out of the apocalypse. That's what I like to call it. I would say it's receding. We're all transitioning through an apocalypse. There's been a lot of trauma on multiple fronts. We've had losses emotionally. We've had losses psychologically. We've had losses in terms of the people that we love. You know, I've seen an uptick of anxiety and depression. I've seen loneliness be a very big deal for students who a lot of them haven't even had the opportunity to engage with others because of the quarantine situation. There's been a lot of grief, grief around losses of family, losses of freedom, losses of opportunities. It's been a really rough go-round and the APA has done studies on it and they've tracked the levels of even things like weight gain. A lot of us aren't the people we used to be when we first entered into the pandemic. So I think the students are at a point where they're starting to rebound a little better. You know, this opening up of the world has made it a lot better for some of the students in the sense that they can now have opportunities to connect with each other. But I just recently saw a report this morning that said that the rates of mental health issues among young people has continued to rise. You know, a lot of that had to do with all of the stressors they faced prior to the pandemic, then compounded by the pandemic, and all of the other crazy that is going on outside of these doors. You know, in many ways, it's a triple pandemic, with racism, political upheaval, and the pandemic in and of itself.

0:07:52
Yeah, absolutely. And I think, you know, working the wellness zone, what we'd like to do, in addition to providing the CAT services, we also want to have a zone, a safe, you know, space for students to not only have the ability to connect with our counselors, but also to utilize some of our spaces like the massage chairs. You know, I think that goes a long way. We can just take a minute to just relax and just sit back and help ease, you know, some of that physical stress that's going on. And we also recently launched our biofeedback device, and that's another way for a lot of students to have the ability to do a lot of mindfulness. You know, the ability to just, you know, think about your thoughts and know how to manage through them and to breathe effectively so that you are learning to relax and get through a lot of stressful situations.

0:08:28
And to your point, I think that's part of the reason why we're here together, because when we think of mental health, it's a holistic concept. You know, taking care of your body as well as taking care of your mind, making opportunities to exercise good self-care, you know, finding out and understanding what these things are that are happening with you emotionally, and sometimes physically, because physical symptoms are often just a reflection of what's happening with us emotionally. So that's why we decided to partner on this endeavor, so that we can let students know about the broad range of opportunities that they have available to them.

0:09:01
So how do you educate or promote all these various mental health and wellness programming to the university campus?

0:09:09
So we do a lot of outreach whenever we can. We like to have a lot of workshops that have different themes going on. I've recently had a mental health workshop for a lot of international students that are going through a lot of these difficult scenarios on campus. We also have a lot of opportunity to educate students about safe sex and other ways to relax and other ways to deal with anxiety. We recently were invited to attend a class, one of the webinar classes, where we were essentially presenting information on anxiety. So I think the fact that we can correlate with a lot of faculty on campus, but also students on campus, whether it's in person, virtual, we're always looking to reach out and educate and provide the necessary information so that, essentially, students, faculty, and staff become advocates of their own care. The more you're educated, the better decisions you'll make about your health.

0:09:49
Absolutely.

0:09:50
So we do a lot of outreaching in terms of providing workshops on a variety of mental health subjects. In addition to the subjects that we provide, we also connect students to resources within the CAPS office. For example, we also have self-help tools for students so that it's not necessarily just about seeing a counselor. Maybe you want to understand what your mental health state is. Maybe you want to understand or learn tools to better manage your mental health. In addition to working with CAPS counselors, we have groups, we have workshops. There are a variety of ways. We work with different departments to let them know what we have available, and we offer opportunities to have us host a workshop on a variety of subject areas. We table a lot, so we try to be like Visa, we want to be where you want to be.

0:10:32
Exactly, yeah. The more they know about us, the more we can help them. Yeah, so we try to be

0:10:37
proactive on prevention because oftentimes by the time a student reaches us, it's because the problem has gotten unmanageable or because they didn't have the tools or understanding on how to deal with their mental health concerns or even they didn't realize there were tools to deal with their mental health concerns. So we try to be proactive about providing opportunities to learn about mental health and opportunities to connect with us about mental health.

0:11:01
So maybe share with us one example of a situation that you, you know, couldn't have thought about that that arised during this time of pandemic that, wow, this is like the rough part that you talk about or the apocalypse that you talk about. Can maybe give us a description of what are some of those situations that you had to work through in helping students find their own self-care?

0:11:26
A lot of grief and loss. You know, I think we underestimated how much grief and loss was involved with the pandemic. behaviors that ended up or might have resulted in family members getting sick, and am I a person responsible for that? A lot of external stuff that's just happening university-wide, like, you know, the students experience the fire. I mean, there's a lot of little things that aren't necessarily pandemic-related, but it's like that final straw when you're already struggling to hold it together. The financial crisis occasioned by the pandemic, which saw people losing jobs and losing opportunities and not quite being able to rebound. Parents having to homeschool, it was like the Sharknado of experiences. It just all came, it was unexpected. No one expected this to shake out the way that it did, and our students were consistently having to rebound from the next thing. You're here, you're not. Online, offline. It's been a bit of a whirlwind for them.

0:12:23
And so what prepares you in your profession to receive, you know, the wealth of problems that can come? I mean, you might think, OK, for the last day or so, we've been dealing with students that have been dealt with grief. And then now it's like, oh, wait, now we got, you know, job loss or now we have, you know, picked up and moved. And it's, you know, a few weeks before the school in that ends out. Now I'm having to talk to them about how to cope when their life, you know, was critically in danger. as professionals prepare for such a whirlwind of events that you can hear through students' experiences, through the range of things that can happen? Yeah, I think for myself, it's having an open mind, you know, having the ability to

0:13:22
listen and just provide resources that guide them along the way. I think one of the biggest concerns that I've experienced is that transition, right? A lot of students are dealing with so many different scenarios back and forth and the ability to function and successfully transition from one scenario to the next is so challenging, but providing the resources for them, educating them, letting them know, you know, we understand your concerns, we're listening, here's something to think about, here's what you can do, and just kind of going with that, I think, has helped myself and a lot of health professionals along the way.

0:13:51
And for me, it's empathy, validation, compassion, including self-compassion, tapping into that human experience. You know, we're not excluded from all of the crazy that has happened the last couple of the years. And sometimes it really helps to just sort of lean into the humanity of the experience. You know, I may not be able to change your situation, but I can listen respectfully. I can offer resources. I can give you a space to share safely the things that you are experiencing. I can validate that it is hard and that you are struggling and that you are trying to do your best. So, leaning in to the experiencing and not feeling like I have to have all the answers in the immediacy of the moment, because sometimes that's what it feels like. It's like, oh, no, I just need to know who to reach out to to get the proper resources. Maybe I'm not the resource you need. Maybe the resource you need is medical. You know, so trying to have compassion, empathy, validate, and also self-compassion, because that was a big thing during the pandemic, you know. Having compassion with my own abilities and my own struggles as I try to help others so that I can be fully present and be fully human in that moment instead of feeling like I have to fake it until I make it for them too, you know.

0:15:14
Yeah, I couldn't agree with you more and I think that's what CAPS and Wellness Zones serve. They're really more that, you know, judgment-free zone for anybody to step in and at least take the first step and figure out, okay, I need help, where can I go from here? And as Dr. Tanya Kraft says, you know, if it's not us, then we'll help you get through to another resource so that essentially you're being helped to the appropriate matter

0:15:33
that you're looking for. Yeah, so you make a good point. I mean, this judgment-free zone, I mean, how do you create that? I mean, how do you say it? And within these walls, within this time frame, you know, you're human, right? Right. And you've had your own experiences and you have expectations for society, you have expectations for, you know, for for people, for, you know, you want people to to to be good citizens. You want students to grow up and be contributors to society. And so how do you silence all that and say in this space, you know, we're just going to create this judgment free zone. And I'm going to show you self-compassion. I'm going to validate and affirm and to remove that, you know, I guess, impulse to judge or say, like, hey, wait, wait, wait. come as you are. And I really believe that. I believe just show up, whatever version of you shows up is an okay version of you. Can you tell that to my boss? I would like that. I think we've missed the deadline, but hey, come as you are. We'll get it later.

0:16:45
My perspective on therapy is primarily humanistic, which means that I believe that we're trying the best that we can, and sometimes we lack the tools and the resources to do better. You know, when you know better, you do better, and shame and guilt doesn't propel anyone towards growth. Shame particularly doesn't propel anyone towards growth. So the person that arrives in front of me is trying their hardest to do the best that they can, and I have to remember that. And I have to see people's humanity beyond their actions, because we don't always behave in our, we're not always our best selves when we're in pain. You know, I like the story of this kitty that I found in my garage, little thing, about 1.1 pound, who I'm trying to feed him and he's trying to scratch me. I'm like, are you kidding me? I'm like, I'm trying to feed you, sir. What are you doing? And I think human beings are a lot like that. We lash out when we're in pain. You know, that's not to say that you have to take someone else's pain on. You can have good boundaries around what you're willing to receive, but it means that you don't always have to lash back, especially if you don't take ownership of that pain.

0:18:11
Yeah. And I think, you know, from the physical perspective where we provide, you know, the services for relaxation and so forth at the Wellness Zone, you know, we, with massage chairs, everybody has their own private space. So if it's something that you just want to do for yourself and not be around people, we provide that space to have the opportunity to just be on your own, relax, and just have time to collect your thoughts and then go back out there. In addition to that, one of the other components that we really highly focus on is sexual health. There's a lot of students out there, based on their cultures and the upbringings that they've had, where sexual health and sexual discussion were not part of their primary upbringing. So in our department, we offer a lot of safe sex resources. We have the opportunity where there's a space where students can come and take what they want and go. There's no need to ask us questions. There's no need for us to ask questions. It's free for them to use. If they do want to ask us questions, we're there to help them provide the resources and the information they need. But the idea is they come in, they use the service, they take what they need, and then if there's anything else we can help, we do so. But at the end of the day, it's the space where they can just come and just get the resources they're looking for without having to speak to anyone or feel that, you know, the concern where maybe you're judged in any way. Because a lot of students are concerned about that. You know, they don't want to come off a certain way if they're asking about certain questions that maybe to their understanding are not part of the norm.

0:19:24
Now Keith, I know you have little ones. One day we'll grow up and go to college and take what you need. Sexual health, does that worry you?

0:19:32
Renee, too soon.

0:19:34
Too soon.

0:19:39
But I am here. I know we've talked a lot about students serving students, so I'm curious to know, you know, as professionals in this space and you know, how to what strategies do you employ to sort of maintain that balance and sort of replenish your self to be your best self when others are coming in a vulnerable state? And then secondly, what strategies can you maybe offer to us, faculty and staff who are sort of in the trenches working with students? And how do we sort of replenish ourselves? And then maybe what services that you that are providing your areas are also for

0:20:12
faculty and staff to. Utilize. So absolutely.

0:20:16
So the spaces and the resources that we have at the wellness and they're also offered for faculty and staff who have the membership for the S.R.W.C. the gym membership. S.R.W.C. stands for Student Recreation and Wellness Center and that's on campus. And that's where all of our student wellness services are located. So the Student Health Center is on the first floor, the Wellness Zone is on the second floor, CAS is on the third floor. So any of these resources that staff and faculty are seeking, they can actually utilize it. Again, they're all available for faculty and staff. And when it comes to, I think, being a professional staff myself, faculty of UNLV, when it comes to dealing with some of these concerns, I think for me, taking the opportunity to do what I need to do, but taking a minute to go for a walk outside, taking a minute to just take a five-minute breather, and also taking a minute to just, if there's concerns, you know, just acknowledge that there's concerns. Sometimes not, you know, you're not going to have great days every day. You're going to have great days, you're going to have bad days, but essentially being real about yourself, having, you know, this sympathy about yourself and knowing that you're doing your best and that you are providing all the resources you can so that you're helping students, but also keeping that sense of realism for yourself, knowing that you'll do your best and just continue as you go along.

0:21:24
So while CAPS doesn't offer counseling services for faculty and staff, we do offer opportunities to receive training on how to manage your students. So, for example, if you have a student in distress and you're not sure how to navigate that system, so we do provide workshops to faculty and staff as well. We did one about trauma-informed care and how to transition students back into the system. In terms of what I can offer and what I recommend, so I work on my ABCs, acceptance, boundaries, and care. So acceptance is self-acceptance and acceptance of others, not my circus, not my clowns, kind of way. Or monkeys. I don't have to take on everyone else's stuff. It's really okay to just, I have my own bag. I don't need to pick up extra bags on the way out the door. But that also comes with the acceptance of my own self and my limitations and my resources. You know, I, self acceptance is so important. Talking to myself like someone I love, treating me with someone I love, taking me out, you know, the kind of stuff you would do with your boo, but do it with you Sounds like a justification me to go do some things. I want to do for myself Doubt me guilt. I got a few things in the shopping cart

0:22:33
Sites you are the longest relationship. You're going to have

0:22:35
Hmm cradle to grave ride or die that is you with you if you don't value and take care of yourself How was that relation? Would you break up with you? You shouldn't have a relationship with yourself where you're like, I don't like this cat. Talking smack to me. And the boundaries piece is super important.

0:23:04
I have one question. How do you resist the urge to pick up that bag? You said, you know, that that's your baggage, that that's yours to carry, but oftentimes we but often times we see, well you know what, I want to help, you know, I'm a person of, you know, I'm a religious person and so I feel the call to do that or it's a family member or you know, much is given, much is required kind of thing. So what do you do to say, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, leave it right there.

0:23:34
The best help you can provide is resources because if you are the person who has all the answers, two things will happen. If you have the right answers, they will never leave you alone. If you have the wrong answers, they will blame you for everything that goes wrong. So, if you can direct them to resources that are useful and helpful, where they can have a safe space to share without judgment, because we bring our baggage with us into the relationship. You know, so that would be number one. And I think the last thing is cultivate joy. Seek out places of joy. Seek out joy wherever you can. For me, joy looks like following Viola Davis on Instagram because she's funny, you know, and y'all are our Shadihi. For me, joy looks like TikTok. I'm not ashamed to say I dance and spread mental health messages on TikTok. Not as part of this job, but like on my side gig. I'm not ashamed to say that my Instagram page is completely full of mental health providers who provide positive messages. So darkness will always be there. Seek the light. Seek the light in your relationships, in the spaces you occupy in social media, and pay attention to what you put in your mind as much as what you put in your body.

0:24:36
Now, I think we saved this for the end, but I want to hear a little bit about this. Whenever I hear superhero or read superhero, I got to go right in. I was talking about the Marvel stuff during our professional. You did. You did. I can't do it two sessions in a row. So I just want to hear a little bit about sort of the inspiration around creating the superhero stress management and superhero relationship management groups and sort of how that how that operates. I love superheroes. I love superheroes.

0:25:05
Ditto. Because superheroes are the perfect vehicle for talking about mental health. First of all, they're imperfect. They represent all sorts of diversity. They're superheroes in wheelchairs, they're superheroes with mental health issues. They have their own mental health needs. If you pay attention, you'll see Thor go through depression. You see Iron Man have an anxiety attack. They humanize us. The only difference between us and superheroes is really not that much, you know, because they don't all have powers, but they have resilience. And that's what makes a superhero a superhero is their ability to rebound from life and Their ability to shape their life not based on their upbringing But on their choices because a lot of them come from really dark and bad places But they're they're everything and everyone their foster kids their Their day came from from domestic violence situations So I absolutely adore superheroes as a vehicle for mental health and how I came to that is because we are a superhero family in our heart. We have a giant life-size thing of the Hulk to discuss these concepts. Okay, we won't talk about your anxiety. Can we talk about Iron Man's anxiety? Can we talk about the Hulk's inability to regulate his emotions? Can we talk about Harley's upbringing and why, based on how she was raised, she was kind of geared towards the Joker, because she came from a pretty bad place for self. So it takes away the stigma and it gives people permission to have conversations around mental health that don't make them feel broken. So I absolutely adore using superheroes as conversation starters. Well we'll get you out here on this last question and we talked that we covered a lot of ground in the session so is there anything that we didn't ask that you wish we had asked or is there anything that you would like to share with our listeners that we may not have been on the queue of questions?

0:26:54
And, you know, I just want to say again to just inform the students here on campus that there's a lot of resources they can come reach out to on campus, especially nowadays where this campus is transitioning more, you know, in person. Definitely take the opportunity to visit us where the Student Resource Wellness Center learn about what we offer, who we are, who they can come to. Again, you know, it's the opportunity to just look at whatever help they can seek or services that could help them.

0:27:19
And I would just like to say to everyone listening, you are enough. You're amazing, you're outstanding, you are deserving of goodness, you are deserving of support, you are deserving of love, you are deserving of all the wonderful things in life. And if you feel like you're struggling with those things and you need someone to talk to, just reach out. Reach out and get the support that you need. And as Nala mentioned, we have so many different ways to be supported. It's not just about counseling, it's about groups, it's about workshops, it's about wellness. Take advantage of these things that are offered to you for free as part of your student fees. And come on in and see us, you know. We've got three floors, pick one.

0:27:59
Renee, what was your takeaway?

0:28:01
Oh, I just feel so calm right now.

0:28:03
It's like I can just leave the room and I can do it. This conversation has been so refreshing, and I already knew about much of the services, but just some of the different ways that we are bridging that conversation by superheroes. I can definitely see the connection and the relatability of that conversation. But also, I just wonder what this campus would have been like during the apocalypse if we did not have these resources already in place. How much more this rough spot would have been exacerbated if these things were not in place. So kudos to Jamie Davidson and and all those in the student wellness part of the Division of Student Affairs that thought of the need to have these services in place and were creative enough to think about different communities. We talked about international students a little bit. We know about our different spaces for our black students and just just the holistic approach that they have taken. And so I was just really blown away at what was already shared here.

0:29:04
What about you? I'm a superhero. You know, I thought I had something unique in myself. But Dr. Craft, she just confirmed it. So maybe I sort of made that for myself from what she said. But but some of the things that were takeaways for me just reminded me, too, that, you know, I never thought about it the way you said that, you know, you you whip yourself cradle to the grave. You have to find a way to be enough. And, you know, we have our good days and bad days. And that, you know, I like the sort of the ABC model that you shared around acceptance and then boundaries and just cultivating joy daily. So those are some takeaways for me.

0:29:41
For more Let's Talk UNLV be sure to follow us on social media where you can get the latest updates on the show plus great behind-the-scenes content. We're on Facebook at Let's Talk UNLV podcast, Twitter at Let's Talk UNLV, and Instagram at Let's Talk UNLV pod.

0:29:56
you you you

Transcribed with Cockatoo