It's Where I Am with Zandra Polard

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Zandra Polard 0:42
You Good morning, good morning, good morning. It's Zandra Pollard, it's where I am, right here in studio at 91.5 jazz and more. You know, I want to give a special shout out to one of our major supporters of mental health. Awesome. Awesome person has a motor. There's a vehicle place. What's it called? A car dealership, right? Yeah, yeah. So it is called Nahas motor cars, and they buy luxury cars of different makes and models for information or quote, www, dot n, a, H, A, S, motorcars.com. Thank you again for being a supporter of mental health and wellness. Now let's talk about who's in studio. I got some good ones today. I have a repeat three times in studio. So blessed to be here. Yes, Miss Danielle McCafferty, and she has brought along one of her friends who we need and we love already, because she is a doctor of behavioral health, she deals with adolescents, and because I have, you know a few of those. And I also deal with adolescents on a daily basis. I thought it would be great for her to be here. So thank you, Dr canard, for coming in.

Unknown Speaker 2:31
Thank you for having me.

Zandra Polard 2:32
Absolutely. So what first? Tell us the name of your agency.

Unknown Speaker 2:37
So I work at Sun arch Academy.

Zandra Polard 2:39
Say it again.

Unknown Speaker 2:40
Sun arch, Academy. Sun

Zandra Polard 2:42
arch, okay, Academy, and you are

Unknown Speaker 2:46
located where, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Hey, Las Vegas, Nevada, and what are your cross streets? Our major cross streets are Flamingo and Jones.

Zandra Polard 2:55
Flamingo and Jones. Okay, I know the area. I know the area. So again, thank you all for tuning in. We are talking about adolescents and behavioral health. And as a teacher, I'm telling you, I need Danielle's advice to calm down and breathe, and then I'm gonna need some of Dr canard's advice to deal with the adolescents at home and at work. All right. Sound good, absolutely. All right. So let's kick it off with Dr canard. Can you give a person like me who is a school teacher Monday through Friday advice on how to deal with adolescents when they're going through so much stuff, they're coming in with their trauma, they're coming in with their hormones. They're coming in with attitude. Help me out? How can I start my day the best way knowing I'm dealing with such a sensitive population? Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 3:56
I feel like me and Danielle talk about this a lot, because we work with the same population, very challenging. Have a lot of things going on, and I think, you know, focusing on that connection is really big. I tell a lot of the kids that if you don't feel safe, then a lot of work's not going to happen. And I think that trust component goes into safety, and building that connection helps to build the trust. So even just going in and doing some of the foundational work of like getting to know them, investing in them and showing them that they're a priority, I think can go a long way. And

Zandra Polard 4:32
I think that starts like, you know, as I said, being a teacher, that begins with the greeting at the door, right? Absolutely Good morning, looking at them in the eye that eye contact, right? Yeah, it's

Unknown Speaker 4:43
seeing them as a person, seeing them for who they are. And kind of the rest falls away because they're seen just as just as they are. Yeah.

Zandra Polard 4:52
So I've had some come in, you know, they're happy to see me, and they miss Paula Hart is here, and so. Times are like, cheesy, so I never know what I'm gonna get, because I can't help or please everybody.

Unknown Speaker 5:06
Yeah, and I feel like, on a day to day basis, that's gonna be different too. Like you said, you can have a kid come in one day and they're like, I love you, and the next day they're like, Get away from me. And I feel like keeping in mind that a lot of the kids who struggle their surface behaviors and their surface presentation, usually, is something deeper that's driving it, I think, for me, is a really good reminder. You know, I talk with my staff all the time, and they're like, you know, so and so struggling today. It's been really challenging, really exhausting. I'm like, Okay, well, let's keep in mind they have trauma, they have autism, like, whatever brings them in for our services, right? And then they stop and think, and they're like, I didn't know that. And I'm like, Okay, so now we're thinking about it differently. We're thinking about someone who is coming in with a lot of needs, and the behaviors are just manifesting as a result of that, rather than saying, like, you're just trying to take me off today, right?

Zandra Polard 5:56
Right? Because, like, even as you said, your team sometimes needs a reminder, right? We need reminders that we are dealing with individuals who have some things going on, right? We never know what someone else is going through, and so we have to be sensitive, we have to be empathetic, we have to be present, as you said, and we have to listen,

Unknown Speaker 6:19
right? It's, it's definitely in all humans, but I feel like it's a lot more prevalent in children because they haven't learned that regulation that a lot of people have. So what's that Cleese, cheesy cliche of you never know what someone is going through, so be kind you know everybody. That's what I just all right? Everybody has that tattoo from 2009 or something, but it's in children. It's even more so because they don't have that buffer of regulation in order to soothe themselves or process those thoughts or emotions.

Zandra Polard 6:51
And we know that their brain is not fully developed, but we forget that when they hit that one nerve that makes us, you know, you know, we then we have to regulate ourselves, yeah?

Unknown Speaker 7:02
And I think sometimes as adults, there's things that we struggle with, too, with, like regulation. And then you look at a child who doesn't have those skills. It's never been modeled for them before, whatever the situation is, and you're like, okay, like, let me just let me take a breath for a second realize, like, what's going on.

Zandra Polard 7:17
So you were telling us about your team. Tell us more. You have a team of, yeah.

Unknown Speaker 7:21
So we are a secured residential facility, so we can take people who have a number of issues. The main things that bring kids to us would be safety concerns, anything that would, you know, indicate that they can't be safe enough in the community without 24 hour care. Oh, wow, so,

Zandra Polard 7:45
so the inpatient, yeah, yeah. I

Unknown Speaker 7:48
mean, we're not necessarily like an acute level inpatient, because we keep kids for longer than most acute settings do. Oh, so. But we're definitely a longer term, so to speak, sort of a place where, on average, we have kids for about 90 days, which is is long in residential world, and especially long for a kid who's like, oh my gosh, I'm gonna be here forever. But then you look at the parents, and they're like, oh my gosh, 90 days is like a blip on the radar. And that's what we try to remind the kids too, is it's like, right? It's like right now 90 days seems like the rest of your life, and it's going to be a blip on the radar to hopefully get you to the point where you can live the rest of your life and not need us. So we're kind of like the the middle ground between not needing a hospital and not being able to be in the community without that intensive support.

Zandra Polard 8:43
But do you have a nurse on site like our meds distributed? Yeah, so

Unknown Speaker 8:47
we're multidisciplinary, so we have 24 hour nursing. We have psychiatry who manages medications. We have our clinical staff doing individual and family therapy. We have recreational therapists. We have dietary services. We have our mental health technicians who are kind of on the floor with the kids during the day. So we have a little bit of everything. Wow,

Zandra Polard 9:08
that's that's awesome, yeah. But now, how many kids can you hold?

Unknown Speaker 9:14
We can take up to 88 Yeah, so right now, it's

Zandra Polard 9:19
a lot, but not enough. You know what I mean? Yeah, I

Unknown Speaker 9:21
mean, the there's always just this huge need for services. And so depending on the time of the year, I think, you know, during the summer time, you see a little bit of that lull, and then a school starts up, and, you know, people get back into their daily lives and their routines, that's where some of the needs start to pop up, where they're like, Okay, like we're trying to do all these regular things in our life, and I'm struggling to just maintain and to, you know, function in these different domains. So as school starts up, we see a little bit of an uptick where parents will reach out, hospitals will reach out and seek out our services.

Zandra Polard 9:54
Oh, wow. And how long have you guys been in Las Vegas?

Unknown Speaker 9:57
We have been in Las Vegas a long time. Um, so there's been a few different name changes over the years. So recently we so we're formerly known as desert winds, and so at the beginning of the year, we did a little bit of a rebrand. So now we're name is now Sun arch, Academy. Sun arch, yeah. So we did a little bit of a rebrand. There's another entity in the same building as us that offers that short term, acute service. So they were previously part of desert winds, so we did a little bit of a split. So now they're their own business. We're our own business, but we still collaborate pretty strongly.

Zandra Polard 10:35
Okay, yeah. And then, Danielle, do you go in? Or every once in a while, I do some yoga with the PA I

Unknown Speaker 10:40
do every week. I meet with all the kids every week. Well, that's awesome. And I work on both sides. So I work on the acute side, where kids are held usually, what, three to seven days. And then I also work in the longer care unit, where they're held anywhere 30 to 90 days. Okay, yeah,

Zandra Polard 10:56
wow. So what is some of the community services you guys do, because I never heard of either, neither one of y'all until recently. So what are you doing out there in the community for people to get to know you, other than being on it's where I am.

Unknown Speaker 11:13
Yeah. So I do a lot of outreach within the community. I do trauma informed classes. I've talked about them before. I do a lot of ecstatic breath work classes. But I also do individual and corporate trainings, and I collaborate with a lot of different different businesses around the city. I train mental health facilitators in somatic practices such as breath work or trauma informed yoga or de escalation within somatics, we're actually going to collaborate with sun arch Academy to teach their employees next month, in October, to teach them about different de escalation, somatic techniques, just to remind them of that empathy with the clients. So that's kind of the outreach that I do. I know that Julia does a lot of outreach within the community as well in the behavioral health

Unknown Speaker 11:59
stuff. Yeah. So we do a lot of collaboration with different hospitals, different outpatient organizations, just the places that need that higher level of care service. If they're outpatient, they need to step someone up for more intensive services, or the hospitals where they get kiddos who need to step into longer term, more acute settings and seek us out.

Zandra Polard 12:22
So you're getting your clients more so from the hospitals than families reaching out to you.

Unknown Speaker 12:26
You know, it's a little bit of both. So because there's not a lot of residential services in Las Vegas, I think we do get a lot of hospitals who will reach out with some referrals. But we also get parents from the community who are seek us out on their own, and they're like, Hey, I think my kid might need your services. And then we can ask them questions to make sure that we're going to be at the right fit for them, not the other way around. And we get some referrals from, you know, like places that offer day programs, half day programs, where they're like, I think our kids need a little bit more.

Zandra Polard 12:58
And then what about the schooling? How does that work? You guys have school there? We do,

Unknown Speaker 13:03
yeah, so we do have a school on site, so we offer school five days a week, and they are able to take the credits that they earn while they're with us, and that can follow them once they're done with treatment. So it's a good option for kids who are needing credit recovery or they just want to maintain their academic progress while they're in treatment. Now, is

Zandra Polard 13:23
there? Do they have to reach out to their teachers at their school for like, to see what they're working on or where they're at? Or does your facility just go by, what is the standard for that age or that grade? Yeah, so

Unknown Speaker 13:40
we do have an online program that we can enroll them in. Sometimes kids will come in doing a homebound sort of a program, but a lot of families take advantage of our online program, and when they admit to us, we'll collaborate with the schools to get transcripts, to get an idea of where they were at prior to coming to treatment, so we can kind of pick up where the schools left off. Okay, the parents do help with that coordination initially, but once we're in contact with the schools, we have some pretty good communication where we can let them know, like, hey, we need transcripts, or if we're running into bumps in the road, being like, hey, you know what was x, y and z like in the school? And then once they leave, we can communicate again with the schools and say, Hey, here's the progress they made with us, here's their transcripts, and then help facilitate them back into the school setting. Wonderful.

Zandra Polard 14:27
So if a parent feels that they need help with their child, how can they reach you to see if they can get

Unknown Speaker 14:35
what is called an assessment? Yeah. So all they would need to do is they could go to our website, or they could call our admissions number and they'll speak with any one of our admissions team members, and they can just let us know what the concerns are, and we'll go through an assessment and ask them some questions to make sure that it's appropriate for our level of care, and if it's not, then we'll let them know, like, Hey, you might not. Need residential or the needs might not be appropriate for our settings. So we want to start here

Zandra Polard 15:05
first, like at a lower level, because they probably wouldn't just jump into the level of care that you offer, not

Unknown Speaker 15:12
always. And so we work with the insurance companies on the authorization piece. So sometimes we know, like, hey, the insurance company is probably going to want you to do X, Y and Z before coming to us. So we can help with that too, just to make sure, like if they are going to come to us, that one is going to be a good fit and that there's not going to be any barriers to them coming too. And if we're not a good fit, we want to connect them with a place that will be too. So sometimes, if it's not us, then we'll give referrals elsewhere too.

Zandra Polard 15:37
Is it typical that you need a referral from their pediatrician first,

Unknown Speaker 15:41
not always, but we do get some from pediatricians, because I think the doctor's offices are sometimes a frontline resource, because people will go in and be like, hey, you know, my kids says he's feeling sad. I don't know if he needs meds or what, but sometimes it's easier to get into a pediatrician versus maybe not knowing what mental health resources are out there, and just feeling like totally lost and where to go.

Zandra Polard 16:05
You know, this is another thing that comes up for me. I was talking to our audio engineer about Wes. Hey, Wes. We were talking about when someone finally gets the courage to get mental health help, right? It's not always available to them. It's hard to find it's hard to get it. You have to wait, you know. And then by the time you wait, you might feel better in that moment, right? And then, you know, chances are, those feelings will come back and you and you need help again. And then you gotta wait, and then you give up. So how do we fix that?

Unknown Speaker 16:47
Me and Julia have talked about this quite a bit, how the landscape, the mental health landscape in Vegas, has been an evolving process. Absolutely. Dr canard has been in the valley working mental health, I think, a lot longer than me, so she can probably testament towards it more. But it starts with programs like this that are really dedicated to helping and reaching out. And it's not just focused on the casinos downtown. We're really focused on the community. And where does the community start? Starts with our kids, right? I mean, I mean, that's our entire basis future goals, right? So being able to provide adequate mental health resources, it's grassroots efforts. It's people that go out and make an effort and say it loudly and proudly and reaching out and just doing more community events, absolutely, community

Zandra Polard 17:50
events. Yes. And then what do you think about like, more peer led groups? Yeah, I think if someone asked me that question, I would say more peer led groups, because there's not always access. And so if someone were to take the time to run a program, maybe you know when people are off work, six, seven o'clock at night, and provide resources and talk about things. And then maybe sometimes people may say, Hey, I didn't think I needed help in this area, but I certainly do, absolutely, you know, I think more parenting classes are important. You know, I know they have a really good I'm going to give you a plug dbsa, which is for bipolar. People who are diagnosed bipolar, they have some great peer led groups around the city. Yeah, I know

Unknown Speaker 18:50
that Nami, which is a nonprofit in town, has a lot of different beautiful events that cater to mental health, but I think that the landscape is changing, and people are getting more aware of the services that are available, and the services are becoming more organized, structured

Zandra Polard 19:10
and and all of this is helping to reduce the stigma, which is great, absolutely. But again, who's available Exactly? And

Unknown Speaker 19:19
I think you and me have talked a lot about the cohesion in the city too, because I think historically, there's been a lot of silos where people are, you know, very protective of like, Oh, nope, these are my people, and I'm going to find a way to help them. And knowing that not everyone does everything right? So we do something very specific. We work with a specific population, age range, level of care, and so if someone doesn't need that level of care, or someone outside of that demographic, we still want to connect them with the place that's going to help them. And so I think being able to build those relationships, where it can be very reciprocal, where it's like we just. Want to be in the business of helping, even if that's not with us. That doesn't mean that we don't want to, you know, help you find that place that that is going to help you, right? And I think that helps with the partnerships in town too, because then a lot of you know, you find out about more people and more organizations that you didn't know, that we're out there having the same mission of trying to help people.

Zandra Polard 20:19
Dr canard, I've been doing this for five years, and, you know, here I am meeting you. I've met Danielle. I've met a lot of great guests, yeah, you know, and finding out what's available out here in the valley, you know, yeah, and giving that information to you all who are listening. So I know you, Danielle, you work with CCSD. That's my next question. What is the collaboration with these kids through school? How does that work? Are you just dealing with the teachers? So

Unknown Speaker 20:51
my goal is to work on both sides. Okay, so my goal always is to teach people enough yoga that they don't need me anymore. Okay, so I want to be able to teach the teachers to teach the kids. Okay, I want to show everybody these tools so you can just take it and run with it. So I've been working with a couple different charter schools currently, and we're developing a lesson plan that mostly is based in HRV, so heart rate variability and study test results in second graders. So we're taking the beginning of the school year, end of the school year. We do meditation yoga every day, but I teach that to the teachers, then they facilitate it. Okay? So it's that we're not interrupting and disrupting their class. It's just part of their integrated lesson plan. I'm

Zandra Polard 21:38
telling you, I work with second graders, and second graders are wonderful. But I also work with middle schoolers. And, well, it's the middle school child. It's the middle school. Tell you right now, it's a middle school. They are the hardest.

Unknown Speaker 21:53
I have to bribe them every time I'm like, I got stickers, I got sticky toys, I got crock charms. You got to bribe them. You got,

Zandra Polard 22:00
you got to get on the food. You got to get them, and they will come. Yes,

Unknown Speaker 22:06
it's always some sort of bribery, though, to get them to do so robotics. I've been

Zandra Polard 22:10
dealing with middle school a lot so far this year, because I am an internal sub. So I go from kindergarten all the way to 12th grade, right? So the hardest, as I said, are the adolescent, the younger adolescents, which are in middle school. What techniques can you give me to work with them when I walk in the door and and because I'm the sub, you know, when I normally go into their classroom is quiet, you know, the teachers got them in check. I went into a classroom today and they were barking like animals. You know? They're like, oh so it's like, oh no. You know, I have my own techniques. Well, I want which I will not discuss on radio. But what can you give me to work with kids who are out of control and think they can get away with things because their normal teacher isn't there?

Unknown Speaker 23:11
So I come into a lot of groups of adolescents, 12 to 17, right? And they do not want to do yoga. First and foremost, you know, they're in a behavioral health setting, and they're wild, and they want to play ball and talk with their friends. So, as I've spoke about before, my background is in law enforcement. So I am, first and foremost, very strict. Off the gate. I'm like, everybody get over here. Everybody be quiet, line up, listen to me, and then I'm fun, you know, and then I let it in. But a lot of things within that demographic is they just want to be seen. They are especially I'm going to say this gently, but coming out of the pandemic, I feel like that age range really struggled, because there was a lot of their formative years within social interactions that they missed. So they are just seeking this attention from anybody. So it's this connection, and I like to do it within each other, like, let's share a memory with your friend. And that kind of just snaps them into, okay, well, maybe I don't need to run around like a banshee.

Zandra Polard 24:22
That's sweet and kind, and that's great when you're coming in to talk about yoga, but when it's time to learn English, math and social studies, we don't have that kind of time, right? Bribe them, so we know that behavior takes up like 70 something percent of classroom time, absolutely and keeping them on track. You know, it's like, I'm fun too, but let's get this work done, and then we can have fun. One

Unknown Speaker 24:49
thing that I've implemented is that I will break it up into smaller chunks, so I usually teach in our class, and all. Break it up into 15 minute increments. And so we're doing different activities every 15 minutes. And in those breaks, you obviously have a much longer day than me is to implement something to either hype up their nervous system or regulate their nervous system, or a combination of the two, so that they can get out of that shaking in their seat kind of attention, because, especially for 12 year olds, they want to go play outside, yeah. And then I only have them for about 4045, minutes, yeah? And by the time you settle them down, it's time for them, it's time to go, yeah. So I like to just settle it all in with a lot of de escalation in the beginning. Okay, what

Zandra Polard 25:36
does that look like?

Unknown Speaker 25:37
So when I come into a yoga class, I remove all the chairs, I dim the lights, turn on music, set out all the yoga mats, and set them all towards me. So I'm very in control of the entire environment. And then as soon as they come in, before they even have a chance to talk to like a dog, like a dog, talk to their friends, pick a seat. I take control the situation. Okay,

Zandra Polard 26:02
so check this out. This is how I'm gonna do it. This is my revamp of what you just said, yes. So before the kids come in, I'm going to dim the lights. Play some music. Play some jazz, maybe 91.5 something like that. Smooth Jazz. And when they come in and sit down, I'm gonna have them take a deep breath, help and tell them. When I finish attendance, I'm gonna give you your assignment. Okay, I'll let you know how it works next week. Yep,

Unknown Speaker 26:34
I like it. So you have to model the breath for them. Make it something silly, so that they'll all do it and giggle with their friends. Okay, show me what that looks like. I like to do the goldfish breath with kids. So you open up your mouth as wide as you can, and then you blow it out like a horse. Exactly. The kids think it's ridiculous, and they'll all laugh at each other, and then immediately get some we've spit on all the bikes. You're welcome to the next Pitbull.

Zandra Polard 27:04
Well, that's going to be us, because Dr Kennard and Danielle McCafferty will be here for the next show. So make sure you tune in next week. So this is it's where I am. I'm Zandra Pollard. You can find me on all your major podcast platforms. You can also find me on. It's where I am.com, lot of the YouTube shows are there. Danielle will be up posted on there by the time you hear this, and they'll be back next week. We're going to continue this conversation. We're going to continue to talk about adolescence and parenting. We're gonna get into the parents. Y'all All right, so thank you for tuning in next Saturday, here 730 Bye. You.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai