The Depression, Bipolar Support Alliance
Kevin Krall 0:00
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Unknown Speaker 0:46
Good morning Las Vegas, it's entrepreneur Lark with it's where I am. Today, my guest is crystallin Hernandez. She is the president of the depression, bipolar Support Alliance. Now Chris Lin has been diagnosed as bipolar. And she'll get into that. And she's also going to educate us about the peer support group that she's involved with. So good morning, crystallin. Thank you for being here.
Unknown Speaker 1:14
I Sandra, thank you so much for having me.
Unknown Speaker 1:17
Of course. So I thought it was so important that you were on the show, because a lot of us deal with mental health issues in our family. And I've been going on and on about wellness, you know, and it's been a great time. But you know, it's time to get in some of the illnesses that we come across. And so you were willing to talk about your diagnosis. So can you tell us about what it is to be diagnosed as bipolar? And what is that?
Unknown Speaker 1:48
Well, polar, it means that you're on a spectrum, you have a spectrum of emotions from going very happy and elated what we would call mania and going to the other extreme, the other pole if you wish to have a very low depression. And there's there's different types of bipolar you. You'll hear bipolar, nos, bipolar one bipolar two, right? And it just kind of means like, kind of where you are on the spectrum. Do you mainly have a lot of highs? Do you mainly have a lot of lows? Or, you know, are you more in the middle? Do you have just a little bit of highs like bipolar two? I'm bipolar one. Some people consider that the worst one? Because, yeah, yeah, because there can be some pretty severe manias or, or depressions that have landed me in the hospital before you. I've been?
Unknown Speaker 2:49
Well, you know, I'm pretty familiar with bipolar disorder as it runs in my family. But the thing that I've noticed is that a lot of people now want to diagnose others that are not professionals and say, because, you know, they're not satisfied or happy with their mood that they're bipolar.
Unknown Speaker 3:11
Right? You really, you know, really, you need to be diagnosed by a professional. Again, it's a spectrum. You could be sitting there and thinking, I'm having these mood swings. I'm really happy one day, I'm really sad the next. So maybe I have bipolar. But no, it's not. It's not the Oh, you're bipolar because you change your mind. Right? People say, oh, I want to drink my Oh, no, I want to have a soda. Oh, I'm so bipolar. That is not it.
Unknown Speaker 3:41
Yes. Yes. So you know, I had a friend speaking of people trying to diagnose others. I mentioned that because I had a friend who told me one day we were having a really bad argument. And she got it twisted the argument. And basically, she just came out and said, I'm a genius. And I was like, No, you're not a genius. But anyway, so they do have a survey that you can take online. If you kind of think that maybe, you know, like what if you're wondering, Am I bipolar? You know what I mean? Like the one who thought she was a genius, like maybe I should have emailed her.
Unknown Speaker 4:30
Most of those surveys online, say to print this out and bring it to your doctor, right? This we're only saying that, you know, I I don't I have nothing to do with the survey people but but I'm just saying they even tell you take it to your doctor. We don't want to tell you we don't want to diagnose you. layman. The Internet shouldn't be diagnosing you. You need to be diagnosed by a professional and bipolar a lot it times, it often means medication to help you balance those mood swings. So of course, you need to see a psychiatrist, a licensed physician to get the medication that you may need.
Unknown Speaker 5:12
You know, interesting you bring up medication because, you know, often I talk about, you know, marijuana as it is legal in Nevada, and the effects of marijuana and people who are, you know, taking medications for mental illness. Now, sometimes, you know, it's not the greatest idea to smoke marijuana because it can put you into psychosis. Right. Like, can you explain more about that, like, the
Unknown Speaker 5:41
Oh, hell yeah. You know, there, it's becoming so widespread and accepted, and there are doctors that are prescribing it. You know, but as far as people that are susceptible to psychosis, it can I not a doctor, but but from my experience, and just some research that I've done, and, yes, it can cause psychosis or make psychosis worse. One time I was I was in the hospital, and a young man, he was in his early 20s. And he was using marijuana. And I guess he had marijuana psychosis is what they told him, and he actually stabbed himself, oh, three times. He had to be hospitalized for like two weeks, and then go to smoking a joint hospitalization,
Unknown Speaker 6:35
and then what happened?
Unknown Speaker 6:37
And then he had to be hospitalized medically, okay, for the stabbing, for like two weeks. And then he had then he had to go to the psychiatric hospitalization Oh, wow. Yes. From smoking, it can be very detrimental, if it doesn't happen with everyone. And you know, some people say that it helps them. Some doctors would tell you that it helps them right, other people it doesn't and it can be very detrimental. Very scary.
Unknown Speaker 7:04
So make sure to talk to your health care professional. Don't take it upon yourself to just hit the joint. Okay. Now crystallin. I want you to explain to us more about dbsa which is again, depression, bipolar Support Alliance. Tell us about it. And how can others get involved?
Unknown Speaker 7:27
Yes, I dbsa. Southern Nevada is the local branch of the National dbsa nonprofit organization. Our actual local branch of Southern Nevada is a Nevada 501 c nonprofit corporation also. But we are the local branch we Service Las Vegas Anderson and the Reno Sparks area. Okay. We have weekly meetings, weekly zoom meetings. We have a 24/7 chat. These zoom meetings, actually are facilitated by volunteers. So it's all all volunteer all peer to peer led support meetings. Then we have the supplemental Chat, where people can get on 24/7 and talk to other members. There are quite a few people on the on the chat right now. We have over 150 Not everyone gets on all the time. But people people are busy on the chat. In the meetings and on the chat, we provide a mental health education. We will bring in doctors for guests guest speakers sometimes. What else do we do? We're open to the public. We it's not just if you have Bipolar depression, of course you're going to that's what the group is tailored for people with bipolar and depression. But we've had other people that just want to learn more about bipolar. Come to the group. We've had people, students from UNLV come to the group we've had support people come to the group. Sometimes if we have a large support person population, they will have their own separate group to talk about their own separate issues, and the support that they might need.
Unknown Speaker 9:25
Oh, that's wonderful. Yeah, cuz, you know, I, I attended a few meetings over the years as a support member. And I've learned quite a bit, you know, and it helped me, well, it helped me to be able to understand and deal with, you know, issues, you know, with friends and family that I wasn't equipped to. And my understanding is that peer support, or peer led groups are a great addition to therapy, right?
Unknown Speaker 9:58
Really, we We, we'd like to say that we bridge the gap between the person that has no support at all. And that therapists are the the professional, the, maybe psychiatrists, if you will, but we are there in between times, when you don't have your therapy appointment. Sometimes it can be months out. We are there when you don't have your psychiatrist appointment. Of course, we're not doctors, and we don't tell them what to do with the medication. But if somebody needs support and says, I'm having these side effects, side effects from
Unknown Speaker 10:37
meeting and talking with people, it's because it's relatable. Right?
Unknown Speaker 10:42
Right. We're all peers, we're all going through this similar thing, right? And if we're not going through it, now, we probably have been there. And if and if we haven't been there, and we're not going through it now, we're going to go through it later. You know. So it's good information for everybody to just share, we share coping strategies, you know, that we've learned from our therapists, okay. We find books that are used that bite therapist, and just pull out good information to share with the group. And of course, we share our own stories.
Unknown Speaker 11:21
So now how many attendees Do you have?
Unknown Speaker 11:25
Well, it's usually less than 10. As I said, we have now because
Unknown Speaker 11:30
of COVID, you know, it's not in person anymore. So right,
Unknown Speaker 11:35
we had, oh, we prior to COVID, we had three groups going we had a Henderson group, a Las Vegas group, and a Reno Sparks group, okay, they were meeting, I believe it was four, if you can, although there's four times a week, we had two times a week, just the Las Vegas group, and one on Saturday, when COVID first started, and then we had to scale back.
Unknown Speaker 12:02
But you know, from working in the mental health field, I know that it's really difficult to get people who are depressed, especially into groups, and their therapy meeting. So the Zoom meetings are helpful, because you can do it from home.
Unknown Speaker 12:22
That is true. More people are getting on and using their computer and doing therapy over the computer. And I think we just need to get the word out. And thank you for having me on the show. Because we are there it is a service for for the community. And I hope people come in and attend and, you know, the people that do attend, we have success stories, you know, and we're not the only ones there. Of course, we're just the link in the support system, where the peer support, and we've had people that were struggling, struggling at work, struggling at home struggling to get out of the house. And it was dbsa peer support meetings, they came out weekly now, they can come on Zoom weekly, they can go on the chat and meet people 24 Live
Unknown Speaker 13:22
24/7 is access. So why don't you give us that information so that anyone who's out there and listening would like to speak to someone in the peer support group or be involved? Yes, please
Unknown Speaker 13:36
go to our website. If DPSA
Unknown Speaker 13:41
Southern Nevada I remember selling the matter this time.
Unknown Speaker 13:45
So sorry, the best a southern nb.org That's our website and it has the me we information there and if you have any problems getting on the knee we you can contact me we are contact the number provided. And also once you get on me we then you get the Zoom information we'd like everybody to be registered on me we so we can send out announcements. So
Unknown Speaker 14:11
wait, what is me we meet me we is just the chat
Unknown Speaker 14:15
platform. We're able to we're able to post things into text like the old school text, like you put on your phone, but it's I guess you could call it so no, I don't. I don't want to compare it to somebody else. But but it's a chat and you get registered and then you get notifications when people are on there chatting. Okay, so someone might go on there and say, you know, I'm thinking about going to the park but it's just really hard to get out of the house. Someone else might get on the get on there and say, you can do that we're here for you. You know, what do you need? How can I help you take that step out the door and And we're there for each other like that.
Unknown Speaker 15:03
Now what is Can you spell the me weak site? Because we don't just know me, we for me well, so it's him
Unknown Speaker 15:12
in ew e.com. And you would do backslash dbsa backslash join. Okay. And that's how you would you would get to our site on the Mi we.com.
Unknown Speaker 15:28
So start out with me wing. And that's M as in Mary, e w e was the rest.com COMM
Unknown Speaker 15:37
slash dbsa slash dbsa. Support Alliance.
Unknown Speaker 15:46
Oh, wait one more time. Me we m e w e.com/go ahead
Unknown Speaker 15:55
dbsa slash join.
Unknown Speaker 15:57
There you go.
Unknown Speaker 15:58
There we go.
Unknown Speaker 15:59
So if you or someone you know, is diagnosed as bipolar or you want to learn more about it, hit up me way and get started there.
Unknown Speaker 16:10
And I would just add to that sound. It's not it's not just for bipolar. anyone suffering from depression, or bipolar is welcome. So we have people that are diagnosed with
Unknown Speaker 16:22
hell, I've been on there. I've been on their way. And you were you were teaching one time you are giving? Yeah, you are facilitating. And I learned a lot like I even printed out the information. I was sharing it with other people. I mean, it was very valuable. So yeah, yeah, we
Unknown Speaker 16:45
really try we try to get out the information are free facilitators. You know, we always try to get new facilitators, but the experienced facilitators have been doing this for going on 15 years.
Unknown Speaker 16:59
But you have a background, I want to talk a little bit about your background. So you have a background in psychology yourself, right? Well, I have never worked in psychology, but you have amassed
Unknown Speaker 17:12
the I have education in psychology. I have a bachelor's in psychology. Okay. And I went on to get a master's in educational psychology. So yes, I had some background, I had some some knowledge, but it wouldn't transfer to like clinical therapy type. Experience.
Unknown Speaker 17:35
Right. But that, but that's probably why you facilitated the meeting so well, because of inaccurate,
Unknown Speaker 17:40
thank you. Right?
Unknown Speaker 17:42
So if I could ask you, because, you know, I want people to know that they're not alone. And I want people to know that. You know, your story is also relatable to someone else. It's not always just you. Right. So how did you first discover that you needed to seek out psychiatric services?
Unknown Speaker 18:08
Oh, wow. Okay.
Unknown Speaker 18:10
And how long ago was that? Because you said Oh, wow. Like,
Unknown Speaker 18:13
it was a lot of Wow, okay. Yeah. When? Well, you know, I think the same as most people, once you are diagnosed, you start looking back and saying, Oh, wow, I was doing that when I was 10. So, you know, it was probably there for quite a while, but I wasn't diagnosed until 2009. Okay, those 38 domains.
Unknown Speaker 18:40
So what was that like? Like, okay, so you go to the psychiatrist office, you're filling out the questionnaire, right? And they come back and they say, ma'am, we're gonna diagnose you with XYZ,
Unknown Speaker 18:55
right? Oh, did not happen that way at all. Zondra.
Unknown Speaker 18:59
Okay, how did it happen? Tell us, okay. All right.
Unknown Speaker 19:03
Um, I was having some social anxiety. And I went to the psychiatrist. I thought, Yeah, cuz of my job. I had to go to court for my job. So I needed to perform. I needed to to act. So my job.
Unknown Speaker 19:21
Your job being you were a lawyer, correct?
Unknown Speaker 19:24
Yes. I was working as an attorney at the time. Yes.
Unknown Speaker 19:27
Okay. And you had to do your what is it called when they do their opening statements and all of that
Unknown Speaker 19:32
right, right trial. I had to prepare for trial. Okay, and be able to speak in public before a judge before other attorneys. Okay. As any, you know, anyone would be you know, I was nervous. And I had some social anxiety I went to a psychiatrist I thinking that they can help me with that. Give me some tools, you know, something that helped me and not just talking starting to talk to someone opening that conversation about who I am, what I've experienced, well, you know, all that opened up so many other things, okay. And I have a lot of trauma in my background, okay. And when the traumas came up, it affected me severely mentally, to where I went into a very bad deep depression. Now, my doctor originally diagnosed me with major depression he didn't, which happens with a lot of people that are bipolar, okay, because they haven't seen the mania yet. So I was diagnosed with depression. And I continued to be depressed. We were trying to find medication. So what helped me and one medication a, and a depressant, sent me into a manic episode. Okay. And since I had more manic episodes, but that manic episode, that was the key that told my doctor, this isn't just depression, and not just depression is can be very severe. But it's not only depression, it's bipolar. Okay. Yeah. But what I would really like to share with you is is how I ran across DBS.
Unknown Speaker 21:31
What do we get in there? Yes, go ahead. If you want to fast forward, go ahead and fast forward. And after you tell me how you got to dbsa, you can also let us know dbsa has helped not only you, but others.
Unknown Speaker 21:46
Okay, great. So yeah, so I just found dbsa on the internet. It was it was really old school back then. This was 2010. And it was a very old website. And it was a little intimidating, a little daunting thinking about going to a psychiatric hospital for a meeting. And I'm, finally I build up the courage and anyone that's been to dbsa knows that feeling. But I built the courage. I went to the meeting. And I tell you what, everybody was just so welcoming. And I heard stories from other people. That really resonated with myself that that said, Oh, I'm not alone. They, they've done I've gone through that too. Oh, yes. Okay, yeah. And now I could hear what they did their success story, what their outcome, the positive outcome, and give me at kind of a roadmap of how I can navigate things, then I think that's it dbsa really helps people do.
Unknown Speaker 22:56
That's awesome. So did you want to tell us about any community projects that are coming up? And then after that, I do want to know about your LLC, with the veterans. But let's continue on with dbsa. That's a wrap up dbsa And what they're doing with community outreach.
Unknown Speaker 23:20
Okay, yeah, we have this project we've been working on. We have this idea in 2020, to bring dbsa groups into the inpatient mental health setting. And now the way we want to do that is get our facilitators peer support specialist certified. Okay. And then, do groups do dbsa groups in the inpatient setting only with the inpatients not not bringing other people from the outside in, but having that group in the inpatient, because in inpatient, if you've ever been there or heard about it, there's several groups, patients go to groups, okay. But on the weekends, there's, there's not many groups, and it can be very boring. The day can be very long. And so a lot of people like going to the group. So I would like to bring it in, probably on the weekends. But maybe during the week, too, and do a dbsa group and bridge that gap to see your inpatient. This might be the first time that person has any contact with mental health community, right? And so, so we want to, we want to give them the support, they're in the inpatient setting, then give them the information so they have continued support when they come out. So they have dBFS information and they've already met somebody in the group.
Unknown Speaker 24:53
That's exciting. So have you are you've already started this process and you can't name the hospital yet or What's up with that?
Unknown Speaker 25:01
Oh, no, we don't have the hospitals in line, what we need to do first is get peer support certified. Okay? That does cost money. We have a GoFundMe page and that information is going to be up on the website. We need to get it all set the way we want it, and then we're gonna put on the website. It'll be up. I think you're putting it up for me also, it's where I am.
Unknown Speaker 25:26
That's where Absolutely, absolutely, so as she mentioned, it will be on my website, it's where I am.com there will be a link where you can connect to dbsa, of Southern Nevada, and also your website. So let's talk about that. Oh, great, guys, we're running out of time, because I want to make sure that you tell talk about what your project and what you're doing and the importance of it. Okay, let
Unknown Speaker 25:57
me let you know real quick. I'm a Veteran. I'm a gulf war and a disabled veteran. And my family and I came up with this idea to come up with a business to help donate and help homeless veterans. Awesome. So we just wanted something fun, something to support the community. And we're just we're selling veteran merchandise with Vegas style. Is Las Vegas, swag. Vegas bet swag, LLC. But it's better merchandise. Vegas. And so
Unknown Speaker 26:41
the most important part is that part of those proceeds goes to the VA hospital. Correct?
Unknown Speaker 26:46
Right, right. 10% of all the sales go to the VA homeless services program, okay, here in Las Vegas. And we were actually in April able to make a substantial donation to the homeless service. And we hope to do do more in the future. We'd love to do one for winter. But next year, that's the long term goal for sure by next year.
Unknown Speaker 27:14
Awesome. Well, I love you. And I appreciate you. I thank you so much for being here and sharing your story with us. giving us information about dbsa of Southern Nevada, and also visit swag. Las Vegas
Unknown Speaker 27:29
Vegas bet site don't It was great. I had so much fun.
Unknown Speaker 27:36
Oh, wonderful. I'm glad you're here. So hey, everybody, in case I didn't get it right. You can go on my website. It's where I am.com. And all of that information will be there under guests. You can click on Chris Mullins picture and that information will be there. Also on the resource page. The information for dbsa will be there as well. So anyhow, as you know, I'm here every second Saturday of the month at 8:30am. It's where I am by
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
