Welcome to the Light Keepers podcast. I'm Clayton
Vandiver, your Light Keeper, with a show dedicated
to everyone who wants to get the most quality
out of life that they can. My co -host, as always,
Charlene, our very own tame, licensed clinical
social worker, certified in the state of Florida.
We invite you to join the conversation this week,
which is about professional versus amateur support.
Just who is that person and what qualifies them
to help me? And so much more on this edition
of the Light Keepers Podcast. Before we start,
I'd like to invite you to please leave your questions
or comments below. We always love to hear from
you. Questions this week will be answered during
our next show that appears online every Wednesday
evening at 7 p .m. Eastern. Hi, this is Clayton
Vandiver, your Lightkeeper, and this summer we
have a very special treat for you. It's called
Lightkeeper's Podcast Shorts. It's not a new
clothing line, but that's a pretty good idea.
Actually, it's just shorter episodes under 10
minutes long of our most popular episodes that
we keep getting requests to play again. So here's
part two of the Light Keepers podcast shorts.
But if this is something that you want to do
for a living full time, go to school, get trained
how to do it. That way you're not putting others.
at risk of injury, mental or physical, and you're
not putting yourself in danger of litigation
because in some states it's actually illegal
to provide therapeutic support without a license.
Very, very good point. And we were talking before
the show a little bit about sometimes a psychiatrist.
is different than a psychologist and one does
one thing, one does another thing. Can you share
a little bit about that? Absolutely. That sort
of ties into what you were just saying. And a
lot of people don't know the difference. A psychiatrist
is a doctor who is trained on how to prescribe
medication to treat mental health issues. Okay.
A medical professional. Exactly. Sort of a...
Someone who focuses on the medication side of
things, like a pharmacist versus a therapist,
a psychologist or a licensed clinical social
worker or a licensed mental health counselor.
These are people who cannot prescribe medication
because they're not trained in the medication.
side of it, but they are trained in providing
that therapeutic support, that counseling, which
a psychiatrist is not. So it would be unethical
if you were to be prescribing medications because
that's not something you've been educated to
do. Not just unethical, but highly illegal. And
that's why a common phrase that you'll hear in
the clinical world is stay in your lane. And
what that means is don't do something that you're
not trained and licensed to do. As a licensed
clinical social worker, I would not even fathom
giving someone medical direction. I may give
them medical advice in terms of, hey, ask your
doctor about dot, dot, dot. But I would never
say, this is your diagnosis, this is what you
need to do, because I'm not trained. And that's
something we do right here. We say every week,
you know, this is a conversation about conditions
and health and situations that you might face.
And definitely seek the advice of your own medical
personnel, your own. personal counselor your
own personal advisor who knows your unique needs
and situation and can best advise what's best
for you because this is just a conversation to
sort of stimulate the possibilities and not in
any way to give you advice that you should follow
except in seeking professional help and asking
that personal counselor that knows your situation
uh hey Do you think this might apply to me or
do you think this might help me or, you know,
what could I do better? It's just like in my
line of work, if you're wanting to make a little
home movie, you might seek the professional guidance
of someone who went to film school and use their
advice, their best practices, because they're
certainly going to know more about it than the
guy that just got his first cell phone and said,
oh, video, click. Hey, look, it makes pictures.
And there's a lot of areas that this overlaps
onto that people don't realize. I'm going to
give you a wonderful example of that. It's a
little pet peeve of mine. When someone creates
advance directives, which we talk about a lot
here on the show because they're so important,
which is basically advance directives are the
documents that you put into place to direct what
type of medical treatment you would want if you
were to become seriously ill and not able to
make your own medical decisions. So think living
will, medical power of attorney. People go to
attorneys to have these done all the time, and
that's great. Attorneys know the law, but they
don't know medicine, and they don't know those
medical procedures. And so you have someone with
legal documents that say, if I become seriously
ill, I do not want any extensive measures put
into place to keep me alive. What defines extensive?
They're not necessarily going to know what an
extensive measure is. Exactly. And some people
say, well, I don't want tubes or machines. Okay,
you don't want a tube or a machine to keep you
alive. What if there's an opportunity of recovery?
What if you only need that machine temporarily?
What if the doctor doesn't know? If it's temporary
or permanent, is your loved one going to know
what to do? They're going to look at the paper
and say, well, he said he didn't want anything
extensive done, so sorry. That's a very, very
good point. And it also gives us an opportunity
when you're wondering who to turn to and who
to look to. You know that the professionals at
a guiding light. are there to train professionals
in doing many of the things that we're talking
about. Exactly. And so if you see someone who
has been vetted and who has the guiding light
symbol that we have on our coffee cups, you know
that they are going to be someone that is not
operating like a witch doctor. not only know
what they're talking about, they can refer you
to other professionals that they are confident
in their capabilities. Absolutely. So that's
the sort of thing that we try to do here is connect
people to resources that can give them the best
service in their lives. Knowledge is power. Knowledge
is power. Quality of life is the whole purpose
of this show and our conversations. Now, we don't
have much time, but this episode leads us to
a perfect opportunity. to mention that several
listeners have been asking about us personally
and our backgrounds, you know, what makes us
professionals instead of witch doctors. That
sounds like something we might do. We got into
that just a little touch today. You got a feeling
for, hey, I'm really a video guy and, you know,
a broadcaster, and this is really a medical professional
and mental health specialist. But it sounds like
something we might spend a little bit more time
with in helping our viewers and listeners understand
who we are and what our interests are and our
backgrounds. Maybe we could do an entire show
about that. Yeah. Let's dedicate next week to
that. How about that? We can do that. Well, it's
always good to be willing to talk about quality
of life because every single one of us will face
some of these issues someday. Either not prepared
at all or... Very well prepared indeed from joining
us here on the Light Keepers podcast each and
every Wednesday evening at 7 p .m. Eastern. The
Light Keepers podcast is an exclusive production
of Animation Studios and is brought to you by
A Guiding Light, a 501c3 nonprofit organization
dedicated to education and information that allows
informed preparation for living the very best
life possible. The mission of A Guiding Light
is to provide education for professionals and
information for everyone else about life planning,
available guidance, and counseling that helps
individuals and their family navigate options
that improve the quality of their remaining days.
The organization is committed to training professionals
through scholarship grants when needed. who will
help you find the best information and options
to meet your planning needs that are available
in your area so you can be aware of your choices
confident in your decisions and at peace that
you've made the very best decisions to live life
on your own terms Visit the website at aguidinglight
.org or make a tax -deductible contribution that
helps others find the information and resources
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that's right below me right now. We're so grateful
for your support and sincerely hope you'll join
the conversation in coming weeks. Add your questions
and comments below. Speaking of that, hit the
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episode. I'm Clayton Vandiver, your Light Keeper.
We'll see you next time.