Hi everybody, Clayton Vandiver, your Lightkeeper
here, and for this summer we have a real treat
for you. Lightkeepers Podcast Shorts. No, that's
not a new clothing line. What it is, is short
versions of some of our most popular episodes
that we keep getting requests to show you again.
So we've cut them down, made them all less than
10 minutes long, and here you go with part one
of the Lightkeepers Podcast Shorts. 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. We don't talk about the end of
life. We focus on the quality of each and every
remaining day. My co -host, as always, is Charlene,
our very own tame, licensed clinical social worker
certified in the state of Florida. We invite
you to join the conversation this week about...
Clayton and Charlene. And so much more on this
edition of the Light Keepers Podcast. And before
we start, I'd like to invite you to please leave
your questions or comments below. We always love
to hear from our listeners and viewers. Questions
this week will be answered during our next show
that appears online every Wednesday evening at
7 p .m. Eastern. The Light Keepers podcast is
an exclusive production of A Guiding Light Incorporated,
and we'll tell you more about A Guiding Light
at the end of the podcast. But we don't have
much time, so let's get right into this week's
conversation. Now, last week, Charlene, we were
talking about professional versus amateur support,
just who that person is and what qualifies them
to be a professional versus a witch doctor. And
that led us to questions we've been receiving
about our own backgrounds and who we both are.
So let's start off with the most common question.
Everyone seems to be curious about whether we
are a couple. Well, what are we a couple of?
Crazy. Yes. That too. That too. Well, regardless
of how young we appear, despite the gray hair
on my face, we've been a couple for 30 years
this year. Very happily married. Lots of kids.
Grandchild. All the standard stuff. Cats. And
cats. Yes. Yes. And the cat. One particular cat
is featured on many of our broadcasts because
it seems to be feeding time just about the time
we finish up every episode. So we are a couple.
We've been married 30 years this year. Would
you like to tell everyone a little bit about
what qualifies a licensed clinical social worker
to counsel people and tell them about things
that would help them? Absolutely. Why I'm a medical
professional instead of the witch doctor. There
you go. So I have a bachelor's in psychology.
So I have that psychology foundation. I then
went on to obtain a master's degree in clinical
social work with a focus in clinical counseling.
And what that means is I spent a lot of time
in school being taught. how people think, why
they think the way they do, things that can interfere
with that thinking process, and how to fix it,
how to make it so that someone is functional.
On top of that, as if that degree wasn't enough,
after I obtained my master's in social work,
I did go on to be licensed in the state of Florida.
which means I had to sit for a very rigorous
three -hour exam, kind of like the bar exam for
attorneys. It's the licensure exam for social
workers. So I am licensed in the state of Florida
through the Department of Health. On top of that...
Never be mistaken for an overachiever. No, no.
Well, never stop learning. Never stop learning.
And I highly endorse that. And I wasn't ready
to stop learning, so I went back to school and
got a second master's, this one in palliative
care. And what that does is it trains me to be
able to provide that clinical therapeutic support
to... Patients who have a life -limiting diagnosis,
a terminal diagnosis, and support their families
as they go through that difficult time. So master's
in social work, master's in palliative care.
I also, on top of all that, have extensive training
and certificates in specifically hospice care.
That's a very special calling. Not everyone in
your field. In fact, I remember when you were
going through to get your master's in social
work, most of your cohort, most of your colleagues
were sort of shaking their heads going, you're
focusing on hospice? Nobody does that. And you
were thinking all the while, great, not much
competition. I was the only one in my entire
class that was going specifically for a hospice
track. Some people were doing medical. Medical
social workers are kind of a breed apart, but
even the medical social workers don't really
want to work with hospice, so I'm an odd bird
there. But that goes back to why I got into all
that in the first place, which is the extensive
personal experience. Last show we talked about
how... Amateurs get into it because they have
that personal experience, and I caution, you
know, if this is something you want to do full
-time, go back to school. Well, that's what I
did. I have had extensive medical illnesses throughout
my family. I started losing close family members
when I was only in my early 20s, and it's just
progressed from there. And so I found out, actually,
I want to give credit to... my mother's hospice
nurse, uh, Clady, if you're out there, this is
all thanks to you. And when I was helping to
take care of my mom, one of her hospice nurses,
after my mom had passed, pulled me off to the
side and she said, sweetie, I don't know what
you're doing with your life, but if it isn't
nursing or social work, you're wasting your time.
Wow. That's a great endorsement. And like you've
been told before, it is a calling. It's something
that only a few people are really good at, really
specialized, that can take the pressure, the
stress. You're dealing with people at extremely
emotional times in their lives. And to be able
to not only counsel those people, but... their
family members who were going through their own
extremely emotional moments. And there are dynamics
that come up during that time. Or lacks of emotional
moments. There's a huge variety of dynamics that
you've talked about. Exactly. And when you're
dealing with the loss of a family member, not
everyone in the family is going to grieve the
same way. They're not going to react the same
way. And that's where your dynamics come in.
And that's really where a trained professional.
comes in where an amateur might not be able to
cope. But dealing with all of that on a personal
level and her statement really got me thinking
and I thought, you know, this is something I
do want to do. And so I went back to school and
that's why I'm here. There you go. Well, and
that qualifies you to... not only counsel people,
not only know the resources to bring to this
program and to our viewers and listeners and
help them find resources and know when the professionals
are either professionals or witch doctors. Well,
and that put me in the professional world where
for over a decade now, I've been helping people,
everything from hospice to palliative care to
the ICU to the trauma department. That's my experience.
That's where I've been for over a decade now.
That's a lot of people going through a lot of
things and being guided along the way through
your good guidance and good support. And there
are a lot of little anecdotes that I'm sure we'll
bring to this program as time evolves. A guiding
light is the organization. And each and every
week, I'm the light keeper. We'll see you here.