Her Story
About Giovanna
I have been working in mental health and substance use for 25 years. My title for the past several years has been an addiction counselor, though I recently resigned from that position. Throughout my career, I've enjoyed helping people with trauma and empowering them to make changes in their lives to improve the quality of their lives and see that it's possible to have a healthier way of being, as opposed to using drugs to cope. I've done prison work, school work, and different aspects of helping people in various settings. Since I was a young girl, people always came to me for advice, and I always knew I wanted to work with people in the helping profession. Now I'm looking to shift my focus more toward prevention than intervention, working with the younger population in schools before they make those choices. I'm also part of Opal Hope and Healing, a developing company working with people who've been affected by trauma, with plans to start in jails and with veterans. We have a curriculum that we're hoping to get grants for, and I'm working with two other women on this initiative. One of the other women has written the curriculum, and I bring the experience of having worked in a prison before.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Giovanna
01What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Make sure to practice self-care, physically and mentally, because this field is draining. Learning how to not take other people's energy and feeling like it's your own stuff that you're carrying when it's other people's - this is a process, but it's important. I used to do that in the beginning, and you learn that you need to separate, which is hard because you care about people. Sometimes we think that we can, especially women, that we can save other people or rescue them. But we can help, and we can aid, and we can give an opening like a path, but we can't do it for other people.
02What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I think that the field of psychology and mental health needs more hands-on help, because talking is not enough. I like centers that engage clients into, yes, you need to talk about stuff, but also movement and talk through and address some of those issues from the past through movement, or practicing a hobby, art, especially for the youth, to get them involved in doing something physically as they talk, because talking is not - it doesn't help if it's just that.
03What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Family ties and family connections are important, and good friends - a couple of good friends that are solid that you've had maybe for many years or that you can trust. Family is getting lost, I feel like this generation is kind of like, if I don't like what you're telling me, I'm gonna block you, instead of talking about, okay, what is it that you meant, or how can we resolve this? It's more like distancing, which causes isolation for both sides, so that's sad to see.
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