By Laura Walter

Sometimes we need help with our mental health, just as we would for physical health. When things don’t feel right, you turn to a professional. The experts at Chesapeake Health Care shared some of their experience in how this works and why it helps.

These two licensed clinical social workers, Crystal Lambert (a director of mental health) and Celeste Grudzien (a mental health clinical manager), each have about 20 years in the field.

“We consider ourselves therapists, and we treat outpatient disorders,” Lambert explained. “We are considered providers of mental health treatment, but we just do not prescribe treatment. Our office does, and we work with doctors who do.”

Interview by Laura Walter. Answers have been edited for clarity and length.

Q: How do people find their way to a mental health professional?

Lambert. “They can [be recommended by] their primary care provider—but over all the years I’ve sat in this chair and listened, most people said, ‘I’ve been talking to a friend, and they said maybe I should talk to somebody.’ People almost always have to be told they have to talk to somebody.”

Grudzien: “Then there’s also crisis. When people are experiencing situational changes in their life: losses, accidents, devasting news about their health, issues within their family, domestic violence in their family, abuse, concerns with their children in school—there’s also been an uptick since COVID with social anxiety because people are struggling to interact with others.”

Q: How do you help people relax in a therapy session?

Lambert: “First thing, we want them to know it’s a safe place. All of our offices are very calming environments, and everything is confidential, unless they’re going to hurt themselves or someone else. The first thing we do is acknowledge what they’re feeling … we care.”

Grudzien: “Building that rapport and relationship with the client—that is a key piece.”

Lambert: “– Especially when you’re talking about the older population who’ve been stigmatized against mental health treatment.”

Q: Can you meet with people in-person and virtually?

Lambert: “Yes. We are finding that [virtual] is not as requested as we would have thought, for the future. People want to be in person, they want to talk in person, plus the safe space we’re holding.”

Grudzien: “– Which speaks to the connection we all want as humans. It’s very important.”

Q: Do you have a particular style or method of care?

Lambert: “We have to ask a lot of questions to get to know people, during the intake process. That can be uncomfortable, but I have to know where you’re at. But if any time that client doesn’t want to talk about it … we stop that intake process, and we meet that client where they’re at today [mentally]. That’s what makes them feel safe that day.”

Grudzien: “That’s every time you meet with that client. You may have an idea of how to help them meet their treatment goal, but if that goal’s not really where they are that day, you have to meet them in that space … it’s about what they want and what’s working for them.

Q: What should people consider when hiring a mental health professional?

Lambert: “You want to look at credentials, make sure they’re licensed, make sure it’s an agency that’s protected, make sure they have a safe space to meet.”

Grudzien: “Sometimes you need to give it time [for the therapist-client relationship to click]. I always say ‘Give it two or three times.’ If it just isn’t flowing or isn’t working, then the request [to switch therapists] is valid … Or if you’re stuck and you feel like you’re not moving forward, maybe you do need a new therapist. We are trained that it is not personal—it’s about the client and their treatment and their progress. But we do want to challenge some of their biases on who they think is best for treatment.”

Q: Why hire a professional? Why not just talk to friends or keep a journal?

Lambert: “When we’re talking to friends or family, they say, ‘Here’s what you should do.’ … But is your friend going to be so unbiased so that they can give good advice? … Only 5 to 7 percent of our job is to give advice. We’re going to let you talk, let you feel safe, until you can find what makes you feel this sadness.”

Grudzien: “It’s about that person feeling completely safe to say whatever it is they need to say.”

Lambert: “We train for many, many years. As social workers, we have to have 40 continuing education credits every 2 years.”

Grudzien: “Really the goal is to help the client go within themselves to find their own answers.”

Q: What are some of the concerns that impact seniors, mentally?

Grudzien: “As we age … I think there’s life expectancy, concerns about limited mobility, changes in their health, just adjusting to all those change in your life as you get older. You can seek treatment as you transition through all those things…move into assisted living, or can’t drive anymore, maybe they need to get a pet to keep them company, get a new group of friends … those decisions become more evident as you start to enter that golden year range.”

Lambert: “And even younger—there’s being a caretaker for our parents, and being a woman, you have hormonal changes … You’re still healthy, but you’re becoming a caretaker now, and that becomes isolating. You don’t have time to hang out with your friends as much.”

Q: What else should people know about mental health?

Grudzien: “There is always someone you can reach out to. There is help. There are many ways to find help, but there is always someone to reach for.”

Lambert: “So many people say, ‘I didn’t think that would help!’ But being able to take something off your shoulders [helps immensely].”

Q: So, what other benefits or outcomes do you see?

Lambert: “When something hits and [someone realizes] ‘I had no idea this was bothering me so much.’ Being able to help the client find that issue in themselves because they’ve suppressed it. And having people say, ‘I’m learning to live with my grief now.’

“And helping trauma survivors realize it’s the trauma that’s leading them … and then they can put it where it belongs, not have it on themselves.”

Grudzien: “Addiction: helping family members in support in of the person in their life that is an addict, and understanding that that is an addiction and it is separate from the person they love.

“Younger girls: helping them advocate for themselves and speak up—and it doesn’t matter what other people think of that opinion as long as ‘I am okay with that opinion.’

“Depression or bipolar disorder: just helping someone get stabilized. Sometimes that’s just getting them to take their medication consistently!”

Lambert: “And with bipolar, getting them to identify it, and then they pick that phone up and say, ‘I need to see you because I know [an manic episode] is getting ready to happen’ … and you can ground them in your sessions.”

Grudzien: “There’s so many levels of care that you can give. It’s a great profession, and it continues to grow.”

Q: What excites you about your own work, looking forward?

Lambert: “At this point in my age, it’s helping new clinicians grow. It’s sometimes easy to forget what 30 years of experience has brought. You know you can help them become the best clinicians possible.”

Grudzien: “It’s wonderful to help a new clinicians grow and find that within themselves … and I feel like I’m still learning something new in this profession every day. [I enjoy] the excitement of learning—and not just making a difference, but knowing that I’m trying to do that.”

Chesapeake Health Care offers a variety of services in Somerset, Wicomico and Worcester counties: mental, dental, maternal, pediatrics, adult medicine, school-based centers and more. Learn more at (410) 749-1015 and chesapeakehc.org.