Training for Success

Serving with Erie Family Health at Roberto Clemente High School in Humboldt Park is unlike any experience I have ever had. Having been in high school myself not that long ago, I assumed that I would feel like a high school student again - worrying about cliques, school dances, and how to avoid eating cafeteria lunch food. However, Clemente is different. With eight floors, escalators between every floor, three different lunchrooms, and an amazing health clinic inside, it is so vastly different from my own high school experience. The worries of the community are also reflected in the worries of the students - getting access to affordable birth control, finding healthy and nutritious food, and managing stress (often times a result of growing up in violent neighborhoods). The health disparities of Chicago are reflected within this school.

Inside the health clinic I am meeting with students one-on-one and counseling them about basic nutrition principles, how to manage their diabetes, and learning to connect with the issues the teens are facing, which are so much different from what I was working through at their age. Relating to the students and encouraging them to make healthier choices without discouraging their progress or trivializing their feelings is a difficult balance to strike. My first few sessions I felt like I was lecturing at students who were not processing what I was saying or ready to implement these behaviors into their own lives.

A huge breakthrough in counseling and working with students came after an amazing training through Erie Family Health: Motivational Interview (MI) Training. Before attending this training, I was not even sure what MI was. During the training, however, I learned valuables skills about speaking with clients in a way that encouraged them to take charge of their own goals, phrasing my questions and medical advice in a way that would give clients more agency in their decisions. I learned how to motivate clients to make healthy decisions in small steps. I am armed with more information about how to speak with and encourage my students, and I am feeling more confident that I can help them make healthier changes to their lifestyle.

In one of my most memorable meetings since this training, I was speaking with one of my diabetic students about testing her blood sugar more. Before this session we had set goals about checking blood sugars, but she had guiltily revealed that she was not meeting these goals. Pulling from my MI training, I asked her why she thought she was not meeting goals, and what she might be able to do to meet new goals, which she set for herself. Rather than setting a pace for her or merely explaining to her the consequences of not testing more frequently, I got her to open up about her fears with diabetes, and be truly honest about what her roadblocks were. While this was a small step, it was exactly the opening for a more successful future. I'm looking forward to taking small steps with my students throughout the year, and seeing the larger measures they add up to.

This post was written by CHC member Hansika Narayanan.

Hansika serves as a Health Educator at Erie Family Health Center-Clemente.