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Friendship is Magic – Surviving Your Anxieties

September 5, 2013 · Discuss on the GT Forum

I was brainstorming ideas for today’s post and drawing a complete blank. So I decided to sit down and watch some My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic while I ate dinner (I’ve been catching up slowly on Netflix).

Call it fate, call it kismet, call it coincidence, call it…whatever, but the episode I watched got my brain going and here we are!

In the episode, Twilight Sparkle is late sending Princess Celestia a letter about what she has learned, which is essentially her homework. She runs around like a crazy pony trying to find something to write about…and when she can’t, she creates a problem for herself to fix and report to the princess.

For anyone who doesn’t watch MLP, the characters are very archetypal, which makes them super easy to relate to. I personally always picture myself as Rainbow Dash, the epitome of laid back and cool:

But when I’m sitting down to write my papers or progress notes (or even this blog!), I find myself identifying a little bit more with Twilight Sparkle…

The fact that I can find myself represented (almost perfectly) in a show designed for kids (even though we adults love it too!), is brilliant. Throughout the episode I found myself laughing about the fact that I would be doing some of the same ridiculous things Twilight was doing. Drive my friends crazy by blowing an assignment out of proportion? Yep, I’ve done that. Have intense conversations with myself about how horrible a student I am at the possibility of not getting something done on time? I’m pretty sure I’ve done that once a week since the start of grad school.

The writing is brilliant and makes the characters super accessible to anybody. Usually I can find myself in most of the ponies’ characters, not just one. I think that makes it even easier to relate to the show, and maybe that’s why there’s such a huge fan culture (bronies and pegasisters, unite!).

I also wonder what Carl Jung would make of the show. I mentioned archetypes earlier, and I meant it. Each character has a part to play, and their responses are pretty predictable. I would love to pick Jung’s brain about the citizens of Equestria. Would he see Pinkie Pie as the playful Jester? Or Fluttershy as the nurturing Caregiver? How about Princess Celestia as the wise Sage?

For now I can only hypothesize, enjoy the show, and continue to relate to the characters. (Oh, and lean on my friends to help me pull through my anxiety ridden Twilight moments with Rainbow Dash grace)

I mean, everypony needs someone to look up to, right?

Extra-Life: Empowering Ourselves Through Healing Kids

September 4, 2013 · Discuss on the GT Forum

Last month I attended GaymerX, an LGBTQ gaming convention in San Francisco. While it isn’t the focus of this post, the experiences I had were amazing and refreshing. They gave me enough material to write multiple posts just on that con itself (and maybe I will!)

The focus of this post, however, is about something I discovered at that convention, and it’s something that has changed my life and given me a drive that I didn’t know I had.

At GaymerX I discovered Extra Life, a 25 hour video game marathon to benefit Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. At the convention, there was a woman taking down information for those interested in signing up to benefit Children’s Hospital Oakland here in California. Little did she know that this particular hospital held so much meaning for me.

When I was 12 years old I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. I was so far gone from complications that I was in their pediatric ICU for a week, and then in a regular room for another week. The care I was given was the best hospital care I have ever seen (and I have been to multiple hospitals for various visits or appointments); Children’s is tailor made for these little patients.

So when I heard that there is a fundraising event that involves video games, and benefits the hospital that was responsible for saving my life? Of course I had to say yes!

Rules of the Game

There’s another piece to this that made it a perfect fit. See, I’m not the most…athletic…of people. I get winded walking up the hill to my apartment building, so running a marathon is out of the question for me. Not only is it a charity that benefits my hospital, and that involves something I enjoy doing, but it is something that I can actually accomplish!

It’s so simple: Just sign up to play video games from 8am Nov. 2nd to 8am on the 3rd (Daylight Savings gives us the extra hour to play!). Then annoy all your friends and family by asking them to donate $1 an hour ($25) until you reach your fundraising goal ($200 will get you a T-shirt). Next, play games all day on the day of the event! Any game you want, any place you want.

Extra Life makes it easy, fun, and safe to participate! On their site they even have tips to make it through the 25 hours. Here are a few:

1. Get up and move around every hour

2. Drink plenty of fluids and make sure to eat meals

3. If you can’t make it through all 25 hours, don’t worry! You can make up the hours another time.

3…2…1…Go!

These may seem simple, but it is the small details that are important to remember. Children’s Hospital has been doing this for decades. They remember small things like how having good bedside manner can help improve mood. This, in turn, helps recovery and adjustment back to life as an adolescent whose whole life has been turned upside down.

Simple changes make it possible to transform a whole experience, like involving the gaming community in their own unique style of marathon.

This has given me the drive to do everything I can to support this charity and make sure the hospital receives as much help as it can. It can make all the difference to know that you can actually participate, and that it will impact so many lives in need (as I experienced first hand).

Also, how could you not feel empowered by logos and promotional material like this:

With this new found drive, I’ve recruited my fiance and my friends to start a team, called Rare Candy, to raise even more money for the hospital. I’ve also recruited my nephew, who is probably even more excited than I am. He’s had a boost to his self-esteem (much like myself) in knowing that he can make a difference doing something that comes easily to him.

He’s also planning on spending most of the 25 hours playing World of Warcraft with me and teaching me how to tank (I got him into the game, and now he’s teaching me…? Hrmph!)

Now for the shameless plug part…

(I promise I won’t hate you if you stop here, but please continue reading)!

If this post has inspired you to seek more information (you can just look around or join to benefit any Children’s Miracle Network Hospital nationwide), check out: http://www.extra-life.org

If you’d like to join my team, Rare Candy, to raise money for Children’s Hospital Oakland:
http://www.extra-life.org/team/rarecandy

To donate and sponsor me: http://www.extra-life.org/participant/larataylor

And remember, it’s all for the children!

Back to School: A Link to the Past

September 3, 2013 · Discuss on the GT Forum

The time of year in which I can come home from work and do nothing but play video games is at an end!

Instead, my spare time has been replaced with more work. Game time must now be balanced with papers, reading, group projects, presentations, and study sessions. Reading for fun? Ha! No more of that. Comic books and fantasy novels have been replaced with journal articles and dense textbooks. I couldn’t be more disappointed or happier, all at the same time. If that makes any sense.

Loving what you learn can make all the difference, but school has its own special way of becoming tedious no matter how enjoyable you find the subject matter. For me, this semester holds an extra dose of promise. This is the semester that I have found my focus.

In my counseling theories course during my first semester I was given the task of writing a paper on the subject of what theory or theories I was leaning toward and why. Pretty standard paper, right? I wrote a few truthful sentences about CBT and attachment theory and filled it with a lot of fluff since I had some idea of my theoretical orientation, but still wasn’t sure. I didn’t want to commit to anything on paper yet. I definitely wasn’t ready to start thinking about my thesis.

Fast forward to today and I am bursting at the seams, ready to jump headlong into a pool of theoretical mess and put a nerdy twist on it all. I have found my focus, everyone!

Or have I…?

See, my program is very small. My professors are super supportive as well, but I am not too sure I could find the right help to make my thesis as epic and well, me, as I want it to be.

How do you go about creating something from nothing, when the expectation is to find support for your focus of practice? The current research of these topics is lacking. Most of my instructors have probably never even opened a comic book, let alone thought about using them in their practice. Without the proper support, my new found excitement and passion might find itself fizzling out.

It would be wonderful if I could attend Dr. O’Conner’s class on Geek Culture in Therapy at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology.

While the information on geek culture would be review for me, the application of it to therapy would be significantly useful. Unfortunately, I am not a doctoral student, and I am no where near Chicago.

I continue to hope that someone will have a training or class on these topics out here on the west coast. For now, I’ll be checking for updates on websites and listening to podcasts, soaking up all the information I can get.

Until the epic purple journal articles start to drop, that will have to be sufficient.

Discovered new article: Comics Teach Kids (900 exp gained)

August 29, 2013 · Discuss on the GT Forum

Comic books to help children understand chronic pain

Comic book superheroes are being used to help children understand more about older relatives suffering from chronic pain, in an innovative project.

Comic books to help children understand chronic pain

Northumbria University academic Dr Derek Jones has been working on a project led by Teesside University Professor Denis Martin to explore how comic book superheroes can help children understand what an older adult with chronic pain is experiencing.

The research project, also involving colleagues from the universities of Dundee, Aberdeen, and Greenwich, has seen the academics work with Medikidz – an international company which produces award-winning comics featuring Marvel-inspired superheroes to put medical information into plain words which children can understand – to create a comic book about chronic pain.

(Continue reading the full article on MedicalXpress: here)

Discovered new article: Heroes Visit Hospital (900 exp gained)

August 26, 2013 · Discuss on the GT Forum

Power Wash: Superhero Window Washers Descend on Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA

Batman, Spider-Man, and Captain America surprise the hospital’s younger patients

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a…window washer? Yesterday, window washers-cum-superheroes descended on Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA to the delight of 25 hospitalized children and their families. The two-hour event, put on by the hospital’s Chase Child Life Program (with the help of Sunland Building Services and Window Cleaning), is one way in which Mattel helps their littler patients cope with being sick.

(Continue reading the full article on LA Magazine’s CityThink Blog: here)

Well, here goes..

August 26, 2013 · Discuss on the GT Forum

Here begins my first foray into the blogging world. I suppose I should start by letting you know who I am, what this blog is all about, and why the heck you should bother reading in the first place.

My name is Lara Taylor, I live in the San Francisco Bay Area (born and raised), and I am a complete and total nerd. My interests are pretty general as far as geekery, I know a little about a lot. I’m an avid gamer, comic nerd, Ringer, Star Warsior, Brony…the list goes on. I’m also a Master’s student in Counseling Psychology on track for a Marriage and Family Therapist (MFT) license someday.

During San Diego Comic Con this year, I attended a panel called Geek Therapy: How Superheroes Empower us, and It blew my mind. Everything they spoke about was a way of combining my two biggest passions (nerdom and psychology) into one. Using comics in therapy? Had never thought of it, but loved the idea and it made perfect sense to me. Why had I not thought of this before?

After Comic Con I started listening to the Geek Therapy podcast and more and more topics came up, such as the use of video games in therapy. Or just using game terminology in therapy. The floodgates in my mind had opened and I could not stop the rush of ideas coming through them. I was inspired.

The information racing through my mind led me to the creation of this blog. I want a place to collect articles and discussions about nerdy concepts in the therapy world and how we can use them to make people feel better. I also want a place to combine those articles and discussions with my own opinions and ideas drawn from my current schooling and training as a future clinician.

Which brings me to a disclaimer: I AM NOT A THERAPIST!!!! I am a student, and the ideas I post are my own and are developing over time. Do not contact me to solve your problems. I’d love to help you, but I can’t, yet. This is a place for ideas and discussion….and geekiness.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my ramblings, and I also hope you stick with me. It’ll get more interesting soon, I promise!

Special Thanks to those who inspired me:

Comicspedia – using comics in therapy comicspedia.net

Geek Therapy Podcast – geektherapy.com