Camelot Profile: Camelot TDS of Naperville Counselor Mary Korth

 

Mary Korth, LCPC, CADC is a counselor at Camelot Therapeutic Day School of Naperville. She earned her M.S. in Counseling at Northern Minnesota University and has been with Camelot for 11 years. She was born in Rochelle, IL. Before joining Camelot, Mary was a case manager for the Dept. of Children and Family Service of Illinois. She  works helping students with addiction, family problems, and other counseling needs.

What are your current duties as a counselor at Camelot of Naperville?

I’m a counselor, like a social worker. I previously worked very strictly with students that had drug or alcohol related issues, and now I can be working with anyone that they assign to me. It’s still a lot of kids that have alcohol or drug addiction issues, but there are a lot more kids that I’m helping at this point as well.

What’s different about your new position?

In my new position I don’t teach classes, but I do run a lot of the same programs that I did before including recovery groups for kids that are sober or are getting in control of their youth, and I also run family relation groups for kids that have drug issues in their family. Even if a person has quit using drugs, there are still a lot of the effects that stay with the kids in the family. And for kids to know that there are others dealing with similar issues, they don’t feel so isolated.

What is most important in reaching out to students with a substance abuse problem?

Do not be judgmental. They have already been judged and have been found lacking by many people, agencies, and organizations. If a person judges them, they’re immediately going to quit building a rapport with you. Kids who do drugs are very sensitive to other people’s feelings and they have great insights, and they’re going to know when they’re being judged and write you off. They’ll tell you what you want to hear but they won’t let you see who they really are.

Another important thing for people dealing with those who have substance abuse problems to keep in mind is that they will change during recovery. When students are trying to get sober, if they have used on a daily basis and they try to get sober, people expect that when they see them high that that’s them being normal. When they try to quit, then people think they’re getting high because they’re different.

Do students typically reach out to you or vice versa?

A bit of both. I have a sixth sense—when a student walks into the school I can usually tell if they’re doing drugs, and sometimes even which drugs.  I would keep an eye on them when they started and then touch base with their social worker or classroom staff and recommend that they come see me. Typically, they’re more than willing to talk to me. Other interesting cases I’ve had happen are students approaching me in the halls and saying “Mary, I need to work with you now.” And I’ve also had kids who have said “There’s this kid in my class talking about all the stuff he’s been using and he really needs to see you.” So they refer each other.

What kinds of strategies do you put in place to help students with addiction?

Education. I don’t think that you can get people to stop using drugs—or even reduce their drug use—unless they see a need to do it. So what I do is give them an assessment of what they use, who in their family may be using drugs, and what kinds of consequences they’ve had whether it’s physical or legal. And then as I’m doing this assessment I slip in a little education, because something that I hear all the time is “Oh, I’ve only done it once,” but did you know that alcohol is one of the few drugs that can actually shrink your brain by 10%? A lot of them don’t know this kind of stuff! For a long time, I was teaching drug education classes and I would go through all the different drugs and all the effects that it can have on your body and they’d all all just be mesmerized. There’s so much that people don’t know. People keep on saying that it’s going to be legal—but just because it’s legal doesn’t mean it’s good for you! You need to use your own judgement. And I tell them that I can’t be out in the real world with them, but to use their brains. If you know that it’s something that you can become addicted to—don’t do it. Just because your best friend does it, doesn’t mean that there aren’t any effects.

Camelot is committed to helping student through “normative culture, academic rigor, and direct instruction.” How does this help students to control substance abuse problems that they might have?

They get the reward of passing their classes and knowing that they’re moving forward towards graduation, or college if that’s what they’re interested in, and that’s intrinsically rewarding. Some of them also try to become Knights (a special program), so they’re motivated to elevate themselves to higher statuses. If they’re using drugs, a lot of times that’s a problem. They realize that if they’re coming in exhausted, they’re not going to do well in school and that’s going to affect their status. It helps them because they’re trading an immediate satisfaction of getting high for the long-term satisfaction of the status that their peers recognize

What’s your favorite thing about working at Camelot Naperville?

I love the flexibility of thinking outside the box—trying to be creative in what we’re doing. For our students, public school didn’t work for some reason, and going to a school that is like a public school isn’t going to work either. I love that we can try different things. I’m on an attendance committee and we were trying a weekly incentive for good attendance but it’s not working, so we’re going to be switching that to a completely different idea and I think it’ll be really beneficial. I was also instrumental in creating an attendance breakfast for kids that have perfect attendance every quarter. We have changed so much in 11 years! We have a graduation ceremony, we have an adult separation program which the kids can stay in after they’ve met their graduation requirements, so they can stay and learn about working and learn to work and to be responsible—we’re constantly evolving!

What events do you have on the horizon?

We have graduation coming up and that is in May, and our principal has allowed us to have caps, gowns, tassels with the graduating year on them, and now we even have stoles for particularly accomplished students. We always have speakers, we invite parents, and then we have cake and lemonade. The students, their families, and staff members are all invited and everyone loves it. I’ve already had a student approach me about doing a speech for next year! We also have our end-of-the-year barbecue and Play Day, our field day with all kinds of activities, and the kids love that.