A Heart for Health
Who is Terry?
Terry D. Tatum, a CSAC, or certified substance abuse counselor within Masters in Science and Education. He is currently working for the GHR center in Norfolk, Virginia. Terry worked in the Navy before entering the medical field.
Inspiration
After working in the Navy, Terry went to work in a mental health facility at Portsmouth Psychiatric Center. He worked on a locked unit with severely disturbed patients. He worked alongside psychiatrists, psychologists, and nurses. Eventually, he got the opportunity to work in the drug and alcohol unit. Terry worked in that unit in the late 70’s and early 80’s. During that time, the field was completely new. He liked being able to try to learn alongside fellow people who were for the same cause as him. After a while, Terry was able to take patients to AA meetings and he talked to some of the staff members there and fell in love with not only the science but the positive progress he is able to make in people’s lives.
Path to Current Job
While working at Portsmouth Psychiatric Center, he was going to school at night and working as a construction worker during his days off. His father in law finally offered him the idea of working for the government. He said he never really thought about it, so he gave it a try. He eventually found Portsmouth Naval Hospital looking for psychologists. At the time Terry wanted to be a psychologist. He applied and later got the job. He went in as a master’s level psychologists in psychological counseling. After that, he applied for his CSAC. While he did get his CSAC he later became an administrator. He still considered himself a counselor because he saw patients and sometimes ran AA meetings. After being an administrator for 30 years he then retired in 2015 but decided that he wanted to return as an actual drug and alcohol abuse counselor at GHR center in August of 2017.
Favorite Aspect
Terry’s favorite aspect is seeing the actual progress in his patients. He recalls a patient who was in denial an alcohol problem. He talks about how after months of counseling there was not an ounce of progress in an alcoholic patient he had been seeing. One day Terry noticed something different in that man, so Terry asks, “Is everything ok?” and the man said, “everything is fine, in fact, I actually realize that I have a problem”. The man goes on to say that after an AA meeting the previous night he had realized that he needed to change his habits. While Terry does love the science behind the profession he enjoys the comradery between patients and colleagues, but progress is his satisfaction.
Most Surprising Aspect
The most surprising thing to Terry was the constant change in the field. He realizes that more because of how new it was back in the 80’s. He knows how much it truly has changed, not only in medicine but approaches on how to help patients mentally. He takes refresher courses every year because he wants to be eclectic when it comes to theories and approaches to helping patients.
Most Challenging Aspect
Dealing with denial is the hardest aspect of Terry’s career. He says that is the hardest hump for patients and counselors to get over. That is another reason why he stays on top of his game because learning new ways to help different types of people could not only save their life but improve it.
Advice from Terry
His advice to anyone looking to go into this field would be staying in the loop of breakthroughs and news. He says that is a good way of helping your patients. The more a counselor knows the faster they can help solve people’s everyday problems. Not only faster but reach a vaster amount of people.
What I Have Taken Away
Talking to Terry today gave me the inspiration to do my best in school. I was inspired to do so when he said he worked two jobs and went to school at night. He also showed me a heart that cared for people and was willing to go out of his way for them. He studies so much in order to be able to help his patients to the best of his abilities. One day I hope to have a heart like Terry’s, he is a model health professional and I hope to work as hard as he does.