Statue of David, Community Center for Bipolar, and Dinner with UAB- May 31, 2016

This morning we hopped aboard the train and went to Firenze again. This time our main goal was to go to the art museum to see the original statue of David. This statue used to be outside but has since been brought inside and restored to its original condition. Apparently the hand fell off trying to bring this big statue into the building. The statue of David is the centerpiece of its own room within the museum. To the left of this picture is a walkway that takes you to a room where you can look at molds that have black dots on them to show art students how to make the body look proportioned. This place inspired us to tap into our artistic sides and incorporate more creative hobbies back home.

After the museum we shopped for last minute souvenirs since this was our last day in Firenze. The markets in Florence are full of leather goods. You can buy purses, backpacks, belts, shoes, jewelry, and many more things for family and friends back home. Bartering skills are useful in this market because I heard of one member getting 400 Euros of purses for 125 Euros. She saved big money on purses that day.








Counselor at the Community Center

Wall Art Drawn by Patients

Then we headed over to a community center for bipolar patients in Florence Italy. This center was much different than the United States. Although it was setup the same in structure by offering both group and individual therapy, it incorporated a lot of the Italian philosophy of treatment. The psychiatrist emphasizes stabilizing patient with medication for bipolar but a large part of this program is setup to educate clients how to live with the disorder. Because art is such a huge part of the Italian culture the program is designed to encourage clients to express themselves through art. We also had an opportunity to hear from clients that were treated both in the U.S. and in Italy. They felt that the treatment in the states focused too much on medication management than how to manage life with the disorder.

GSU and University of Holy Cross



University of Alabama in Birmingham

The Governors State University group ate with the University of Alabama in Birmingham group for dinner. This was a nice time to sit down with our fellow colleagues and talk about our experiences. After dinner we strolled the streets to experience the nightlife that the city had to offer. We wrapped the night up by sitting on a rooftop bar to watch the spectacular view of the city.

Mindy Eastling

Montepulciano and Pienza May 30, 2016

Today we traveled to Montepulciano and Pienza. Most people on the trip had never been to either town so there was a bit more excitement amongst everyone. We started the day with a bus ride to Montepulciano. We visited a “simple” church that really was anything but simple. It was gorgeous. After visiting the church, we met Roberta at the top of the hill in Montepulciano and had a lovely tour of the town. Montepulciano had, by far, the most spectacular view I have ever seen. I felt like I could stare at that view of Tuscany forever. It was one of those views that you know pictures will never do any justice, so you just try your best to take mental snapshots so you remember it forever. That sight still leaves me speechless. The beauty was so distracting that I honestly don’t remember much from the tour. 

One memorable experience from Montepulciano was the massive steak a group of us shared. We asked Roberta for another restaurant recommendation and it truly did not disappoint. Osteria Acquacheta was a charming little place with long tables and paper placemats. Ordering and enjoying that steak was such a unique experience! It was the largest piece of meat I had ever seen in my life. It was prepared very simply with just salt and pepper and served rare. Our group had a wonderful meal together and then we were off to do some shopping! In addition to steaks, Montepulciano is also known for its leather. So, we obviously had to buy some hand stitched leather sandals to remember this town by. After we all spent our money, we made our way back down the hill to meet the rest of the group for the bus ride to Pienza. 

Stephanie gets complete photo credit for the group shots.

After a quick bus ride, we were in Pienza. Again, it was just so gorgeous! We had a lot of free time in Pienza to just roam around, which I loved. It almost makes you feel like your live there. Pienza was filled with cute little boutiques that were a bit pricey. One memorable shop had a leather craftsman making belts, purses, bracelets, notebook covers, etc. right there in front of you! One final memory of our wanderings in Pienza was when we saw an Australian cooking show being filmed. While watching the producer and host talk with a local shop owner about cheese in Italy, I learned that Pienza is known for its Pecorino. After watching the filming of that show for a bit, our little group walked around for a bit longer and then headed back to the bus to make it home to Casa Cares. It was sad to leave these gorgeous towns. It was one of those days that I wish we could have stayed longer to soak it all in.
 

Ciao,

Emily

Counseling American Students in Italy - May 29, 2016

Posted by Dr. Becky Michel 

This morning two counseling students, who are also pastors, officiated an optional interdenominational church service in the newly renovated chapel next to casa cares. We sung, worshiped, and expressed our gratitude for the experience we have had together in Italy.

After the service, we had an interesting and entertaining presentation from Amy Klien. Amy is the Assistant Director of Health and Wellness from Syracuse University. She also teaches Cross-Cultural Psychology in Florence, Italy. Amy was born in the U.S. and visited Italy during her undergraduate program. She has been here ever since. We spent the morning learning about her love of Italy (and Italian men). 

Amy is masters-level trained counselor, and works with study abroad students at Syracuse University. Amy explained when these students study abroad, they bring their mental health challenges along with them. She receives the health and psychological reports for all students who have given permission, and just like in the U.S., these students experience a wide range of mental and physical health issues. She counsels over 100 students each semester with various issues, including intimate relationships (15%), anxiety (32%), peer relationships (11%), alcohol-related (10%) cultural adjustment (6%), sexual harassment or assault (4%), depression (2%), and other issues. At the beginning of their study abroad experience, she leads a safety and security meeting for students, but she thinks the information goes in one year and out another.

She shared some differences she has noticed between Americans and Italians. The U.S. students seem to come with a sense of entitlement and many of them drink too much when they come to Italy. While it is common to drink a glass of wine with a meal, drinking outside of the meal is uncommon. When Italians see Americans who are intoxicated they cannot comprehend why they are making a fool of themselves. Italians strive to make the best impression of their selves – which Amy described as Bella figura. There are also differences in terms of the view of ADHD.  She said many physicians in Italy do not believe in prescribing medication for ADHD. Although Amy warns all students with ADHD to bring a full prescription to Italy with them, some students run out. If that happens, it is impossible to get medicine for these students because it cannot be mailed or prescribed within the country.

It was clear that Amy loves her work. She also said that international counseling is ripe – she may be the only assistant director of health and wellness in Italy. She suggested that others who are interested in working abroad to connect with an American university and advocate for them to create a wellness or counseling position. Many of these positions are outsourced and there are lots of opportunities for growth within the international counseling word. Amy encouraged us to prepare, get an education, and allow life to happen. But overall to create a life with someone who really loves you for who you are. Because, as counselors and helpers, “we owe it to ourselves to have a solid foundation and a great life.” 

In the afternoon, we had several options to spend our time. Many students walked to Vallombrosa and attended mass at a Monastery. Others spent time with local Italians who were hosting a food and music festival at Casa Cares. It was a day of rejuvenation and preparation for the rest of the trip ahead. 

Greve, Chianti and San Gimignano- Saturday, May 28, 2016

The Winery in Greve

Traveling through Tuscany

Today we voyaged out to Greve. The views along the roadside were stunning during our bus ride from Casa Cares. There were olive trees galore in the fields. The curves roads lead us to a small town named Greve where we walked through a huge outdoor market. This is where we bought everything from clothes, jewelry, fresh produce, and street foods. I picked up a pearl necklace for 5 Euros. They passed the scratch test so I am sure they are one step up from Mardis Gras beads. Greve also has a wine tasting store where you can try all the local flavors from the Tuscany region. Although it was 11 in the morning, we stopped there to find our favorite local flavors and buy some wine for the evenings at Casa Cares.



Governors  State University in Italy 

Then we got back in the bus and headed to San Gimignano. This is where I enjoyed my first Italian pizza. The fist one was a disaster and word on the street was that good pizzas don't exist in Italy. This pizza tasted amazing! Dr. Michel ordered bruschetta fantasy for an appetizer and that was a cross cultural experience to say the least. It came with three pieces of thinly sliced bruschetta bread. One had the traditional tomatoes. The other had a mix of cooked vegetables and the last one had a black bean hummus look to it. After eating the mystery bruschetta we found out it was spleen smeared on top of the bread. That's right, spleen; an organ meat. We laughed as the waiter tried to describe what we were eating by swiping the side of her abdomen with her finger. Needless to say, two vegetarians broke their diet this afternoon by eating smeared spleen on their bruschetta.


After lunch people strolled the streets of San Gimignano and went to the torture museums, shopping, and ate more gelato. There was also a tower that some students climbed to the top of. This was a short stop but was a nice way of getting acquainted with all that Tuscany has to offer.




Eating Pizza in San Gimignano with our new friend Lisa from New Orleans

Mindy Eastling

Counseling in Italy and mask making - May 27, 2016

Today we had a full day of workshops. We first heard Dr. Bacchini talk about counseling in Italy. Then we had another opportunity to learn from Paola Salvioni, an American counselor working in Italy. She spoke with us about the Italian culture and being a counselor in Italy. Then after lunch, we learned from Dr. Michel who spoke about identifying and utilize strengths. 

Dr. Bacchini told us that there was no licensing in Italy for counselors. This is primarily due to the bad relationship between psychologists and counselors. It might be difficult to explain briefly in this blog entry, but only psychologists and medical doctors perform psychotherapy. Counselors only work with those who are “sad” or who are experiencing adjustment issues or grief. People with these types of presenting problems used to go to psychologists but there is a significant stigma about seeing a psychologist; only crazy people see psychologists. So it is less stigmatizing to see a counselor in Italy, but the profession is not recognized by the state. There is a pattern of the Italian government not recognizing professions in Italy and from what I gather, it is very problematic for Italians to trust anything that has to do with their government and that bleeds into distrust between professions. In fact, psychology wasn’t even recognized in Italy until the 1980s. So now that Italian counselors are fighting for their professional identities, psychologists are not happy because counselors are stealing their clients away from them. 

Dr. Bacchini also told us about his training and I found that very interesting. In the past, you only needed a High School diploma to be a counselor in Italy. Now, Italy adopted training and practice standards from the British Association of Counseling and Psychotherapy. Italian counselor education programs now require students to complete 450 hours of classes, 450 hours of internship, and 50 hours of personal counseling. They require students to have their own counseling. I know there is debate about requiring counseling for counselor education students, but I personally think it is a fantastic idea. Another notable thing Dr. Bacchini told us about was Psychosynthesis, a counseling approach that was created in Italy by Roberto Assagioli. He was a student of Freud and Jung and created his approach by focusing on human development and the importance of being fully present with clients. He recommended the  book What We May Be by Piero Ferrucci to learn more. 

Us with Dr. Bacchini

Paola Salvioni, the American counselor working in Italy came back to speak to us about what it is like to be an American working within the Italian culture. She said women are treated very differently in Italy…it is a very patriarchal country. Another important thing she said is counselors are not able to live on counseling alone, they often have one or two other jobs. If they manage to get a caseload of 5 clients they’ve made it big! Paola also described the cultural differences between counseling in the U.S. and Italy as it relates to prevention work. Italians do not believe in fixing what isn’t broken. This often leads to stressful crisis situations. (Side note example, a road collapsed in front of the Ponte Vecchio in Florence. This is a perfect example of not doing prevention work. The pipes were likely to be deteriorating but only when something goes wrong do they make repairs. You can read more about that here.)

Dr. Michel spoke with the group about identifying what we are naturally good at and where our areas of growth are. She taught us about how our talents are innate and automatic and our strengths are developed over time. Building our strengths is a discovery process where we create and take ownership of our skills. If we maximize, own, and celebrate our skills we are able to tap into and share ourselves as our most valuable resource. 

Our last workshop today was mask making with Vito Albanese! We were so lucky to have an opportunity to work with an incredible artist. He was such a great teacher. Scott and Crystal were the lucky volunteers who had the chance to make their own masks. They went through the process step-by-step and it was so fun to see how each mask comes together. I loved it when Vito said that the imperfections are what make each mask unique. He said he never tries to make the masks perfect. The whole process from start to finish really requires a lot of time and patience. Vito was just so peaceful about it saying, “this is a very simple job.” I just love that mentality. Take a simple job, put everything you have into it, practice patience and take care to go through each step and you have a beautiful, finished product. I think I love it here. 

 

Emily

P.S. I guess man-buns really are a thing!

Vito melting wax to add his seal to my mask

Lake Trasimeno & Assisi - May 26, 2016

Posted by Dr. Becky Michel

This morning we took the bus through the Italian countryside and stopped at a small town next to Lake Trasimeno. The town was quaint - there were a few small shops, cafes, and gelato bars. In front of the shops there were vibrant and colorful ceramics spread out all across the sidewalks. I met a mother and daughter who owned a small store and purchased a few ceramic plates and serving bowls. After that, we traveled the winding roads to make the pilgrimage to Assisi.

Assisi is built on an enormous hill. Looking up from the bottom of the hill is simply spectacular. We got off the bus, took a series of escalators up to the top of the hill, and walked through the stone archway into Assisi. Dr. Paul took us into the central square next to the Cathedral of Saint Claire with a beautiful view of the countryside and gave us an orientation to Assisi. Throughout the afternoon, many students ate lunch, hiked up to the tower, strolled down the hill, shopped, and visited the Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi. On the bus ride home, several students commented that Assisi was their favorite place we have visited so far. It was certainly a memorable day for us all. 

Class Day and Mall/Regello and Reflections- Wednesday, May 25, 2016

The way the schedule works is that we are traveling one day and in class the following day. Today's class day started out with a meeting given by an Italian psychiatrist. He talked about the differences in treatment between Italy and the United States. The main difference is that Italian doctors use less medication and include more education on health and wellness. In Italy they try to change the clients lifestyle before prescribing a drug for their clients.


Typical Class Day at Casa Cares

The next presenter of the day was from a woman that works in the Italian schools.  Teachers in Italy make 23 thousand Euros per year. School counselors in Italy are almost nonexistent. The presenter gave participants a look into current issues for Italian students and their families. The main issues revolved around lack of funding and a high truancy rate. There are no programs designed for students with neurocognitive disorders. Para professionals are almost nonexistent in helping in the classrooms. So getting outside help from tutors outside the school system is the main option for struggling students.
One aspect of the Italian school system that has it's advantage over the US is that teachers stay with their student for the entire time they're in elementary, middle and high school. Italians also go to high school for 5 years instead of 4. Then they have the option to go to a professional, trade, or university school for higher education.
In the afternoon we had an opportunity to go into town (Regello) for a couple hours or to a high class outlet mall. The people that went into Regello talked about delicious gelato and shopping. I (Mindy) went to the outlet mall shopping for a watch. I soon found out that I couldn't afford a watch at this outlet center. My eyes lit up when I found a store with watches from wall to wall, but clearly couldn't afford the price ($2,000-$13,000). The internet was terrible at Casa Cares so I decided to walk to the nearest café to catch up on emails and let my family know I was alive.
We ended the day by attending a workshop by Dr. Benshoff. We processed our Italian experiences and shared our thoughts about the Italian mental health industry. This was an opportunity for the group to talk about what we were seeing and doing. We talked about how excited we were to go on this trip and how this trip will change us. One of the most common themes of this discussion was how to address the people back home that think of this trip as a vacation. In this past week we have learned far more than just one course alone can teach us. Although we are learning material in a different way in another country; it is not a vacation.

Mindy Eastling

Siena - May 24, 2016

Today we were all excited for Siena. We heard wonderful things about this medieval town. We eagerly boarded the bus knowing there would be a rest stop half way at a pastry bar and shoe store! We were told we had roughly 40-45 minutes for this very brief pit stop. As Paul (our host at Casa Cares) frequently says, pit stops are for “emptying out and filling up” and if we wanted to do some shopping we had to do so quickly. Challenge accepted. I was on a mission to find nice shoes from Italy and I was so excited. I ran through the store quickly scanning all they had to offer and easily found 10 pairs of shoes I would have loved to take home. Sadly, due to limited suitcase space 10 won’t work. Instead, I now have three beautiful new pairs of quality shoes to call my own! I found a pair of Birkenstock sandals (which I immediately changed into for comfort), a pair of leather ankle boots, and an adorable pair of platform sandals. From what I hear, the look on my face after making this purchase was one of pure joy that others found amusing. I surely was joyful—I am a lover of shoes. :)

 

Learning about the town flags and horse race

I could easily end the blog entry there, because my day was complete, but the day continued to get better and better. After another short bus ride and we were in Siena. Let me tell you, Siena is such a gorgeous town. The bus dropped us off at the Fortezza, a wall that was built to protect the city. A short walk around the wall and we were met our tour guide, Roberta. During our 2-hour tour we learned about Saint Catherine, a Siena native who is the patron saint of Rome and Italy. St. Catherine had a habit of fasting (some believed it to be anorexia) which caused her to be so undernourished that she would often faint and have visions of God. We saw St. Catherine’s right thumb and head which are preserved in the San Dominico church. By some miracle, her thumb had never really decomposed and evidently still has skin on it. It looked like it was made of wood to me. People visit these relics in hopes of also having visions from God. Our tour continued through the winding and hilly streets of Siena. The city was absolutely stunning. After the tour finished, we were free to wander for several hours before the bus left for Casa Cares. We asked Roberta for a restaurant recommendation and we had the most delicious lunch!

Roberta showing us where to eat lunch.

Just a few blocks from the center piazza, we had a delightful lunch filled with salads, pastas, meat, and vegetables. We also were so surprised by our server’s wine recommendation. My next mission is to find this wine and bring a bottle of it home. It was a 2012 Tuscan wine with “Ebo” on the label. After our near 2-hour lunch, we wandered around the city and did some more shopping. We eventually found our way back to the bus and headed back to Casa Cares. 

 

So far, Siena has been my favorite city. I loved the charm of the winding roads and hills with picturesque views when you catch a glimpse over the rooftops. It’s the kind of place you imagine romantic comedies are filmed. You can also imagine what it might have been like to live in Siena hundreds of years ago. The history is palpable and you just want to absorb as much of it as possible.

Well it’s off to sleep and time to dream about Siena.

Buona Notte,

Emily

Siena Cathedral

Piazza del Campo

Inside the Cathedral

Our group on the steps of the Cathedral