Traveling Hearts Home Care LLC is please to introduce to our clients Karabeth Vanick, a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker, who our owner, Stephanie, has known for close to 10 years. Stephanie wanted to take the time to interview Karabeth to provide education on the services that licensed clinical social workers like Karabeth can assist them with.
Stephanie: Karabeth, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me on behalf of Traveling Hearts Home Care. Please, if you don’t mind Karabeth, can you explain what a licensed clinical social worker is?
Karabeth: “Thank you for wanting to speak with me. I am excited to tell you about what I do. I like to think of being a social worker as the center, like a nucleus, someone that can connect this person with anything that they wish to be connected to. I like to think of us as.... you know what a Venn Diagram is? Where the two circles overlap? Well, the SW would be in the middle overlapping circle helping branch the two systems.
Stephanie: Tell us a little about yourself and what brought you to becoming a LICSW?
Karabeth: In college, I was an English major. Back then I thought I wanted to write for the New Yorker. At some point I decided to become a social worker and pursued that. I have always had a strong work ethic in my family, and I have always wanted to help people. I like to learn about people and get to know them. I use a technique called PIE, which stands for Person-In-Environment, this is where we learn about people in their natural environment. Which is why I do in home therapy because I learn the most seeing my clients in their home environment. It allows me a better understanding in order to help them better. I also believe that family is the foundation of life. I think I always felt I wanted to help the family system strengthen and grow”.
Stephanie: I agree. I think it is so important to have a sense of family. How are you able to help support seniors, specifically our clients as the majority of our client base are age 65 and up, living at home who may not have the support of family or may not have any living family left?
Karabeth: "I could help them grow their support system. A family doesn’t have to be biological, they can have a family through friends and community, even case workers".
Stephanie: That's great. Traveling Hearts Home Care feels the same way, which is why I love that we are collaborating. I know you will be an excellent resource for our clients. I often say that "Friends become our chosen family", and I know that for a lot of our clients being able to stay in their home with proper support such as through private caregivers and having a social worker to help support them, would help strengthen that sense of family for them. Those connections to neighbors and that connection to the community that they built over time is huge in maintaining good health for them.
Karabeth: " Yes, and I take into consideration those relationships and connections when I am working with my clients. Socialization is so important for seniors. I actually lead a social group for seniors. We can meet in person (which I prefer) or online through ZOOM. The class just ended. I had about 6 clients in the group. It will start back up in the fall and there are already 3 clients interested in it".
Stephanie: How is the class run? Do you participate in it or is it more just an open discussion and anyone can talk freely?
Karabeth: "Yes, I do participate in it and there is open discussion, and we also have structured topics that we talk about...in an attempt to get everyone talking to each other and help each other relate".
Stephanie: That's really great. What other areas of life do you think having a LICSW would be beneficial?
Karabeth: "I would say all areas of life you benefit from a LICSW. I would say for your mental health needs, if you struggle with addiction, if you have trauma. All areas really.
Stephanie: That's so true. Especially for seniors, as I had mentioned earlier, many may not have anyone left to talk to about loneliness and depression. I saw a lot of that during the pandemic when the world shut down. As a visiting nurse I would go into homes and really saw how difficult it was for the elderly to figure out how to get groceries, use apps like Instacart for deliveries, especially if they didn't own a smart phone or have family nearby. Sometimes I was the only one they saw all week during my nursing visit. Many lost their spouse during the pandemic or had no living or involved family. It was really concerning, actually. These were people who aged in place and deserve to stay in their home but did not know about or have access to the right support. The pandemic and moving to Norwood were really what made me want to start Traveling Hearts Home Care. I wanted to help the elderly in my community; the same community I was calling home now. I believe that the elderly are the pillars to a community and during the pandemic I definitely felt like they were forgotten.
Karabeth: "Yes, the elderly are at a huge risk for loneliness. I also do a lot of grief counseling. I offer bereavement support services. Those are some other prime focuses of mine."
Stephanie: What are some techniques you use during therapy and where/how do you conduct therapy sessions? Do you take insurance and what types of insurance?
Karabeth: "If someone needs help, since I am an independent LICSW, I can decide what I can do and where I conduct the therapy session. I don't work out of an office and like I mentioned earlier I use PIE approach, so a lot of the therapy happens in the home. I also use CBT, which is cognitive behavioral therapy, and I use relational model theory to name some techniques. I often use Simple Practice for a telehealth visit. I would send the client a link and set it up through the website or have family or a caregiver set them up. Yes, I do take insurance. It can change but some insurances I accept are BCBS, Tufts/Harvard Pilgram, Aetna, Health Plans Inc. I also take private pay clients".
Stephanie: Yes, THHC caregivers can assist our clients in setting up a telehealth session and we can also support them by providing transportation as well to therapy sessions or to one of your senior social groups. Is there anything else you would like to add?
Karabeth: "Yes! I teach water-based therapy classes like water aerobics which is great for seniors, but all are welcome, but I do have seniors in that class. I also teach yoga at the YMCA in Quincy and Weymouth I do a lot with clients there".
Stephanie: Wow. That is really awesome! I will make sure I include the information to both the Quincy YMCA and the Weymouth center you use for your water classes. On that note, what is your coverage area?
Karabeth: "I cover the South Shore of Massachusetts"!
Stephanie: Great to know. Traveling Hearts Home Care travels to over 25 towns in Massachusetts, including those on the south shore! We are able to provide services to Quincy/Braintree/Weymouth and as far away as Hingham, Hull, Marshfield!
Well thank you so much for taking the time to sit down with me and help educate our clients and families on what a social worker is, how they can help, and how we can collaborate together to help support the clients in our care to ensure they can remain both independent and safe but also supported in the community!
Karabeth: "I look forward to working with you and being able to help any new clients you refer. Thank you"!
