Humans of NHC: Angie Arreola

Angie Arreola (she/her), a Licensed Family and Marriage Therapist, LMFT, works as a Behavioral Health Consultant at Tapestry 360 Health’s School-Based Health Center at Theodore Roosevelt High School, located in the Albany Park neighborhood of Chicago. She sees high school students for counseling, offering a safe and confidential space for students to talk about the problems they’re struggling with and to develop healthy coping strategies. 

What does the typical day in the life of your job look like? 

Typically I meet with students, and depending on the day it could be with anywhere from one student to eight. Usually, I have them scheduled, but it could also be a warm hand off or walk in. Here and there, there might be a few crises. Crisis can look a little bit different depending on the student. It could be anywhere from maybe they’re experiencing suicidal ideation to maybe they’re having a break up or a panic attack, or a fight with a friend. So there can be a really broad idea of what a crisis might be. 

How long have you been with Roosevelt, and how has that differed from other places you’ve been?

This will be about two and a half years, which is my third school year at Roosevelt. Before here I was working primarily with families that were involved in DCFS (Illinois Department of Children and Family Services). So, either youth in care, or parents that were trying to regain custody of their children. I would say here at least, most of the time students that are coming to me want to be in therapy. So before then, I would say for the most part they kind of felt like they had to be there. Especially the parents, if they didn’t participate then that was creating a barrier to be able to get their children back. Or the youth in care sometimes are a little bit more open in the sense that they want to have a space to talk so that’s the biggest difference here. Usually they want to be in this space, whereas where I was before there was more of building that buy-in and seeing why this could be beneficial, or even if they felt like they were forced to be there, how they could still get something out of it. 

What initially interested you in becoming a BHC?

Well I think that mental health in general to me was always really important. Culturally, my background is Mexican, and it was not something that was talked about. It was very minimized or kind of shamed if you were to ever go to therapy, and I remember as a teenager thinking “well I’m kind of interested”, right? I had friends that would go to therapy. Typically it was if their parents were divorced, and that was when it was maybe considered acceptable to go. So I got really interested in psychology as a whole and in my senior year of high school, I took my first psychology class. Going into college I originally went in as a marketing major, but then realized what I really liked about marketing was the psychology aspect. And so then I switched over to psychology. I actually took a year off after undergrad as an AmeriCorps member, and then decided I wanted to pursue the therapy route, and went into grad school for marriage and family therapy. 

What was your experience with AmeriCorps like, and do you feel like it informs the kind of work you do today? 

I think so. I was mostly working with families involved with Early Head Start and Head Start programs, and doing workshops on how to get parents more involved in the programs that their children are in. So I feel like it was a lot of relationship building, which I would say informed me going into marriage and family therapy. It’s a very relational based therapy, so I feel like that was very aligned with what was important to me. Even now working mostly with individuals, it’s still very relational because they’re a part of a family system or the school system so everything is still impacted by the people in their lives. 

Was there a moment you realized this profession was for you?

I feel like it was always in the back of my mind, you know? It was something I could see myself doing. It kind of started there and then it really grew as I finished up undergrad, and then taking time off is what solidified it for me as what I wanted to go into. 

What is one discouraging moment you remember, and how did you deal with that situation? 

After graduating grad school, I first went into private practice and I didn’t feel like it was the best fit for me. I kind of questioned, “is this still the road I want to go down?”, and when I went where I worked previously I learned that yes, I still want to do this. It was actually where I had done my internship, so it was like going back to the place that I really felt started my career. 

There are definitely days that I feel are still discouraging, and where I’m like, “Ugh, I feel like I need a win, you know? I need something to keep me going by telling myself, “these are the reasons that I do this and why the work is so important.” I would say early on it was maybe more so being in a place that I didn’t feel was the best fit for me. But then there are definitely those days that feel a little bit more discouraging where you ask yourself “why do I do this?” Or it’s a really heavy day, but then you find those moments where there’s a small win that keeps me going. 

What advice would you give to someone who is thinking of going into the mental health field?

I would say that boundaries are very important. It can be really hard to maintain them sometimes, trying to find that work-life balance. As much as possible, try not to take things at home with you while still being kind to yourself on days where things are going to be a bit heavier and will go home with you. Try to find those strategies of how to contain or separate things, or know you will be back there tomorrow and keep working on that then. It’s still just as important to have those moments that are just for you and not all about work.