Collected Item: “Gus Raymond Oral History, 2022/07/29”
Title
Gus Raymond
Who conducted the interview? List all names, separated by comma.
Kit Heintzman
Who was interviewed? List all names, separated by commas.
Gus Raymond
Email Address(es) for all interviewers. Separated by comma.
kheintzman@gmail.com
Use one-word hashtags (separated by commas) to describe your oral history. For example: Where did it originate? How does this object make you feel? How does this object relate to the pandemic?
#activist, #addiction, #Christmas, #counselor, #fatherhood, #introvert, #Iowa, #loneliness, #marriage, #masking, #mentalhealth, #queer, #rural, #school, #student, #therapist, #trans*, #transphobia, #trauma
What is the format of your recording?
Video
In what ZIP code is the primary residence of the interviewee? (enter 5-digit ZIP code; for example, 00544 or 94305)? In what city/town/village does the interviewee live? In what country does the interviewee live? All comma-separated.
Stormlake, Iowa
What is the gender of the interviewee? Be sure to allow interviewees to self-identify their gender in the pre-interview or interview. *Do not assign a gender identity to interviewees.*
I identify as male or transgender male, he him, his
What is the age of the interviewee?
45 to 54
How does the interviewee describe their race or ethnicity? Be sure to allow interviewees to self-identify their race/ethnicity in the pre-interview or interview. *Do not assign a racial or ethnic identity to interviewees.*
I am multiracial
Describe the oral history.
Some of the things we discussed include:
- Finishing a BA during the pandemic, lost graduation.
- Nearing the completion of an MA.
- Working as an addictions specialist in community mental health.
- Moving from long commutes to have face-to-face interactions with substance abuse clients to teleworking.
- Working with rural clients who don’t have teleworking tools, like laptops or broadband; limited access to treatment and psychiatric institutions.
- Client neediness and slippery boundaries.
- Legal differences between clients who are suicidal and those who are parasuicidal (eg, comfortable with drinking themselves to death).
- Feelings of helplessness as a clinician.
- Forprofit healthcare systems that leave people feeling like no one cares if they live or die.
- Medicalization and gatekeeping that comes with gender-transitioning; worse in rural USA.
- Governor of Iowa, Kim Reynolds, returning COVID relief money to the federal government.
- Moving from Community Mental Health to working for the school district.
- The diversity in rural Iowa, 30+ languages spoken in a school system of a few thousand students; refugees and other trauma survivors ending up in the meatpacking industry.
- Personal experiences of addiction and sobriety.
- Coming from a military family with post Vietnam PTSD.
- Hypervigilance as a maladaptive coping mechanism; hypervigilance as a superpower in the right context.
- Father having had a heart attack in 2019 and the stressors of distance and the risks associated with visitation.
- Difficulties visiting with stepchildren during the pandemic.
- Small and occasional celebrations outside the home: celebrating Christmas in 2020; going out for wife’s birthday in 2022.
- The loneliness of isolation.
- Political rhetoric about masking as a freedom issue.
- Feeling a need for advocacy even in the face of futility.
- Anti-LGBTQ legislation.
- Current framing of Monkeypox as a gay man’s disease.
- The relationship between health and wellness; health as a human right.
- Safety in passing as a cis man, and a loss of recognition.
- Getting a needy rescue dog during 2022.
Other cultural references: Fauci, Twitter, Politician Steven Arnold King, Uvalde school shooting (24 May 2022), active shooter training in schools, SnapChat, Vietnam, novelist Stephen King
See also:
https://meetmonarch.com/therapist/angus-raymond-counseling-storm-lake-ia
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/angus-raymond-storm-lake-ia/966560
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-dGZbYOEIzlK-6ueu_up6x2XXWZh7OHe/view
- Finishing a BA during the pandemic, lost graduation.
- Nearing the completion of an MA.
- Working as an addictions specialist in community mental health.
- Moving from long commutes to have face-to-face interactions with substance abuse clients to teleworking.
- Working with rural clients who don’t have teleworking tools, like laptops or broadband; limited access to treatment and psychiatric institutions.
- Client neediness and slippery boundaries.
- Legal differences between clients who are suicidal and those who are parasuicidal (eg, comfortable with drinking themselves to death).
- Feelings of helplessness as a clinician.
- Forprofit healthcare systems that leave people feeling like no one cares if they live or die.
- Medicalization and gatekeeping that comes with gender-transitioning; worse in rural USA.
- Governor of Iowa, Kim Reynolds, returning COVID relief money to the federal government.
- Moving from Community Mental Health to working for the school district.
- The diversity in rural Iowa, 30+ languages spoken in a school system of a few thousand students; refugees and other trauma survivors ending up in the meatpacking industry.
- Personal experiences of addiction and sobriety.
- Coming from a military family with post Vietnam PTSD.
- Hypervigilance as a maladaptive coping mechanism; hypervigilance as a superpower in the right context.
- Father having had a heart attack in 2019 and the stressors of distance and the risks associated with visitation.
- Difficulties visiting with stepchildren during the pandemic.
- Small and occasional celebrations outside the home: celebrating Christmas in 2020; going out for wife’s birthday in 2022.
- The loneliness of isolation.
- Political rhetoric about masking as a freedom issue.
- Feeling a need for advocacy even in the face of futility.
- Anti-LGBTQ legislation.
- Current framing of Monkeypox as a gay man’s disease.
- The relationship between health and wellness; health as a human right.
- Safety in passing as a cis man, and a loss of recognition.
- Getting a needy rescue dog during 2022.
Other cultural references: Fauci, Twitter, Politician Steven Arnold King, Uvalde school shooting (24 May 2022), active shooter training in schools, SnapChat, Vietnam, novelist Stephen King
See also:
https://meetmonarch.com/therapist/angus-raymond-counseling-storm-lake-ia
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/angus-raymond-storm-lake-ia/966560
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-dGZbYOEIzlK-6ueu_up6x2XXWZh7OHe/view
On what date did you record this oral history?
2022-07-29T08:38