A Revolutionary New Technology for Social Support

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Get ready to embark on a journey into the future of social work with our next episode, where we explore a revolutionary new technology designed to prioritize stress management and provide unparalleled community support, all just a click away.

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Imagine a world where a holistic approach to well being is not just a concept, but a reality. Join us as we sit down with John Gesumeria, a licensed social worker whose personal journey through learning disabilities, mental health challenges and significant losses led him to become a passionate advocate for mental health. John founded Differently, a groundbreaking online social support system that is transforming how social workers and communities approach well being. Discover how this innovative platform is creating a brighter future for social workers and the communities they serve. Whether you're a social worker feeling overwhelmed by stress or someone seeking a supportive community, this episode is packed with insights and inspiration you won't want to miss.

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Tune in to learn how technology and empathy are working together to create meaningful change for all.

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Welcome to Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Nurturing Through Adversity. In this podcast, we will delve deep into the challenges and triumphs of grandparents raising grandchildren as we navigate the complexities of legal, financial and emotional support. I invite you to join us on a journey of exploring thoughts, feelings and beliefs surrounding this growing segment of our society. Drawing from real stories and expert advice, we will explore the nuances of child rearing for children who have experienced trauma and offer valuable resources to guide you through the intricate journey of kinship care.

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We'll discuss how we can change the course of history by rewriting our grandchildren's future, all within a supportive community that understands the unique joys and struggles. This podcast was made especially for you.

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Welcome to a community where your voice is heard, your experiences are valued, and your journey is honored.

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Navigating the maze of bureaucratic red tape can feel overwhelming, especially when you're trying to provide a loving and supportive home for your grandchildren. Just like it was for me when two of them first came to live with us.

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I hit a brick wall with dphhs constantly hearing you don't qualify when what we desperately needed was financial assistance to secure dental and psychological services and to have community support. Medicaid in Texas wouldn't cooperate, and it took four agonizing months of calls to transition their coverage to Montana Medicaid. So many of the calls led to nowhere. Referrals that were dead ends, callbacks that never came. A year after the children came to live with us, a news reporter reached out. Having heard through the grapevine about grandparents like me raising grandchildren, only then did I learn about the resources the university Of Montana offered its kinship caregivers, which eventually led us to the free legal advice that we so badly needed. Thousands of dollars were spent before I even knew tanf existed, all through word of mouth from another grandparent in a similar situation. It's as though our families are shadows, unseen and unheard, with children who risk being overlooked and misunderstood. How many families struggle silently without reaching the resources they need? How many give up on kids who, as a result, face turbulent paths? Too many end up in dysfunctional foster care or remain in abusive situations, victims of our systematic failure to prioritize mental health and social support. This is where it could all change.

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Enter John Jessemeria, a beacon of hope and innovation. Raised by a social worker mother who understood the intricate art of advocacy, John persevered through his own struggles with learning disabilities and mental health challenges. He founded differently, an online platform revolutionizing access to social services.

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Imagine a world where support is just a click away, where we're matched with empathetic professionals who understand our unique challenges. Imagine mental health prioritized in our communities and homes.

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John's story and vision offer a glimpse into this future, A future where being different is not a hurdle, but a celebrated strength.

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John and I were just speaking about the connection between baby boomers and the gen Z generation and what we have to offer each other.

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John as grandparents raising grandchildren.

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One amazing opportunity that I discovered through raising these two grandchildren of mine is that I have an opportunity to change history generationally by giving the wisdom that I have and the experience that I have to these two children. And at first I thought it was a disability, if you will, because we're older, we can't do what their parents could do for them. I can't get down on my hands and knees across the floor and carry kids on my back. I get more tired than I did when I was a young parent.

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But I've learned that the transparency that I have at this point has been a gift because honesty and relevancy is the most important things that we have to give each other. I can speak from my experiences. How have you found that those connections have been important in the work that you're doing?

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Yeah, I mean, first off, when it comes to, I guess, raising any kid, I always say, and what we've learned in school is as long as you love this kid and you show them unconditional love and support, I mean, that's 90% of the, you know of it, because the minute that you don't show that, it really does have a negative impact on that kid. And it's all about creating that safe environment. But from a baby boomer standpoint to a Gen Z, I've always found it extremely interesting about, just like you said, how much information that can be learned from a baby boomer. And so for my organization it was critical to really understand that because we wanted to be able to, we want to provide, you know, the Gen Z's with opportunities to hear these elderly folks who have all this amazing experience. And there is a, you know, it's not necessarily, you know, said today, but I do believe Gen Z's will find it interesting to actually listen to, you know, a baby boomer on topics. I'm a huge believer in storytelling and I think you give that opportunity to an elderly folk. I mean, I think you would have a packed house to hear what these individuals have to say. For instance, my dad was a, he started designing computer systems, trading systems back in like the 80s, 70s. So those were like some of the first computers. And then I tell people who are doing technology today and then you talk about what that was like. They find it so fascinating.

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So just by giving this opportunity to connect them really benefits both sides. And that's why we're really going to try and make a push to create this storytelling type environment. Why don't you share with the listeners your history and how you came to evolve differently? Yeah, so I myself actually, so my mom's a social worker and I have to say if she wasn't a social worker, I don't think I'd be where I am today. I was first diagnosed with learning disabilities. I have adhd, auditory processing disorder, dyslexia.

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So they were all very challenging. And I didn't learn how to read and write till I was in fourth grade. And if it wasn't for my mom, especially back in the 90s, to provide the school with resources and ideas and programs to help me that I don't know if we would be able to get those resources in the first place. But really differently, you know, stems from those learning disabilities. Which on the side note, differently is D, I, F, F, R, E, N, T, L, Y. Because one of my learning disabilities I really. That's how you, I really spelt it, right?

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Differently. I never really love that. So it's really a reflection of a learning disability. But then throughout life I did start dealing with mental health conditions.

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You know, I had mood disorder when I was in sixth grade.

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I was hospitalized. I really was going in and out of the system and really navigating what it was like firsthand. And then Also seeing how my mom navigated it, every single time I did get better, there was always some other type of traumatic event that would happen that would set me back. And this would occur all the way through, like me graduating college. And these would be like life altering traumas that would occur. So then I went into business and I really experienced mental health in the workplace, which was a totally different world than what I was growing up in.

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So differently really stems from wanting to improve the system overall.

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Not just the mental health care system, but to design a actual support system where mental health is just part of it. Because we have all of these different social and human services out there and there really is no way to connect the everyday person with a professional.

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And what that does is it really causes a lot of stress. Just as you were mentioning, you didn't know what type of support you needed. You didn't know how to do something like where to go, where to start.

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And what that causes is stress. And my goal is to alleviate the stress that is controllable. And I always say controllable versus non controllable stress. And that type of stress is controllable. Because if we're able to get you the information you need easily without you having to worry and having direct directions, I believe that your stress would not be as high. And often, usually people who have these tipping points and breaking points, it's usually the little things that tip it over.

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So we're really trying to, you know, alleviate that stress and provide that direct care and support for people. So how does differently do that? So differently is it's the first technology company for social workers. The best way to really describe it is if you think of an Uber model, right? You have people who sign up and they're able to, then they go and drive and they, you know, they're Uber drivers. For me, I took that model and I say, well, there's tons of social workers out there. So there's about 800,000 social workers.

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About 250,000 of them are therapists. And I said, well, I don't necessarily believe we're in a therapist shortage. I just don't believe we're utilizing our resources properly. You have that gap between the 250 and 800 of non clinical social workers who work in all of these different human service fields, who are also social workers to provide support. So I said, hey, you guys can sign up and then we're going to connect you with people who need the support, whether it's in an actual human service field. So for instance, if I Have a friend or somebody whose parent is getting older, they could come to us and I'll link you up with a social worker that works in that profession. So what we're doing is we're connecting you to get that true guidance and the true support that you need without having one, you know, questioning misinformation and two, you know, stressing about it. And the neat thing about this is everything's done through lived experiences. So what we do is our goal is to, you know, for anybody who meets with a social worker, the person is understood to a certain extent and will feel like they're being heard. So having that lived experience piece is massive. How does differently connect with people? Is it on an online service? Yeah, so it's a web based service.

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Currently, you've made it pretty simple. So I was a process consultant. I was in business. So my job was to look at current models and then see how we can enhance them, whether it's utilizing technology or just redesigning the the process. So I really, after all of these years that I dealt with all this stuff and I just was so involved in mental health organizations, I kind of put it all together when I was at school getting my social work degree.

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And I realized that the system obviously everyone knows is broken. But I see it in a much larger scale. It's not just mental health. Mental health is within the support network because there's so many areas of life that people need help in. And it's not just mental health. I believe a lot of the people who do go to therapy, and I'm a therapist, many need therapy. But I believe that you shouldn't go to therapy as the first step. There should be somebody that you go to before therapy. Everyone goes to therapy. Whether it's questioning if we should go or not. You're clogging up the system and that's what's causing us not to have any resources.

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We've created this streamlined process where you come to differently. You fill out a form, you meet with a social worker based on that form, lived experiences. During that, we understand what's going on. If we feel like you need therapy, then we will help you get therapy and find a therapist. But a lot of times people just need support. So what we do is we do four to six sessions and we see if just a general social worker can provide the support and resources to help this person. If not, then we'll reevaluate and determine the next step for them. So actually what you're doing is refining the funneling system, matching up the Right. Social or life experience with the person that's needing connection, whether it be through community or therapy or social groups. Our goal is that if you think about a doctor, right, you know, a specialist, I had a hip replacement.

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I didn't go see my specialist immediately. I went to two to three different doctors before I got to that specialist. So how come in mental health world, we only have one layer of defense, and that's therapy? So realistically, our. Our system forgot to create one to two different levels of support that you should go to prior to therapy. Because my belief is that therapy is a treatment and not an everyday type. Just go and talk about something that you could just go to a social worker and talk to them through lived experiences, and then at least that opens up the door for other people who need therapy to be able to access that easier.

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I feel like this stems from the issue that there's a lack of communication in the world in general, and the. Mental health world is so behind. And now all of a sudden, we're, you know, just as a lot of things in America, you know, we're playing catch up, and we're not truly doing preventative models. We say we do, but what I created, what we created is truly preventative.

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You meet a social worker, you build a relationship with them, you have somebody in your corner that will be there for when you need them, and that's a true preventative model. So if you're struggling with a kid, your kid, or you struggling, you know, trying to find resources, you know, that is, you can go right to your social worker. It's removing the stress off of you.

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And then you're just letting a social worker do their job, which we already know about, getting resources and a lot of different ways, a lot of different areas of life that we could support with. And you're creating community.

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Yes, and individuals. And so there's a lot of different things that I have, like, I've thought about to create community because I think we're lacking so much of it. I do in home therapy with families and a lot of single parents. One thing that I see that's ruining and actually tearing families apart are video games.

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These kids have become very addicted to them to the point where you cannot get them off of it. And if you do, they become, you know, sometimes physical or they lash out. So it's, you know, seeing this now is just giving me more and more ideas of, well, what else can we do online to provide opportunities for people to feel like they're in a community? And one thing that I really want to implement one day is in social work, there's over 15 types of social workers. There's a lot of research that goes on. And my vision is that if people can see what types of research are going on and that if you can donate to them and feel like you're part of them and then get information on it, I really feel like you're. You're giving and having a purpose. And there's all these types of research that nobody knows about. And I feel like there's tons of people that would love to be part of. It's like, pick a research project and support it. And it's a great idea.

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Creating these types of communities is what will eventually and hopefully really bring back, you know, some of the things that we've lost. And that's human connection, you know, the communication aspect. My grandson, who has developmental issues, will come and explain to me everything about a snake that I never knew. He's fascinated with how things work and how different animals are from each other. So I think if he knew something about, let's just say, cellular development, right, or genetic development, right, where you could actually explain to a kid why their brain works a certain way versus the way another kid's brain processes information, they can get that. But when you just tell them, oh, you're different, but when you can explain something, you know, the way why something works, kids get that, right? Well, we. We all know that the. The school system is built from hundreds, over 100 years ago. And we're just continuing to try and fit everybody into this box.

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This box that was built 100 years ago aren't just your typical people that were around 100 years ago. We now have a diverse group of people. We have different backgrounds, cultures, I mean, learning all types of disabilities. And so to say that this is. Everyone needs to fit in this box is just not. It doesn't work.

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We see that happening now, as you know, and for years prior to this. So do you think that the system differently that you're developing really could be applicable on a larger scale? The goal is that this becomes. Actually the vision is globally, because the social work profession is a global profession. So there's over 50, 60 different countries that have social workers, except there's no way for social workers to actually collaborate and communicate. But, yeah, I do believe that this can become, you know, put on a much larger scale being able to utilize differently in school systems. Because right now a kid wants to go and get support in school, there's only really a couple people, right? You got Your school social worker, you have your counselor, you got teachers, but there's also so many different diverse backgrounds. There's just not enough people to help give that support. Now with differently, have the students come and find a social worker based on their lived experiences, their backgrounds, and provide them with an actual person get, get support from instead of having no one.

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That's really the goal is to be able to offer and put social workers out there and to let them do what the profession was built to do.

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And right now we aren't allowing that. Wouldn't it be cool if a kid could get on that program, get connected with the right team that they needed to support them, have community through maybe the other kids that are doing what they're doing and then also be educated in a program that's designed specifically for them as well. And the great thing about this is social workers. I mean they're already in all the different human services, you know, and the different social services and the different fields.

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So it's not like we have to go train people. This is people who are doing that work already to give the opportunity for somebody, whether it's an adult or a kid. I mean it will be priceless support. You can build a community where you can get different social workers for different needs. And so literally you're building this community to basically support yourself or your family so that you have all the pieces professionally to go to. Instead of having to stress out, you get that social worker, you build that relationship.

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And then there. The problem we're running into a little bit is that nobody really knows what social work is. So the average person doesn't really know that there's non clinical social workers that work in over 15 different fields. So we're really trying to educate as well because our system thinks that clinical equates to mental health, that that's going to be the answer. What I believe is that it's the non clinical that are going to be the difference maker because the non clinical are the social workers that you'll see that work in prison systems, in hospitals, in schools where so therapy can be a treatment as an option and not the go to first step. You have the experience of being in the trenches. The beauty of what differently is we're linking you up with somebody who has that common lived experience, but they're also a professional. What was your impression of the health system when it directly affected you and is that the reason obviously for developing differently?

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Yeah, definitely one of them. You know, when I was younger and had to deal with the mental health System. Like I said, I was very fortunate and I had my mom, who was a social worker, so she really was able to identify and find out what all, what was needed to be done. But I knew a lot of kids and a lot of people who, you know, weren't getting the proper treatment, weren't even parents, didn't even know how to even handle those types of things, especially back in the, in the 90s. Over time and being in the mental health world, I continue to see and just get frustrated on the lack of attention or the lack of available resources. I thought we were in the middle of a mental health crisis. There's tons of people. Why are you struggling to find people now? Yes, insurance does play a part of that, and I will acknowledge that. But I do think that the key part about the system and what we're trying to do, we aren't helping the insurance companies raise the amount that they can reimburse. Because if you think about it, there's only one line of defense. So an insurance company is going to look at that and be like, well, how do you want me to pay that if there's just one type of person, a therapist. So that's why eventually what I envision for differently to actually bring therapists on, create a tiered level. So you would have a more entry level therapist, you would have a, you know, mid level, and then you'd have a specialist. And by creating these different levels, you are now giving the insurance company an opportunity to now say, okay, I can reimburse this, this and this. But right now, in therapy, you know, you could have the therapist who is treating a kid with ADHD is also treating somebody with complex trauma. So how is an insurance company supposed to differentiate that?

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Whereas I believe somebody with a trauma, a complex trauma, would require some type of specialist. I look back at my situation when I was in sophomore year of high school, when I was taken out of school for five months and put in a partial hospital, how did I get better? It's because I was able to focus on one thing myself. So now in adulthood, it's like there's a thousand different things. Yeah.

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So the idea is that whatever issue there is with the person, they work with the therapist, a targeted approach, then you have a social worker to help that person handle those everyday types of issues or problems or things that they need to talk about. We want to kind of mimic the medical system by doing that. This is how you do it. If you target approach somebody for a specific thing, then you are able to say, hey, this person is either better improved or overall good to go.

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And then that will also provide insurance companies with an easier way to say, hey, okay, I can now tell that there's more of a black and white versus right now, everything is gray. So we don't really ever know when somebody's healed or not. When you go to therapy, you get a diagnosis, whereas with differently, everything's holistic. It's all about working on your stressors, identifying your environment stressors, helping you to learn how to deal with those and have an opportunity to try and work on yourself without having to maybe take medication or that's the best thing, is that you're able to do it in a safe environment.

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Because we're still social workers and we're still able to understand when somebody is at a point where they need additional care or, hey, let's just try working on this together and see if we can eliminate distress. And if that helps you, then we know that it was really environmental. How does differently address the financial issues of the end user? Basically, it's $75 down the road we want to have covered by insurance. But right now, just for the startup and for get going, we thought 75 was a very reasonable amount for the end user and also to pay a social worker what they deserve because they're so underpaid. And if there's any barriers or financial barriers, you can just email us. There's a little email and we work with you. So the options are there.

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Do you think that the challenges that you've come up against have made you stronger, John? Yeah, 100%. And it's something, you know, working with a lot of kids now what I see is, you know, we, we're actually.

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It sounds wrong in a way, but we're actually making it too easy on a lot of our kids. People will come up to me and be like, oh, how did you get to be so good at. After hearing your story, I went through a lot of life challenges and a lot of adversity and that built me to be prepared for these situations. But what I'm seeing is in schools and in home, these kids aren't being challenged or facing the adversity. If they do face something, a lot of times things get done for them or they'll try and lift their spirits up in some way. Whereas at the end of the day, when you get into the real world and the workplace, nobody's going to act like that. And what I'm worried about is that we're setting our youth up for failure when they get older.

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What's the best advice you can give grandparents for setting up their grandchildren to succeed? A few things. So one is that love. Showing that love, showing that support and just listening. But also boundary setting. Even though you're a grandparent, you're still a caregiver to that individual.

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That individual is still going to need boundaries in order to develop correctly.

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So whether you're a grandparent or not, boundaries and just properly educating and showing these youths what is important or how things are done. The other thing is for grandparents to have the opportunity to maybe come to differently and sit down with a retired social worker because we bring retired social workers on who are grandparents and you get to talk to an actual grandparent who can talk to you because there's really nobody better to talk to than the person who's gone through it.

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So true, John. So true. I'm so excited to have met you and learn about differently. I'm definitely going to share that information with our listeners. I will put it all in the show notes.

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You want to direct them then to. The website, which is differently.net but without. That spelled D I F F R E N T L Y. And that's because of learning disabilities. I've literally taken everything that I've gone through and have just put it as much as I could into this. You're a wonderful message of supporting great health with those of us that know that we are not fitting into some kind of a norm. Yep. Hey, that's exactly why it's differently here. You can be whatever you want to be. All that matters is you're coming for support.

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Thanks, John. And I really appreciate what you're doing. Of course.

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Thank you very much. Thanks for joining us today for another episode of Grandparents Raising Grandchildren. Nurturing Through Adversity. I encourage you to share both your challenges and your successes with us. Your story is undoubtedly one someone else needs to hear. Submit your stories to the links provided in the podcast information. Your contributions will enrich upcoming conversations, creating a more supportive community in which we can learn and grow together. Would you like to learn how to have a better relationship with your teenager?

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Learn how to talk with them so that your teen listens.

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What to do when you don't really like your teenager that much? Well, some of the quickest ways to get your teenager to share are coming up in our next episode.

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We're going to be discussing these points and more with Janine Mushawar, an experienced life coach for parents of teenagers. Janine specializes in making parenting easier by teaching innovative communication strategies that reduce conflict and create a calm atmosphere. Parents will learn how to instill cooperation, responsibility and critical life skills in their teens, empowering them for future success.

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Join us next week to learn how to build more positive, meaningful relationships with your teenagers.

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Thank you for tuning in to grandparents, raising grandchildren, nurturing through adversity. Remember, you are not alone. Together we can find strength and hope in the face of adversity.

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Peace be with you. And I pray that you find some time this week to listen to your inner wisdom amongst the noise and the pandemonium of this world.