Interview with Karemi Rodríguez Batista, director of the Psycho-K portal

Karemi Rodríguez Batista She is a tireless and fighter founding psychologist and director of the portal of Psycho-K Reference Resources, voluntary in the Solidarity Psychology project that helps people without resources and in constant formation of this exciting matter that is mental health. Today he has had the kindness of attending us and giving us an interview for our blog and thus getting a little closer to his personal and professional career.

Hi Karemi, I am delighted to be able to do this interview so that our readers can know you and your work on the network. First of all I wanted to ask you, what motivated you to study the Psychology career?

First I wanted to thank you. I am tremendously happy that a great professional with so many years in this as you, and that it has undoubted.

Well, it's a long story. Actually it all started when I was very young, I was twelve years old and a difficult situation was spent at home. At that time a great person was in contact with me, a mental health professional who was an angel for me, who helped me find and enhance my own resources, find strength and many more things that made me feel the need to return. " to life "all that help that lent me. At fifteen I already read books like Your incorrect zones or the DSM-IV-TR.  I started studying the psychology career in Mexico City, but given the complicated family situation I had to interrupt it, until I continued it and ended many years later in Madrid.

How were your principles in the world of psychology?

In Mexico I started doing practices in a very nice program that had the University of the Valley of Mexico to provide support to children from unstructured families. Then we saw children so much with learning, emotional or behavior problems, and also their families. It was a very beautiful stage.

Here in Spain I entered a volunteer of a project called Solidarity Psychology where guidance was provided to people without resources, unemployed or that due to their personal situation they could not access public or private centers. Of course, only as guidance and support until the person could access them.

How did you have the idea of ​​creating the psycho-k website?

I think that several factors converged: the imperative need that we have the people of mental health education, the need as professionals to continue training and to have more accessible information on hand (most of the magazines or scientific articles are paid and the economic situation In Spain complicated access), the boom of social networks that allow more and more people to arrive anywhere in the world, and the need for contents to be chosen with certain ethical and professional criteria, that is, the guarantee that resources are prepared by prepared professionals, Patient associations, universities or specialized organizations, and that they were expressly free access or with express permission from the author. Being a non -profit page, all resources must be freely accessible.

Your page is very complete in terms of resources, documentation, articles, videos, etc. How do you manage to be up to date and have such an interesting compilation? Do you dedicate many hours a day or a week?

Thank you so much. Since the objective was, as I just told you, to meet certain ethical criteria and also that they were attractive to the user, this is what takes me more time. Looking for contents and images is the most complicated, for this I dedicate a lot of time. I try to upload a different type of content every day of the week: articles, magazines, guides, podcasts and videos. Then I try to spread them through social networks daily.

Fortunately, many colleagues get in touch to share their work, and this in addition to facilitating my work, creates a very interesting and rewarding synergy for me. I learn a lot and, from here I thank you.

Apart from directing and managing your website, do you carry out other professional activities as a psychologist?

Right now I am full with the master's degree, some extra related course and the page, but continuous in the solidarity psychology project promptly. In addition, when the master's final I plan to open a psychology consultation.

Within the field of psychology, both on your website and outside it, what do you like or what do you passion for more work?

Without a doubt, the area that I am passionate about is clinical and health psychology. Through the page I have the opportunity to help promote mental health education, to help somehow reduce the stigma and discrimination that people with mental illness suffer, as well as provide information to help detect problems that need to be an object specialized care and where can you find it. The faster it is much better. Fortunately in most resources, guides, for example, include forms of contact either with professionals or institutions, with patient and family associations or other entities that can guide them. I always point out that these resources are just support, they will never replace a treatment, psychotherapy or personal process.

In the most practical area my goal, and what has always been my dream, is to be able to open a private consultation and be able to be an active part in that process of health, change and personal growth of the patient. Help you develop your own strengths, work on your limitations and find new ways of understanding the most constructive life for him. From experience I understand that there are change processes that require a lot of effort and by the hand of a professional we can get there more easily.

As a psychology professional, to what extent do you think the presence on the Internet can help you prosper in your work?

A lot, no doubt. Internet growth in recent years has been exponential, transforming all areas of our life, including how we interact with the patient, an example is the option of online psychotherapy. Psychologists have to contemplate this modality in our work, always taking into account their limitations and scope. Therefore, it is very important to have a good presence, a profile that somehow defines you and that shows professionalism, trust, honesty, etc. On the other hand, being able to communicate, discuss and collaborate with other professionals no matter the distance is tremendously enriching and will influence our work.

What future plans do you have for you and your website? Interests, projects, ..

In a future already very close, if everything goes well, I would like to incorporate the online and face -to -face psychotherapy service, perhaps also workshops or courses but that will be seen later.

Finally, if you hadn't dedicated yourself to psychology, that you would have also seems interesting to you?

There are so many things so interesting in life. From a very young age I already drove to this, but I really enjoy painting, music and cinema, however the artist's life is very difficult, even if you do very well, you have to have a more public life, another temper , in short, I think that my personality would not have provided it.

Already to say goodbye I would like to thank you and all readers for reading and I encourage you to visit the page. A big hug.