By Rick Padden, American Red Cross Public Affairs
Name: Dr. Carolyna Smiley-Màrquez
Location: Longmont
GAP: Disaster mental health provider
Length of service: 4 years
Dr. Carolyna Smiley-Màrquez has been an American Red Cross disaster mental health volunteer since 2016, and brings a truly unique skill-set to the task of helping clients in the field.
Her resume reads like a case study in mental health professionalism – revealing extensive work as a counselor, mediator, instructor, peacemaker, facilitator, investigator, therapist, coach, team-builder and multi-cultural diversity trainer. If she wore the pins and ribbons of all the federal, state, private, academic and cultural organizations she has certifications and awards from, she’d be dressed out like a five-star general.
With a Northern Pueblo Indian and Hispanic heritage, Dr. Smiley-Màrquez has spent some 30 years contracting with the federal government, and still works with the Department of the Interior in Indian health services, along with the Bureaus of Indian Affairs, Reclamation and Land Management. She’s licensed to practice psychotherapy, and has also specialized in child/family relations. She earned Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees from the University of Indiana and has a doctorate in interdisciplinary studies from the University of Colorado.
She remains extremely busy at 73, yet still manages to make time for the Red Cross, and has deployed to two hurricanes (Michael and Florence), The Camp Fire in California and the flooding in Baton Rouge, LA. From the couple who’d just relocated to a new home and lost all their belongings, to the client distressed over losing his simple storage bin at a shelter, to the man who was forced to choose between saving his mother or his kids from floodwaters – listening and “eliciting” are primary components of what Dr. Smiley-Màrquez does.
“Each person experiences trauma differently,” she said. “I listen, observe their expressions and body movements, and try to elicit their feelings and show compassion. And to me, empathy is honoring and understanding those feelings.” Dr. Smiley-Màrquez says her basic formula with clients in disasters is to find out what happened to them, how it has impacted them, what resources they may have to cope with it all, and what they will do next.
She said that she sometimes has an age advantage with clients, and thus “They’re not frightened of me. My commitment really has to do with how concentrated an opportunity it is to provide a safe connection to clients, other volunteers and support people. For a concentrated period of time on duty, I have to remain capable and alert.” For her, she said, that means non-stop availability, 24/7 for two weeks, and in those 14 days “just put me anywhere you need me.”
Dr. Smiley-Màrquez says that, as a human being, she’s been fortunate to remain healthy and sharp, and has gained certain insight over the years about understanding individuals and groups. And while she finds her volunteer work satisfying, it isn’t about gratification for her. “No, it’s a moral obligation,” she said. “You can’t walk around with these (people) skills and then sit around eating Twinkies and watching TV.”
When she thinks of the Red Cross, she thinks of the Carole King song “Bridge Over Troubled Waters. “Everyone – food servers, ERV drivers, caseworkers, all of us – have direct contact with clients, and we’re all part of the bridge.” One of the things she likes best about Red Cross volunteering is helping anonymously. “Help doesn’t have a name,” she said.