Carol Gieg, LCSW

Bio

I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with additional training in Public Health. I am a Behavioral Medicine Consultant and assist patients who are experiencing stressors which may compromise their physical health or their ability to maintain a healthy lifestyle. These stressors might include grief, loss, caregiving issues, chronic disease, relationship problems, pain, depression, anxiety, family violence and other issues. I meet with patients on a one-to-one basis and facilitate groups/classes within the facility as well.

I am located in Suite 230 in the West Building in Santa Rosa and my direct phone number is (707) 393-3290.

I attended Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire and earned a Bachelor's Degree. Then, I completed a Master's Degree in Social Welfare and a Master's Degree in Public Health (Maternal and Child Health) at the University of California Berkeley.

I joined the Kaiser Santa Rosa team in 1994, after closing a seventeen-year private psychotherapy practice in Oakland which included training and supervising social work interns. My previous jobs include: psychotherapy services to children and families in East Oakland; case management services to clients with developmental disabilities and their families; and medical social work services in various medical settings (Oakland Children's Hospital, Stanford University Hospital).

Kaiser Santa Rosa carries a reputation for piloting and instituting diverse and effective programs which focus on whole-person health -- mind, body, and spirit, emotional and physical. I am able to apply my interest in public and community health, stress reduction, mind/body and complementary medicine and mental/emotional impact on physical health while working in a medical setting. The opportunity to practice in a stimulating atmosphere is enhanced by living in the breathtaking surroundings of Sonoma County. I hope to help others to more fully enjoy the ability to appreciate our incomparable living environment and all it has to offer.

I am pleased to be a Behavioral Medicine Consultant for patients and look forward to treating those who might benefit from receiving our services.

My Medical Specialty

More details about my specialty:

I chose Social Work, as this field allows me to work with patients who are addressing their mental, physical or spiritual concerns, and want to make changes in their lives.

Stress can effect all aspects of our lives and can influence our health.
Behavioral Medicine is practiced in the medical setting with focus on the relationship between mind and body . My public health education and training enhances my ability to function in this setting. I specialize in helping patients learn how to reduce stress and its impact on physical health.

These are the reasons I chose to practice in the field of Behavioral Medicine.

My specialty interests and affiliations within my field:

National Association of Social Workers

An interesting story from my training:

I was working in an intensive care unit of a childrens hospital some years ago. A child was born to a couple from a southeast asian country. The mother left shortly after the premature baby was born,but the father came to see the baby daily.

The ICN nurses were attentive to the infant, but grew angrier and angrier at the absent mother. How could she not come to see this child? How could she leave the baby alone with others to care for it, lying without her touch, her presence?

The father sensed their disdain and, at times, seemed close to tears. He spoke very little English, but clearly wanted desperately to know what was happening to his baby. I finally located an interpreter from the mountainous region of his country where people apparently spoke a different dialect than did others from that country. I asked the interpreter to help me and the doctor speak with the father about the child.

We learned that, since the baby was jaundiced, the mother had been warned. If she looked at the child, the baby would surely die. So, mother remained at home, unwilling to endanger her child.

The father was in tears as he told us this. He drove an hour and a half each day to be with his child. When he returned home, he detailed every minute of his visit and every vital change in the baby's status throughout each day, to his anxious wife.

The nurses, hearing this, spent more time with the man. They comforted him and offered things for him to take to his wife, so he could help her understand her child's progress.

Once the jaundice resolved, the mother returned to take her child home. The nurses surrounded and held them both, wrapping the baby in a quilt they had made for this day.
I never saw the child again, but the memory is as fresh in my mind today as it was then. Recognition and appreciation of cultural differnces is as essential to our work today as it was then.

Interests

Currently reading:
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close-Foer and some books helpful to enhance health are Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers -Sapolsky and Wherever You Go, There You Are-Kabat Zinn. They address physical, mental, and emotional health--include laughter as lending to

My favorite book or author:
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson, any by Farley Mowat

Great movie:
American Graffiti-again, the value of laughter!

Hobby Photos & Links:

lupine

Lichen

Family & Friends

People in my life:

This young man, born into very difficult circumstances, survived and fluorished. He is inspiring to me, to his brother and to my family and friends because of all he has accomplished.

Impoverished and without a father, surrounded by drug dealers and with only prostitutes and other struggling families to call neighbors, he protected his younger brother and did errands for his ailing mother and went to school each day, determined, even at an early age, to change his life.

Those who learned as much from him as he did from them, assured that he did.

I have no pets now, though did so throughout my childhood. These dogs leaned, pleading, from inside their cages at the pound. Their sad eyes begged us to take them home with us,promising they would be "the best dog in the world", and that my sisters and I would have "no trouble taking care of" them.

Well, in the end, and with just a little effort, we did and they were.

I walk my friends' dogs these days,relishing the best of both worlds. The dog accompanies me happily. When he/she has problems (health,hunger or behavioral) I simply take him/her home for attention. What more could I ask?

Travel

An adventure I've had:

One of the most exciting things i've ever done was to win a running marathon. We crowded at the starting line, the gun went off, and we surged forward.

After the first mile or two, the crowd thinned out and I set my pace, holding there for most of the of the 26.2 miles.

By mile 18 to 20, I was pretty tuckered out, having trained by running ten to twelve miles in a day usually , and never more than fifteen total. I guess I'd figured, "What's a few more?"

Wrong. By mile eighteen to twenty, my body had depleted all of its reserves. I was literally "running on empty" and determination.

Still, there was not and has not been since, anything quite like the thrill of crossing that finish line before the other women in the race, and especially as my family and friends were there to cheer me on.

Favorite place in the world:

There are so many, near and far. All have a similar theme--beautiful and natural settings.
Rubicon Trail along the shore of Lake Tahoe, provides breathtaking views of the Lake and Emerald Bay.

Menenhall Glacier as seen from a boat in Glacier Bay, Alaska, is spellbinding in its grandeur.

Closer to home is the sight of osprey in flight over the Russian River, just west of Duncan Mills. The canyon is filled with their cries as they swoop down, scoop up fish, and rise again above the water.

If I were unable to recall such a place, I would only have to go outdoors in Sonoma County.

One of my recent trips:

My husband and I were visiting Costa Rica and lost our way hiking one day. Entering a small village, we paused and approached an elderly man sitting on his front porch.
My husband, fluent in Spanish. asked for directions. The man ignored the question. We were surprised. Costa Ricans, so far as we had seen, were a very gracious people.
My husband approached again, beginning this time with, "Perdón, Señor." and "Buenos dias," then pausing for a response.

The man began to talk with us, satisfied apparently,that these rather ignorant Americans had learned their lesson. Courtesy to ones' elders is expected. This means showing respect first, and prior to a request being made.

I think maybe this is a lesson to take home with us.

Trip Photos:

morning trail