From left are Dan Youngblood, father; Mindy Youngblood, mother;
Makayla Youngblood, CBIT patient; and Kelly Hooks, POT.
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18 • Medical Directory 2020-2021
to encourage them and give feedback on how they’re doing.
“All of our children were involved, and me and my husband,” said
Mindy. “We would have family therapy sessions, and then at home,
you have to check in with your child and see how they’re doing and
have private discussions.”
“Sometimes people don’t know that they’re ticking, and so you need
somebody to be able to point it out so they can use their strategies,”
said Hooks. “And you start it out in the clinic, but 45 minutes a week
isn’t going to do anything. You have to work on it daily, all day.”
Makayla was determined to conquer her tics and worked very hard
on them during her months of therapy.
“For the stomach tic, it’s like I have a feeling in my stomach where
I have to suck in my stomach, and what I do now is I pull my hip out,
which helps to overcome the urge, and nobody can see that I’m doing
it,” said Makayla. “My shoulder tic is where my shoulders go back or
go up and out, and my strategy is, I rock my shoulders back and then it
will help me overcome the urge to tic.”
Being able to overcome these urges to tic has already made a big
difference in Makayla’s life.
“People used to say things like, ‘Why do you keep doing that?’
And one girl said, ‘Why do you make that face?” said Makayla. “But
people haven’t been able to notice it now.”
And, instead of eating alone in a classroom during her lunch break
at school so that she could get out her suppressed tics without being
made fun of, she started eating with her friends in the cafeteria. And,
there was another great reward.
“After I finished CBIT, I got to get a dog, a bichon frise named
Charlie,” said Makayla.
Tourette and its related symptoms can create extreme anxiety and
often depression in those who must deal with the social repercussions
and isolation it can cause. That’s why, now that she’s completed therapy,
Makayla wants to help others with Tourette Syndrome by becoming
an ambassador with the Tourette Association of America to raise
community awareness about the condition.
“She wants to be able to go to schools and talk to other children
about having Tourette and ways you can deal with it, because she can
pick up now on other children who have it and may not even know
that they have it,” said Mindy.
CBIT at Cookeville Regional requires a referral from a health care
provider and is covered under most insurance plans and by TennCare.
For more information, call the Cookeville Regional Outpatient Rehabilitation
Center at (931) 783-2900.