5 posts tagged “therapy”
I'm a hard worker. I don't know how I became a hard worker, but I like to do things and I like to do them right. I can generally find the most efficient way to do something when I have a task in front of me. The past two weeks at work I've worked on a spreadsheet to tell me when the client was last seen, and what is out of date as far as treatement plans, assessments, etc. This week I've started calling parents of the children, some of whom haven't been seen since FEBRUARY!! It saddens me to hear parents complaining about the last therapists that were here. "He put us to sleep" or "he just saw a group and my kid never got better because he didn't get individual therapy" or "He only played games and didn't do therapy with my son." The interesting thing is, these statements were about three different therapists.
I sometimes forget that other people don't take the same kind of pride in their work as I do. It just makes me even more glad to be here. To be willing to actually treat these kids (and their parents) in the way they need help the most. There are so many parents that are happy to hear that I'm here and that I'm planning on being here for a while. (There were three different therapists here in the past 18 months in this position. One was just contract until they found someone.) I'm just glad to be able to help out where I can. Let's hope that these people can handle it. :)
I sometimes lose my enthusiasm for things. I think that's pretty obvious, even if only based upon my "daily" entries. I really forget why I am doing things or I fail to articulate those reasons when I am requested to discuss them. This recently happened last week when I went to interview for a Ph.D. program. I met with the other prospects and eventually became intimidated. I got over it rather quickly and intended to go the next day and throw myself on the gauntlet. Then I got sick.
I don't think I've met anyone who likes being sick. I haven't had any Munchausen patients, yet. While I was sick I lost a lot of my perspective about things. I lost confidence about my therapy skills and completely forgot why I was pursuing a Ph.D. It didn't help that I still hadn't (and still haven't) heard back from the school. I found myself not really caring too much about the next couple of days. I'm pretty sure everyone has those days. Days where there isn't any good reason to do anything except for the fact that otherwise you'd be a lazy bum.
I wasn't looking forward to my sessions on Thursday. I had three scheduled and at the last minute one of my classmates asked me to join and do a co-therapy session. So, four sessions in one night. It's pretty typical fare for most of my classmates, but I've probably only had a handful of four or more session nights. Of course, this would fall on the day that I really didn't want to be doing therapy. My first session was a client I've had for a while Things went rather normally. The second client was a previous one as well. I suppose it went okay. The third was my co-therapy session.
The clients were new to both of us, but my classmate took the lead and I let him. I really didn't say very much. My classmate is rather skilled and I was feeling rather...unskilled. I interjected when I thought it was important, which was rare.
My last session was a new client. It started and was really...sticky. By the end of the session I felt like we were un-stuck, but not due to anything I had done. I walked back into the control room afterward and the supervisor on duty just said "wow". Apparently, the fact that the session turned was a big deal. I suppose I should look at the tape. Slowly, my faith in my own skills was returning, a little.
I was browsing the good ol' blogger using the next journal feature and came upon a site with an entry about Randy Pausch. I watched his entire lecture on YouTube (you have to watch 8 or 9 10-minute clips) and was wowed. Moreover, I remembered all the reasons (and possibly more) why I wanted to further my education.
The trouble with this realization is that I'm kicking myself because I was sick or because I feel like I may have "thrown away" a great opportunity for more school. On the flip side of that is the assumption within that statement. Does not getting into a doctoral program withdraw the opportunity to reach my goals?
Of course not!
When I was in high school there was a program that you could apply to where you helped your peers. I applied, I interviewed, I was turned down. The next year, the opportunity arose, I applied again, I interviewed, I was accepted. The comment that stuck with me was that the reason they accepted me was because I tried again. Just because I might not get in this year does not mean that I am forever banned from applying to any Ph.D. program in the future.
Something else that reminded me was watching Oprah's new show The Big Give. Ultimately, I think doing things like that should be everyone's end goal. Just giving back to people. I'll never be in a position to do anything like that if I work at McDonald's for the rest of my life. Sure I'll help people along the way, but it's not as much about survival as it is about looking for ways to help others.
I would say that my only complaint about the show is that they are
judged on the fanfare of it all, the presentation. How much more
effective it would be to just give in secret and not make a big deal
about it. I hope that it motivates people to do more service and be
more aware of people around them and their needs.
Client #2 was here. And early. I can't really go into detail because of so many things, but it really changed my thoughts about children. I always thought that teaching a kid to think for him/her self would protect them from the "need" to enter into the drug culture. That all curiosity would be gone. Of course, I'm completely wrong. There are so many things that parents have to teach their kids. Last week it was one thing, this week it is drugs. You don't just have to say "No! Drugs are bad." you have to talk to kids like they are adults and get all the terrible ways they can impact you and affect your future. What is equally important is that you LISTEN to your kids! Don't talk over them. Don't be quiet and think of what you are going to say next. It's a family hour, but still. I feel better coming out of the session than I did going in.
I had a long talk with one of my classmates before the session about my own frustrations with some of the second years and even some of the first years. But most about my own questionings of where I am in this program. It was a relief to know that I'm not the only one in freak out mode here. Today it actually felt like co-therapy and I like that. :) Next week we will see. It's going to be difficult not caring too much about this client. I just want to teach them and see them grow into who I can see they can be. Knowing how to get them there, that is the hard part.
I went yesterday to observe family court. It was a pretty difficult case where the paternal grandparents were requesting guardianship of their granddaughter. The couple was in the midst of a divorce, the mother wasn't mothering and the father worked nights and really wasn't in a position to care for the girl. Unfortunately, the case was going over two days and we couldn't go today to learn the final result. By what I saw it seemed that the uncle should get her, but he's in college and probably very busy with his honors classes, etc.
I headed back to go to Institute and partway through the lesson this couple walks in. They looked familiar to me, but it took a few seconds for me to place them. Back in early November I had gone to a dance a couple hours away and met them. The guy was all frustrated because the girl was going back and forth. I talked to him a while and learned some things. Then later I met the girl and I brought up some things that I had noticed and she was surprised and wanted to talk to me further. We basically had a therapy session right there at the dance. I left that night, not knowing what happened to them and had no means of finding out. Watching them last night gave indications that they were together. It looked like she was wearing an engagement and a wedding ring! I talked with her afterwards and she is three months along with twins! If their relationship progressed in the typical order, it would seem that they got engaged and married within six weeks of my talk with her.
That might not seem like much, but this week, not really knowing what to expect with how I will be in therapy and especially hardly remembering what I did say to this girl so many months ago, it made me feel a little more confident about where I am. In most cases I don't question, but there are always moments of hesitation and seeing them together and hearing their news could not have had better timing!
My client didn't show up today. I will survive, for sure. In any case, I did my presentation on Murray Bowen today and it went over rather well. I'm going to start reading his book that I just got while I'm working the front desk. :)
