Ugh, change
Hey dudes,
I imagine that at least one or two of you is wondering how my week has been so far. Two words: totally overwhelming. However, I've learned how to deal with that emotion. You just let it be! I'm giving myself til tomorrow afternoon or Saturday morning to just be overwhelmed, and not do anything about it. Then, Saturday morning at the latest, I'm going to start with the to-do list, and get myself organized and on-top of things.
That's a quote from September, describing my feelings about the first week of my Master's. It's also pretty apt regarding the first week of clinic/practicum. A completely different schedule (far from having no class on Friday, I'm in class at 9, and have a last meeting at 5.30), information overload ("you need to meet with your partner all the time, your consulting partners twice a week for an hour, and with your clinicial educator twice a week. "), and a few nerves about the fact that we're going to be dealing with REAL PEOPLE (no more video case studies!!). It's all a bit... well, overwhelming. But I've just been going with the flow for now, and I spent Wednesday evening organizing everything, so I'm feeling better about where I need to be and when.
My direct partner, Katie, and I are getting along great. It turns out that we have really similar styles of organizing ourselves, and similar levels of confidence in our abilities as therapists. I'm really enjoying working with her. Our consulting pair, J & N, are very different from us, which is great, because they'll be able to give us feedback on things we may not even think about.
This week we got our clients' files to read, in order to prepare to meet them, and to get ready for assessing their communication abilities. I was going to tell you a little bit about them just in general (nothing that would ever enable you to identify them), but I've decided not to. It just seems a little risky to put that kind of info out there on the web. Suffice it to say that both of our clients appear to be friendly, bright, and highly motivated. We're really excited to meet them! One little tidbit: it's really difficult to develop an interview that includes an adult who only has two words in his/her spontaneous speech. I'm just saying. (Katie and I have come up with some fantastic ideas!)
I'm continuing to learn how much my past experiences are going to support me as a therapist. It's pretty cool to have those moments that are "Oh! This is just like when I did __________ at _________________ (previous job)." I'm so excited to start being a clinician - to learn my strengths and weaknesses, and to be a part of my clients' lives.
Speaking of clients' lives, we had CPR today (ba dum dum). We have to have the healthcare providers' CPR, which is a bit more intense than the typical one is. I can do perform CPR on infants, children and adults, and I learned how to use an AED (automated external defibrillator). That's one of those zappy packs that you see on the hospital shows, y'know: "Clear!" *ZAP* :D They've made a small, idiot-proof version, and I learned how to use it. Very fun. If you're going to have a heart attack, make sure you have me around! (I jest! I jest!! I'd really like to go through life having to NEVER use my mad CPR skilz).
So that's where this week is at. A lovely friend of mine gave me a MEC gift certificate, so I'm going to head over there tomorrow to get a bell, a new lock, and a basket. It's going to be great!
Laters,
e.
I imagine that at least one or two of you is wondering how my week has been so far. Two words: totally overwhelming. However, I've learned how to deal with that emotion. You just let it be! I'm giving myself til tomorrow afternoon or Saturday morning to just be overwhelmed, and not do anything about it. Then, Saturday morning at the latest, I'm going to start with the to-do list, and get myself organized and on-top of things.
That's a quote from September, describing my feelings about the first week of my Master's. It's also pretty apt regarding the first week of clinic/practicum. A completely different schedule (far from having no class on Friday, I'm in class at 9, and have a last meeting at 5.30), information overload ("you need to meet with your partner all the time, your consulting partners twice a week for an hour, and with your clinicial educator twice a week. "), and a few nerves about the fact that we're going to be dealing with REAL PEOPLE (no more video case studies!!). It's all a bit... well, overwhelming. But I've just been going with the flow for now, and I spent Wednesday evening organizing everything, so I'm feeling better about where I need to be and when.
My direct partner, Katie, and I are getting along great. It turns out that we have really similar styles of organizing ourselves, and similar levels of confidence in our abilities as therapists. I'm really enjoying working with her. Our consulting pair, J & N, are very different from us, which is great, because they'll be able to give us feedback on things we may not even think about.
This week we got our clients' files to read, in order to prepare to meet them, and to get ready for assessing their communication abilities. I was going to tell you a little bit about them just in general (nothing that would ever enable you to identify them), but I've decided not to. It just seems a little risky to put that kind of info out there on the web. Suffice it to say that both of our clients appear to be friendly, bright, and highly motivated. We're really excited to meet them! One little tidbit: it's really difficult to develop an interview that includes an adult who only has two words in his/her spontaneous speech. I'm just saying. (Katie and I have come up with some fantastic ideas!)
I'm continuing to learn how much my past experiences are going to support me as a therapist. It's pretty cool to have those moments that are "Oh! This is just like when I did __________ at _________________ (previous job)." I'm so excited to start being a clinician - to learn my strengths and weaknesses, and to be a part of my clients' lives.
Speaking of clients' lives, we had CPR today (ba dum dum). We have to have the healthcare providers' CPR, which is a bit more intense than the typical one is. I can do perform CPR on infants, children and adults, and I learned how to use an AED (automated external defibrillator). That's one of those zappy packs that you see on the hospital shows, y'know: "Clear!" *ZAP* :D They've made a small, idiot-proof version, and I learned how to use it. Very fun. If you're going to have a heart attack, make sure you have me around! (I jest! I jest!! I'd really like to go through life having to NEVER use my mad CPR skilz).
So that's where this week is at. A lovely friend of mine gave me a MEC gift certificate, so I'm going to head over there tomorrow to get a bell, a new lock, and a basket. It's going to be great!
Laters,
e.
posted by Elizabeth @ 18:19
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