Well school is well and truly over and I've got a regular shedule with the County now. Mon and Tue I do testing and Friday I counsel. I've had so may amazing experiences already they're all beginning to run together for me. Some hard core psychosis cases with one where the person's meds have stopped working and the hallucinations/dreams are endangering people. WAYYY over my head I fear, but then this is what I need to learn about. And what is real and what is malingering? The validity scales on the tests aren't as fail safe as lecturers might lead one to believe. My supervisor is getting away from the MCMI/MACI now and prefering to use the PAI (Personality Assessment Inventory) and the APS (Adolescent Psychopathology Scales) and the RSTI (Risk Sophistication Treatment Inventory) instead. I'm stoked because it means I will be exposed to a really broad spectrum of tests and learning how to integrate them into a coherent whole with a clinical interview for a useful purpose. Being able to do therapy followup means we can get a much better picture how well our assessment methods are working. Kewl!
On the flip side I am learning so much I wish wasn't true. The gang education is harsh... so many gangs and so much violence. I'm learning the tats, the hand signals and all the other subtle and not so subtle language and politics that goes with this culture. This morning I have been reading about MS13 or Mara Salvatrucha; the Salvadorian Army Ants. Delightful. They are reputedly making intrusions into our neck of the woods. One client solved a puzzle on the Matrix Reasoning subtest of the WISC-IV based on a logical progression of prison gang tattoos. It actually worked, though I am pretty sure that this is NOT what the psychometricians who made the tests were thinking when they designed it. Sheesh!
I learned that I can indeed double up on MFT and doctoral practicum hours in many cases, so will download all the appropriate forms this weekend so I can get it set up officially. One of the students in the class ahead of me already has 1000 MFT hours accrued and he hopped straight into his doctoral, so I'm encouraged!
Yesterday I got an enormous shock when I learned that the main campus for our school is shutting down. Rumors were flying around the county e-mail system because there are so many alumni working there, and the article that was being shared made it seem that ALL the campuses were closing! Read the article, ran to bathroom to puke, reread article and didn't feel any better. It took about 6 readings before I began to suspect that maybe they were trying to say that those in degree programs at the main campus would be accomodated at the sattelite campuses. Hmm... it wasn't until I drove 45 minutes home and Googled the situation that I found out for sure my program was not endangered. OMG, I NEVER want to go through a shock like that again!
Now it's packing and moving time in preparation for the fumigation. I am utterly unmotivated and wanting to play WoW all day. My internet connection has been dodgy for a few days and I haven't played in a week. GASP!!! On the upside of that we will be staying in a hotel with a fast internet connection and wireless in the room so maybe I can finally download the list of music I've been amassing.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
I read the same article in the paper today, too, and thought of you, but was relieved to see that it's just the main campus and not yours. It sounds like they will reopen it when they get their act together.
Sounds like you are having an adventurous time at work ;) Are you doing your practicum in SB or SL County? I'm hoping that SL County isn't the one with all the gang problems, although I know they have some, especially in North County. I still think of the area as a paradise!
Have fun at the hotel :)
Northern SB, and aren't we lucky that the military town (LP) in that part of the county has more gang problems than anywhere else in either county. Joy!
The group home where I worked was there, just off the base, and I saw some of the same kids. As a matter of fact, the one and only child I worked with there, whom I suspected to be a true psychopath (but can't diangose that at this age, of course), was in the Hall this week and I got to work with her again. Absolutely no sense of responsibility for her actions and no intention of changing anything for anyone but herself. And so PROUD of the godawful things she's done. Sigh...
Scary, isn't it? I knew that LP had problems, but not that bad. Dang, huh?
Yeah, it absolutely blew me away when I went to work out there, and even after that the level of gang activity and violence is still shocking to me. So hard to beleive that we have such a big problem in this sleepy little neck of the woods. We've been having stabbings, shootings and murders right and left and now all these Prop 21 kids. It's like we have a little vent in the ground there coming straight up from Hell and spreading insanity like a mold. =(
I have all the intellectual training about why this sort of thing happens and so on, but it's still really hard for me to understand why people want to live like this! There is plenty of sanity around here for these people to aspire to; it's not like they're deep in the heart of some rotting metropolis with no way out, but it's just not what most of them strive for. All I can think is that they don't see the same thing I see when they look because they have filters that distort it. Maybe voices all around them saying they can never have that? I just don't know...
Hey I am happy to hear that your program is still going to be around for you to finish.
Holy crap that would be terrible!
Your job sounds like it is a bit frustrating. Working with people who don't seem to care or want to change (like the girl) would be very hard and draining I would think. I am glad you get the chance to experience all the different tests, it sounds like you are getting so much from there.
Congrats on being able to double up the hours that will be a great time saver! :D Have fun at the hotel and playing WoW. I did some research on WoW and I get all about what it is now. I actually have some friends from school who play it and I want to try it one time I think it would be fun. lol
Take care
Dragon
Post a Comment