Hello Amber and Francisco,
Here’s day six of me focusing on recognizing at least five grateful things (having an attitude of gratitude).
Hello Amber and Francisco,
Here are my five things that I am grateful for:
Hello Amber and Francisco,
Happy hump day, my accountability partners! 😀 This means I’m halfway through my “attitude of gratitude” (my self-care plan that I am focusing on this week for Clinical Practicum II class). Amber, I hope you have been able to keep up with your two goals for this week (going to bed by 11:00pm and go to the gym at least one time this week). How are you doing, Francisco? I think you had mentioned what you wanted to focus on this week during class last week but I failed to write it down… 
I’ll have to email you…
Here is what I am grateful for today:
Hello Readers,
Yes, I have started my third year here as a graduate student at Southern Adventist University. I am currently taking three classes: Career Counseling, Clinical Practicum II, and Administration of Counseling Services (sometimes, the last class is written with “in” instead of “of”). Dr. Wampler is the professor for Career Counseling this semester and Dr. de Souza is the professor for Administration of Counseling Services. Dr. Nivischi Edwards (she wants us to call her Dr. Nivischi) is the new professor in the counseling program. Dr. Dickinson and Dr. French are no longer professors at Southern.
I am writing out this introduction because Dr. Nivischi has asked my classmates and myself to find accountability partners among our class so we may keep up with our self-care plans. So, this week, I will be writing out five gratitude statements. Here’s my five for today:
Hello Readers,
What? It’s been a whole month since I wrote here last? I cannot believe it! O_O
I had to take a “mental break” after the “crash course” of Crisis Counseling. 😛 It was like being in the midst of a crisis while taking the course. So ironic, huh? Well, I wasn’t the only one that was using that saying; other classmates were saying they “were in a crisis.” The instructor had our adrenaline going often during class. It helped us to know how it felt to be within a crisis. I also liked how we had to do a six-hour on-site observation task: observe staff, customers, and self during six hours. After the observation, we were recommended to do self-care (ex: exercise, sleep, etc.). Although I liked some of the online modules more than others (the presentation of one was so daunting that even other classmates said it was “boring”) and although the class was intense because summer courses are tight on time (less weeks compared to about 12 weeks in a fall or spring semester), the information was valuable. I would recommend this course to those that are taking one of the two counseling tracks at Southern. However, If Southern continues to offer this course, I would recommend one to take Multicultural Issues in Counseling course first (only so one will “know thyself” prior to learning how to assist in a crisis situation).
Hello Readers,
I have been very busy in creating my own personal library at home prior to starting the Crisis Counseling summer class at Southern Adventist University (in which I am currently on my first week of five). Therefore, although I had took the news well, I haven’t been able to update you all. I will not be doing my internship this summer. So I don’t have to hunt for any more internship sites until the winter semester. After reviewing the points I have collected from my peers and Clinical Practicum II supervisor, it was brought to my attention that I wasn’t given enough points to be internship-worthy. In other words, I will have to repeat Clinical Practicum II during the fall semester (while taking two other classes). This has also delayed my graduation date. I use the word “delay” because this was the graduation date recorded by Southern Adventist University; not me personally.
Why did I take this news well? I took out my frustration during Fall II semester; when my clients failed to return my calls or come into either the very first session or even to complete a third or fourth one. I also realized that I was behind in experience with my peers during this semester because many of them were able to get at least one client through (from first session to termination) while I had only seen the same client for a few sessions. I kept receiving new clients so that I may achieve my 20 direct hours. However, experience and training was lacking. I couldn’t get the experience of practicing such techniques I was being graded for through my peers and supervisor (hence the “points” system). So I want the training; be it through internship or clinical practicum. It doesn’t matter. But if I continue to get flaky clients, I will have to complain and ask for a solution. I will be assertive in this respect. I will not take a “no” for an answer because I need the training. If Southern Adventist University cannot help me in this area, then I will have to find another way to get the training.
Hello Readers!
It’s been a while. This semester has been a busy one! I have Marriage and Family Therapy II with Dr. Coombs on Mondays, Child and Adolescent Problems and Treatment with Dr. French on Wednesdays, and two classes with Dr. Dickinson on Thursdays (Clinical Practicum II and Assessment and Appraisal). I also see a client on Thursdays at the Counseling Suite at Southern Adventist University. I am almost done with my direct hours for Clinical Practicum II so I am so grateful! It’s been a ruff ride between this semester and last semester that I thought I would not make it.
The month of February was a month of prayer. I had asked friends and family to join me with a month of fasting. I didn’t fast with food (as in taking something away). Instead, I had added to my weekly routine and took away one entertainment for that month. Prayers were answered with either a “yes” or a “no.” Within this month, we lost one of the counseling students. My fellow classmates and I were not able to get the details because of confidentiality reasons. But because of this event and two other events, there was a town hall meeting for the counseling students and two of the faculty members were present at the meeting. The director of the counseling program wanted to ensure us that Southern was not trying to hide anything from the students. Instead, they were protecting the people who were involved (confidentiality). The director also wanted to remind us the proper protocol of addressing a situation that we do not like and desire change (ex: the way a professor may run his or her class). For most of us, the town hall meeting was beneficial.
March was another busy month for me. Balancing time to continue to attempt to finish a class in progress (IP) from last semester plus the class requirements for the current semester was becoming stressful. I had to make a decision to try to continue to get four of the same counseling group members in five separate group counseling sessions or to accept my C grade for the class. The counseling group was a psychoeducation group: stress management. I entitled it “How to Handle Hot Soup” and we used the book Don’t Eat the Soup as Hot as they Cook It! by Cameron Johnston: http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Eat-Soup-They-Cook/dp/0968650414. It is a lovely book! I highly recommend it. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get the same four individuals to be in five sessions so I cancelled the group meetings. It started at the beginning of the semester. By the time I got to around the beginning of April, I rather focus on the papers that were due for this semester instead of attempting to write progress notes and a summary paper when I am so close to finals. If I had finished up the group at the beginning of April, there would have been less stress and less papers due around the same time. Plus, I received an email from Records saying that if my professor didn’t have my final grade for Counseling Group and Procedures class by a certain time frame, I would get an F for that class.
April is when a lot of papers for Assessment and Appraisal is due. So many Case Study Reports that I was barely able to begin writing an outline for my Assessment Instruments paper (10-page paper). It is due on Thursday and I am almost done with it (Hallelujah!). I finished my last Treatment Plan for Children and Adolescent Problems and Treatment as well as my last Book Critique for Marriage and Family Therapy II. Whew! It was getting to be a serious battle in keeping up with all these papers. I have my first final next week (Assessment and Appraisal). Then the following week, I have Marriage and Family Therapy II (Oral Exam) and Children and Adolescent Problems and Treatment finals.
I have two interviews for a potential interview site for this month. I wasn’t accepted at SkyRidge Westside. I emailed the gentleman who interviewed me to ask why I wasn’t accepted so I will know what I need to improve on. He never answered that email. I have my second interview with Health Connect America this Friday. I hope I get to do my internship there. I will be doing my internship during the summer and fall semesters. The other class I will have for the summer is Crisis Counseling.
I guess that should do it. Wow! Over 700 words? I had a lot to update about. I really should blog here more often. It’s just hard to when I have so much class work to do. 😥
Hello Readers! I’m still alive. 🙂 It’s been a while and it’s snowing so… why not write in my blog, eh? Hmm… where to start? My sons only went to school on Monday. Tuesday, Wednesday (today), and tomorrow have been cancelled due to weather conditions. The first day were only flurries with terrible coldness. The second day started off with snow and a mixture of rain. The snow only stuck on plants. At the end of the day, when the sun had set, it was cold enough to start collecting on the cement.
Southern Adventist University was closed today. As of now, emails went out saying that they are planning to work on a delay schedule (morning classes are pushed to the afternoon). Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny but I don’t know how much melting the sun is going to be doing until tomorrow arrives.
Midterms are in two weeks. I don’t feel ready. I’m so tired of all the reading and assignments. They keep me so busy throughout the day that when I am finished for the day, I feel zoned out! I’m getting some good sleeping in tonight. I finished early today (since I couldn’t get to campus today to work on my SPSS homework assignment for Statistics) so I had found time to write here.
My instructor, for Counseling in Community Agencies, has already planned that we won’t have class tomorrow evening (master degree classes are held in the evening). So I have a PowerPoint presentation to review at home if I don’t see it in class. 🙂 I already turned in my assignment for tomorrow (Yay!) and way ahead in reading for that class.
Statistics is killing me!!! Not the information. It’s the massive homework! The homework is from two textbooks and one SPSS data sheet. I don’t have the IBM SPSS Program on my personal computer (I cannot get myself to order it from Campus Store or OnTheHubb.com) so I need to get this section of my homework done before class on Monday. I tried to get there yesterday before class but that didn’t happen. I tried to go on Monday before class but I needed to grab something to eat at the Village Market (all by foot so it took up time in buying and walking towards Herin Hall).
Psychopathology is too much medical information for me brain to care for. This is one reason why I couldn’t become a nurse: I cannot recall anatomy! If I could only remember which part of the brain (and the name for the brain structure) is associated with anxiety, depression, and other emotions. Then what is the difference between serotonin and dopamine, again?
While the boys have been at home, we have played school with them. I keep finding worksheets online to print out. Daddy is teacher to older sibling while I get the hyperactive one. Daddy knows what the teacher is expecting older sibling to conquer so it was only reasonable for him to be his teacher. Younger sibling was homeschooled with me prior to him finally being accepted into the Pre-K program at his current school so it was reasonable for me to be his teacher. Oldest working on sentence structure and three-digit subtraction with regrouping. Youngest working on tracing name and learning numbers and alphabet.
Whew! It’s almost midnight! I’ll post this and go on to bed, now. Good night, everyone! (Or good day if you are reading this in the day time)
I was a nervous wreck for class today… Wait. It’s past midnight so… I was a nervous wreck for class yesterday. After my son’s incident, I didn’t have a chance to take a nap or recuperate from the adrenaline pouring into my system. I mean, I laid down and was given a drive to my class. However, my mind was shot. I could barely get sentences to come out of my mom nor was able to comprehend the building structure in relation to the maps that were posted on the wall.
During break time, I couldn’t find the bathroom. A lady that was in the janitor closet told me the down stair bathroom floor (bathroom) was wet so she recommended me using the bathroom upstairs. I went around a complete circle and returned back to… the door? Which door did I come in from? I couldn’t figure it out. I had to knock on an office door to ask where the bathroom was.
One of my classmates came upstairs (thank God) so I exclaimed that I couldn’t find the restroom (break time was past over). She said that I wouldn’t never be able to find it on my room (it was hiding in a far corner and the “restroom” sign was in hiding). Unbelievable!
Class itself was nice. It went by fast! Dr. Steve French went over the syllabus (give or take) together. He explained why we had to add two more textbooks and minus one (because they had recently went through the accreditation of the program and changed the syllabus around). He also had us (thirteen of us) to divide into four groups – a tripod. We reviewed chapter one of Becoming a Helper but failed to also get to chapter two (so we will do the tripod thing next week with chapter two).
So, as of now, I had took an hour nap until it was time to get my son up for a potty break. I took a shower, got hygiene needs out of the way, and now I’m writing this down. I plan to read about 12 pages in Becoming a Helper but we will see how that goes. I still have my reading for pleasure to do as well.
belovedgeliebt 