2-27-08

So I am loving my job at Cummins! I am learning new things every day, and starting to pick up on the signs of each mental illness. It has always been hard for me to separate people's behaviors and say THAT is from the mental illness. If someone acts out or different I never attribute it to a mental illness. Now I am starting to see at times when people act out it is not that they are intentionally wanting to do it, but instead that it is caused by their mental illness.

I am done with my first month of my practicum. My 1st week (Jan. 29-Feb. 1) I had 16:30 hours, second week (Feb. 3-8) 14:30 hours, third week (Feb. 10-15) 7:00 hours, and fourth week ( Feb. 17-22) 17:15 hours. For my first month at my practicum I had a total of 55 hours, 15 minutes.

"How could doing research for classes impact your relationship with your clients?"
This would depend on what kind of research I was doing. I have built great relationships with the consumers (we call them consumers not clients) at Cummins. Unlike most of my peers' practicums, I work with the same group of adults everyday. Most of my peers meet and work with clients, then do not see them again at all, or if they do see them it is very little. In those conditions it is hard to build any relationship, especially one based on trust and respect.

I have a day group of adults with mental illnesses who I work with. I actually think if I were to do direct research involving any of the consumers at my facility that they would love to volunteer. They all love to feel involved, needed, and helpful. I think doing research for class would only improve my relationship with the consumers.