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.

links to LEAD pics and video

Here is a link to the rest of my pictures from LEAD day at the Statehouse. There are the pictures for our scavenger hunt, pics of statues outside, and pics of some of the marchers.

http://s167.photobucket.com/albums/u152/js57gifts/LEAD%20day%20at%20Indiana%20Statehouse/

Here is a link to a short video I took of the marchers outside the Statehouse.

http://www.youtube.com/user/js57gifts

LEAD Day at the Statehouse 2-6-08

Here are some of the pictures from LEAD at the Statehouse on February 6, 2008 for Group 4 (Jennifer Martin, Bryan Overbey, & Jennifer Schaefer). I really liked the idea of doing this scavenger hunt instead of just sitting and listening to more people talk, then leave. Prior to this day I had never been to the Statehouse. I learned a great deal about the Statehouse and Indiana's government and legislature from participating in the scavenger hunt with my group members. I would imagine several if not most of the other LEAD participants most likely did not venture to the second or third floors of the Statehouse or go to different offices in the building to meet important government figures. I am grateful for the experience. I have several more pictures, but these are the ones from the actual scavenger hunt. I will post another blog with the rest of the pictures, and the cool video I got of people rallying outside in the march.

My first day

So today, 1-30-08, was my first day on the job. I am now an intern at Cummins Mental Health Center in Avon. I am working with Hoosier House, an adult group that meets every day (M-F). All the adults have some sort of SMI (Severe Mental Illness), such as bipolar, schizophrenia, dissociative identity disorder, etc.

After my interview I thought it was going to be a real professional job, in a professional setting like a therapist's office. I really thought I would not like it but knew that even if I disliked it, it would make for a good experience anyway.

I found out today that the group is more laid back than I thought it would be, and I like it so far. I played bingo with the group members today to get to know each other. Everything they do needs to be therapeutic so we played "Social Bingo". The bingo card has questions on it, like "What is your favorite childhood memory?" or "What is your best accomplishment?". Each question had a different number on it as a regular bingo card does, and when a number was called, you read and answered the question for everyone to hear you.

Everyone included me right off the bat, and they were all friendly. There are so many things my supervisor is responsible for and part of my job will be to help her with it all. I am so excited to jump in and get started on everything!

1-21-08 update: landing a practicum

As of right now I still do not have a practicum. I originally wanted to work with the IMPD Victim Advocate Unit but got to it too late. I would love to work in a community corrections setting for my practicum, but that is also not happening. I got to the whole process late (and yes I take full responsibility for my procrastination) so I did not begin to talk about a practicum until our S381 seminar. Erika suggested Cummins Mental Health because it is close to where I am, and I was quick to jump on whatever was offered since I was behind.

Since it was right around our winter break it took a little time before Cummins finally contacted me about my resume and asked for a little background info. We communicated through email and was asked to come in for an interview. I just had my interview last week so I am now waiting to hear back from them. Wish me luck!

Hi everyone 1-10-08

So this is my new practicum blog, and I have no idea what I am doing. I hope I figure it out soon!