Mourning Star Internship Report

Who am I? Where do I belong? What do I stand for? As humans, we are constantly trying to figure outwhere we fit in in the grand scheme of life. The journey can be long and confusing, but with the help of those who mean a lot to us, we can become independent. This idea of becoming independent and finding our values is explored in the novel Milkweed, by Jerry Spinelli. Set in WWII, the struggles of becoming independent are exhibited in Mischa Pilsudski,a young gypsy boy in Warsaw, Poland. Except that’s not his name, and he isn’t a gyspsy. This is just an identity given to him by Uri, a boy who takes Mischa under his wing and lets him join his band of thieving orphans. They raid the streets night and day, looking for scraps of food they can

Throughout my clinical experiences, there have been quite a few circumstances I have been placed in that have remained with me whether good or bad. All of them have been learning experiences for me whether it is how to improve and to do better next time from a mistake, for me to learn that this is or is not how a patient should be treated, how to handle family situations, and many others. One experience that I was able to participate in that will remain with me because I had not experienced this before was during my critical care rotation in the fall of 2015. This patient was dying and we were implementing comfort care for him.

I began volunteering at the Hospital for Special Surgery, to get an overview of what is is like to work at a hospital. Volunteering at a hospital was an eye opening experience, because I got to encounter how physicians, and medical staff communicate, and listen to their patients. These two skills are essential to understand patient needs, and therefore make the right decisions in diagnosing diseases. My role at the hospital was to provide snacks, beverages, and aid kits to patients, families, and medical staff. I have witnessed families that stayed up long nights, because they had loved ones undergo surgery. Any person that has a loved one undergo surgery becomes worried and scared, because of the uncertainty that lies ahead. However, the imperative skills that I have learned and exceeded on was my communication skills. Communicating with these families, and patients was exceedingly important, because you have to place yourself in their shoes to understand the situation they are in. I met young patients, as young as 5 years old, that were in the hospital for days recovering from surgery, or undergoing

I am interning at Heartfelt, a mental health agency that works with adults, children and their families that deal with any type of behavior and mental health problem since 2006 with a mission to provide culturally competent, and professionally sound mental health, foster care, youth development and family support services to empower our community one child and one family at a time. The services that Heartfelt offers to clients are intensive in-home therapy, outpatient therapy, community support team (CST), peer support, medication management, and residential level III group home. Many of the clients at Heartfelt are offered Outpatient therapy service compared to other services. My role at Heartfelt is as an intern who is supervised by a MSW field supervisor completing tasks. Few of tasks that I perform at Heartfelt is shadowing professionals performing assessments and intakes with clients, working on various administrative projects such as finding resources for clients and reviewing and updating clients’ charts.

When I trained to become a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA), my instructor went over multiple times on how to deal with the death of the patients I will work with. However, actually experiencing the death of the resident I cared for left an impression on me to better understand all of the residents at Medilodge of East Lansing. I discovered that applying for an internship in social services department there would allow me to build deep and trusting connections with the residents, and develop my skills in working with older adults as I pursue a career in geriatric social work. My internship allowed me to work under the guidance of the social services director and gain insight on how to interact with residents in a professional capacity.

My current placement is at the Pasadena Mental Health Department in the addiction department, as a second-year intern I am assigned a client to work with my first client who has gone to, and adverse trauma as a child mother got killed when he was two years old. The survive his sister and him,(client is now 12 years old boy with an addiction and mental health issues).The treatment is the base is the dual diagnosis. One of the techniques I will work in learning is the child adversity.

The decision to take the clinical route as a second year MSW graduate student, was one that took no hesitation to make. My passion for children and the preservation of families have been a propelling factor in my Social Work career; both academically and professionally. These two entities have motivated me to remain steadfast on the journey to obtaining my MSW so I can continue to be a vessel for children and families who are in need of support and empowerment. The clinical spectrum of social work practice has strengthened my ability to work proficiently with multiple clients and perform well when assisting families in different realms of social work practice. The knowledge gained during my four years as an undergraduate BSW student and

There are the fears that are out of our control such as hunger, war, and death but just because those few ideals are beyond our own control don’t mean we shouldn’t take control of what can be within our control. There are modifiable changes such as participating in class and getting the confidence to give a speech but so many more realities are within our reach to change. There is a power within us all that can alter the outcome of demanding jobs, heartbreaking relationships, and even our state of mind if we all just take it upon ourselves establish a sense of control when in comes to fear. I for one was hesitant and fearful of starting my first day on the Mayo Clinic neurology floor. I had spent all day fretting about what if I did something wrong or what if I didn’t know the answers to questions patients asked me but once I actually arrived to clinical on the first day and put myself in a position where I would be able to help others, my fear started to fade away. My initial response may be a weary one to overcome but if I was to resist facing my fears in life, an unwanted course of action may have been chosen that could alter the outcomes for the patients. Due to taking control of ones own course of change the result will be was way more beneficial than one that could have forced upon me. This was a scary task to complete and yes it was be a difficult decision to

Ernest Hemmingway was one of the most influential authors of the early twentieth century. He wrote many of his infamous novels and stories from the 1920s to the 1950s. Hemmingway was known for his way to write simple and terse, yet he was able to hold an unseen power behind his words. He lived a life filled with adventures and exploration, but died feeling alone. His experiences in life very much influenced his writing, and in many ways, his own personal stories can be seen in his works.

Mental and emotional health can have interpersonal, and social impacts; I want to provide evidenced-based mental, emotional and behavioral health interventions within the context of families, communities and larger systems, to children and adolescents. My goal as a licensed counselor will be to develop a collaborative relationship where each client feels empowered to act as an expert in developing effective coping skills, manage anxiety, depression, navigate difficult life transitions, and enhance communication skills and relationships. Reflective practice and self-evaluation will be an integral part of my practice. This also means being able to set my experiences, values, privilege, beliefs and biases aside during counseling sessions and allowing the clients goals and needs to take precedence. In order to be well-rounded in my profession, my day-to-day functions will include, assessments, psychological testing, counseling, personality testing, teaching, treatment plans, referrals, coordinate services, case-management, client-family- community education, documentation,

I am experience and have strengths in participating in group work, conducting surveys, implementing programs, community outreach, Mentoring, Advising, and advocating. My practicum was at the Boys & Girls club so I have not been able to witness or assist with intake process, or actually doing interventions with my clients. To further my development in the field I believe that I need to be more experience in working in a clinical

Marijuana has a few different names that are commonly used in today’s society including weed and cannabis. Weed is smoked with joints, bongs, or pipes. Marijuana can also be mixed with foods usually brownies, cookies, and candy which are called edibles. The main chemical responsible for the high feeling is called THC but marijuana also contains over 500 chemicals. The chemical is found in resin produced by the leaves and buds. “Marijuana is the most commonly used drug in all of the United”. Marijuana will always be used for private reasons or for medicinal purposes. Why not legalize it?

What are my fears? I may hurt someone I love. I may vent anger about past events; my view may not align with theirs. I may embarrass myself if I reveal shameful moments. What I say about myself may not ring true to them.

For instance someone getting arrested their fear would be how long they’re going to be arrested for. Perhaps a student was misbehaving and the teacher calls home. That student who wasn’t fearful while misbehaving now has the fear of knowing his/her parent is going to put them on punishment. Sometimes we don’t even know we fear something until we see the end results. I believe that happens most individuals we show no signs of worry until the very end. For instance we could do a survey on how many individuals would fear what’s going to happen a couple years from now. Most would probably say oh I don’t fear such and such happening because if it never happened before why would if happen then. While others would perhaps say they’ll fear what’s going to happen because life has a lot of surprises.

This fear has limited my ability to do what I think is right. As a person who likes to keep people happy, that feeling of not being able to come through with a completed