Personal Narrative: Interning At Hudson Partnership CMO

A doctoral degree combining both supervisory professional mental health counseling skills and counselor education has always been at the forefront of both my personal and professional goals. Being afforded the opportunity to pursue a doctoral degree in Counselor Education and Supervision will allow me the ability to enhance my professional competencies and achieve my set goals. My primary desire is to obtain a position as a college professor that will allow me to nurture the professional growth and maturity of future mental health professionals. Pursuing the doctoral degree will simultaneously assist in developing skillsets that will further prepare me for advanced opportunities in not only teaching but supervision and research. Additionally, I desire to devote time and research to small rural communities to establish prevention based programs that will bridge communities as it relates to mental health challenges. A PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision from Capella University will afford me the opportunities to positively impact change in future professionals and the communities for which I serve.

My goal is to pursue a Master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. My dream is to provide counsel and guidance to individuals, families, couples or groups of people; who are dealing with issues that affect them physically, emotionally and mentally. I would like help clients determine why they are experiencing their life challenges, develop goals and actions to resolve their issues. I would like to provide life changing advice to support & help clients overcome outstanding life situations, collaborate assessment and maintain treatment. Family and friends has consulted with me about their problems. I enjoy giving them advice that allows them to think about the decisions resolving the circumstance. With this I’m inspired to work in the

I spent endless hours studying psychology books and learning about biochemistry. I discovered that the makeup of an individual was a result of a complex combination of one’s social environment and the composition of one’s brain. All of this self-taught knowledge now only distracted me from the disastrous circumstances around me gave me a clear picture of where my place was in the world; to pursue a career in Mental Health. As unfortunate as the circumstances were, this was the time in my life where I had the opportunity to communicate with families of ailing loved ones and the patients themselves. My passion for interacting and understanding stemmed from my early childhood exposures to people in these types of settings. Instead of isolating myself from the world, these observations didn’t diminish my dream of being a Mental Health Counselor but strengthened it. I instantly gravitated towards listening to other people 's problems and offered suggestions on how to deal. More importantly, I discovered the immense feeling of satisfaction garnered when I was able to support others in need. Considering the positive feedback I received, I was certain that being a Therapist of some kind was what I am suited to do with my life and that it is my calling. Whether it is close friends, family, or just peers, I am constantly willing to lend an ear, now and then. Even if I did not feel adequate proposing

For my senior year field placement, I am currently working at Elwyn’s Media campus in the Children’s Behavioral Health Services Outpatient program. At the outpatient program I am working with the Director of Clinical Operations, Ellen Chung. I also work with Jennifer Torrey who is the Clinical Coordinator for Elwyn’s Media location’s Outpatient program. I also work one on one with the Outpatient Case Manager, Shaneen Brown. I am also working in the Therapeutic After School Program (TASP). At the TASP I work with the Case Manager Jennifer Ziegler and the Clinical Case Manager Denise Georganas. The outpatient therapy team at Elwyn is a multidisciplinary team that works to help children reach their fullest potential. Some services offered by the Outpatient program at Elwyn are psychiatric evaluations, individual therapy, group therapy, family therapy, medication management, client/family education and community resources. The goal of the Therapeutic Socialization Program is to facilitate socialization and communication skills and to decrease problematic behaviors through participation in fun and engaging in activities. This program is based on the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis and other proven approaches to develop individually tailored treatment protocols to help children, adolescents and young adults in the areas of socialization, self-regulation and communication. The TASP also focuses on providing parents with new information to better understand their child’s

The mental health professional I interviewed was Carol McClelland of Freedom House Recovery Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Carol has worked with Freedom House for a year as the directory of outpatient services and is licensed as a LPC, LPCS, LCAS, CCS, and MA. Carol’s job requires her to be responsible for the direct oversight of all clinical operations and clinical integrity for outpatient services at Freedom House. The hours of operation are Monday through Friday from 8am to 5pm, along with a crisis and detox center that is available for contact 24/7. Carol has plenty of experience in the mental health field, such as working as a dual diagnosis/substance abuse outpatient therapist, working with the severely mentally ill, working as a criminal justice outpatient therapist, and also working in a methadone clinic. She chose this career after her experiences in working with mental health, and her extensive education in psychology and counseling. Carol stated that outpatient services was the most interesting out of her job experiences, so when she was offered the job at Freedom House, she accepted.

Pennsylvania Mentor’s Lehigh Valley location provides Intensive Case Management (ICM) / Resource Coordination (RC) service, Family Based Mental Health Services and Certified Peer Support Services (CPS). Although these three programs are different, they all provide services to their clients in the home and in the community. ICM/RC’s help their clients with scheduling and following through with medical and mental health appointment, navigating social security and public welfare system, finding employment and utilizing community resources. Family Based Mental Health offers intensive mental health treatment to children who have a mental health diagnosis while providing services to their families. The CPS program help’s clients meet their recovery goals through the support of an individual who also has a mental health diagnosis.

The social work field has been a consistent portion of my life for the past six years. I was employed by the Mental Health Resource Center (MHRC) from 2011-2016. From 2011-2014, I worked as a case manager. In this capacity, I worked with families who had children removed because of abuse, neglect, and abandonment. My goal was to recommend services which would alleviate the reasons for removal. However, if the parents did not show any behavior change and were not successful in completing their court ordered tasks, we would have to change our goals to what was in the best interest of the child. In addition to recommending services, I ensured that children received therapeutic intervention, had visitations with their family at least three times a week, transported my clients to appointments, enrolled children in school, prepared court documents, requested records, and documented my efforts to reunify. From 2014-2016, I was promoted to supervisor. My unit consisted of five case managers and a case coordinator. My role was to guide, teach, and

When describing an adequate system of care for children in the behavioral mental health field, the first thing I think of is good access to care, care that is not expensive and care that is valuable and need. However, today, this is still not the case; we are currently, still transitioning into trying to achieve these. In fact, children 's needs for mental health services are not being met by the current delivery system and minority children are particularly likely to lack appropriate care (Mennen & Trickett, 2007). However, although managed behavioral health care under parity is expected to narrow the gap between need for and use of services, some fear that the

I chose to interview Regina Geis, who holds the administrative role as acting supervisor for the County Mental Health adult day program, which provides services for individuals with intellectual disabilities. Ms. Geis has held this position for 15 months. This is her first managerial position within a human service agency. Her style of management has changed over this short period of time. She feels that she is now more direct with her direction with staff. She stated, “Maybe now I come across as a little bit cold. But I have learned that I now have to use the least amount of words to get my point across.”

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

I began my career in the behavioral healthcare field when I was nineteen years old. Years later, when discussing my initial interview with my supervisor, she remarked the reason why she hired me was due to a statement I made “I’m not looking for a job, I’m seeking to begin a career”. Today, over a decade later that statement still rings true as I seek to further my skills and education with a Doctorate in Behavioral Healthcare focusing in management. Integrative Behavioral Healthcare is a burgeoning field within a changing marketplace. Possessing an increased knowledge of the primary care system, enhanced medical understanding and techniques to integrate behavioral healthcare services at a program level, will provide a great advantage in the

CM conducted a CFT meeting for Alexia Taylor (youth) at Daytop Treatment. In attendance were Jasmine Alexander (CM), Alexia (youth), Kelly Hennebry (Case Manager), Lisa Marshall (caregiver) and Jaimie Coviello (therapist). The strength and needs assessment was completed. The Family Crisis plan was reviewed and the Family Vision was reviewed. The team discussed transition plan and after care services for youth.

For my ride alone I was able to work with Office Brookes. He is an officer who has been committed to his career and loves what he does. He has been working as an officer in Grand Island for about eight years. He also worked in Atlanta as an officer. It was hard for him to get use to the slow paste of Grand Island, but overall he loves it here. If he could move anywhere it would be to Norfolk, Nebraska because his wife’s parents live there and they own a farm and it would be nice to be around the area. As I was riding with him he gave me the opportunity tell me about his personal life. He is a man who is very family oriented. I enjoyed learning more about different topics and getting to know what a law enforcement officer does.

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,

When I first started my college journey I initially majored in Biology. Not knowing what I wanted to do, I was influenced by my advisor to enter the biology field. After my third year, I decided not to pursue biology anymore, and that’s when I discovered my passion for the Psychology field. After receiving my undergrad in psychology, I knew that I wanted to get my masters in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, but I had no idea of how broad this area is. This week assignment granted me the opportunity to interview someone who has been in this profession for 25 plus years who has worked in all sectors when it comes to mental health counseling. It allowed me to learn the pros and cons of this field and it even gave me more insight and clarity on exactly what I wanted to do. I found this week assignment to be very informative and I believe it is necessary for anyone that’s interesting in entering in this field. I am grateful for the knowledge and advice that I received during this week assignment.