Personal Narrative: My Practitioner

Growing up with a father in the military, you move around a lot more than you would like to. I was born just east of St. Louis in a city called Shiloh in Illinois. When I was two years old my dad got the assignment to move to Hawaii. We spent seven great years in Hawaii, we had one of the greatest churches I have ever been to name New Hope. New Hope was a lot like Olivet's atmosphere, the people were always friendly and there always something to keep someone busy. I used to dance at church, I did hip-hop and interpretive dance, but you could never tell that from the way I look now.

“Casey, your group needs to do the stunt one more time!” coach said imprudently. It happened March 26, 2015; it was at the end of a two hour practice. During the summer months in South Georgia, it is utterly hot and humid, especially in our cheer gym (a warehouse with no air conditioner); it only has two heavy-duty fans and a roll-up door. With this in mind, my group became slightly irritated. Everyone was exhausted; nevertheless we still had to do the stunt anyway.

From my first engagement with John until now, I maintained the MI spirit by honoring and accepting his autonomy, providing support, evoking hope, and by recognizing my crucial role in supporting a client's journey of change. I also provided a supportive and welcoming environment, while maintaining a sense of neutrality and equipoise, and being cognizant of my role as a clinician (as opposed to a teacher, confronter, or mentor), and the effect it has on the establishment of our collaborative therapeutic relationship. Throughout most of my interactions with John, I used the cardinal OARS (Open-ended questions, Affirmations, Reflective listening, Summarizations) techniques commonly used in MI (Miller

Walking away from everything you once knew and starting over is never a picnic. Leaving Iraq, and moving to America has impacted my life more than anything. I was only 4 years old at that time, and the only English I spoke was “excuse me, water please.” My family and I did not know it then, but our lives were going to change; we would become “Americanized”. Learning English was one of the massive changes that occurred, the way I dressed (culture), and even the way I had power to go to school and educate myself.

I have worked for The Advocate, a Baton Rouge award winning newspaper, for more than 23 years. When I first hired on in May of 1992, it was only to be a temporary job until I finished college. Before computers and electronic layout programs simplified this process with the click of a button, people had to cut out and paste the stories, pictures, and advertisements that appeared in the daily newspaper. This was my job: I was a Compositor. I worked evenings so this allowed me the availability to go to school during the day. I have always been a hard worker and taken pride in whatever assignment I was given. This character trait was recognized by others and I was quickly promoted to other jobs. As the computer age and world wide web came to life,

I’m fairly new to the adult romance genre, and after reading a few that I adored I got a blogger friend of mine to give me some recommendations. On her list of recommendations for romances that are more rom-com was Melissa Foster’s The Real Thing. This was my first Melissa Foster book and I absolutely loved it! I’m so glad I decided to pick up this one as one of my first picks. he Real Thing takes place in a small town called Sugar Lake and features Zane and Willow who have a somewhat complicated history. I loved that they technically started out as friends and kept in touch all those years before getting together as it just made their chemistry and relationship all the more steamier and swoonier. And while the fake relationship trope was used

We human beings are all works of art. Every experience that we have is a new stroke of paint to our canvas. The things that influence us do the same. I am not a completed work of art, but I can show my progress of what makes me. I am influenced by the media, my teachers, and the neighborhoods I lived in. Now here is the showing of my work.

I would be an outstanding student in Spelman College's faculty classes because I am hard worker. My work has always came first even when I had experienced a big transition in my life I didn't allow that to stop me from doing my work. My work was always a outlet for me to express myself and to show my teachers how I really think. For instance, in my English Composition Class we read a poem called "I Want A Wife by Judy Brady" then we read a book named "Fences by August Wilson", and one day we were in class discussing the poem in the book and it shocked my teacher when I made the connection between the two. I thought my teacher made us read "I want a wife" because in the book "Fences" the main character named Troy expected everything in that

My Legacy will be remembered as good student but not the greatest behavior. Most of my legacy will be remembered with the teachers I always had a good thing with the teachers. The teachers always liked me because I did my work and payed attention sometimes.It wil also will be with the students I left behind a good path with the teachers. The life that I touched the most would be Mrs. Codispoti she was my favorite teacher last year and we made a big impact on each other's life.

someone. One of the hardest responsibilities I've ever had to take on, was when I had to babysit, Brennan, my little brother. I thought I would not do a good job, but I knew it was something I had to learn how to do. Also, when I babysat my brother, I felt that it would help my parents if I knew how to take care of him. Although I was very nervous, I told my parents that I would babysit my little brother. Something that I didn't know, was that I was learning a lot about taking responsibility for things in life. It was a very interesting learning experience for me.

I feel my style of practice continues to expand from the knowledge I've gained from this, and my other courses as well as from the many hours I have spent at the hospital with my field instructor. In addition, I am definitely more self-confident and informed in my approach when interacting with the patients and staff at the hospital. One downside, is that there is not enough time in the day, because, I have once again fallen behind on some school work, so I'm trying to employ some new time management techniques that will allow me to go to work, spend time at my practicum site and complete my assignments with fidelity. With all that said I thought this course was a very eye-opening experience and I am excited as well as looking forward to actually

One dark, gloomy morning, in the fall of 2016, I faced a situation that I had always feared. Since we lived in Newhope, Arkansas, I thought nothing inadequate could ever happen there. In this particular occurrence, I was completely terrified out of my wits.

1) During the second week of clinical, a patient of mine was extremely anxious in regard to the life style changes that needed to be made once he was discharged from the hospital. He was also uneasy about the cardiac catheterization scheduled for that day, to which I provided support and resources that morning to help with his worries. His nervousness was first noticeable during the head to toe assessment where the patient asked numerous questions about life after being discharged. I first interpreted my patient’s questions and concerns as normal, until later that day when he asked the same questions to which I answered. I responded to these signs of anxiety by sitting down with my patient and having another discussion about his concerns. During our discussion, I explained how only slight modifications needed to be made since he already lived an active lifestyle. Upon reflection, I wondered if therapeutic touch could have helped lower the anxiety my patient was experiencing.

The biggest challenge I faced coming into this class was stepping out of my comfort zone and gaining confidence in my writing. During this semester at Indiana State University, I have discovered many various writing skills while attending English 105. I have learned several writing techniques, different forms of MLA formatting, and how to research and properly use and cite multiple diverse sources in a research paper. By performing assigned tasks and completing practical class exercises, I was able to practice those skills and put them to use.

I completed my field experience at Oasis and the YMCA. My experiences at both locations taught me a lot about what it is going to be like in my classroom when I start teaching. The students at oasis were Latinos that came from a lower income family and struggled academically. Every Tuesday I tutored the same four kids and I was amazed at how much they taught me in one semester. The students advanced so much while through out the time I spent with them. Many of them found it difficult to do their math homework but after a few weeks of working hard, they improved significantly. These special four students have taught me how to deal with several students at once, especially when they all needed my help at the same time. They also