Personal Narrative-Therapeutic Experience

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.

“The last thing I heard where the sirens. And the last thing I saw where a kaleidoscope of blue and red. And then everything went black, every ounce of air had escaped my lungs and had reached the surface of the lake in the form of little bubbles.” I told Louis Green, possibly the most boring person on earth. I don’t think he wanted to be my therapist anymore then I wanted to be in therapy.

Sometimes, I feel like I am experiencing a double therapy. One that I am leading with my therapist, and another one, more passive, in class. School can inadvertently speed up a process for which you are not necessarily ready. It can stir your past and your emotions arise. In that case, there is an assignment that I am postponing and trying in every way possible to avoid or twist differently. The material evoked in class was hard to process and I did not expect it. Ironically, I now think about it all the time. I know that I need to go to the bottom of it one way or another, but homeostasis is compromised and I do not like it. I try to look at it like gym. It is not pleasant but it is good for your health. The problem with that paper is that

As I await the therapist in the waiting room, my mind is racing, heart pounding, and palms sweating. I’ve been waiting for three years to meet with him, but of course, Dr. Johnson was completely booked until now. Each night I have been taunted with an atrocious dream and ready for the affliction to cease. Finally, he appears in the doorway and calls my name. Instantaneously, I stand up and shuffle behind the therapist to the cubicle.

My optimistic assumption is you had a deep unbroken sleep which upon waking up afforded you a reinvigoration of body, mind, and spirit. With the onset of Flu season possibly the opportunity for vaccination has not availed itself to you, I hope the you woke up feeling brisk without stiffnesses or aches. Today is my scheduled physical therapy, and I hope my leg continues to show signs of improvement providing me with a psychological boost. The weather forecast in and around the Alexandria, Va. calls for a high temperature of 74 degrees a current temperature of 64 degrees humidity to range from 86% to 54% at two (2:00) o'clock

“How can I be good again? I just lost my wife and son in a car accident. There's nothing in life that can cheer me up. I have become an alcoholic who is now jobless.” I said. My Therapist, Dr. Newman, told me “Trust me, Mr. Smith. Only time can heal your wounds if you allow it to. Well, that's the end of the session, and I want to recall the accident that occurred so we can talk about it tomorrow.”

“Oh I got my heart right here. Oh I got my scars right here…” With the slow beat of The Weeknd, I took a right onto the highway. Where was I going? I didn’t know. I was just going to drive my thoughts away. Peering down into my windows, the moon shone on my interior, lighting up everything. It was just me, the moon, and my freedom. I turned the radio louder to blast out my thoughts and just think about the song. I do this therapeutically. Driving makes me feel better, especially when I have no certain destination or deadline. My only goal is to chase the moon in an eternal game of tag, but for some reason I’m always “it”.

Has your world ever been flipped upside down overnight? Well, mine has when my Uncle had a bad stroke that causes him to lose the left side of his brain. This event changed my life forever it was like I was blind to being able to see for the very first time. Those horrible days truly made me rethink my life, and it taught me how precious life is and how quickly life can be taken away. The biggest thing that came out of this was the improvement in my work ethic, giving it my all 100% of the time, and not procrastinating on anything in my life. Having my world flipped upside was probably the greatest thing that could have happened and here's why.

My heartrate has to be off the charts. I’m sure the anesthesiologist would know, since I’m hooked up to a monitor. She is doing her damnedest to make this experience seem routine. For her, I’m sure it is. She must do at least a dozen sections a week. I, on the other hand, have never had surgery. Never have I had another life inside me either, counting on me to make all the right decisions. I’m hoping this is the right decision. I am sitting here on this hard cold steel table alone, no loved ones are allowed back until the procedure is underway. My naked back is exposed to a student. There will be a slight pinch as the needle pierces through my lumbar flesh kissing the anesthetic solution into my system. I am here because my daughter, my already

I've been clean from self harm for quite a few months now and I'm not sure how I feel anymore

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

“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.

My name is Katerina Sideri and my profession is Psychotherapist for the past 3 and a half years, working in Thorpe Coombe Hospital. I mostly work with young children and adolescents, individual and group sessions.

I remember my last day of therapy almost perfectly, but it is probably because that was the day I really thought about what I wanted to spend my life doing.

Future Goals: A future goal that I have for myself, is to become more involved in the groups. I participated a little bit, however, I listened most the time. I was not always sure what to say, even though I wanted to participate and help these girls. I understand that it is not about saving these girls, however, I found myself fighting the urge to want to “save them”. Hence, I want to build a more therapeutic type of communication with these girls. I plan to talk to Denielle about therapeutic type questions I could ask in group.