Reader Meet Author

It’s only Wednesday and my regular work week is already done. I have training scheduled for the rest of the week (non-violent crisis intervention and seclusion/restraint training). Even though I only spent two days working with patients, it was a very good week:

I led my first rational emotive therapy groups this week.

Leading these groups was the main reason I wanted this position. I’ve never actually led a group or taught before, but I always thought I would like it. In school, I was always told that I did a good job speaking in front of groups. I’m not one of those people who’s afraid of it… haha.

This week gave me the chance to not only teach for the first time, but also to get a taste of what therapy is like. I’ve been debating whether to go back to school for psychology or counseling for years. This week gave me my first real glimpse of what counseling is like. The best part of it all was that, despite my lack of actual experience in the field, I was pretty darn good at it.

The hospital provided me with a one-page summary of the specific information that needed to be covered. The rest was up to me and I was told to pull from any source, experience, knowledge, or education that I had to get the information across. I read over my summary page before the class began and then ran off to stretch it out to fill an entire hour. I was also being observed by another technician who was seating discreetly in the corner with a clipboard. Talk about pressure. Haha.

A little to my surprise, the information just began to flow out of me. The things I’d learned in school and read on my own all came rushing out of the abyss and I could almost hear things clicking into place in my head. You’d seriously thought I’d done this before, which was good for my credibility in the eyes of the patients. They asked me questions… responded to my questions… and several actually started to share how they were going to apply what I’d tried to teach them to their personal situations. It was an amazing feeling.

After the group was dismissed, I sat with the technician who’d been observing me. There was a handout that went with the group I was teaching… which, until that day, I’d never seen. I took a couple of minutes looking it over and then just kinda winged it as far as how it was to be used. Luckily, I was pretty close. The main thing my observer went over with me was exactly how the handout was to be used. She told me that she was surprised at how well I’d done and that my performance was far better than she had expected. Duh… I could have told her that ;) Haha.

I know realistically that my one hour session didn’t change any lives. I know that, even after they’re discharged, I’ll likely see some of these people again. That’s one thing about mental health - it’s a revolving door. But if anyone in that group had a break-through, no matter how small or how short-lived, then I did what I wanted to do. If not… I’ll just have to try again on Monday ;)