Blog 8 - Research and Working EQ

1.  What is your working EQ?

            How could a therapist best help a client control their disorders?

2.  What is a possible answer to your working EQ? Please write the answer in thesis format. 

·         Having clients take their medication, to keep their mental disorder under control.

·         Have the therapist tell the client to keep continuing therapy. Most of the times people will think there fine and will stop taking their medication. A therapist helps the client to continue their medication.

·         A therapist should be organized with the client. Show a client their dates of appointment and help them keep track with their medication.

3.  What is the most important source you have used that has helped you come up with an answer to your working EQ?

“Anxiety Disorders: A Guide for Integrating Psychopharmacology and Psychotherapy” is one of the most important sources I’ve done. The reason is it gives studies that show that taking medication can help a client get better from any mental disorders. Also, tells that going to therapy helps you continue your medication.

4.  Who is your mentor, or where are you doing mentorship, and how does what you are doing relate to your working EQ?

            My mentor is Flor Martinez and I’m currently looking for another mentor to do my independent component. Ms. Martinez and I do activities so I could understand therapy more. She also talks to me about different clients and their stories. We then find out the best way to treat them.

Blog 7: Independent Component 1 Approval

1.  Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours.

What I plan to do for my independent component is to finally be in a therapy setting, with a therapist and a client. I will observe the client and take notes on things that I notice and things that should be a concern. After, the therapist and I could have a one on one and discuss what was wrong and what the client is diagnosed with. We could think about approaches we could take to help the client, like medication or therapeutic activities.

2.  Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence.

To meet my 30 hours will be pretty easy because if a therapist has a certain client agreed to a certain time in the week. They usually meet 1-2 times in a week and and last about 1-2 hours. So if I were to go at least once or twice a week I would be able to make my hours in less than 15 days.

3.  And explain how what you will be doing will help you explore your topic in more depth.

This will help me understand my topic more in depth because I will be looking at a perspective of a therapist. I will be able to understand the procedures and activities to do with clients. As I am there I will start to understand the benefits of a client going to therapy sessions on a regular basis and I will be able to see the client’s behavior change gradually.

4.  Update your Senior Project Hours log.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1XL4oDLDm2doY7euA9Llyd-D0t1531Y5rhE69k8ZaWjI/edit#gid=0

September Blog Post: First Interview Experience

              I had my first interview this month and I decided to choose my mentor, Flor Martinez. I was nervous to do this interview because I’ve never done one before. I was scared that the interview would be short and would be hard to get answers from Ms. Martinez. 

Ms. Martinez thought it would be best if we had done the interview somewhere comfortable, in a relaxing environment. She invited me to have a lunch with her at Victoria Gardens. So, we decided on a café and after we finished our food, I gave her the questions as prep so she could come up with good answers. So, I had given her time to think, then we got right to business and I started asking her questions.

            During the interview relief came over me by the way she was answering my questions. I thought she had given me more than enough of an answer through my questions. She had given me reasoning and things to back up her claims. I was so excited to learn so much! She also, guided me to some other things to research and another psychologist in the field to talk to.

An Example of a Book she told me to look up was “The Gift of Therapy: An Open Letter to a New Generation of Therapists and Their Patients” by Irvin Yalom . This book talks about certain case studies that Mr. Yalom has done with his own patients and decides to go into to detail what should be done in that case. She said this would help me think of my independent component. This actually did help me think of a great idea for my independent component.

Blog 6 - Second Interview Preparation

1.      Who is your mentor and where do they work?
 

·         My mentor is Flor Martinez and she works at two therapeutic places named Catholic Charites, which is located in Chino Hills, and also works for the County of San Bernardino.

2.      What five questions will you ask them about their background?
 

·         What college did you attend and where did you go for graduate school?

·         When did you start working at Catholic Charities and the County of San Bernardino?

·         How is practicing as psychologist at your current jobs? How do you feel about it?

·         Did you work anywhere else before your current jobs? If so, what were names of the practices?

·         How were your experiences at your past jobs?

·         How did you feel about completing with other female psychologist in the field? Knowing a lot of females go into this field.

Blog 5 - Mentorship Reflection

1.      Mentorship question: Describe your experience in how you found your mentorship?  If you haven't found one yet, describe your experience so far in the search of a mentor.

The way I found my mentor Flor Martinez, was I knew her as a close family friend. I would constantly ask her questions about psychology and her responses were precise. We would even have long conversations about certain topic of Psychology, I knew some background of it so we were able to go on. But, I also didn’t want to just base my knowledge off our conversations to determine if she would be my mentor. So, I asked questions like where she went to school, what degree she had in the field, and finding out where she currently works. I had found out she has a master’s degree and has been in this profession for years, with a job with the County of San Bernando. I knew she was a great choice for my mentor and I could trust her.

 

2.      Research question: What has been your most important article you have read so far and why?

All the articles I have been reading are equally important and to choose is tough decision. But, if I were to pick one it would be “Anxiety Disorders: A Guide for Integrating Psychopharmacology and Psychotherapy” by Stephen M. Stahl and Bret A. Moore. The reason is because it goes into greater detail about therapy and how it started. It even goes more into detail how it was spread out to different branches and it wasn’t just one thing. Then, it starts to say with any medication that you should go to therapy. Therapy helps keep control of the medication so worst symptoms don’t show up and it also keeps a client taking their medication. It gives an example of taking antidepressants and how thoughts of suicide always occur when taking them. But, with the help of therapy it could save someone life.

August Blog Assignment: Senior Poster

Background:
     A high school student ,Light Yagami, discovered a supernatural notebook that grants its user the ability to kill anyone whose name and face they know, its called the Death Note. The previous owner was a shinigami called Ryuk, who is a "God of Death".
Whoever touches the notebook can see a shinigami. So the secret of the notebook is kept between them since Light is the only one who can see the shinigami.

Symbolizes:
     The notebook symbolizes that only the therapist and the client know the information about the client. It's a safe environment to speak freely what's on their mind. So, the client would be the shinigami because they are giving them the permission to see a and to talk about their life. The therapist would be Light because they were given the permission to go into this person's life.
     This is symbolized by showing that in the therapy room client confidentiality is very important between a client and the therapist. It gives a client a sense of relief. An example would be if a person went up to somebody randomly just told them they had bipolar and that person will look at them differently and instead of therapist would look at them from higher point of view. It's to show that whatever's said in that room is safe and it can't be told to anyone.

 

Blog 4: Interview Preparation

1.       Who do you plan to interview?  Why?

I plan to interview my mentor because as my first interview I want it to be comfortable asking questions and get an idea what should be said in interviews to come in the future.

2.       You have to ask 5 questions.  What additional questions do you plan to ask?  Ask open-ended questions!

·         What made you decide to pursue a career in Psychology?

·         What college did you attend to study this?

·         What would you recommend for someone to do after they graduate from this field?

·         What kinds of goals do you set for yourself to help clients achieve their personal goals?

·         What’s the best method to keep a client coming to therapy sessions?

·         What’s the best method to have a client keep their taking medication?