There I was with all my peers receiving my “diploma;” however, I needed to complete six more credits to receive my MSW… How was I allowed to participate in the graduation ceremony before being truly finished? My school grants students who are short six or less credits a “dean’s exception” to “walk” at the graduation […]
Facing the Past as You Help Others Heal
As mentioned in Healing Yourself as You Heal Others, often the work you do as a therapist with clients leads you to discover and face your own personal wounds. This personal journey is essentially a requirement to avoid having your own issues interfere with the therapy you are conducting with your clients via counter-transference that […]
Social Work Internship: 12th Week
The other day at my placement was particularly difficult for me. One of my clients, let’s call her S, came in after having cut herself a few days earlier and as I questioned her, I learned that she had some suicidal ideation. In layman’s terms, this means that she expressed some wishes or fantasies about […]
Social Work Internship: 10th week
This was a busy week with my conducting seven one-on-one sessions, having two intakes, making a presentation to two women groups, as well as attending a seminar on the role of social workers in within the oncology and palliative care arena. In terms of the individual sessions, two of the seven appointments were with new […]
Social Work Internship: 7th Week
To give an update, since my last post, I’ve started conducting one or two intake interviews per week as part of my regular clinical work. An intake interview essentially involves asking a prospective client various questions to find out who referred the client (self, inpatient psychiatry unit, emergency psychiatry unit), what is the client’s main […]
