Have you ever had to make a case presentation in front of a group of your peers and supervisors? The other week, I had to do just that in front of the other (25) social work interns in my hospital and their respective supervisors. The case presentation was supposed to be based upon a client with whom […]
Are Some Therapeutic Impasses Unavoidable?
Last week, it became rather clear that I had reached a therapeutic impasse with one of my clients. A therapeutic impasse essentially refers to a situation in which a therapist has stalled in her/his ability to facilitate the changes the client seeks and/or needs. To provide some background information, client X was someone I had […]
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 […]
