So...I've long thought that I would like to write about some of my experiences. This blog is about me, my life, and my job. I'm a mental health therapist. Well, technically, I'm a "Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor", which means that I'm licensed to practice counseling (therapy) with patients on my own (no supervision). It means I have a Master's in Psychology (clinical psych, in my case). More about the job in a bit...
I wont be disclosing too much info, as I live in a small community, and although I wont be mentioning any names or identifying characteristics of my clients, and it seems pretty unlikely that any will read this...well, you know.
So, here I am. I have been in the field for 11 years now. I have the kind of job that people in my field dream about...It's a private practice, but part of a larger facility, so I have support staff that make my life SO much easier. In 11 years, I have dealt with situations that have made me laugh, cry, shake my head, yell, and sometimes, wonder why I do this. Let me provide some examples....
First, I want to preface this by saying that I (inappropriately) use diagnoses as labels, and I want to point that out because normally, I don't like that. However, since I am not using names, I figure I will do it this way to keep things a little clearer. So, on to the examples...
There was a schizophrenic who handed me a plastic cup, stated that it was his soul, and asked, "Could you keep it on your desk until Tuesday?"
There was a 20 something who was my client for 3 years and left 3 small children behind when she overdosed and put herself in a coma...I never did hear if she survived or not, but I still do online searches for her obituary sometimes.
There was a narcissist who told me that his mother should give him a card on mother's day to thank him for being such a wonderful son.
There was the anger management client who told me that even though he finished his court ordered sessions, he would like to continue working with me, because he had been arrested for yelling at a cop 2 days prior. After I wrote a letter to the court stating that he intended to voluntarily continue, he canceled the next appt and never came back.(there is nothing I could have done any differently about that--but it still annoys me).
Don't get the wrong idea, I have some pretty fantastic, hard working clients too. I do feel pretty rewarded when a person makes progress...I had one person whom I only met with 3 times, and then I never saw again. I had another client come in and tell me that they were referred by the first one, who thought I was "amazing"! I dont take any credit for that, sometimes people are just ready to change, and all I do is listen.
So before I drag on and on and things get tiresome, here is one more thing you should know about me: I'm kind of sarcastic sometimes. I'm ok with that, it turns out, but I don't really know how well sarcasm will come across in writing, so we'll have to see how things go...
