Deconstruction
This episode I am the one in the interviewee chair!
I recently graduated with my Masters of Counselling Psychology, and this fall it will be 10 years that I have been studying Psychology in some capacity. Therefore, it felt right to take some time to reflect on all that I have been learning. On top of studying Psychology, I have worked in the mental health field for many years. I started out worked as a Behavioural Interventionist while simultaneously working for the Crisis/Suicide hotline. I then worked for the coolest organization in the world: CRIS Adaptive Adventures. Look them up. Then I worked as a family preservation worker. For this job, I worked with parents in order to help them get their children back when they had been/ or were at risk of being removed from their homes by MCFD. From there, I went on to work as a Clinician at the Adult Withdrawal Management Unit, Adult Psychiatric Inpatient Unit, Opioid Substitute Treatment Program, Nechako Youth Treatment Centre, and with the Intensive Case Management team. I also got to spend a short time at the Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect clinic. Finally, I ended up at my most favourite job in the world: The Early Psychosis Intervention Team. Here I got unbelievable access to psychiatric training by phenomenal psychiatrists and a psychologist. On top of the medical school level training, (our program was affiliated with UNBC's medical program so we always had med students and psychiatry residents) I was able to work with the most incredible, resilient, and fascinating individuals. I was unbelievably lucky to have the opportunity to work closely with some of the most rare and severe psychiatric disorders in society. I cannot even begin to explain the learning and growth this job fostered. On top of that, I worked in collaboration with the best team in the world (Love you EPI).
These last last 8 months for my practicum, I have been working as a psychotherapist in private counselling, school counselling (middle school and University), and non-profit counselling settings. While a jarring difference from the clientele I was used to working with, it expanded my repertoire of knowledge and expertise. I loved working with this population just as much as the more severe cases; humans are Fascinating!
All that to say: I. Love. Psychology.