Proof: there's lots of ways to practice DT
I had a meeting with the other Drama Therapist on Tuesday that works for ITA (not the one I shadow) to chat about DT. We talked about the advantages of an Alternative Training DT registration track, her experience with the at-risk-youth population, and a little bit about her method of practicing DT. Everything she said was confirmation of why I want to get involved in DT: holistic approach to people, allowing imaginative practice in the healing process, using theatre in a process-not-product focused manner, a small community of collaborative and creative professionals. We're going to meet again to talk more about the logistics of what a DT session looks like, since we got sidetracked talking about the best way to get the right experience with the right populations to figure out what kind of therapy I want to practice. The little we talked about the logistics, though, was promising. It was, as I expected, different than the drama therapist I shadow but equally as valuable. She practices, I've gathered, with a more embodied approach. She uses more movement, and the practice of DVT, developmental transformations (http://www.developmentaltransformations.com/), a really awesome theory and practice that uses embodiment and is becoming more widely used as of late in the DT field. It's something I'm definitely interested in looking into for future practice.
Open House
At the end of our Open House, our Practice Manager turned to me, saw me smiling, and said, "You're on a Creative Arts Therapy high, aren't you?"
Yep. I was. Our open house was interactive; we had demonstrations of the 4 different CAT modalities happening simultaneously for almost the full five hours of the event. I spent a little bit of time in all four, seeing not only examples of interventions our therapists might use with a clients but also hearing their explanations of why they might use those interventions, answering questions along the way. I participated in a group movement exercise similar to our movement warm ups in my Voice and Movement course, and a drama imagination game similar to generating exercises the Here and Now cast used for our devised show last spring. I saw a group of adults create artwork carousel-style, and I listened to one of our Neurologic Music Therapists talk about the advantages of musical entrainment for fine motor coordination. I was grinning ear to ear for the majority of the time.
So there I was, surrounded by these mental health professionals from the area who were experiencing CAT, many for the first time (the event was geared toward professionals who were interested in seeing what some of their own clients might be involved in should they refer them to ITA). We were all nodding, smiling, and having our own ah-ha moments. We were all on a CAT high. Even better, I lost track of time. I was so engrossed in the demos, 2pm became 6pm. I sat with our Dance Movement Therapist for about an hour talking about how to get into the field, and 6pm became 7pm, clean up time. I went home glowing.
At our clinical meeting this week we had client presentations, where a therapist (in this case our clinical interns) gives a presentation about a particular client including their diagnosis, presenting problems, therapeutic goals, and intervention strategies being used to address the problems. IT WAS SO COOL. I got to hear real presentations about real people with real psychological diagnoses and see how their treatment plans are organized. The coolest part: I could see myself doing that for a very long time. How could I ever get bored of an ever changing, complex human being with evolving problems and diagnoses? How could I ever tire of coming up with creative solutions, individualized to that complex individual, to help them improve their quality of life, especially after a significant trauma or other problem that interferes with their opportunity to have the unimpeded options so many people have? I could feel good about that job. I could go to bed feeling as though I was intellectually stimulated and like I was doing important work and doing at least a little bit of my part to give back to the world and its people after they have given me so much.
Takeaways
So what did I learn out of all of that whirlwind of a week? I've solidified a direction for grad school. MSW programs, here I come. After I take some time abroad (1 year? 2 years?), I'll apply to grad school for Master's in Social Work. If I'm still interested in becoming a Creative Arts Therapist at that point (which I probably will be- I don't see my passion for theatre, arts, psychology and client work shifting all that much), I'll do an Alternative Track certification so I can practice as a licensed counselor and a drama therapist. DT is my path of choice to pay it forward, and it's a job I could love and feel good about.
Internship is already half over- here's to a great rest of the adventure!
Monday, October 27, 2014
Sunday, October 19, 2014
Week 3: Rejuvinated, Reenergized, Reframed
At the end of last week, I was still adjusting to a new workplace, a new living space, a new working pace....a new life. I was a little grumpy. I had spent a lot of time in front of a computer, and I didn't feel connected to people in the office. After careful reflection and reframing, and in the spirit of the optimism I pride myself on, I would like to fill this blog post space with incredible opportunities I have experienced in the last week:
Interviews
I am now in charge of interviewing potential volunteers for ITA. I had another interview this week. I am learning not only how to interview someone else, but also how to be interviewed. I've only ever been on the interviewee side, so I've only ever seen one person being interviewed: me. Now I have the opportunity to see other people on the interviewee side and learn from them. I am understanding on a whole new level the importance of dressing up, firm handshakes, clear and concise responses. It's much like casting a show, a comparison that I am grateful to have as it is invaluable to have previously been on the "other side of the table".
Recurring Clinical Sessions
I am returning week after week to the same group Drama Therapy and Music Therapy sessions. That means I'm forming relationships with clients, which makes it so much easier to be fully integrated into the groups. The longer I am in the groups, the more comfortable the clients and I get with each other, and the more I learn about what therapeutic techniques are useful for what behaviors/temperments/etc.
Surrounded by Psychology
I work in an office full of people with masters degrees in psychology fields. Like any other field, psychology has jargon, and I am immersed in it. I am learning to use terms like "perseveration" and "self-stimulating behavior" and "therapeutic intervention". I am learning the process of therapeutic assessment, the first step to planning therapeutic treatment goals and sessions. Every specialty has a language, and I am getting exposure to the language of therapy.
Resource Fair
I went this week with our executive director to the Evanston Land Area Network Resource Fair to represent ITA at an information table. I got to see all sorts of social work related organizations, talk to their directors, and answer questions other people (mostly other social workers/counselors in the area) had about ITA. I saw in person a lot of the places where ITA therapists refer clients, and I have some hands on experience with how networking can be done in the social work world. AND I am now #ITAfamous....this picture made it to the Facebook page that day :) Check it out (you have to scroll to the post from Oct 16):
The format was familiar, too- the fair was set up just like the activities fair at Cornell!
Catch-all
I'm getting a big variety of experience as my time spent in the office is spent being a catch-all for whatever needs to get done: this week I did everything from hanging a new bulletin board in our Art Room (for client art/ special use in sessions) to creating visuals for a children's song for one of our music therapists to use in a session, to cleaning up a paint spill, to working on a professional development calendar for the staff. I'm getting to learn what kind of work I like/don't like and bulk up my list of skills (which now includes applying corkboard putty to a concrete wall. It's more difficult than it sounds).
Independence
Though I was freaked out a little at first that no one was checking in on me on a daily basis, I am so glad I am independent in the office. I have stuff to do, we all do, and if I need help/have questions, I have to figure out on my own where to find the answers. There's no answers in the back of the textbook, I just have to do it on my own.
Living by Northwestern
I went to a few lectures this week (one related to compassion practices and their influence on neuropsychology and the other on global engagement.....both incredible) and a theatre production put on by the NW Engineering department. There is always something big happening here, and NW frequently brings in experts and top researchers, so even though I spend all day with a CAT (Creative Arts Therapy) organization, my time here can be spent doing really awesome academic things related or unrelated to psychology!
Look at all those blessings.
I talked to one of my academic advisors earlier this week and went back to Cornell this weekend for homecoming. I'm so glad I did both of those; talking to everyone there confirmed to me that this is a pretty amazing opportunity and I came back re-energized, ready to jump back into the world of ITA and Chicago!
Interviews
I am now in charge of interviewing potential volunteers for ITA. I had another interview this week. I am learning not only how to interview someone else, but also how to be interviewed. I've only ever been on the interviewee side, so I've only ever seen one person being interviewed: me. Now I have the opportunity to see other people on the interviewee side and learn from them. I am understanding on a whole new level the importance of dressing up, firm handshakes, clear and concise responses. It's much like casting a show, a comparison that I am grateful to have as it is invaluable to have previously been on the "other side of the table".
Recurring Clinical Sessions
I am returning week after week to the same group Drama Therapy and Music Therapy sessions. That means I'm forming relationships with clients, which makes it so much easier to be fully integrated into the groups. The longer I am in the groups, the more comfortable the clients and I get with each other, and the more I learn about what therapeutic techniques are useful for what behaviors/temperments/etc.
Surrounded by Psychology
I work in an office full of people with masters degrees in psychology fields. Like any other field, psychology has jargon, and I am immersed in it. I am learning to use terms like "perseveration" and "self-stimulating behavior" and "therapeutic intervention". I am learning the process of therapeutic assessment, the first step to planning therapeutic treatment goals and sessions. Every specialty has a language, and I am getting exposure to the language of therapy.
Resource Fair
I went this week with our executive director to the Evanston Land Area Network Resource Fair to represent ITA at an information table. I got to see all sorts of social work related organizations, talk to their directors, and answer questions other people (mostly other social workers/counselors in the area) had about ITA. I saw in person a lot of the places where ITA therapists refer clients, and I have some hands on experience with how networking can be done in the social work world. AND I am now #ITAfamous....this picture made it to the Facebook page that day :) Check it out (you have to scroll to the post from Oct 16):
The format was familiar, too- the fair was set up just like the activities fair at Cornell!
Catch-all
I'm getting a big variety of experience as my time spent in the office is spent being a catch-all for whatever needs to get done: this week I did everything from hanging a new bulletin board in our Art Room (for client art/ special use in sessions) to creating visuals for a children's song for one of our music therapists to use in a session, to cleaning up a paint spill, to working on a professional development calendar for the staff. I'm getting to learn what kind of work I like/don't like and bulk up my list of skills (which now includes applying corkboard putty to a concrete wall. It's more difficult than it sounds).
Independence
Though I was freaked out a little at first that no one was checking in on me on a daily basis, I am so glad I am independent in the office. I have stuff to do, we all do, and if I need help/have questions, I have to figure out on my own where to find the answers. There's no answers in the back of the textbook, I just have to do it on my own.
Living by Northwestern
I went to a few lectures this week (one related to compassion practices and their influence on neuropsychology and the other on global engagement.....both incredible) and a theatre production put on by the NW Engineering department. There is always something big happening here, and NW frequently brings in experts and top researchers, so even though I spend all day with a CAT (Creative Arts Therapy) organization, my time here can be spent doing really awesome academic things related or unrelated to psychology!
Look at all those blessings.
I talked to one of my academic advisors earlier this week and went back to Cornell this weekend for homecoming. I'm so glad I did both of those; talking to everyone there confirmed to me that this is a pretty amazing opportunity and I came back re-energized, ready to jump back into the world of ITA and Chicago!
Sunday, October 12, 2014
Week 2: DT is still in the running!
Lots of Music Therapy
Unfortunately, the answer to the big question has not progressed a whole lot since last week. The drama therapist who I am in sessions with was out sick for half the week, so I didn't get a chance to actually sit on drama therapy sessions this week. I still observed music therapy all day Thursday, and my supervisor filled in for the drama therapist for one of his groups I am scheduled for one day when he was sick, so I got to see a bunch of Music Therapy this week. I found myself much more comfortable interacting with clients than last week, as I am, like my supervisor said, getting to know them better. I am getting to know their physical habits (perseverations, self-stimulating behaviors, etc) and it was ever so slightly easier this week than last to decipher their communication styles amid their white noise motion. So even though I didn't go to DT sessions this week, I think the second exposure to those client groups will make it even easier for me to understand what's happening in those sessions and really interact with those clients next week.
Another cool silver lining of the drama therapist being sick this week: At the contract she was substituting for, I got to "brief" my supervisor about the groups we were working with beforehand. Even though I had only been to those groups once, she had never been, so she asked me what kind of a clients they were. I surprised myself with how much I remembered of the specific clients, their habits/tendencies, and their individual goals. We didn't have time to discuss very much before the session began, so the briefing was about 7 minutes of me spouting off everything I could remember about the two groups we were about to see and her feverishly planning a last minute session. It turns out that she (and I assume other therapists do this as well) have a standard skeleton plan for a group session that they can flesh out based on the needs of the individuals in the group, so I was giving her the details she needed to tailor her plan for that day.
So....are you going to be a DT?
The other DT related moment I had this week was during our clinical meeting. One morning a week we have an all-ITA staff meeting to chat about business and projects going on. The last part of the meeting is clinical review, a time for all of the therapists to talk about clients they need help with. It might be simply processing through their thoughts; it's also a time for asking for suggestions. Last week there was some of the former, and no soliciting of suggestions, so I was able to listen to a client story and learn from the therapist's treatment plan. This week one of the therapists did ask for suggestions on how to deal with her client. I had not explicitly been told whether or not I could contribute to the suggestion-giving, but I decided I would ask forgiveness rather than permission. I offered some potential DT strategies (mostly drawing on my theatre games/leadership icebreakers and exercises) and my rationale for how I thought those techniques could help the client. I expected a response of "we already tried something similar" or "that won't work because...."; I was sure that the answer that had come to me so easily couldn't possibly work. I have no DT certification; this is all very new to me. Instead, I got positive responses, head nods and other suggestions building off the ones I'd laid on the table. The discussion continued for a few minutes and I found the theatre gears in my brain churning at a million miles an hour to pump out more suggestions. I got overly excited about the possibilities and I felt like I could have continued forever. It was the same rush I get when I geek out about planning a rehearsal for a show I'm directing, or preparing for an meeting I'm facilitating. I finally stopped spewing ideas and took a breath, and everyone in the room sat there for a second. I think they were all a little surprised I had that much talkativeness in me. If you know me, that is anything but a surprise. I haven't had much reason to have extended conversations with the therapists, though, so the only interactions we'd had up to that point were smiles in the hallway or brief small talk by the copy machine. After the room sat in shock for a second that the admin intern had a voice and thoughts about client situations, the therapist who had asked for suggestions said "So, are you going to be a drama therapist?" Excuse the momentary bragging: later she thanked me for my input and when I asked said I'm always allowed to offer suggestions in those meetings. Maybe that's not a big deal, but it felt very validating to hear that my first stab at a potential DT treatment strategy had been on the right track.
Those were the big DT relevant experiences of the week. During group supervision this week one of the other clinical interns and I presented on our DSM disorders that we had studied for this week. It was nice to do some academic reading and geek out about it with the other intern. He presented on Disruptive Mood Disregulation Disorder, and I presented on Depersonalization/Derealization Disorder (My outline is here if you're interested in learning more about it - it's really interesting).
In Administrative News
I finished my preliminary work on the venue search, did a lot of volunteer coordination online, shadowed my first volunteer interview, and interviewed my first volunteer (after only shadowing once, which was terrifying and validating because I think it went well despite my only being here 2 weeks).
In Chicago News
I'm still working on having more Chicago adventures. Last night I went to an album release party where I saw a beautiful musical performance/performance art by this guy: https://parlourtapes.bandcamp.com/album/one-two-three
which was being put on by a studio run by a recent Cornell grad. Also had a great time at a Cornell alum game night (not official, just a gathering with a bunch of people who are still friends). I also discovered a delicious Greek diner around the corner thanks to my roommate and learned that a lot of diners in the Chicago area are cash-only.
No random/tangentially related pictures of me this week.... but instead a sunrise picture from right outside our apartment :)
Ellen, one of our Cornell alum friends came and stayed with Molly and I on Friday night and we all got up early to see the sunrise over the lake together! I even sat by the lake today journaling....I'm pretty lucky to live so close to such a mesmerizing force of nature.
Off to see a play about the role of science and technology in society- more to come next week!
Unfortunately, the answer to the big question has not progressed a whole lot since last week. The drama therapist who I am in sessions with was out sick for half the week, so I didn't get a chance to actually sit on drama therapy sessions this week. I still observed music therapy all day Thursday, and my supervisor filled in for the drama therapist for one of his groups I am scheduled for one day when he was sick, so I got to see a bunch of Music Therapy this week. I found myself much more comfortable interacting with clients than last week, as I am, like my supervisor said, getting to know them better. I am getting to know their physical habits (perseverations, self-stimulating behaviors, etc) and it was ever so slightly easier this week than last to decipher their communication styles amid their white noise motion. So even though I didn't go to DT sessions this week, I think the second exposure to those client groups will make it even easier for me to understand what's happening in those sessions and really interact with those clients next week.
Another cool silver lining of the drama therapist being sick this week: At the contract she was substituting for, I got to "brief" my supervisor about the groups we were working with beforehand. Even though I had only been to those groups once, she had never been, so she asked me what kind of a clients they were. I surprised myself with how much I remembered of the specific clients, their habits/tendencies, and their individual goals. We didn't have time to discuss very much before the session began, so the briefing was about 7 minutes of me spouting off everything I could remember about the two groups we were about to see and her feverishly planning a last minute session. It turns out that she (and I assume other therapists do this as well) have a standard skeleton plan for a group session that they can flesh out based on the needs of the individuals in the group, so I was giving her the details she needed to tailor her plan for that day.
So....are you going to be a DT?
The other DT related moment I had this week was during our clinical meeting. One morning a week we have an all-ITA staff meeting to chat about business and projects going on. The last part of the meeting is clinical review, a time for all of the therapists to talk about clients they need help with. It might be simply processing through their thoughts; it's also a time for asking for suggestions. Last week there was some of the former, and no soliciting of suggestions, so I was able to listen to a client story and learn from the therapist's treatment plan. This week one of the therapists did ask for suggestions on how to deal with her client. I had not explicitly been told whether or not I could contribute to the suggestion-giving, but I decided I would ask forgiveness rather than permission. I offered some potential DT strategies (mostly drawing on my theatre games/leadership icebreakers and exercises) and my rationale for how I thought those techniques could help the client. I expected a response of "we already tried something similar" or "that won't work because...."; I was sure that the answer that had come to me so easily couldn't possibly work. I have no DT certification; this is all very new to me. Instead, I got positive responses, head nods and other suggestions building off the ones I'd laid on the table. The discussion continued for a few minutes and I found the theatre gears in my brain churning at a million miles an hour to pump out more suggestions. I got overly excited about the possibilities and I felt like I could have continued forever. It was the same rush I get when I geek out about planning a rehearsal for a show I'm directing, or preparing for an meeting I'm facilitating. I finally stopped spewing ideas and took a breath, and everyone in the room sat there for a second. I think they were all a little surprised I had that much talkativeness in me. If you know me, that is anything but a surprise. I haven't had much reason to have extended conversations with the therapists, though, so the only interactions we'd had up to that point were smiles in the hallway or brief small talk by the copy machine. After the room sat in shock for a second that the admin intern had a voice and thoughts about client situations, the therapist who had asked for suggestions said "So, are you going to be a drama therapist?" Excuse the momentary bragging: later she thanked me for my input and when I asked said I'm always allowed to offer suggestions in those meetings. Maybe that's not a big deal, but it felt very validating to hear that my first stab at a potential DT treatment strategy had been on the right track.
Those were the big DT relevant experiences of the week. During group supervision this week one of the other clinical interns and I presented on our DSM disorders that we had studied for this week. It was nice to do some academic reading and geek out about it with the other intern. He presented on Disruptive Mood Disregulation Disorder, and I presented on Depersonalization/Derealization Disorder (My outline is here if you're interested in learning more about it - it's really interesting).
In Administrative News
I finished my preliminary work on the venue search, did a lot of volunteer coordination online, shadowed my first volunteer interview, and interviewed my first volunteer (after only shadowing once, which was terrifying and validating because I think it went well despite my only being here 2 weeks).
In Chicago News
I'm still working on having more Chicago adventures. Last night I went to an album release party where I saw a beautiful musical performance/performance art by this guy: https://parlourtapes.bandcamp.com/album/one-two-three
which was being put on by a studio run by a recent Cornell grad. Also had a great time at a Cornell alum game night (not official, just a gathering with a bunch of people who are still friends). I also discovered a delicious Greek diner around the corner thanks to my roommate and learned that a lot of diners in the Chicago area are cash-only.
No random/tangentially related pictures of me this week.... but instead a sunrise picture from right outside our apartment :)
Off to see a play about the role of science and technology in society- more to come next week!
Sunday, October 5, 2014
Week 1: Seeing Creative Arts Therapy in Action
Real Client Sessions Day #1:
The big events of my week were my first sessions with clients. This week I got to observe group sessions; three drama therapy groups and six music therapy groups.
Snapshot of me walking out of my first session: I was smiling quite widely, probably like this (yes, that one in the middle of the left pic is me):
Mentally, and a few times audibly, I said "That was so cool!". I was mind-blown. I felt a little more like this:
I was so energized. I had just witnessed familiar theatre games, many of which were similar to those I had used in my directing/acting experience and/or classes, being used for specific therapeutic purposes with tangible achievement of goals. Drama Therapy in action!
I had gone into the session with little to no idea of what was going to happen. This was what I knew:
-This was an adult senior day program
-I was expected to take data on each client in the group, which included filling out a form recording their affect, participation level, and taking general notes.
-I had been briefed by the therapist a little bit about his goals for the group, all of which were based on the psychological needs of a geriatric population
-I knew zero logistics of what the session was going to look like.
When we arrived, the therapist jumped right in. We played some movement name games (which I have used before in group ice-breaker activities) and then, as a group, developed a story which all the clients acted out along the way. We were essentially devising, but the underlying goals of the work were based on academic, researched-based therapeutic goals. On the surface, we were just like kids playing pretend. As the session went on, though I was able to see time and time again the underlying purpose of meeting those goals. After the story telling, the therapist debriefed with a few of the clients and related the role-playing to their every day lives, then asked the whole group to participate in a final theatre game that reflected a theme brought up in the debriefing. Then he wrapped up the session and said goodbye, much to my bewilderment that an entire hour and a half had passed.
By the time I had debriefed with the therapist on the way back to the office, I understood why I hadn't received any details about logistics beforehand; there was no logistics necessarily planned out. He has a bunch of tools in his drama therapy tool bag, and therapeutic goals to work on, but how he achieved those goals was entirely based on what his clients gave him to work with. I understand now why improvisation is such a large part of the audition process for the Drama Therapy master's program at NYU; the ability to listen, create connection, and "yes, and" with clients is key. What's more, the ability to go with the flow and make it look planned made the session I observed that much smoother and impressive.
The second half of the day was not quite as mind blowing at first. The other intern that was with us took data the rest of the day. That time, the therapist told me, was to "soak up the experience" and "take it all in". That was definitely an experience; but not one quite as meaningful because he hadn't briefed me on the goals for the group. The difference with the second and third session, which was a high functioning NDD (neurodevelopmental disability) population, was that every client had a different goal they were working on. Not knowing the goals made it difficult to understand the point of the games we played and stories we acted out. Looking back on it, though, after knowing each clients' specific goals, I have a much better idea of what we were doing. I might not have been mindblown:
But I was content: 
Real Client Sessions Day #2
Music therapy was the next day, and I was faced with interacting with a population I have little to no experience with: extremely low functioning NDD. Most clients were non verbal, and some were wheelchair bound. I observed a bunch of sessions with a variety of levels of speaking and movement capability. I found myself working to figure out the sensory feedback and communication the therapist was receiving from clients. If I really think about it, communication is a message translated by some given method. I am used to the method of 1) Speech or 2) Body language that starts with a "neutral" state of stillness. When a person has a neurodevelopmental disability, they sometimes have involuntary body movements, facial expressions, or vocalizations, all of which I rely on very heavily to indicate mood/temperament/level of engagement in an activity. With so much "white noise" movement, as some of our clients have, the neutral state becomes something other than stillness. In our sessions, it became much more difficult for me to read a client's body language if they had white noise.
Generally, physical communication is something like this: an outside stimulus causes the desire to move. Maybe a loud noise causes someone to cover their ears. The noise happens, the brain processes it, decides it wants to do something about it, and sends a signal to the muscles in the arms to rise up and cover the ears. Even in that extremely simplified version, there are multiple steps. If a person has a neurodevelopmental disability, its possible that one of those steps is dysfunctional. Maybe they hear the sound, decide they want to do something about it, and somewhere along the way the signal to tell the arm to move gets cut off. Some develop other signals, ones that won't get cut off, to respond to stimuli. Maybe instead of an arm movement it becomes a leg movement, or a head bob.
I was feeling a little hopeless about being able to connect with the NDD population after a long day of observing this week. Luckily, my supervisor (who is also the music therapist I observed) saved the day, assuring me that I will continue to get to know the clients over the next seven weeks, in which time I will also get to know how to read the subtleties of how they respond to stimuli and communicate without words and/or traditional modes of physical communication.
Technically, I'm an Admin Intern.
Back at the ITA office, I am settling back into the independent nature of life in the working world. I spent most of my office time this week updating and reorganizing the referrals database (which is full of resources for the therapists for client referrals to other therapies/services/activities/support groups, etc). I was also assigned to help with the venue search for ITA's 40th Anniversary celebration (if you know of any cool event venues in northern Chicago, holler at me), updating ITA's online job postings, and creating an art piece with our art therapist to brighten up one of our spaces, and writing a bio for myself for this month's ITA newsletter about their new intern :) I'm also planning to observe volunteer interviews this week and potentially going to conduct those interviews in the future! Woohoo!
As is a constant process in my life, I will be working on time management to get all of this done in the next seven weeks.
Reflection
As yesterday was Yom Kippur I feel it especially appropriate to talk for a moment about reflecting on my experience. In school, all work I do is aimed at preparing me for the "real world." There is a lot of reflection involved in the learning process, and everything I produce is critiqued by professors, peers, and/or myself. I am immersed in feedback and constantly asked "What do you want to do with your life?" and "How is this helping you get there?" Turns out in the working world, there is no "getting there;" you're there. I do have group supervision with the other interns once a week, which included an assignment for next week of reading a chapter from a textbook and researching a disorder from the DSM-5, so of course, growing and learning never stops happening.
It's a Small World After All aka Cornellians are EVERYWHERE.
I spent Yom Kippur with a lovely bunch of family friends. There are several crazy seven-degrees story that I couldn't resist mentioning, because they proved to me what a great network Cornell is and how small the world is:
1) The father of the family was a college friend of my mom and childhood neighbor of my dad, which is a small world to begin with. Other crazy connection: he is a mediation teacher at DePaul law school, where one of my Cornell alumni friends attends in Chicago, and whose house I am going to for a game night this week.
2) The daughter of the family is a big theatre geek like me, and is interested in drama therapy, which is a cool connection; weirder, though, she worked a summer with my friend Joe, who went to Cornell.
3) She also went to high school with Matt, a theatre alum from Cornell whom I've heard the name of and Molly, my roommate in Evanston, knows.
4) The mother of the family used to work with Joe's mom.
Lots of small world connections in one day.
Answering the Big Question
To all of you nail-biters, this week was full of valuable experiences that made me think, reflect, learn, and grow; but I don't think I've clarified my answer to the question in the title of this blog quite yet. To be continued.
The big events of my week were my first sessions with clients. This week I got to observe group sessions; three drama therapy groups and six music therapy groups.
Snapshot of me walking out of my first session: I was smiling quite widely, probably like this (yes, that one in the middle of the left pic is me):
Mentally, and a few times audibly, I said "That was so cool!". I was mind-blown. I felt a little more like this:
I was so energized. I had just witnessed familiar theatre games, many of which were similar to those I had used in my directing/acting experience and/or classes, being used for specific therapeutic purposes with tangible achievement of goals. Drama Therapy in action!
I had gone into the session with little to no idea of what was going to happen. This was what I knew:
-This was an adult senior day program
-I was expected to take data on each client in the group, which included filling out a form recording their affect, participation level, and taking general notes.
-I had been briefed by the therapist a little bit about his goals for the group, all of which were based on the psychological needs of a geriatric population
-I knew zero logistics of what the session was going to look like.
When we arrived, the therapist jumped right in. We played some movement name games (which I have used before in group ice-breaker activities) and then, as a group, developed a story which all the clients acted out along the way. We were essentially devising, but the underlying goals of the work were based on academic, researched-based therapeutic goals. On the surface, we were just like kids playing pretend. As the session went on, though I was able to see time and time again the underlying purpose of meeting those goals. After the story telling, the therapist debriefed with a few of the clients and related the role-playing to their every day lives, then asked the whole group to participate in a final theatre game that reflected a theme brought up in the debriefing. Then he wrapped up the session and said goodbye, much to my bewilderment that an entire hour and a half had passed.
By the time I had debriefed with the therapist on the way back to the office, I understood why I hadn't received any details about logistics beforehand; there was no logistics necessarily planned out. He has a bunch of tools in his drama therapy tool bag, and therapeutic goals to work on, but how he achieved those goals was entirely based on what his clients gave him to work with. I understand now why improvisation is such a large part of the audition process for the Drama Therapy master's program at NYU; the ability to listen, create connection, and "yes, and" with clients is key. What's more, the ability to go with the flow and make it look planned made the session I observed that much smoother and impressive.
The second half of the day was not quite as mind blowing at first. The other intern that was with us took data the rest of the day. That time, the therapist told me, was to "soak up the experience" and "take it all in". That was definitely an experience; but not one quite as meaningful because he hadn't briefed me on the goals for the group. The difference with the second and third session, which was a high functioning NDD (neurodevelopmental disability) population, was that every client had a different goal they were working on. Not knowing the goals made it difficult to understand the point of the games we played and stories we acted out. Looking back on it, though, after knowing each clients' specific goals, I have a much better idea of what we were doing. I might not have been mindblown:
But I was content: Real Client Sessions Day #2
Music therapy was the next day, and I was faced with interacting with a population I have little to no experience with: extremely low functioning NDD. Most clients were non verbal, and some were wheelchair bound. I observed a bunch of sessions with a variety of levels of speaking and movement capability. I found myself working to figure out the sensory feedback and communication the therapist was receiving from clients. If I really think about it, communication is a message translated by some given method. I am used to the method of 1) Speech or 2) Body language that starts with a "neutral" state of stillness. When a person has a neurodevelopmental disability, they sometimes have involuntary body movements, facial expressions, or vocalizations, all of which I rely on very heavily to indicate mood/temperament/level of engagement in an activity. With so much "white noise" movement, as some of our clients have, the neutral state becomes something other than stillness. In our sessions, it became much more difficult for me to read a client's body language if they had white noise.
Generally, physical communication is something like this: an outside stimulus causes the desire to move. Maybe a loud noise causes someone to cover their ears. The noise happens, the brain processes it, decides it wants to do something about it, and sends a signal to the muscles in the arms to rise up and cover the ears. Even in that extremely simplified version, there are multiple steps. If a person has a neurodevelopmental disability, its possible that one of those steps is dysfunctional. Maybe they hear the sound, decide they want to do something about it, and somewhere along the way the signal to tell the arm to move gets cut off. Some develop other signals, ones that won't get cut off, to respond to stimuli. Maybe instead of an arm movement it becomes a leg movement, or a head bob.
I was feeling a little hopeless about being able to connect with the NDD population after a long day of observing this week. Luckily, my supervisor (who is also the music therapist I observed) saved the day, assuring me that I will continue to get to know the clients over the next seven weeks, in which time I will also get to know how to read the subtleties of how they respond to stimuli and communicate without words and/or traditional modes of physical communication.
Technically, I'm an Admin Intern.
Back at the ITA office, I am settling back into the independent nature of life in the working world. I spent most of my office time this week updating and reorganizing the referrals database (which is full of resources for the therapists for client referrals to other therapies/services/activities/support groups, etc). I was also assigned to help with the venue search for ITA's 40th Anniversary celebration (if you know of any cool event venues in northern Chicago, holler at me), updating ITA's online job postings, and creating an art piece with our art therapist to brighten up one of our spaces, and writing a bio for myself for this month's ITA newsletter about their new intern :) I'm also planning to observe volunteer interviews this week and potentially going to conduct those interviews in the future! Woohoo!
As is a constant process in my life, I will be working on time management to get all of this done in the next seven weeks.
Reflection
As yesterday was Yom Kippur I feel it especially appropriate to talk for a moment about reflecting on my experience. In school, all work I do is aimed at preparing me for the "real world." There is a lot of reflection involved in the learning process, and everything I produce is critiqued by professors, peers, and/or myself. I am immersed in feedback and constantly asked "What do you want to do with your life?" and "How is this helping you get there?" Turns out in the working world, there is no "getting there;" you're there. I do have group supervision with the other interns once a week, which included an assignment for next week of reading a chapter from a textbook and researching a disorder from the DSM-5, so of course, growing and learning never stops happening.
It's a Small World After All aka Cornellians are EVERYWHERE.
I spent Yom Kippur with a lovely bunch of family friends. There are several crazy seven-degrees story that I couldn't resist mentioning, because they proved to me what a great network Cornell is and how small the world is: 1) The father of the family was a college friend of my mom and childhood neighbor of my dad, which is a small world to begin with. Other crazy connection: he is a mediation teacher at DePaul law school, where one of my Cornell alumni friends attends in Chicago, and whose house I am going to for a game night this week.
2) The daughter of the family is a big theatre geek like me, and is interested in drama therapy, which is a cool connection; weirder, though, she worked a summer with my friend Joe, who went to Cornell.
3) She also went to high school with Matt, a theatre alum from Cornell whom I've heard the name of and Molly, my roommate in Evanston, knows.
4) The mother of the family used to work with Joe's mom.
Lots of small world connections in one day.
Answering the Big Question
To all of you nail-biters, this week was full of valuable experiences that made me think, reflect, learn, and grow; but I don't think I've clarified my answer to the question in the title of this blog quite yet. To be continued.
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