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!
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