Dr. Jackie

Well it's official...I'm a therapist. Well at least I saw my first actual client today. Now some of you might say, "Hey, Jackie, you saw clients all summer. What are you talking about?" Those were clients that I saw once and were passed along to other people. My job was to listen to their story and then recommend the proper treatment for them. Today at my new practicum I became someone's "counselor." This means I am going to be seeing her for twelve weeks and working to establish goals for her. I was supposed to have other clients so far too, but right now she is the only one who has actually showed up for more than just an intake.

That brings me to a crisis point. All I have learned to do so far is listen and diagnose. Now comes the difficult task of actually learning how to set goals and create interventions to reach them. I am a fish out of water for the moment...but I am going to learn to grow legs and use them. That is the good news. But after one session, I am already realizing how far I have to come. Listening to my supervisor is mind-boggling. She can listen to how our session went and offer so many points of advice and insights into what was happening and what needs to happen. I can't wait until it comes so naturally to me too. But it will be a long process. Sometimes I wonder if I'm really going to be ready to have a job as a counselor in June. That's not that far away :0 Yikes! I've got work to do...