WEEK SIXTEEN

I'M DONE! :)

REFLECTION:

I've learned so much from this experience. I came into this semester thinking I would be working with children and adults with mental disorders such as downs syndrome, autism, etc. What I actually jumped into working with was so much different than anything I ever could have imagined. Never before had I ever (knowingly) had the opportunity to sit down and talk with someone suffering from mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, mania, or borderline personality disorder. In my past experience working with mental illness, I provided care for children with disabilities in their parents' homes. Working with families in the context of inpatient treatment was much different in that the parents were only aloud visitation during certain hours. At times, I found a lot of my counseling to be not only for the patients I was assigned, but their families as well. Overall, I really enjoyed this placement. I couldn't have asked for a better instructor (Thank you, Floy Hodson!), and will probably never top some of the situations I encountered at Larue.