Journal Entry#9  Wednesday 2/29/2011

Kurt Hahn was also quoted to say,

...Plus est en vous. ---  There is more in you than you think. [commonly used by Hahn and motto for one of his schools]

Reflect on this quote in terms of your experience with your internship:

I honestly never thought that I would have been going to a hospital every day to help people and to learn while I was I was in High School. It's so hard to think that I would be able to study psychology at age 17. I am so thankful for this opportunity. I know that since I was able to make this happen that I can do many other this with my life that will benefit me just as much if not more. I have been set up for college and the real world by setting up meetings, going to meetings, facilitating meetings, going on call for integrated care consultations, going to brainstorming meetings for help groups, going to help groups, and many other things to help the hospital during my time.  I never imagined I could do that, nor did I think I could set that up for myself. This has been a wonderful experience and opportunity for me to go one step closer to deciding what I'd like to do as a career. 

Journal Entry#8  

If you were to give advice to a junior next about the whole internship process, what would you say.  Write a letter for me to use next year in September.  It will not have your name on it.

Dear Juniors!

          Hopefully you already have an idea of what you want to do for your internship and some places to go and people to meet up with in mind. If you do not yet, you need to get on that as soon as possible. This experience will set you up for college internships, jobs in real life, and taking responsibility for your own learning. Don't get bogged down in the research paper, because it's one small part of a greater project. Keep your experts, teachers and peers informed on what you're doing so that they can help you move forward and no one is surprised when your internship come around. Try and get out of the house to do what you can, the world is your oyster, so go explore it. Do something you might want to do as a career or you want to study in college for your internship! If you don't like it, that's okay, then you know that you don't want to do it for a living and you would have saved yourself a lot of time and money. If you end up liking it, you could have set yourself up for the rest of your life. Make sure you start setting a timeline for yourself so that you are ready for due dates when they show up. 

Overall, have fun and work hard in the begging and save yourself the hell. 

Love, 

An anonymous Senior 

<3

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Day 6: Self Discovery in Diabetes

Journal Entry#7 Monday 11/13/2012
Having completed the first week and the first day of your internship, what are you goals for the last four days? 

For the last 4 days, I'd like to create some final questions and create a doc board outside of my internship office hours. I really need to hunker down and decide with my expert what my final product is going to be. I'm not entirely sure what it even could be at this point.

I would like to keep up with my hours at the hospital and logging outside of there at home in notes, and worksheets and this electronic journal, and the class at Yale.

Lastly, I'd like to start talking about how much different this experience is from what I thought it was going to be. It's a whole new world, really.
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Today wasn't much different than the others. I'm really getting into the routine now. I went to Managed Care, where phone consultations are held and today was a 'Peer Mentoring' Diabetes brainstorming session. The key themes of the session were really Self Motivation, Self Reliance, and Autonomy. There was so much I wanted to say, and since RMSEL really stresses Socratic Questioning and Socratic Seminar, I wanted to ask questions to guide the participants in the 'right' direction, but I was thinking about it all wrong. We, as facilitators were only there to take in the information and store it and condense it for them. We were not 'looking' for specific answers. We needed answers from people who live and deal with diabetes every day of their lives. They make the coping mechanisms for themselves. They create the structures. I learned a lot about what it must be like to be a teacher, especially in a place like RMSEL, or even how it is to be a parent; you can't take the conversation in the direction you want, because it's not your right to take it in that direction; I needed to go with the wind and trust the participants. This gave greater insight to my own life. I appreciated that I recognized this because this internship isn't solely about learning about how being a psychologist is, it's about self discovery; learning about what I want to do, about myself, about the world around me and how it works.

I truly value this opportunity.

We later had a staff meeting which was about 90 min and that was really boring.

That's all for today. 

Day 5. One Week Down, One More to Go

Journal Entry#6 Friday 11/12/2012
Kurt Hahn was also quoted to say,
"...I regard it as the foremost task of education to insure the survival of these qualities: an enterprising curiosity, an undefeatable spirit, tenacity in pursuit, readiness for sensible self denial, and above all, compassion."

Reflecting on your first week of your internship, how has this experience allowed you the opportunity to exhibit these tenants of education?

I will list each and say how I am showcasing each tenant of education!:

Enterprising Curiosity: Curiosity is showcased in my learning thus far as evidenced my all that I've done and explored to get here. This field is unfathomably large, and I am exploring many options of it, letting my mind wander and my heart (along with logic) decide if this is a path I might take for the foreseeable future, and make a goal out of it. I am enjoying making an expedition out of finding out all the pathways I might choose.  

Undefeatable Spirit: It's always been a struggle for me to ask for help or admit I'm wrong, or even ask 'stupid' questions. At the hospital, there really aren't any dumb questions to be asked, and when they seem simple, I swallow my pride and keep going! I haven't let anything slow me down and I am very proud for doing so, because I often become bogged down in my shortcomings. My spirits have been high, and there's no turning back now!

Tenacity in Pursuit: I think this is very similar to undefeatable spirit, but I appreciate how I have been so on top of doing all of this on my own, without any help from anyone but the people at the hospital. 

Readiness for Sensible Self Denial (Which means undergoing personal trials for the increased good of another): Since I'm only in high school and I've never actually taken a psychology course, nor am I clinically certified, I can't personally treat patients, but had I been in the situation where I had to face my own fear to help a patient, I would do so in a heartbeat. 

Compassion: Compassion is really important when treating and listening to patients, especially when dealing with mental health because a lot of mental issues can come from trauma or events that have happened in peoples' lives. I've learned more about compassion in this week, as I see that all the people I've worked with have showcased compassion to me and everyone around them continually. There is no margin for a psychologist or doctor to treat their patients or colleagues in a not friendly or compassionate way, whatsoever. I hold myself to the same standard that they do, especially in that environment. It can be a test, especially when patients get angry or lash out at you, but you always have to remember compassion above all. Empathy really goes with this tenant, and empathy is a major component to the ethics that psychologists subscribe to.   

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Today I did mostly the same thing that I did last Wednesday in Primary Care, just with different patients. I'll post more notes tomorrow, but I have a long day tomorrow and need to go to sleep. 

Day FOUR: Outpatient

Journal Entry#5 Thursday 11/9/2012
Kurt Hahn was also quoted to say,
“...There are three ways of trying to win the young. There is persuasion. There is compulsion and there is attraction. You can preach at them; that is a hook without a worm. You can say "you must volunteer." That is the devil. And you can tell them, "you are needed" that hardly ever fails.”

Reflect on each stage of this internship experience. What was your perspective of your involvement of the process. Have you taken ownership of this experience and if you have, when did you make this leap?

The stages of my internship have been very layered to look as such:

• Summer Brainstorm/Reading
• Essay Research and Writing
• Acquiring and meeting with an expert/experts
• Actual Internship Process

Now; In my brainstorming summer process, the world was my oyster. I could research or learn about anything in the whole wide world, and I wasn't pressed on time to get down to brass tax. This part was purely for fun (until the last few weeks of summer where I cram read 4 heavy texts, but that's beside the point). I picked a topic successfully, completed a annotated bibliography, and four read anchor texts which were also annotated. Check!

Next, was essay writing and research. I was a little slow to start on this one because a negative incentive was given. If your draft wasn't in by the deadline, no Costa Rica for you. I got the paper in though. I wasn't too worried about it; though my library books were awfully late. Ha! Still, done, but not as motivated. Check!

Acquiring and meeting with an expert? Done! I got this step done way ahead of the game, and was majorly prepared. Dr. Sheldon (my expert) was well informed about how it worked and what I wanted to do. I had a proposal written and finished. Motivation was high and I used no help from teachers, parents or students for any steps so far. 

Internship Process? I've had impeccable drive, if you ask me, but I'm quite biased. I take myself there every day. I'm not usually late, despite some early hours. I go from building to building and have not gotten lost. I signed up through the volunteer system, had blood drawn and multiple tests done so that I was able to work at the hospital, signed so many papers I could have sworn I was purchasing a house, and I am still motivated every day to continually take notes. I ask what I can do to help, and actively sponge up all the information I can get. I've abided by dress code, hours, and confidentiality rules and I am having a wonderful experience. I love this internship.  I have done a lot of work inside and outside the office to learn as much as I can. I would say CHECK!

I've continually made the leap for myself and pushed out of my comfort zone but still remaining in the realm of sanity and safety. Thank goodness. 

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Wheew. Well... Today I had a short day at the office but lots of housekeeping (paper work) to do. Readings galore and writing all this down on paper. (Sorry I'm only now getting it to you electronically!)

I was in the Adult-Out-Patient today and only saw one client. 

Nothing very notable here because everything was too personal to share because it might give away the identity of the patient. 

Thanks for reading any who!

Until Tomorrow~

Tallon

Day 3: In-Patient Mix Up

Journal Entry#4 Wednesday 11/8/2012
Kurt Hahn was also quoted to say,
"Without self-discovery, a person may still have self confidence, but it is a self confidence built on ignorance and it melts in the face of heavy burdens. Self discovery is the end product of a great challenge mastered, when the mind commands the body to do the seemingly impossible, when courage and strength are summoned to extraordinary limits for the sake of something outside the self--a principle, an onerous task, another human life."

Reflect on this quote using your experience with your internship.

I believe that this quote is extremely relevant to my internship in a multitude of ways. I will discuss points as they come chronologically in the quote.

1. Self Discovery: A lot of In/Out patient is a new beginning and many mentally ill patients will go to recovery centers where they can discover themselves and self actualize. In my own light, I am discovering myself by doing this process. Is helping people mentally what I should do? Is that where I am best put to use? I'm not sure, but I am figuring that out day by day. It's why I picked this field! The mastery of challenges can be found in many places; from going to rehab, to the challenges I discussed in yesterday's post.

2. "When the mind commands the body...": YES!! That's what this is about! Mental illnesses are problems with mind AND body and they effect each other! This is awesome and perfectly ties in! I am seeing it from a bit different light than my peers probably will, but hey, c'est la vie. Mind and body together can create help or a solution for personal problems, or solving patients' problems, creating techniques and environments where they can over come what they think might be impossible, over coming their fears and ailments. This takes courage, strength, and extraordinary limits by the patient and healthcare provider. The rest of the quote really falls into place with everything else I have already said.

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Today, I sat in to help facilitate two group therapies in both wings of the Mental Health In-Patient Facility.


The more acute side was first, and the meeting went very well. Patients had goals for when they were released and were happy and excited to be leaving soon. Conversation began between patients, and not limited to facilitators asking questions, but only towards the end of the session. It lasted a full hour, and only two participants fell asleep. Everyone seemed fairly mentally stable, until the end when one patient was talking about having to leave and go to space soon because the world was ending. He reported that he had been to the moon and mars before and he was going back after he left his halfway house.


The less acute side was not so peaceful. A woman with unexplained migraines came in crying and was pulled out halfway through the meeting. Later, two patients started flirting. Two other patients were acting as conspirators against the hospital. A few others were completely ambivalent towards therapy. It was a mess and very hard to contain. There was most definitely not a positive environment there.


Another Day, another Dollar... wait, I'm not getting paid! Just another wonderful day being a sponge of knowledge!

Day 2: Integration

I'll be starting out most of my posts by doing a required journal entry by my school, but then I will go on and talk about my day at the hospital, my questions, new findings, etc etc. So, look for the bold line and that will divide topic sections-- If you lose interest in one thing, I urge you to go to the next bold line and there will be something hopefully more to your liking and most assuredly new and different!

Journal Entry#3 Wednesday 11/7/12

Use this entry to communicate anything you would like to say to teachers of RMSEL about how this experience has/will exemplify your commitment to find your unique potential and push yourself beyond the comfort of what is easy for you.


Dear Teachers of Rocky Mountain School of Expeditionary Learning,

My time at Denver Health so far has already been majorly informative and I continue to expand my knowledge and skill set in the field of psychology. I'm enjoying getting to know all the sections of the field of work and am happy that I have pursued this option as a career path choice. I would like to keep the door open, and learned so by this experience, so to me, I would say that in an of itself is exemplifying my commitment and interest in this work. I have potential in this line of work because of it's changing manor and my ability to constantly problem solve. I would never get bored because every day is different and there is always something I can tackle and think about and view from a million different perspectives. Psychology incorporates right and left brained thinking, as well as Eastern and Western medicine methods.


This line of work has and will continue to push me out of my comfort zone while I am dealing with patients that talk about uncomfortable things, or while I must face my own fears while speaking with people. It's not easy because I do have to ask for help and ask hundreds of questions because I am in no way shape or form medically certified. This also pushes me as a learner and as a person because I am the sort of person who loves doing things on my own and honestly, I can be sort of a know-it-all. This is something that could challenge me every day mentally, physically (as you have to go with the ebb and flow of the different programs and patients), as a problem solver, as a student, and ultimately as a human being. The psychology field also challenges me to have perfect timing and empathy with people, neither of which I have mastered yet.

I have many plans for the rest of my time here at the hospital and I can't wait to keep moving forward with all the things I know I can do. I want to keep pushing myself and I will continue to assist and learn here as much as I can!

Thanks for Listening-

Tallon VanNoy

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Today I was working in the Primary Care Facility, where integrated care is being implemented of mental health and physical health working together in one system. It's a very new system, but the psychology field is leaning this way because it's more practical to keep the mind healthy with the body.


Mental health seems to have some sort of stigma around it, and people are less inclined to see a professional about mental health concerns because in the general public's mind, 'we' tend to think that people who are mentally unhealthy are crazy. And no one wants to be crazy, right?


Primary care integration specifically hones in on the normality of common mental health issues and targets problems early on before they become worse. Common problems include:

Stress, Depression, Mania, Suicidal Thoughts, ADD, ADHD, OCD, and many more.


It's important to have consultations implemented along with primary care physicians because regular practitioners are not certified to diagnose mental illnesses, but every day hundreds of thousands of people are diagnosed by primary practitioners, who prescribe their patients anti-depressants, medications for ADD, and ADHD, and many other medications, when that should be a psychologist or psychiatrist's job to diagnose mental illnesses.

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I was able to see three patients today, which I learned a lot about the actual integrated process. It's standard to have 10-30 min sessions, rather than 50, like most psychologists do in private practices. Also, consultations/meetings happen once every one to two months and you meet 1-5 times, rather than meeting once a week for 6 months.