I am back after a bit of a break! This week's episode, my partner Jon interviewed me. I hope you enjoy getting to know me a little better. This episode focuses on my research, psychological conceptualization, and my therapeutic modalities. Part II focuses more on my own journey, my career moving forward, and the reasoning behind the name "Deconstruction".
I recently graduated with my Masters of Counselling Psychology, and this fall it will be 10 years that I have been studying Psychology in some capacity. Therefore, it felt right to take some time to reflect on all that I have been learning. On top of studying Psychology, I have worked in the mental health field for many years. I started out worked as a Behavioural Interventionist while simultaneously working for the Crisis/Suicide hotline. I then worked for the coolest organization in the world: CRIS Adaptive Adventures. Look them up. Then I worked as a family preservation worker. For this job, I worked with parents in order to help them get their children back when they had been/ or were at risk of being removed from their homes by MCFD. From there, I went on to work as a Clinician at the Adult Withdrawal Management Unit, Adult Psychiatric Inpatient Unit, Opioid Substitute Treatment Program, Nechako Youth Treatment Centre, and with the Intensive Case Management team. I also got to spend a short time at the Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect clinic. Finally, I ended up at my most favourite job in the world: The Early Psychosis Intervention Team. Here I got unbelievable access to psychiatric training by phenomenal psychiatrists and a psychologist. On top of the medical school level training, (our program was affiliated with UNBC's medical program so we always had med students and psychiatry residents) I was able to work with the most incredible, resilient, and fascinating individuals. I was unbelievably lucky to have the opportunity to work closely with some of the most rare and severe psychiatric disorders in society. I cannot even begin to explain the learning and growth this job fostered. On top of that, I worked in collaboration with the best team in the world (Love you EPI).
These last last 8 months for my practicum, I have been working as a psychotherapist in private counselling, school counselling (middle school and University), and non-profit counselling settings. While a jarring difference from the clientele I was used to working with, it expanded my repertoire of knowledge and expertise. I loved working with this population just as much as the more severe cases; humans are Fascinating!
All that to say: I. Love. Psychology.
Enjoy.