Social Work - Advanced Micro Practice

Advanced Micro Practice is one of the classes I am taking this summer to continue working on my master's degree in social work. Basically, this class discusses the different theories, techniques, and interventions a social worker can use when working with different clients who are experiencing a range of different problems. Last week, we discussed Attachement Theory. This theory stresses the need to be close to another person, even as an adult. This need is not pathological and frustration of this need can lead to depression and anxiety. The main component of this theory states that psychological problems stem from deficits in relationsihps and/or deficits or distortions in internal representations of self, others, and relationships. Basically, the theory is stating that everyone needs attachments to others in their life and if these attachements do not exsist, depression and anxeity can be a very likely outcome.

Yesterday in class, we discussed Cognitive Therapy (my favorite theory and more than likely the intervention techniqes that i would use with clients). This theory is one of the best to use when working with teenagers and teens are definitley the people I would like to work with. On a little side note, I am doing my second internship at the Plano ISD Special Programs Center. I had my interview last week. It is the PERFECT place for me to do my internship. It is a 100% clinical setting where i will have my own claseload of individual clients and I will also have the opportunity to lead several skills based group sessions. I am very excited. I don't think I could have dreamed up a better internship placement! Anyway, back to Cognitive Therapy or CT. Cognitive therapy rests on the premise that cognitions or internal thoughts are the major determinants of how we feel and act. CT assumes that the internal dialogues of clients play a major role in their behavior. The ways in which individuals monitor and instruct themselves and interpret events in their life sheds light on the dynamics of disorders such as depression and anxiety. Aaron Beck who is the key spokesperson for CT, describes a triad of depressive cognitions. He says that "the self as inadequate", "the environment as not reinforcing", and "the future as devoid of hope" form three points of a triangle. This triangle describes the cycle that a client who is depressed can get into. The client will see themselves as inadequate or unworthy and they will also believe that their surroundings and environment have nothing to offer them and that they have no future ahead of them. They go round and round with themselves and with all these negative thoughts in their head until they truly believe that they are not worth anything and have nothing to offer with no future ahead of them. So, in short, they become depressed because of all the negative self talk that is occuring in their head. If someone tells themself all the time that they are not worth anything and will never amount to anything in this world, then they will live their life like that is the truth and that leads to depression. It is the job of a cognitive therapist to help that client understand their affective and behavioral responses to certain situations in their lives. To help them understand why they react a certain way or why they think a certain negative thought when something happens in their life. If a client can become aware of their thoughts and when they occur, they have a much better chance of stopping those thoughts when they do occur. There are several different intervention techniques that cognitive therapists use to help clients achieve their goals in therapy, but I think those can be left for another post. :)

I have been thinking all day about these different therapies and wondering if i am really ready to help teenagers work through some of their problems because come August 25, that is what my job will be. I am very confident in my skills as a presenter and my knowledge of issues that surround sexual assualt. That has been the focus of my job for a few years now. But, i am not as confident in my skills as a therapist. I have had the schooling and I possess the empathy and genuineness to be a therapist, but i am not confident in my skills yet. My coworkers and friends in the field have told me that it will just take practice. They said they were petrified during their first session with their first client. i am sure i will also be scared, but I hope that I have the courage to help make the difference in that young person's life. If I can make one day in one teen's life just a little bit better, then all this studying and driving (to Arlington) and worrying will be worth it. ok, enough rambling, I think I am going to watch an episode of Friends and hit the sack.
~Nada