The rain has kept the humidity away up until this last week, so I'm beginning to appreciate the dreary days of the last month, they really make studying 15 hours a day much more feasible than the sunshine and hot humid afternoons.
I'm going to post some of the articles I've been reading to let you all in on the clinical social work world.try google scholar to search for them, I dont think the link will work. I cant figure out how to attach documents to blogs, so i cant share my writing on the subject. I'm learning lots about social justice, individual development, policies, thearpy techniques, diagnois and all the implications, ins outs, up and down sides, backs, fronts, shadows, past present and future of it all.
I think the best analogy for the experience is summer camp... super fun, great intense, connecting with many different people, lots of little bits of fascinating things... or maybe its best described as being held underwater for 10 weeks, where you struggle, panic, think your going to die from all the stress, unable to learn,process, internalize it all, then enter into a state of peace with it, at which point they yank you out and send you out into the world to be a social workers.... maybe a little of both- drowning summer camp.
I'll head back to my beloved west for packing up and road tripping my way to North Carolina mid august, where I begin my internship at Duke University psych ward starting september 8th!
The vagabond state has me shedding belongings and living in creative ways of cheapness, trying not to panic about the details ( like where to live or how im going to pay for cost of living) I just cant find time to take care of. I choose instead when I'm riding my bike to class, dancing to the reggae band, reading/attending lectures to wrap my mind around the health care system and possible ways to make policy change, to I notice my life is an incredible blessing full of people, experiences, options, information and privilege- life is always uncertain, bumpy, not quite all I thought, and pretty amazing because of it. I hope you all know how much I like/love/miss you and hope you have a moment where life feels life an blessing to great to comprehend... in between all the chaos.
If you do nothing else, look up the philidelphia kinsington homeless movement of women. Facinating social movement
DeJong, P., Berg, I.K. (2001). Co-constructing cooperation with mandated clients. Social Work , 46(4), (pp 361-374)
Schlosser, L.Z. (2003). Christian privilege: Breaking a sacred taboo. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 3, 44-51.
Deegan, P. (2002). Recovering our sense of value after being labeled mentally ill. In Adams, M. et al (editors). Readings for diversity and social justice. NY: Routledge (pp 359-363)
McIntosh, P. (2004). White Privilege: Unpacking the invisible knapsack. In M. Andersen and P.L. Collins (Eds.) Race, class and gender, (5th ed.). Belmont, CA : Wadsworth. (pp. 103-108).
Miller J. & Garran A.M. (2008). Social identity formation and group membership. In Racism in the United States : implications for the helping professions, (pp.103-133) . Belmont, CA : Thompson Brooks/Cole.
Karger, H. J. & Stoesz, D. (2010). American social welfare policy: A pluralist approach (5th ed.). Boston : Allyn & Bacon, (Chapter 13 – Mental health and substance abuse policy, 338-367). HV95 .K354 2010 [on print reserve].
Zamora , M. F. & Moffit, R. E. (2007). Does America need national health insurance? (pp. 45-62). In H. J. Karger, J. Midgley, P. A. Kindle, & C. B. Brown. (Eds.). Controversial issues in socialpolicy (3rd ed.) . Boston : Allyn and Bacon. HN59.2 .C66 2007 [on print reserve].
