Elsa's 10K

Today was a looOooOoong day of clinic stuff. We had a group meeting from 11 - 12 and then I had my individual meeting from 2:30 - 3:45 and then clinic from 4 - 6. It was extremely helpful but bad b/c I was completely unprepared for Miracle's session.

The funniest part about our meeting with 2T today was when she gave an analogy. She was in particularly good spirits (actually cracking jokes for the first time!) so she opened up the "floor" to discussions of whether we "cured" our clients in one session and if we should dismiss them and other news and mishaps. Of course the lesson is that we must examine every factor. Perhaps our testing/probing material is drastically different than our therapy material. That could easily account for why our client could score poorly on standardized testing and be instantly "cured" during the first session of therapy. On the other hand, our client could not be making progress at all, but is it really our client incapabilities?

When 2T was supervising psychology graduate students at a well-known local university, she was down in the rat lab. Of course they joked that they were actually the lab rats. Either way, they spent hours in the lab training rats to respond to conditioning. It never failed that at least one student would go up to her after several days/weeks and declare that his/her rat was dumb and s/he wanted to trade rats. 2T would inevitably sit them down and discuss that the purpose of this lab is to train the rats so that they're not "dumb" but are capable of doing something. She then guided the student to examine his/her own techniques, variables, etc. After a week or two, the student would come back and report, "OMG! My dumb rat is actually smart!" As if the student had just cured "his/her" rat. The lesson is that clinicians must always examine every aspect of their treatment if progress is not made or favorable results are not being accomplished. It's not that our clients are "dumb rats." It's (likely) us.

After that talk, we went about with our sessions. After one session, I had a mini-therapy session in the hallway w/ Bruce Lee's cousin. We lamented about how our clients have so many "levels" going on that it's hard to pinpoint what we should target. Then BLC said, "Hm, maybe I just have a dumb rat."

I know, totally cruel, un-pc, and all that stuff, but it was hysterical! Okay, maybe you had to be there. I thought it was hilarious either way. On the reals, we don't have "dumb lab rats." Another thing that 2T continually reminds us is that we really need to begin our therapy by capitalizing on our clients' strengths. It's totally logical, but as student clinicians, we often go into sessions free-stylin' (or maybe I'm just speaking for myself), leaving all the knowledge and evidence-based intervention techniques we've studied, at the door. It's funny and eerie how we can forget the simplest truths when we're in those 50 minute sessions.

I was so glad to be done with clinic. Luckily, I didn't need to sneak out b/c 2T was talking to my classmate. I usually try to quietly put away materials and avoid her stopping to talk to me more, especially since I had a place to be tonight!

I had a date with BSILF! She played hookie from "work" today (to work on ISRs and other school stuff). I have to admit that I was really looking forward to kickin' it with her. We met at Costco (my fave place) to peruse the huge aisles for something to devour. Like BGF's hubby said, it's a bad idea to shop when you're hungry. Worst -- imagine indecisive me wanting to eat everything. Fortunately, she/we picked out a delicious (huge) chicken caesar wrap and chocolate chip cookies, and then we headed back to her place and chatted (while I ate super slow as usual). I totally wish I could have stayed longer (I probably coulda talked for hours with her), but I had a "long" drive back as well as more session evals to write.

In other news, Elsa had a momentous day. Her odometer struck 10,000 when I left school to go to BSILF's! I was a bit sad, but also glad to "get it over with." It's like she hit puberty. That also means I gotta take her in for another "gyn" appt -- get her oil changed and other parts checked out. I'm thrilled b/c I just received a $5 off coupon. Very helpful for my savings since my baby needs the expensive synthetic oil. Unfortunately, she's 5K miles overdue w/ a tire rotation. :( What's crazy is that I've only had her for 10 months. BF's car "hit puberty" the week of my birthday (when he let me take her to school)...but his car is 3 years 4 months!!

Thx BSILF 4 a gr8 d8!