A question.

[grim23]

So, while drinking Turkish coffee with my BF while in Raleigh before we went to a biker rally, she said that I am often unaware that I sometimes make requests of people in a way that makes it difficult for them to say no or ask for what they need, and set their own boundaries with me. She said this may come across as manipulation or taking advantage of people. At the same time, she also said that once I am aware of a boundary, I am very good at honoring it.

She also said my greatest quality was challenging others to grow and develop.


I welcome all comments, anonymous or not, regarding her insights into me. Anything. I do not question her perception of me. What I'm looking for is other feedback about how I do these things. I am in NC for a year, and I have a chance to grow while I am away from who I was when I was in OR. I'm working on improving my self, especially my communication with others.

Thank you.

Comments

[mamagaea.livejournal.com]

You should let us comment on more entries. :P

I was wondering, what kind of psychologist do you want to be when you grow up? What will be your focus?

[grim23]

So noted. :>

When I grow older, I want to be a hospital-based clinical addiction neuropsychologist, assessing brain injury and dementias and cognitive function in the light of years of substance abuse for adults. I will probably also have a psychotherapy practice, working with people with a trauma history, particularly sexual abuse and domestic violence, and cult abuse survivors.

Why do you ask?

[mamagaea.livejournal.com]

I started PSU this term and one of my classes is Counseling, and I was wondering how much counseling training you had and what type of courses were involved. My career will involve addiction counseling. I want to be a crisis intervention and drug and alcohol abuse prevention specialist in high schools and middle schools, but I spoke with one of the grad ta's in my counseling class who is a career counselor and she was saying that it's a difficult field to get into because they aren't staples at schools (even though they should be in this day and age.)

My focus at this point is Communications. I am focusing on small group and interpersonal communications with a minor in psychology because I feel that expert communications and listening skills is extremely important in the counseling field. They should offer more communication courses for the counseling curriculum. I think someday they should offer a BA in Counseling instead of just Psychology. At least there are masters degrees in counseling psychology.

So, anyway, I was just looking for some guidance on the best way to go about getting my career in motion in the most effective way possible. Besides, I think it's cool hearing about what other psychology nuts like to do. :)

[grim23]

I've had undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral level communication classes, although theory and clinical practice is very different than real life. Often they aren't very useful, as they repeat theory which may or not apply.

Career in motion? Job shadow, Volunteer. Network. Find out exactly what you want by actually observing and then actually doing it. Find out if that is really what you want. Then, get letters of rec from those who watched you learn. Use those letters to get entry level jobs, and then work up. Never turn down an opportunity to learn new therapies, new techniques, and new systems.

From one psych nut to another---good luck. *smile*