Mental health

Well it turns out that mental health is a lot of fun. We have an awesome instructor who is very easy going and the facility is really nice. I'm at the VA and I've gotten to go to PTSD support groups, dual diagnosis groups for people struggling with both a mental disorder and drug /alcohol problem, schitzophrenic cognitive therapy,all kinds of neat things. We are allowed to sit in on all interdisciplinary meetings and it's great to see the admit to discharge process from the beginning to the end. The only difference between the VA and other mental facilties is that people choose to come here, they are not being committed by someone else. The biggest theme that I see in just about everyone there is depression, not to surprising really. It has been nice also that what we are learning in theory correlates with what we are seeing in clinicals. That doesn't happen very often!
I'm also so thankful that we get an extra week off this next week for playing catch up and studying, I did well on the last test and hopefully can do well this next one. Then my stress level will be so much better.

Heading back to the VA

I'm starting mental health tomorrow. I really don't have a feeling one way or the other about it. Right now my focus is on my theory class and all other school events just take me away from my studying. I know it will be interesting, and I'm sure I'll learn alot, it's just that I'm so stressed and can't wait till this quarter is over.

Cruising along

First of all, I have to apologize for all the recent misspellings on this blog, I've gone back and noticed quite a few! My only defense is I am usually in a hurry and rarely proofread what I post. This week is going a lot smoother than earlier in the quarter. I'm done with long term care and have had some extra time to devote to theory. This was really needed, because I was starting to crack under the pressure! The timing has also worked out because next week Chris has half days in school almost all week and they have veterans day off. That would be really hard to schedule babysitting if I was busy in clinicals all week. Work is still going well, and I enjoy it just as much as when I first started.My nurses are so supportive and are really pulling for me to get a recidency when I graduate. As soon as I get some batteries back in the camera, I'll post our Halloween pictures. The kids had fun and got way too much candy! I've been finding wrappers everywhere! Till next time, take care!