Filling you in :)

Ok so for the duration on the psychosocial prac, each student is meant to be working with two clients simultaneously. From my previous blog entry I had introduced to you one of my clients. And on the second week our supervisor had assigned us one more client, meaning I have been engaging in treatment sessions with my 2 clients for the past week.

My second client was a 68 years old white female who has been living at the lodge for more than 20 years. I say was because she recently hasn’t been feeling well and so was admitted to hospital and has been undergoing tests because the doctors suspect that she has cancer of the throat L. She had previously mentioned to me that her throat had been giving her problems, but I hadn’t suspected much because she had been recovering from the flu, only to find out a week later that the discomfort she had been feeling could possibly be cancer of the throat/esophagusL. So unfortunately I’ve had to be allocated a new client prematurely.

In the mean time I have been working with my higher functioning 33 year old client and have figured out her difficulties and why it would have be a tad bit difficult to try and get her into the community. Not just getting her into the community but getting her in the community and expecting her to function within reasonable expectations even with her diagnosis. My long term aim with her was to get her into the open labour market at the PnP Hyper that’s really close to the lodge. Now to me this didn’t seem farfetched because she presented to be very competent in her duties at the lodge (these entailed kitchen duties of sweeping and mopping the floor. Preparing the dining room tables, washing dishes after meals and helping out with tea). I constantly would ask myself what could be the possible hindrance for this client if she were to work into the open labour market. She seems competent enough in the work she is already assigned too and has good social skills. Light bulb moment was only when we did a money management game. It became so clear to me that she would crumble under the pressure of the outside world.  She presented with no concept or worth of money and a simple addition proved to be too abstract for her. So imagine if she got hired and would have to deal with managing a sum of money each month when she can barely cope with a R100 note. I wanted to burry myself for having missed that. I realized I would have been so selfish by doing so because I would have been ignoring all signs and reasons of why she hasn’t possibly been able to do that before. I would have just focused on my own pursuits and focused on testing my capabilities as a student. Because you have to admit, doing this would have been a huge accomplishment for me and I would have felt worthy and would have developed a trust in my abilities. But how would this have helped my client? Really, How? Instead, I would have perpetuated and exacerbated all insecurities and in capabilities she has known about herself.  And left her in so world daunting and overwhelming to cope with. I would have been setting my client up for failure because I would have been expecting too much from her.  So even though she is high functioning I have to remember that it’s within the context she finds herself in and it doesn’t necessarily reflect her capabilities in the outside world. With that said I have slightly shifted my train of thought and am hoping to expand her capabilities within the facility. Why not make her great at what she’s good at?

 Today I got two new clients.  One is female and presents to have mild intellectual impairment and has been residing at the lodge for 11 years. And I have a clear picture of what my focus will be with her, because she takes her work very seriously and values her duties at the lodge, my plan with her will be to expand and explore possible leisure pursuits that can add meaning to the life she is currently living because she too is one of the higher functioning individuals. And the other is interestingly a high functioning male (who had to drop out medical school due to his diagnosis) and is presenting to be in the residual phase of treatment. I just had a brief introductory session with him and he seemed just a bit hesitant to want and work with me but promised to try. Out of all the cases presented to me thus far, it would be interesting to work with him and find out how he defines himself amongst others within the facility because as others may be high functioning most of them are there to be presenting with intellectual disabilities. Whereas him on the other hand, it’s more of a chemical imbalance of the brain which he himself could possible explain to me about. I hope I am able to maintain my role as a student therapist with this client and not find myself too intimidated that it becomes a problem during therapy sessions.

All in all im loving my stay at the lodge, i'm loving the grils im with (My class mates). They provide me with support (we support and help eachother when one needs help). I just need to remember not to lose track of my clients needs because ultimately they are the ones i'm offering my service too, and i could never go wrong if my sessions are client specific.  

I Am A Human Being

I chose to upload this video because it such a powerful reminder of whom I always thrive to be, it reminds me of a person or rather the human being I should be. Now this is more into my personal space, outside academics and more into another part of what makes Nthabiseng J

I try to live my life as a Christian, but it gets hard sometimes because of many terrible things that happen around you and the things that get done to you or even to the people you love. It’s like sometimes life gets so arrogant enough to remind you that you actually have little control over what happens to you, and that the rest is actually controlled by powers greater than you. Now I believe that whole heartedly. But I also believe that God created in us will power and a mind far greater than we dare to explore. And that’s why we sometimes find ourselves failing to fathom the simplicity of living life, and that things such as love, laughter and forgiveness are the source of liberation. And that life is not about what's to be but rather about what is at that moment. So as long as I remember the beautiful message that Dr Maya Angelou teaches me in this video. I should never look at another human and judge because I too possess the same traits whether bad or good.  And just because I choose the later, I still need to remember that we all created by that 1 person I chose to praise, it’s a hard fact to try and grasp, but it’s true.

THe Intouchables

Ok you gonna have to believe me when I say OT is the most fun degree to ever be studied at a university lol, and I’m not only saying that because the OT committee successfully arranged a free movie night for the health science students at our campus, NO. And it’s not even because everyone that came to watch the movie would agree that they enjoyed every second of it. Oh nO! Lol. OT being fun has nothing to do with that of course. I mean, just because we the only degree to ever do such (as far as I recall), doesn’t mean we awesome, right?Right J

So a few hours just after prac on Tuesday, I had a date with my classmates and the rest of health sciences at the GSB theatre to watch the movie The Intouchables. I’m so glad I went, besides the fact that it was free. I was actually really excited to see what one of my lectures was so excited about. She’s part of the OT committee who arranged movie night and she had been urging us to watch this movie, so after she had arranged it. How could I not go? I loved every bit of it; it’s a different kind of comedy-drama because it helps us look at humor in a very different way and the way this movie goes about creating stereotypes and cliché’s on the big screen is totally fun. So of course it was typical in a sense that it’s taken from the same angle most movies are taken from, where it’s the same cliché’ of two different people, from two different worlds meeting. And through experimenting and doing something outside the norm, they both get to experience life in a way different to most average people. But trust me, if you’re the kind of person who finds beauty at the site of the ocean you gonna love this movie because it reassures us that it is in actual fact the priceless moments that bring about fulfillment and purpose to the soul of one. So please check it out, it’s awesome! Stereotypes and cliché’s were never this fun J

North Bay Lodge

The 13/09/2013 was my first day of psychosocial 3yr prac at North Bay Lodge (NBL). It is a residential facility for upper class individuals all presenting with some degree of mental illness. It’s a privately run (not funded by the government) facility caring for 40 residences.

On the morning of the prac, we meet up with our supervisor and we had a brief touch up about what we were expecting of the day and what were we feeling. I was feeling a bit nervous, uneasy and not very sure of what / how the day was going to pan out. But as we got the feel of the facility I had no choice but to warm up to the atmosphere and the beautiful paintings and art that surrounded the place. From the moment we walked in the facility, there was a young guy sitting just outside the entrance playing his guitar slowly and softly, almost saying welcome J

We met up with the manager who was just as welcoming and energetic. She seemed very pleased to meet with us. She orientated us to the facility which turned out to be smaller than I had anticipated but beauty just the same as I had in my head, if not so, more. They have a lounge area where they can sit and watch tv, a dining area for all their meals, patios, a salon, a gym that they use on the regular, a kitchen, a laundry place which is situated outside and bedrooms. Each residence has their own uniquely designed spacious room bringing about a sense of individuality; it highlights autonomy, and uniqueness which is rather refreshing as compared to other psych venues I’ve heard about and have been too.

On the day we were allocated two residences to work with. I got the chance to work with my first. She is a 33 year old black female who has been residing there for more than 10 years. She is the only black female there and is still very young as compared to the majority of the white pensioners who reside at NBL. Already this brings about curiosity about how she has learnt to identify herself within the context she has found herself because she moved into the facility when she was still a 19 year old and now she is a young adult.  I interviewed her, did the mini-mental state examination and we did card making. From the assessments I gathered that the client presents with mild intellectual disability. From the assessments carried out she presents to have good social and communication skills. She doesn’t struggle to hold a conversation (both in English and isiZulu) she handles and uses tools and materials well i.e.; scissors and pen but evidently has difficulty with literacy and numeracy as her reading, spelling and writing would appear to be that of a 8 year old. And she also has trouble with numbers and counting.

My supervisor was present during the card making activity, she gave positive feedback about identifying good establishment of rapport between my client and I and advised that my activities with this client be more concrete, direct, step-by-step and flop proof. She points out that this would have given a better indication of which level my client present to be at, and I agree. Therefore for now I hope it’s safe to assume that placing her at imitative participation under the creative participation model.

So at the end of it all once each of us had met up with our clients, my group members and I met up to find out how each was feeling about the events of the day, and without doubt there was a general consensus about feeling a little bit on the edge because everyone was still nervous about which step to take with the clients that had been given to us. Aside from the nerves kicking in and everything just becoming so real I personally also sense a very positive drive coming from both my group members and my supervisor. I sense a positive vibe from myself as well. I’m not as nervous as I expected to be, I have borrowed books from the library and I have been doing some reading. Now I have a sense of direction on what to focus on, so I just need to keep focus, do as much reading as I possibly can and get to understand intellectual disability much better so that I am able to help my client the best way I know how. Therefore even though I’m feeling a bit nervous now, I feel secure and guided and I’m positive for the end result of this prac. And individually for my client, I feel as though I can make a change, but its gonna be one that needs to be pushed beyond boundaries because it mostly has to do with who she is and how she perceives and identifies herself within the facility and as an individual as a whole. The level she current present to be drives my treatment rationale to be directed towards self-esteem, deinstitutionalization and possibly vocational rehabilitation.  

My client has been in this facility for more than 10 years now, she has adapted to abiding to the system that has been set up for her and has eventually found her role as an individual living within the facility. She has found that little space to exist and get by, but I believe she is still too young for that. I’m here to help her find her confidence, herSELF, her image and to possibly help her to not only exist within those walls. But to live within and without this confined space she has known to be her home.

RElaxation

 

The way you make feel

 It really turns me on

You knock my off my feet

My lonely days are gone.

The way you make me feeeel! Hahaha.

RELAX!!!!

 You not reading the wrong thing, I just happen to be listening to that song while I was writing this entry. Ok to the real thing.

IMAGINE you are walking toward the ocean.... walking through a beautiful, tropical forest....

You can hear the waves up ahead.... you can smell the ocean spray.... the air is moist and warm.... feel a pleasant, cool breeze blowing through the trees....

You walk along a path....coming closer to the sea....as you come to the edge of the trees, you see the brilliant aqua color of the ocean ahead....

You walk out of the forest and onto a long stretch of white sand.... the sand is very soft powder.... imagine taking off your shoes, and walking through the hot, white sand toward the water....

The beach is wide and long....

Hear the waves crashing to the shore....

Smell the clean salt water and beach....

You gaze again toward the water.... it is a bright blue-green....

See the waves washing up onto the sand..... and receding back toward the ocean.... washing up.... and flowing back down..... Enjoy the ever-repeating rhythm of the waves...

Imagine………okay now snap out of it now lol. This is exactly what happened in class when we were practicing relaxation. We had been learning about anxiety and one of the tasks we had to do was come up with an activity that could be used as relaxation therapy for clients who experienced anxiety. We had assigned ourselves into groups and my group decided on doing Beach Visualization Relaxation. And what I just had you imagine is an extract from the technique. It worked beautifully. Two o my group member who were running the session with the class had them lie down on the floor and had them visualize the beach, now there are particular steps to the whole process. And it actually works. With Romaana’s (my group member) calm, soothing voice and music sounding like waves of the ocean in the background we had almost everyone relaxed in no time.

Well ofcos not everybody liked it, because not everybody is brought to peace by the sounds of the ocean. But all in all, it was our relaxation technique was criticized to be one that can be used with clients experiencing anxiety and be successful.

Now my class is very creative J , so not only would we have gone outside to experience nature in the form of the sun glistering on our skin and the birds singing as a form of relaxation.  But we also had to do Yoga, stress and anger management and we even had a technique that helped us channel our anxiety and emotions using play dough.

I for one loved these relaxation session, but with all techniques that we practice on clients, we always have to remember to make it specific, gradable and client centered other wise in an attempt to help the client relax we might just increase anxiety.

Just a thought, imagine a doctor that smokes. Now this person knows exactly what smoking can do to them, but he smokes anyway. And an educated man like him knows exactly where to get help to try stop smoking, but he probably reckons aaarg imma smoke anyway. This man is probably stressed and uses smoking as means to relax. Now this person not only has the insight but has the choice as well. I’m sharing this example because I have a friend who now and then has is currently channeling her anxiety. Now she is also well aware of what happens to her because she has the insight, and she has been bravely controlling it. But to think that she always knew about anxiety disorder because she has been studying it, but also felt victim of having to seek for help somewhere else to manage it only highlights that in life we come so consumed with what’s going on around us we forget to realize what’s happening within us. Lets us not fall victim to becoming the stressed ones of life, let’s breathe in and out and live!

GET ON THE TRAIN!

Sanibonani bafw2! ;)

Bringing such to your awareness, I begin my psychosocial block at North Bay Lodge on the 13^th August 2013 which is the upcoming Tuesday. So in order to prepare us, we have been receiving lectures on issues such as Substance abuse, Personality disorders, Mood disorders and schizophrenia. Other lectures are still coming up and we will be receiving them during the days that we are not on prac. So to further prepare us we had a compulsory mock prac lecture that took place on Wednesday, which was aimed to help us gain confidence about the upcoming block.

“Never regard your study as a duty, but as the inevitable opportunity to learn to know the liberating influence of beauty in the realm of the spirit for your own personal joy and to the profit of your community to which your later work belongs” Albert Einstein. This was the opening quote to the lecture, a quote chosen and uploaded by one of my classmates on her blog. We reflected about this quote and it quickly reminded us about what the focus of our practice should be as students. This quote leads us into understanding that even though we are students and are mostly focused on getting our grades and graduating.  We need not forget that we are hampering with the everyday lives of individuals in hope to make it more meaningful. Therefore every step of the way, we need to be mindful, exposed and ready to experience each step of the way so that we don’t find ourselves wondering where the past two years have gone.  And end up missing the little moments that make life worth it.

We went on to watch videos that were also focused on helping us view life with just a little bit of a minds edge. We watched a video about Mental Health Care in Africa, a video about what Motivates us and my favorite (view it if you may) Buddha on the Train - YouTube . If you can’t watch it, let me try and paint the picture for you. This video is about a man on a train; imagine a train filled with people filled to point that some people are even standing. Each one of them minding their own business; some are reading a book, newspaper; others are looking out the window and some falling off to sleep. There’s dead silence and all you hear is just the sound of the train as it moves along the railway track. Then all of a sudden one of the men standing begins to giggle, and he continues to giggle till he can’t hold it in and then begins to laugh. hysterically!!. Now initially everybody in the train is either annoyed, irritated or is at best trying to ignore this man. Even though no one positively responds to his laughing, he continues to laugh so hard that there’s no way of ignoring him. After all laughter is contagious, and from the one person who response to his laughter it becomes a ripple effect and he has every single one of them in that train laughing. And not just laughing, hysterically laughing. And before you know we as the students watching in class start laughing too. Lmao! It’s such a cool video.

 Now there is so much that could be learnt from watching this seriously hilarious simple video, but I think the most important to take which is most relevant to the me beginning my psychosocial block is that. In order to have a chance at bringing about change, one has to stand out. Be stupid! be loud, be persistent until there a response. Until you have influenced someone positively, because after all that is what we are aiming for in life right? to create the infinite cycle of positivity for the people we meet?. Initially this man was seen as an idiot for seemingly laughing non-stop in the middle of people he didnt even know him,what was he even laughing at you would ask. nobody knows but it was provocative, hahaha got the people going. He possibly could have made everyones day on that train.

During mock prac lectures also discussed case formulations, cultural formulations, and case presentations etc which are all the mandatory things that are important in helping our supervisors, lecturers and ourselves evaluate our understanding of psychosocial therapy as a means of treatment intervention for mentally ill individuals. I’m not as nervous about my psychosocial blog as I previously was, I’ve done some reading, I’m still reading and I’m feeling  a normal sense of anxiety now. Whereas in the begging I could have exploded. Quiet honestly I’m not yet ready, and I know the clock is ticking. But I’ll be ready in a minute. And I’m hoping it’s not a minute too late because I definitely want to part of that train ride.

Sharp!

The Injustices Of Our Past Echo In Buildings And Structures That Still Surround Us