Sunset over Lone Peak
Well, I survived the first year of graduate school. It was harder than I expected. Probably has something to do with the sink-or-swim philosophy of the practicum experience. I'm sorry, but I just don't feel qualified to be acting as a therapist to adolescents with some real issues in my first year of graduate school, let alone my first semester. I understand that the best way of learning direct practice is doing, but damn. A little bit of training would have been nice. Out of eight classes only two had anything to do with clinical practice. I also think there are some ethical issues involved, but apparently this is the way of many or even most MSW programs.
My supervisor and a few of the other counselors I got to know seem to think I did very well for my first year. I'm glad they think so. One told me, "You have the makings of a good therapist. You just need to build your confidence."
Well, now I know what to expect for next year, so I'm going to be doing some reading over the summer. I'll be working with substance abuse and domestic violence next year. That's not a clientèle I want to be meeting cold turkey. Some information under my belt would be nice. Confidence, remember?
What does any of this have to do with a sunset photo? Who knows. The sun going down on my first year of school? Or maybe that it's just nice to have the time to be out shooting again.