At the very beginning of the interview I noticed how much I was looking down to document what Amy was saying. I was so focused on making sure I had documented everything Amy said and I think I lost some meanings by not watching her body language. If I were to put myself in Amy’s position I probably would have felt like I was just there to answer a bunch of assessment questions and the therapist really did not care what I had to say. The empathy was there in my voice, but not in my actions, so I presumably gave Amy some mixed signals. She would see me writing things down throughout the entire time she was talking and then say; “okay” as I briefly looked at her and quickly moved on to the next questions. One example was when Amy mentioned
…show more content…
Now that I am more aware, I will be more cognizant of my voice and confidence level. It was good to be prepared beforehand with a script outlining all the questions I wanted to ask, but I think it became too much of a crutch and I was not comfortable just having a conversation with Amy. It was not natural and felt more forced, almost like an exam that we had to get through. In the future, I will not write out all the questions I want to ask, but instead just have an outline in front of me with a list of the subjects we need to cover. That way I can pay more attention to the client, as well as, ask more questions about what we were talking about at the time versus suddenly changing to another topic. I would probably feel more confident if I memorized the assessment topics so that I can check off the things mentioned in the normal flow of our conversation. Towards the end of the session I can go back through my topic list to make sure we covered everything and finish up with the goals and treatment plan. In order to keep my personal values in check I used self-awareness when it came to the domestic violence aspect of the interview. I know from working several years in law enforcement that I can be judgmental towards those who stay in an emotionally and physically abusive relationship. I considered whether I am the best one to treat Amy or if she would be better served being referred to another therapist. In this case, I felt my self-awareness would keep my personal judgements in
Now that I am more aware, I will be more cognizant of my voice and confidence level. It was good to be prepared beforehand with a script outlining all the questions I wanted to ask, but I think it became too much of a crutch and I was not comfortable just having a conversation with Amy. It was not natural and felt more forced, almost like an exam that we had to get through. In the future, I will not write out all the questions I want to ask, but instead just have an outline in front of me with a list of the subjects we need to cover. That way I can pay more attention to the client, as well as, ask more questions about what we were talking about at the time versus suddenly changing to another topic. I would probably feel more confident if I memorized the assessment topics so that I can check off the things mentioned in the normal flow of our conversation. Towards the end of the session I can go back through my topic list to make sure we covered everything and finish up with the goals and treatment plan. In order to keep my personal values in check I used self-awareness when it came to the domestic violence aspect of the interview. I know from working several years in law enforcement that I can be judgmental towards those who stay in an emotionally and physically abusive relationship. I considered whether I am the best one to treat Amy or if she would be better served being referred to another therapist. In this case, I felt my self-awareness would keep my personal judgements in