Isn't this a delightful system?
thebrigmen.blogspot.com
Nie York!
10 hours ago
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Going private!
I've heard way too many creepy stories about people's blogs and random people accessing them. So I'm going private.
If you read my blog, leave a comment, and I can send you an invite.
EDIT: If you could leave your email address too, that'd be great. Sorry, Annie-- I don't have yours!
If you read my blog, leave a comment, and I can send you an invite.
EDIT: If you could leave your email address too, that'd be great. Sorry, Annie-- I don't have yours!
Friday, October 2, 2009
Soupy oatmeal makes my heart smile.
Friday mornings are the best. I can sleep in as late as I want (today, I slept in until EIGHT O'CLOCK!), and when I wake up, I can take the dogs to the park if I want (and I did). I can take my time walking there, too, enjoying the perfect hoodie weather and the crisp, clear scent of autumn, because it's Friday. I have absolutely NOTHING scheduled on Fridays. Of course, I do have things to get done today (process recording, response paper for diversity, clean the institute), but I don't have any particular time that they have to get done.
And it is delightful.
The schedule of classes for next semester has been posted, and of course, I immediately looked at when the classes I want are happening. After learning my lesson this semester (it IS better to go for the classes you want as opposed to the schedule you want), I realized that my Fridays off are going to be short-lived. Fortunately, though, my classes will all happen in the morning. So Tuesday/Thursday, I'll be on campus until 3:00 at the latest (one of the days, I'll be done by 11), which means two days a week, I'll have an entire afternoon to spend time with my dogs. This semester has been hard on them-- most days, they're just locked up. They get some respite when one of us has time to take them to the park for a half hour, but other than that, they just stay cooped up. This gives them more time to be dogs more often, which makes me extremely happy. As Bobby looks at his schedule and makes plans for when he'll graduate, I feel extremely peaceful, knowing that eventually, we'll be in a house with a yard, where the dogs can play outside whenever they want without concerns about neighbors yelling at us for not having our dogs on leash.
My classmates are amazing. Most of my classes are amazing, and the one that isn't, I have a bunch of friends who also think it's less than amazing, so we have gripe-fests together, which is also delightful. It's so nice to be around so many people that think like me. It's empowering, and I missed it so much when I was in classes at BYU (not that they weren't kind people, we just didn't work on the same wavelength for the most part).
The animals have fleas. And that sucks. But it's causing me to look forward to a freeze, which as someone who does not particularly enjoy cold weather, this is working for me. Bobby has been wonderful in dealing with my anxiety regarding the infestation. He combs them, bathes them, vacuums, and he bought Chuck a little catnip toy when we discovered the fleas had relocated, even though he swears he doesn't care for our cat. I often reflect on my dating days, when I was looking for the "perfect" guy. My husband isn't perfect (thank goodness), but he's perfect for me. I feel extremely blessed to be able to spend my life with my best friend.
And I'm in love with this. I wish I could find the whole song.
And it is delightful.
The schedule of classes for next semester has been posted, and of course, I immediately looked at when the classes I want are happening. After learning my lesson this semester (it IS better to go for the classes you want as opposed to the schedule you want), I realized that my Fridays off are going to be short-lived. Fortunately, though, my classes will all happen in the morning. So Tuesday/Thursday, I'll be on campus until 3:00 at the latest (one of the days, I'll be done by 11), which means two days a week, I'll have an entire afternoon to spend time with my dogs. This semester has been hard on them-- most days, they're just locked up. They get some respite when one of us has time to take them to the park for a half hour, but other than that, they just stay cooped up. This gives them more time to be dogs more often, which makes me extremely happy. As Bobby looks at his schedule and makes plans for when he'll graduate, I feel extremely peaceful, knowing that eventually, we'll be in a house with a yard, where the dogs can play outside whenever they want without concerns about neighbors yelling at us for not having our dogs on leash.
My classmates are amazing. Most of my classes are amazing, and the one that isn't, I have a bunch of friends who also think it's less than amazing, so we have gripe-fests together, which is also delightful. It's so nice to be around so many people that think like me. It's empowering, and I missed it so much when I was in classes at BYU (not that they weren't kind people, we just didn't work on the same wavelength for the most part).
The animals have fleas. And that sucks. But it's causing me to look forward to a freeze, which as someone who does not particularly enjoy cold weather, this is working for me. Bobby has been wonderful in dealing with my anxiety regarding the infestation. He combs them, bathes them, vacuums, and he bought Chuck a little catnip toy when we discovered the fleas had relocated, even though he swears he doesn't care for our cat. I often reflect on my dating days, when I was looking for the "perfect" guy. My husband isn't perfect (thank goodness), but he's perfect for me. I feel extremely blessed to be able to spend my life with my best friend.
And I'm in love with this. I wish I could find the whole song.
Friday, September 18, 2009
In love with the weather
It's so nice when a happy place involves just stepping outside. Simply breathing in the air with the hint of autumn singing softly in the gentle breeze reminds me of Halloween costumes, pumpkin hunting, and crunchy leaves. Never mind the upcoming papers and projects whose due dates are haunting the spaces on the calendar of weeks to come. Instead, laying in the grass beneath a giant tree on campus allows for easily achieved mindfulness and calming meditation, and nothing can bring me down.
In the past couple of weeks, I have begun seeing my very first clients. I did my very first therapy session, where someone came into my office and trusted me with her problems. A couple of clients trusted me enough to tell me they had thoughts of suicide or hurting others, which was a terrifying responsibility (in case you're wondering, these clients never present the way they do in the training videos). I have an amazing supervisor, and fantastic clinicians nearby to help me through these scary times. It was an accident (or so I thought) that I ended up at Valeo, but it's exactly where I need to be to learn everything I can in my internship.
Inside my desk is a post-it I made after I saw my first client. I'd said a prayer prior to the session, and my nerves were so rattled after doing the risk assessment that it was all I could do to not crawl under my desk and cry. I took out the post it, and a felt tip marker, and I wrote
I deserve to be loved.
I deserve to be happy.
He died for all of my pain.
He died for all of my insecurities.
He can replace all of my doubts with faith.
Through Him, I can and will do this.
In a week of seeing clients, I've had two risk assessments. The other interns have had zero. I consider myself lucky-- what an advantage to have that out of the way. I also have a relationship with Christ. What an advantage in everything I do. What a blessing it is to be doing what I'm doing, and to have His help when I do it.
And the crisp autumn air on top of it all. I am blessed.
In the past couple of weeks, I have begun seeing my very first clients. I did my very first therapy session, where someone came into my office and trusted me with her problems. A couple of clients trusted me enough to tell me they had thoughts of suicide or hurting others, which was a terrifying responsibility (in case you're wondering, these clients never present the way they do in the training videos). I have an amazing supervisor, and fantastic clinicians nearby to help me through these scary times. It was an accident (or so I thought) that I ended up at Valeo, but it's exactly where I need to be to learn everything I can in my internship.
Inside my desk is a post-it I made after I saw my first client. I'd said a prayer prior to the session, and my nerves were so rattled after doing the risk assessment that it was all I could do to not crawl under my desk and cry. I took out the post it, and a felt tip marker, and I wrote
I deserve to be loved.
I deserve to be happy.
He died for all of my pain.
He died for all of my insecurities.
He can replace all of my doubts with faith.
Through Him, I can and will do this.
In a week of seeing clients, I've had two risk assessments. The other interns have had zero. I consider myself lucky-- what an advantage to have that out of the way. I also have a relationship with Christ. What an advantage in everything I do. What a blessing it is to be doing what I'm doing, and to have His help when I do it.
And the crisp autumn air on top of it all. I am blessed.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
New Year. New Me.
This week alone has shown me why my friends in the past completing their graduate programs disappeared when the school year started. Thursday was the first day of KU classes, and Thursday also happens to be my only day on campus (three classes that consist of me sitting at a desk from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.). Already, the stack of reading is as tall as I am, which should be okay, since I don't have class until Thursday. Incidentally, I am also enrolled in a fourth class, which consists of acting as intern at an agency in Topeka for 24 hours a week. So while I don't have class until Thursday, I'm playing psychotherapist for eight hours a day, Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday. No biggie, eh? I'll just take my homework with me and work on it during the down time.
Here's my schedule for my internship:
KAITLIN STEWART BRIGMAN
Office 208
MONDAY
(8-5)
8-9—INDIV APPT
9-10— INTAKE APPT
10-11—GRP SUP PREP
11-1—INTERN GRP SUP W/DONNA
1-2—LUNCH
2-3—INDIV APPT
3-4—INDIV APPT
4-5—ADMIN
TUESDAY
(10-8)
10-11—INDIV APPT
11-12—RELATIONSHIP GRP (330)
12-1—LUNCH
1-2—INDIV APPT
2-3—INDIV APPT
3-4—ADMIN
4-5—INDIV SUP W/DONNA
5-6—INDIV APPT
6-7—INDIV APPT
7-8—ADMIN
WEDNESDAY
(8-4)
8-9—INDIV APPT
9-10—ADMIN
10-11—PROCOVERY GRP (2401)
11-12—LUNCH
12-1:30—DBT GRP (330)
1:30-2—TEAM SUP MTG
2-3—INDIV APPT
3-4—ADMIN
So you may notice two things. One, not a lot of down time. Two? My own freaking office! I'm not sure why that always excites me, since I always had my own office in my BSW level positions (both during my internship and at the women's shelter), but for some reason, it makes me feel like I'm kind of important. It's also a little terrifying, because it would be nice to have another individual there to jump in when they realize I'm completely warping the client on an emotional and cognitive level (good practice for parenthood).
So... getting reading done? Should be interesting. Fortunately I have a system set up where I'm forced to do a bulk of the reading Thursday evening/Friday morning. Finances are tight right now (which should surprise you, what with the both of us in school, and grad school being almost unbelievably expensive), so when I looked at the list of text books I needed, I almost cried. Now, I'm not one to purchase textbooks, but I really want to do well in my grad program. I want to get a 4.0 so when it comes time to apply for a doctorate program, I'll have no problems getting a nice, cushy monetary package offered. I also want to participate a ton in my classes, so my professors will all be willing to offer nice, cushy recommendation letters on my behalf when job hunting season starts. I also kind of want to be competent when people put their emotional well being in my hands. I managed then to make arrangements with fellow students/professor (one of my professors, I can already tell, is fantastic/super hero material) to borrow the text book Thursday evening and return it Friday. My arrangement with the student is that in exchange for allowing me to borrow the books, I'll give her a digital copy of my outline. That makes it so I can't just bring the book home Thursday, decide to be lazy and not read, and then just return it Friday. No siree. I have to read it, outline it, and send it on its way. Accountability and scheduling works well for me. It makes me get things done. I'm very task-oriented, so this should help me be successful in this semester.
I have to make sure other parts of my life don't suffer as a result. My goal is to wake up at 5:30 a.m. to take my dogs running before I have to be out of the house by 7 (to get to my internship by 8 in Topeka, or to get to Twente to print off the articles that need to be read for my classes for the following week). My body's going to have to get retrained into that schedule, which means no naps (I was utterly exhausted yesterday after getting up at 6, and ended up crashing for an hour and a half in the evening. It felt absolutely glorious at the time, but then I didn't fall asleep until long after midnight). I can do this!
So, Blog, you may be neglected over the next several weeks. I only take time to write now because I know it's going to be a while before I can update. Being a grad student gives you super powers... it gives you the ability to disappear. *POOF*
Here's my schedule for my internship:
KAITLIN STEWART BRIGMAN
Office 208
MONDAY
(8-5)
8-9—INDIV APPT
9-10— INTAKE APPT
10-11—GRP SUP PREP
11-1—INTERN GRP SUP W/DONNA
1-2—LUNCH
2-3—INDIV APPT
3-4—INDIV APPT
4-5—ADMIN
TUESDAY
(10-8)
10-11—INDIV APPT
11-12—RELATIONSHIP GRP (330)
12-1—LUNCH
1-2—INDIV APPT
2-3—INDIV APPT
3-4—ADMIN
4-5—INDIV SUP W/DONNA
5-6—INDIV APPT
6-7—INDIV APPT
7-8—ADMIN
WEDNESDAY
(8-4)
8-9—INDIV APPT
9-10—ADMIN
10-11—PROCOVERY GRP (2401)
11-12—LUNCH
12-1:30—DBT GRP (330)
1:30-2—TEAM SUP MTG
2-3—INDIV APPT
3-4—ADMIN
So you may notice two things. One, not a lot of down time. Two? My own freaking office! I'm not sure why that always excites me, since I always had my own office in my BSW level positions (both during my internship and at the women's shelter), but for some reason, it makes me feel like I'm kind of important. It's also a little terrifying, because it would be nice to have another individual there to jump in when they realize I'm completely warping the client on an emotional and cognitive level (good practice for parenthood).
So... getting reading done? Should be interesting. Fortunately I have a system set up where I'm forced to do a bulk of the reading Thursday evening/Friday morning. Finances are tight right now (which should surprise you, what with the both of us in school, and grad school being almost unbelievably expensive), so when I looked at the list of text books I needed, I almost cried. Now, I'm not one to purchase textbooks, but I really want to do well in my grad program. I want to get a 4.0 so when it comes time to apply for a doctorate program, I'll have no problems getting a nice, cushy monetary package offered. I also want to participate a ton in my classes, so my professors will all be willing to offer nice, cushy recommendation letters on my behalf when job hunting season starts. I also kind of want to be competent when people put their emotional well being in my hands. I managed then to make arrangements with fellow students/professor (one of my professors, I can already tell, is fantastic/super hero material) to borrow the text book Thursday evening and return it Friday. My arrangement with the student is that in exchange for allowing me to borrow the books, I'll give her a digital copy of my outline. That makes it so I can't just bring the book home Thursday, decide to be lazy and not read, and then just return it Friday. No siree. I have to read it, outline it, and send it on its way. Accountability and scheduling works well for me. It makes me get things done. I'm very task-oriented, so this should help me be successful in this semester.
I have to make sure other parts of my life don't suffer as a result. My goal is to wake up at 5:30 a.m. to take my dogs running before I have to be out of the house by 7 (to get to my internship by 8 in Topeka, or to get to Twente to print off the articles that need to be read for my classes for the following week). My body's going to have to get retrained into that schedule, which means no naps (I was utterly exhausted yesterday after getting up at 6, and ended up crashing for an hour and a half in the evening. It felt absolutely glorious at the time, but then I didn't fall asleep until long after midnight). I can do this!
So, Blog, you may be neglected over the next several weeks. I only take time to write now because I know it's going to be a while before I can update. Being a grad student gives you super powers... it gives you the ability to disappear. *POOF*
Saturday, August 15, 2009
I ate old beans.
School starts in a week (well, technically, five days). I'm ready to pee my pants in anticipation. It's a little bittersweet, because it is a short program and it means that after this Thursday, I only have one more first day of the semester (and I'm a geeky kid who really enjoys school), but on the other hand, I really like school! So Thursday is a very exciting day for me.
A week from Monday also marks the first day of my practicum at Valeo in Topeka, which I'm pretty excited about. At first, I had no idea how I was going to jump into a clinical setting and be able to actually do psychotherapy, but after looking over the orientation materials, I'm feeling a little more calm about the whole thing. I can tell that I'm getting back into the love I have for my field (my BSW level position burned me out a bit) because I went to the library the other day and left with my arms full of books that were all sorts of social work-y and documentaries to match. I've already read through An Unquiet Mind and encourage anyone and everyone to pick it up. It really humanizes mental illness, bipolar disorder in particular. It's also incredibly well written, so I managed to finish it in a couple days.
I'm a little in love with my Blackberry. It's having some technical issues (or I'm having some technical issues-- jury's still out), but for the most part, it's amazing. And orange. Which I also love. Right now, I have Pandora going on my phone, which is delightful since I have a bandwidth cap on my home internet, but unlimited data on my phone (three cheers for having a husband who works for Sprint), so I get to listen to all the Owl City radio station I want. Delightful. I also spent much of my morning in my sick bed (see the title of this blog) watching Grey's Anatomy on Sprint TV. uhMAYzing. PS: If you didn't know, Season 5 comes out September 15th, which gives me just over a week to re-watch the season before Season 6 premiers on the 24th. In case you were wondering, yes-- it is VERY important to re-watch the previous season. Never mind that I'll be in graduate school with a 24 hour a week practicum with a 1.5 hour commute three days a week and working part time on top of it all. My goal this semester is to not procrastinate at all... let's see how well that pans out.
On that note, I'm really glad we opted to get rid of the nutrition class. On our first day at church here, Bobby and I saw that some sort of program was needed. We had really high hopes for the exercise group and the nutrition class, and in the beginning, there was a lot of excitement. Then it faded to the point where no one was interested at all. It was the epitome of "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it eat its fruits and veggies." I find it fascinating how our culture has evolved to the point where the people who eat right and exercise are "fanatics," and it's considered politically incorrect to call someone's extra weight or obesity a problem, and even suggesting they change their lifestyle so they can become healthier is insulting. Maybe when Bobby goes through his graduate program, he'll learn techniques for approaching individuals in such a way that they find less aggressive and more genuine, which is actually how he feels. I guess the bright side of people not being ready/willing to change is that I now have 5 extra hours a week where I'm not preparing and giving a class. That means more time for class, and more time for keeping up with my homework.
I'm really excited about this semester. I have a really good feeling for what's to come.
A week from Monday also marks the first day of my practicum at Valeo in Topeka, which I'm pretty excited about. At first, I had no idea how I was going to jump into a clinical setting and be able to actually do psychotherapy, but after looking over the orientation materials, I'm feeling a little more calm about the whole thing. I can tell that I'm getting back into the love I have for my field (my BSW level position burned me out a bit) because I went to the library the other day and left with my arms full of books that were all sorts of social work-y and documentaries to match. I've already read through An Unquiet Mind and encourage anyone and everyone to pick it up. It really humanizes mental illness, bipolar disorder in particular. It's also incredibly well written, so I managed to finish it in a couple days.
I'm a little in love with my Blackberry. It's having some technical issues (or I'm having some technical issues-- jury's still out), but for the most part, it's amazing. And orange. Which I also love. Right now, I have Pandora going on my phone, which is delightful since I have a bandwidth cap on my home internet, but unlimited data on my phone (three cheers for having a husband who works for Sprint), so I get to listen to all the Owl City radio station I want. Delightful. I also spent much of my morning in my sick bed (see the title of this blog) watching Grey's Anatomy on Sprint TV. uhMAYzing. PS: If you didn't know, Season 5 comes out September 15th, which gives me just over a week to re-watch the season before Season 6 premiers on the 24th. In case you were wondering, yes-- it is VERY important to re-watch the previous season. Never mind that I'll be in graduate school with a 24 hour a week practicum with a 1.5 hour commute three days a week and working part time on top of it all. My goal this semester is to not procrastinate at all... let's see how well that pans out.
On that note, I'm really glad we opted to get rid of the nutrition class. On our first day at church here, Bobby and I saw that some sort of program was needed. We had really high hopes for the exercise group and the nutrition class, and in the beginning, there was a lot of excitement. Then it faded to the point where no one was interested at all. It was the epitome of "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it eat its fruits and veggies." I find it fascinating how our culture has evolved to the point where the people who eat right and exercise are "fanatics," and it's considered politically incorrect to call someone's extra weight or obesity a problem, and even suggesting they change their lifestyle so they can become healthier is insulting. Maybe when Bobby goes through his graduate program, he'll learn techniques for approaching individuals in such a way that they find less aggressive and more genuine, which is actually how he feels. I guess the bright side of people not being ready/willing to change is that I now have 5 extra hours a week where I'm not preparing and giving a class. That means more time for class, and more time for keeping up with my homework.
I'm really excited about this semester. I have a really good feeling for what's to come.
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