Mental Health Field Experience

I have worked with diverse communities at Horizons, in prior jobs, and through volunteer capacities for over 30 years. While I have always been passionate about social justice and mental health, outside of my personal experiences, and some limited volunteering, I have had limited exposure to work with marginalized persons. This is precisely why I am currently entering the mental health field, and seeking to work with such populations. Horizons has provided a rich experience because most of my clients are on the lower end of the socioeconomic scale, and come from diverse backgrounds.

The principles of wellness, recovery, and resiliency are not new to me. I have embraced them in my own life. I personally experienced a divorce 30 years ago and
pursued counseling for myself and my children. My experiences with counseling instilled in me a passion to minimize the effects of the divorce on my children. They are healthy functioning adults today. It seems that families are under a lot of stress today. The more we can do to support them, the better their chances for a healthy response to the inevitable challenges of life.

2.
Describe how your background, lived experience, education, internships and/or work experience have shaped your understanding of and response to the varied needs of mental health consumers. How have these experiences prepared you to work with the consumers and families served by JFK
University?

The idea that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect is a part of my basic nature. My work and volunteer experiences over the past several decades have provided me with a rich exposure to a very broad cultural cross-section of society. In my corporate work, I have hired and worked with diverse persons, seeing diversity in a much broader context (e.g., ethnicity, sexuality, personality styles, working styles), and feel deeply enriched by these experiences. My spiritual orientation respects each person’s worldview, and prepares me to work with others, regardless of their background.

Returning to school for my MA in Marriage and Family Therapy is a response to a growing felt need to get more actively involved where the needs are greatest, and where there is a good match with my skills and interests. I have friends and family who have suffered from mental illness, so I understand the need for services. Some of my volunteer experiences have brought me in contact with the homeless (providing food and shelter), while others involved outreach to older adults. My internship at Horizons was my first truly mental health experience. I chose to work initially with adolescents to reconnect with that important group, and have begun working with families in the clinic. While therapy is not the same as mentoring, consulting, or journeying with someone spiritually, there are many parallels in my prior experiences that prepare me for success in the mental health field, and particularly at JFK.

3. What do you see as your strength areas? What have you identified as your challenge areas? How would you describe your experience of previous supervisors that most contributed to your growth as a therapist?

I am a deeply grounded, mature individual, genuinely interested in helping those in need.
I have a long track record of working in the community. I bring a passion and dedication to my work that others have always noticed. I am also protective of my own mental health, with a lot of experience at caring for myself. I know when to say no, but I always try to stretch myself first.

The mental health field is very broad. There are a hundred lifetimes of knowledge one could study, and no one person can know it all. One challenge I am having is deciding where to put my extra time and resources to deepen my understanding of the field. I am actively talking with other mental health providers in order to inform my decisions as I strive to develop my own approach to mental health.

Sinead Smyth, my individual supervisor, has had the greatest influence on me. Her bias that trainees need to spend their first few months “sitting” with their clients, following the subtlest changes in tone or movement, has been invaluable. She has been very helpful in providing excellent guidance on how to conceptualize and approach cases, and she is an expert at normalizing the experiences of new therapists. I highly recommend that you reach out and speak with
her.