Today’s
prompt: A day in the life, take us through it with you!
Today
is Monday! I am excited to take you through my day and hope it’s not too
tedious or boring! It’s not exactly a trip to the Caribbean!
I
work as a school-based therapist. After I completed my masters degree in
Marriage and Family Therapy I went on to work at three different high-schools.
I would usually just work at one school and have a caseload of 20-25 clients
and families. This is my first year being a lead therapist at three schools and
no high-schools included!
So
for me, every day is a little different. I’m at different school every day with
a different schedule so I’ll just walk you through my Monday!
6:45am: Wake?????? (whyyyyyyyyy)
7:00am-8:00am: Shower??? Find something to wear? But I
can’t! We had a leak in my closet and my clothes are literally EVERYWHERE while
they fix the leak and fill the massive hole. I need coffee!! Why is my contact
lost in my eye socket?! Scott has been making us breakfast sandwiches recently,
which has been so nice. I am not a morning person. I just move about my morning
like my life is the worst. I don’t come alive until I have had my coffee and
approximately 2 hours after I am awake.
8:00am: Leave for work or at least attempt to as I run out the door with all my bags. #bagwoman #travelingtherapist #circustherapist Scott usually walks me out to the car which is a simple thing but a really bright part of my day. Right now he is working to fundraise to join Young Life so he usually heads to a coffee shop after that to work on emails and phone calls.
8:00am-9:00am: Sit in commuter traffic
and try not to punch something. This is my 5th week at the job so I
am becoming calmer about the whole thing. I’ve been listening to Ted Talk
podcasts or Magic Lessons pod-casts which has really helped pass the time!
9:00am: Arrive at elementary
school
9:00am-9:30am: Check mail box, get in
to office, check email, drink my coffee, breathe and do a little bit of
writing. Recently it has been blogging for Blog-Tember which I have loved. It
has helped create a good rhythm for me.
9:30am-2:00pm: Generally I see clients or run group therapy
during this time. I also write progress notes, review referrals, make calls to
parents and have lunch. Today however is my first day doing “therapy time” in
the classroom. I am going to a 3rd-5th-grade classroom
and our topic is on decision-making. I am really excited about it but a little
nervous!
I
thought nothing I hear could surprise me anymore after working with teenagers
for the past 3 years but I was wrong! If you tell a child you went to the
beach, apparently they might want to know whether or not you took off your
shirt and suddenly I am caught off guard.
I’m
just not as used to working with elementary aged children as I am high
schoolers. I’ve brought my Jenga game to the office to help build rapport and
get to know my clients. I write process questions on the blocks. I had very nerve-wracking moment as one of my little
clients pulled out a block that said, “what is your view on drug use?”. It’s a
very useful question for a teenager. It’s a terrible one for a child.
Thankfully it was not super readable and I said “tell me about your view on
dogs” NOTE TO SELF: Take that block out when working with elementary aged kids.
With
high-schoolers I am used to their fears ranging from becoming a drug addict, to
not fitting in, to impregnating someone. With elementary kids when I ask about
worst fears answers range from “snakes to the dark to Halloween people ” And I
kinda agree with them. “Halloween people” are The WORST. They are so scary.
2:00pm-3:00pm: It’s about a 45 minutes
drive to the therapy offices where I have staff meetings (aka group
supervision) and do a lot of my paperwork. As this is Monday and Mondays are
tough and long for me I usually treat myself to a Pumpkin Spice Latte at
Starbucks on my way over and listen to happy Christmas music to calm myself.
3:00pm-5:00pm: Group Supervision time! Also a nice little
tidbit: I work with my one of my best friend! She referred me and now we both
work for the same agency. We have different schools so we don’t see each other
all except for Mondays at the office so Mondays is naturally my favorite. We
also sometimes carpool on Mondays and that makes the long commute WAY MORE FUN.
5:00pm-6:00/7:00pm: I usually do paperwork during this time at
the offices or I can see “clinical clients”. Thankfully it’s only Mondays that
I don’t get home till 7 or 8. Generally I get home about 4pm.
7:00pm: My husband is honestly so amazing. Recently
I’ve been coming home to a clean house, a candle burning and dinner planned, if
not almost ready. I am so relieved to be home from work and immediately change
into pajamas or yoga clothes. We eat dinner and talk about days.
8:00pm-10:00pm: We relax! Especially on Mondays. Throughout
the week we have various dinners or events with friends, book club, art nights or
appointments. Sometimes Scott goes to play poker. Sometimes I do yoga. Last
week we went to a Padres game on a double-date! But on Mondays we chill. If we
do anything we take a walk around then neighborhood when it’s cooler out.
Recently we’ve been watching Brooklyn Nine-Nine. If we don’t do that, we might
have a “reading party” and have a quiet night reading.
10:00pm: We get ready for bed! Usually we do “gratitude
and prayer” and we list off the things we are thankful for from the day. Then
one of us prays and we usually fight about who it is because we tired. And if
one of us falls asleep in the middle of the prayer, we fight about that too. Basically all our fights at night are due to how tired we both are. But by the end we feel content and happy to be falling asleep together.
*This is what I would consider a "normal day in the life". Unfortunately yesterday and today are not normal. Last week we had another hot water pipe break/leak on my closet. There is a large hole in my closet. We have crazy amounts of fruit flies/drain flies and ants?! And then we found a mushroom growing in our closet. Needless to say we stayed the night at our friends' Abby and Wil's last night until our landlord gets back to us. I thought my day sounded boring and now I want boring. No more crazy!!! At least I am wearing a new striped shirt from Marshalls today. #win
