Week 6. Not that I am counting. Well, ok, yes I am. I think I have "senioritis." I am definitely moving through the weeks with one eye focused upon finishing this program in the Spring. It has been quite a ride, being back in school at this point in my life. I've learned a lot but it will be nice for my family to be able to settle into a predictable schedule. I think the upheavals every few months are starting to wear on everyone.

But I am jumping way ahead of myself.....

My class is coming along. We have a midterm exam in a week (or so) in the computer room. Yes, dinosaur-me will be typing a 3 hour exam. I imagine it is much easier for the professors, who then do not have to decipher handwriting. But I do still feel some trepidation. For me, it is a somewhat novel way to take an exam. Heaven forbid (KNOCK ON WOOD) a computer snaffoo in the final minutes of the exam! And yet, as we all know, that possibility does exist. If I had my druthers, I think I would still go with a handwritten exam with tangible work product, on paper, from the start. Yes, a conservative approach, but it's a long 3 hours.

There is a lot of small group work in my class. I think I wrote a prior blog about how much group work there is in social work school. A couple of years ago, it felt really weird to be in these groups. Now it feels pretty normal. Our group is doing ok in the sense that there doesn't seem to be any one person who is taking over, squelching the input of everyone else. But we could use a leader. I have seen this before in this program. Often the leader in a group emerges by default. Unlike law school, where my colleagues vied for the reins, I find that my social work peers for the most part (myself included!) are not as interested in being leaders. It's noteworthy because as social workers we consider ourselves to be agents of change. It would seem that change requires leadership.

At my placement, I am seeing the DSM Axis 1 diagnoses up close and personal. I have a bit of a learning curve on the psychotropic medications prescribed by the psychiatrists in the clinic. I am working on this, trying to understand how the medications each of my clients is taking play a role in the treatment plan. There is some case management, but also the opportunity to try psychotherapy. This is what I wanted. I need to figure out if the clinical piece, in the narrow sense, is for me. Stay tuned.