[humanser] humanser Digest, Vol 75, Issue 4

Sun Aug 8 17:10:46 UTC 2010

HI Yolanda and all,

First, let me say that I'm sorry I missed seeing you in Dallas. I hope
everything is going well for you and hope to see you next year.

My practicum is at a family counseling center. I'll be working with a fairly
broad range of clients; juvenile 1st time offenders and their parents, an
anger management  group at an alternative high school and some individual
clients as well. The clinic focuses mostly on children and adolescents.  

The staff and therapists at the clinic have been great so far. We've already
discussed how I am able to use technology for the paperwork and forms. They
also introduced me to each therapist and staff member when I had my second
interview. I was impressed that everyone seemed, at least openly, very
receptive. I have experienced some problems with one professor who did not
ever really ever get past my blindness. However, all of the other professors
were awesome and really were very supportive and encouraging. I am at the
top of my class and the practicum site is one that is somewhat coveted by
others. 

As far as clients, I have not overtly brought up my blindness. I have
answered any questions that they might have had but it has never really been
a problem. The most questions I've received have been in a group setting
though so it might be helpful to prepare for that. Any advice or
suggestions. Also, I'm curious to know if anyone has had a client that had
an issue with them being blind. 

One more thing for the future....what kind of formats do most of you use in
having fillable forms that are accessible? The clinic I'm doing my practicum
at has everything on an internal driver so it shouldn't be too much of an
issue but the clinic that I work at on campus had word forms that I
converted into PDF forms that could be filled in as needed. 

Whew! Sorry that was a mouthful.  I really do appreciate any insight and or
information that all of you think is important for me to know and implement
when on site. 

Thanks again and thanks Yolanda,

Jeannie 

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Subject: humanser Digest, Vol 75, Issue 4

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Today's Topics:

   1. tips for practicum (JMassay)
   2. Re: tips for practicum (Yolanda Garcia)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Fri, 6 Aug 2010 12:18:30 -0500
From: "JMassay" <jmassay1 at cox.net>
To: <humanser at nfbnet.org>
Subject: [humanser] tips for practicum
Message-ID: <001501cb358b$64457170$2cd05450$@net>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="us-ascii"

Hi all,

I'm getting ready to start my first practicum in a few weeks. Any tips that
anyone feels I should know before I get started? I would greatly appreciate
feedback from your insight as a blind mental health professional. 

Thanks, 

Jeannie 

------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Fri, 6 Aug 2010 14:02:26 -0500
From: "Yolanda Garcia" <yvgarcia at gmail.com>
To: "Human Services Mailing List" <humanser at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [humanser] tips for practicum
Message-ID: <ADAE592FC6B941D6B4782D7EA02DF290 at texas6db6fceb2>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
	reply-type=original

Jeannie,

Where is your practicum going to be?

I'm sure you already know this, but I would prepare yourself to educate your

supervisor and colleagues a little bit about blindness but most important 
your abilities and skills. It's been my experience that when you educate 
your fellow colleagues, the more comfortable they will feel about you and 
your blindness. Thus, trusting you with equal responsibilities and 
expectations such as other previous interns they've had.

Also, begin to think about if you will self-disclose about your blindness 
with your clients. Most of my clients didn't ask, but some did and its 
important to think about how much you will disclose or if you choose not to 
disclose at all and doing so in a tactful manner.

There are plenty of more things, but it depends on the type of setting your 
going to be working in. Here's hoping for an amazing experience for you!

Warmly,
Yolanda Garcia, LMSW

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "JMassay" <jmassay1 at cox.net>
To: <humanser at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, August 06, 2010 12:18 PM
Subject: [humanser] tips for practicum

> Hi all,
>
> I'm getting ready to start my first practicum in a few weeks. Any tips 
> that
> anyone feels I should know before I get started? I would greatly 
> appreciate
> feedback from your insight as a blind mental health professional.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Jeannie
>
> _______________________________________________
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> humanser at nfbnet.org
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> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
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om 

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