Reflecting on some of my courses over last 12 or so months, I have to say some of these courses have really helped me grow up and change. I’m going to give you a quick highlight of some of my favorite courses that I have taken, subjects from marginalized youth, woman’s studies, aboriginal history and multiple types of Psych courses. We also worked on a few different types counselling technique’s and tools, as well as courses to do with public policy.
During aboriginal history we learned about what it was like for families and children who attended residential schools, we learned some of the traditions like smudging and sweat lodges. For myself one of the biggest things I learned throughout all my courses is that today our aboriginal people are still some of the most ill treated and marginalised individuals living in Canada. One of our courses we took a field trip down town and while visiting the drug user’s resource center we were invited in of a drum circle. It was a very moving and beautiful experience. We have learned what it was like for woman in the past, woman finally getting to vote. During this time I was so inspired I voted for the first time because I realized how important it is as a woman to have my voice heard. We have done research on other country’s to learn how woman there are treated, how you might be treated if you had a mental illness, their prostitution laws as well as what their education and work forces are like.
In one if our courses we did projects on the affordability of living. I realized during that assignment that it is not easy being a single parent in our economy. Let alone just trying to make it on a minimum wage salary. We took motivational interviewing which is a style of interviewing a person, that if done right it can help people through the processes of change.
Recently we finished a course on post traumatic stress disorder and addiction. I really enjoyed this course because we learned all about different types tools to cope with PTSD. Things like knowing healthy coping skills, what triggers you may have, your red and green flags, and my personal favorite grounding techniques which I find extremely helpful. Last week we did a course teaching us a bunch of different kinds of assessments that are done to asses people for many different reasons, reasons like drug and alcohol abuse, mental cognition. We also learned many of the signs of suicide and how to prevent it, when people are contemplating it.
This week we started pharmacology. In pharmacology we will be learning all about psychotropic agents, how they interact with drugs, how to distribute them and how as CMHAWs we are to handle medications and what kind of errors to look for when receiving medications. As well as signs and symptoms to watch out for in case of reactions or overdose. This is just a breezed through version of a couple of the courses we have done. Some times when people ask me why I chose this school and not one of the others, I tell them why I chose Stenberg. I chose them because the curriculum was what I wanted to learn. When I looked into other schools, they all had great programs but some were missing things to do with youth. Others were focused specifically on mental health and not addictions or vice versa. As well as I dint think a single course has disappointed me thus far and we only have a couple left before we start practicum in May. I look forward to sharing with you my practicum experience. Till then take care.
Thanks
