First new person in a month?

[corwin137]

'Ello.  Am a Lic. Marriage and Family Therapist, Lic. Psychiatric Technician, and Master's level Addictions Counselor in LA.  Have a private practice, and am a Quality Director of an inpatient facility.  Nice to meet 'ya.

[SWM]

hi corwin,

a big welcome to you form the admin team at psychologyforum.us 

wow, i am impressed by your experience. i gave up addictions counselling last year, i was feeling like i was becoming  a specialist counsellor, restricted by my experience, i am manage my own private practice also and i work in secondary mental health services, part time. at present i am not a therapist for mental health services but i hope to wriggle my way into these positions through internal opportunities as time goes on, as i gain more experience of psychiatric services and as i develop professionally and academically.

it has been hard work trying to find new members, damn hard work!
we have had a couple of new members this month but they have not posted.
what can i say, i think people join just to feel part of such a warm and friendly, community and we dont mind if they are quietly watching from the shadows. we have some hardcore, faithful members, who i am most greatful too for sticking with the forum through recent technical troubles and the lack of activity.

[corwin137]

Am "with you" on the addictions thing.  Though it's been a large part of my experience, have never wanted to give the impression that's all I do.

What stripe of folk tend to be in your private practice?  What prompted you to do psych in the first place?

[SWM]

good questions!! 

i was stabbed at age 21, 13 years ago,

2 years later i was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder, then paranoid psychosis then paranoid schizophrenia. i had always used cannabis, lots of cannabis and later cocaine. i had used many other psychoactive substances before the assault.

my recovery from the schizophrenia diagnosis was through spirituality and my interest in psychology developed trying to discover the causes and solutions to my psychosis. at the time it was a "quest for the truth" my reality was very abnormal.

during this "quest for the truth" i went to college and after studying english, i studied counselling, and i volunteered with an alcohol and drug service. when i qualified i worked with alcohol and drug dependents but my heart is and probably always will be with the mentally ill. i am really interested in psychosis, and the psychotic reality of schizophrenia.

my private practice tends to attract relationship problems, marriage guidance, or individuals working though self concept crisis, "who am i", "why am i sad/angry/worthless/" referals come from my own website.

in september i return to two universities courses, one to do cognitive behvaiour therapy, and one to do the final year of a counselling degree. although i am qualified to diploma level and eligible for registration, for academic reasons i want the BSc hons Profesional Counselling Studies degree title. the degree title suits my plans better than diploma. i hope to gain regsitration as a psychologist eventaully and the degree is the next step before GBR conversion.

[corwin137]

good questions!! 

i was stabbed at age 21, 13 years ago...

my recovery from the schizophrenia diagnosis was through spirituality and my interest in psychology developed trying to discover the causes and solutions to my psychosis. at the time it was a "quest for the truth" my reality was very abnormal.

during this "quest for the truth" i went to college and after studying english, i studied counselling, and i volunteered with an alcohol and drug service. when i qualified i worked with alcohol and drug dependents but my heart is and probably always will be with the mentally ill. i am really interested in psychosis, and the psychotic reality of schizophrenia.

my private practice tends to attract relationship problems, marriage guidance, or individuals working though self concept crisis, "who am i", "why am i sad/angry/worthless/" referals come from my own website.

in september i return to two universities courses, one to do cognitive behvaiour therapy, and one to do the final year of a counselling degree. although i am qualified to diploma level and eligible for registration, for academic reasons i want the BSc hons Profesional Counselling Studies degree title. the degree title suits my plans better than diploma. i hope to gain regsitration as a psychologist eventaully and the degree is the next step before GBR conversion.

Cool answers.

Beautiful that someone has taken steps to alternative recovery from MI that's not solely about psychopharm.  Have railed against doing such exclusively, and find it strange that we overlook talk therapy with thought-disordered folk, but think we don't.  If you follow me.

You get all your referrals from your website?  I checked it, incidentally.  Really liked that you do the first session free, and that you do sliding scales- much of the same stuff I do m'self.

Awesome that you're going back to school.  What's "GBR conversion"?

[SWM]

my thoughts around psychopharmacology and biomedical approaches to diagnoses and recovery programs are many and complex and i am yet to fall one side of fence or t'other.

talking therapies are definitely needed, but then i would say that, i am therapist, and any psychiatrist will tell you that medications are a necessity for recovery.

i was lucky enough to recover without either psychotherapy or medication. i say lucky and i am not sure if mean it, i am not sure i was lucky at all, i was determined that i would not succumb to my sypmtoms and paranoia, and i was determined to succeed at what i wanted to achieve.

gbr is Graduate Basis for Registration, that is registration with British Psychological Society.

in order to achieve GBR you need a degree in psychology.

failing this you can do what i will have to do and using a degree in a health and social care field, take the gbr conversion. that will give me the equivilant of  a degree in psychology from my degreee in counselling. i am then eligible for registration as a psychologist with a counselling degree and psychology conversion.

it is complicated! i am not even sure i will get that far. i am not sure if registered psychologist is what i really want to do. i do know the two courses i start in september will be the best "next step" in my professioanl development.

[cognitive]

good questions!! 

i was stabbed at age 21, 13 years ago,

2 years later i was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder, then paranoid psychosis then paranoid schizophrenia. i had always used cannabis, lots of cannabis and later cocaine. i had used many other psychoactive substances before the assault.

my recovery from the schizophrenia diagnosis was through spirituality and my interest in psychology developed trying to discover the causes and solutions to my psychosis. at the time it was a "quest for the truth" my reality was very abnormal.

I am really sorry for what you have been through and I am glad you overcame all these .You seem to have a strong will .
I am curious what do you understand by "spirituality " , a personal relationship with a divine entity or else ...?
Do you believe in God ?

[SWM]

I am really sorry for what you have been through and I am glad you overcame all these .You seem to have a strong will .
I am curious what do you understand by "spirituality " , a personal relationship with a divine entity or else ...?
Do you believe in God ?

when i used the term spirituality in the post above i was trying to explain my awareness of and connection to the universe as a conscious living energy system.

when i use terms like God, Spirituality, Universe, System, i invetibly tie myself to the words i chose, and restrict that which i am trying to describe to these inadequate words.

do i believe in god?
the short answer is yes, but my experience of god is not the god of orthodox religion.

[corwin137]

My fave definition of "spirit" is from Aquinas:

"Spirit is our relatedness to the totality of existence."

Pretty good basis for a philosophy, I'd argue.  "Religious" or otherwise.

[SWM]

My fave definition of "spirit" is from Aquinas:

"Spirit is our relatedness to the totality of existence."

Pretty good basis for a philosophy, I'd argue.  "Religious" or otherwise.

yeh, i think if more people held this world  and their relationship to existence as sacred, we would have a much better foudnation for developinga a sociey committed to peace and sharing.

we would we call such an endeavour a religion if the object of worship was each other and all existence?

[corwin137]

Went to a lecture at Caltech last month by a guy named Stephen Kaufmann.  He recently wrote a book called "Reinventing the Sacred".  Essentially, it's about finding a way to reinvent the idea of what is sacred, much in the vein I think you're getting at.

[SWM]

in our society, there has been a subversion of what is sacred. people worship commercial principles and have lost connection to the earth and the "real" world around them. i know this is true for myself. i found my spirituality during my recovery and that was a massive part of my recovery. as i have progressed with my education  and my career, i am very aware how much of that connection i have lost. i have not quite regressed to the way i was before i got ill and i am still aware of the spiritual reality that inhabit but i dont have the balance right yet.