October Blog Post; Loving Life

Life has been pretty wonderful and busy!
Lately I've been mentoring two different girls, I've yet to meet my third mentee. Guys! Today was our first presentation and it was pretty cool to see what everyone else has planned! I have to admit that at the beginning of the year I was already over senior year, but with all of the progress I've made I can say that I'm pretty excited! :D
I'm officially a part of the Pomona Unified School District School Mental Health Services.
Look, I have a badge!

I love what I do now. I love that my mentees smile all big when I go to see them. One of my mentees even said that ever since I've been there that she hasn't cut! I cried like a baby when I got home haha. It's just so overwhelming (in a good way) when you're told that you're making a change in someone's life. I'm hoping to meet with my third mentee soon!
Last Wednesday I joined my mentor Patti to a meeting with a parent. This is when I truly realized how much my mentor does for different people. This lady seemed so tired and my mentor just picked her back up and helped her out and it was wonderful. I love this opportunity!

Research and Working EQ

Content:
1. My working EQ is: What is the best way to help a teenager overcome suicidal thoughts?

2.  

   EQ: What is the best way to help a teenager overcome suicidal thoughts?

• Have them fill up a "stress box". A stress box is a box that can be kept on a school site where the suicidal teenager keeps things that takes their mind off of violent thoughts. 

3. So far the most important source would be the teenager I am working with. I am her "big sister" in a way. She helped me come up with this answer because she has a stress box for herself.

4. My mentor is Patti Azevedo. She works with the Pomona Unified School District for School Mental Health Services. She works with different teenagers who are suicidal and she was the connection I got in order to work with the teenager mentioned above. 

Independent Component 1 Approval

1. What I would like to do for my independent component 1 is create a schoolwide assembly teaching students the difference between attention and intention. I feel that for my 30 hours I should meet with different suicidal teens and truly hear their stories. (I had spoken to my mentor about this and she was all for it and may have a few teenagers willing to talk to me.) Aside from that I could talk to different teenagers who are not suicidal and get their take on the suicidal youth. After I survey different teenagers I could collect the thoughts and create statistics, in a sense, so I know what I should focus my assembly on.

2. The way I could prove that I did 30 hours is by taking pictures with a few different teenagers willing to talk to me. I was wondering if the information and stories they share with me could count as proof, as I will ask for permission to record or film my encounter with them.

3. I feel that if everything works out the way I plan that I could really learn more about my topic because I would get hands on training. I still need to change my EQ, and I hope this will give me the extra shove I need to finalize my question. Another way this will help me explore my topic in more depth is by allowing me to get actual statistics that I was there to witness rather than reading of them in a book or article.

Additional Blog Post for September

I find it rather strange that the year I choose to learn about Suicide, is the year my life revolves around suicide.

Allow me to elaborate, a family friend's nephew committed suicide this summer, my friend just overcame suicide ideation, and most recently my friend is in the hospital for suicide ideation.
Suicide ideation is allowing your mind to wander through the possibility of suicide, rather how to go about committing suicide. Ideation is more of the actual planning of suicide.
I will not give out her name, but I will describe our friendship. She and I met about 5 years ago because our mothers were(are) close friends.When we would hang out we would just talk for hours on end. She is a few months younger than I am, and she is supposed to be a senior in high school this year. Because she will be under medical supervision there is a possibility she will not return to school. 

I come from a family where suicide is seen two ways. 1. as a cowardice act. 2. as an attention seeking act. 

So when I asked if I could go see my friend my mom's initial answer was no, but when she saw that I really wanted to she said she would think about it. I know it will be hard to see my friend like that, I also know it will be hard for her to allow me to see her like that but I want/need her to know I have no problem holding her hand and walking her through the healing process.

Before I end this post I would like to put out there that even if we aren't close, I'm here if you need to talk to me.
That is all, I'll keep an update on whether I get to see my friend soon or not! :)

Second Interview Questions

Content:
1. My mentor is Patti Azevedo and she works for Pomona Unified School District School Mental Health Services. She is the Program Administrator.
2. The questions I plan to ask are:
-What did you major in and what degree did you achieve?
-How has what you do changed you?
-What do you love about your career?
-How did you become interested in this field?
- What experience have you gained from being helping suicidal teens?

Blog 5: Reflection and Working EQ

The Pentagon:
(1) Positive Statement:
One positive thing that has happened as a result of what I have completed so far is that by doing in depth research I have come to the realization of what a psychologist generally does, and I love it!

(2) EQ Content:
The piece of research I am choosing is a bar graph from my research book titled Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide. The bar graph shows the different reasons different people resort to suicide. This has helped me improve my understanding of my topic by showing me reasons I never thought possible.

(3)
My love for extensive research on psychology and suicide is definitely what is helping so far in my senior project. My friend was reading about a page of my research book and said she was bored, but I love it all and I think that is going to continue being handy!

(4)
What hasn't worked so far is my hands-on training. About a week ago I was supposed to meet the person I was going to be officially working with, but she was taken to the hospital for Suicide Ideation. I'm just scared for him/her! I hope he or she is going to be okay! :(

(5) Finding Value
- What is the best way to approach a person who is suicidal?
- For my mentorship there is a possibility of me working with my mentor in counseling those who are suicidal.

Blog 4: Interview Preparation

1.
I plan to interview Psychologist Allen. I'm still awaiting his confirmation, if I don't interview him then I plan to find someone in my mentor's office.
The reason I plan to interview the psychologist Allen is because his profile caught my eye because he is rather new to the field of Psychology.
2.
The additional questions I plan to ask are

• What is the most rewarding part of what you do?
• What was the determining factor that made you decide that this is what you want to do?
• What is your ultimate goal in this field?
• If you were to advise me to stay away from this field what would be your reasoning? 
• What is the most common drug you prescribe? What does this drug help most with?