If MARR doesn't prepare me to be a counselor, I don't know what will..

I had two weeks off from school, work, and my internship in August. It was lovely, and much needed. The summer semester schedule really almost put me over the edge. But as my friend Christina always reminds me, you just have to get through it and then the summer of doom is done once and for all. When she was in the middle of hers last year, she ended up at Urgent Care one night, so I think I got by quite easily.

I started my internship at MARR again yesterday. I had been in touch with my supervisor (Leanne) over break, and so I knew going into the day that:
1) She had given MARR her two weeks notice, and I was only going to have like 3 days left with her.
2) Starting yesterday I was starting to lead my first weekly family dynamics group that will continue through next May.
3) I had been off for two weeks, and for patients at a treatment program, two weeks can bring a lot of doom, but also a lot of healing. It can go either way.

I was pleasantly surprised to find out that some of the patients not only noticed that I was gone but that they missed me. That really boosted my confidence! Several asked where I was and said they were glad I was back. However, I found out a couple of them had relapsed, which is always sad to here about.

I also got a crash course in being a group therapy leader. My supervisor was not able to help me as much with my group, so I picked the topic, prepared the questions myself, and ran the group completely on my own. And you know what, it went pretty smooth.

I'll also be following up with a lot of the patients families that my supervisor was following up with. They were trying to break me in, so two families to follow up with was a good caseload for me for now. Starting next week, that's going to jump to about 10 or so.

Yesterday I got there early and stayed late, being attentive to Leanne and learning as much as I could before she left, including getting to know the families she was working with, who will now become mine. To this beginning therapist, the responsibility is HUGE. I am sort of thankful for this forced responsibility. Now I don't have time to think if I feel ready to do something or not. I just have to try. I'm at MARR three days a week this semester, so tomorrow will be another day of whirlwind learning!

P.S. Leanne did find me another supervisor at MARR who will help me, so I'm not completely on my own =).