Immersion Experience

During my immersion experience, I had the privilege of working for a non-profit behavioral center and psychiatric facility within my community called Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health. This was a prime role for me to take up as it perfectly integrates my love for community service and mental healthcare. I collaborated day in and day out with others like me who selflessly and tirelessly worked to give children with psychiatric, behavioral, or emotional disorders the skills and opportunities to progress towards betterment. 

Aside from being a professional and major-related experience, this position provided me with a window of opportunity to challenge myself on a personal level. This role requires a strong-willed individual who unequivocally will make sacrifices to put others first. Sometimes, in order to best serve populations with psychiatric and behavioral disorders, it is necessary to prevent patients from bringing physical or emotional harm to their fellow patients or staff members. I was taught to diffuse emotional episodes and even physical altercations between patients. This position tested my emotional and mental capacities in a way no other type of work could, however, words would not be able to describe how grateful I am to be exposed to my future area of work while taking up a tremendously impactful opportunity to serve my home community. This role was incredibly humbling to experience, and it taught me a new meaning of gratitude and personal fulfillment.

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 I was tasked with working with between 2-4 patients at a time and taking comprehensive clinical notes each day. I utilized positive behavioral interventions and facilitated safe, secure spaces for children to open up about their feelings, or partake in useful coping skills such as arts and crafts, puzzles, or building friendships. At times, being stern and putting your foot down was necessary. As someone who is more gentle-hearted and sensitive to the emotions of others, the assertiveness part of the job proved to be a personal challenge. I was inspired by the way some of my coworkers were able strike the perfect balance between assertion and fairness, without coming off as controlling. 

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While working with these patients, I would often find myself wondering if everything that could be done for these children was being done, or if there was something more that clinicians, therapists, and social workers could implement to make the processes of treatment and eventual discharge to residential treatment facilities (RTFs) more streamlined. Research plays a crucial role in this aspect of the complex equation that is the healthcare system. It would be worthwhile to explore topics such as how outcomes could be improved if policy changes were implemented in the RTFs that would more efficiently prepare them to receive new patients from hospitals like mine. As of now, the process of RTFs preparing to receive new patients can be a lengthy one, taking at least one or two months. Other topics research might include are how patient behavior outcomes could improve if time for mindfulness or gratitude journaling each day was allotted, such practices would encourage patients to be more aware of their emotional states and give them the tools to regulate their emotions in any given situation.