Having the Client's Best Interests at Heart

[Lab 9- May 17: CEC- Lived experience interviews]

In our lab today, we were given the choice of 3 assessments to administer to a volunteer client at the Clinical  Education Center: Role Checklist, Interest Checklist and the Engagement in Meaningful Activities Survey (EMAS). Immediately, my past failure in administering the Interest Checklist floated into the forefront of my mind and I did not want to do the Interest Checklist. However, I ended up choosing the Interest Checklist because I wanted to, for lack of better words, "overcome my fear" of administering it. Let me take this moment to reflect on my first experience with the Interest Checklist:

Can You Hear Yourself Think?

[Lab 5- April 19: Enabling occupation through coping – Lived experience exercise]

I often have my earbuds in whenever I'm walking, waiting for the bus or commuting.  Even when I'm not out and about, my room is rarely a complete silence because I enjoy working with a bit of background music. But hearing music is different from hearing voices. I'm sure that we all have a voice or two inside our heads. That inner self-talk that guides us through everything from high-stress situations to making mental lists of what to do throughout the day. Without hearing myself think, I'm sure I'd feel a bit lonely when I'm without my music on my long walks home. But I would never describe my self dialogue as disturbing or interfering with my everyday activities. My experience in this Lived Experience of Psychosis lab, showed me how difficult it really is to live with hearing a constant cacophony of voices and odd noises.