New Realizations & Challenges

Overall, since the start of the internship, it has felt as if each week is getting easier and easier to take on. With the increase in experiences and growth of knowledge, I find myself feeling more comfortable within my role. However, there are days every so often which make me feel extremely challenged and at times even burnt out. This past week, I have worked a lot more hours than in previous weeks and there have been a lot of changes that have occurred within the clienteles and the services that my internship site provides. For the last couple of weeks, I have been attending my client’s elementary school class to support her throughout her school days as she does not have the one-on-one class aid that she was promised. However, last week she was finally assigned a teacher aid in her classroom, and now our new role as behavioral technicians is to train the aid on potential behaviors and how to handle situations that are unique to the client. This has been an extremely challenging week, full of difficulties and stressful situations since the client is trying to accept a new change in her schedule. This situation made me realize how challenging changes can be, not only for us adults but also for children. 

Change is something that I have struggled to accept for a long time, and it used to create a lot of anxious feelings and anxious attachments within my life. Something that I often experienced throughout my time at this internship site is that change, and flexibility are one of the most common targets that we work on with every one of our clients. Accepting change and being open to new experiences is something that we all need to work on, and at times must be taught. When humans become comfortable within an environment or relationship, we tend to find it hard to imagine our lives looking any different. For example, we often see young children not handling change well when it comes to moving schools, moving houses, or having to accept their parents no longer being together. Changes are unavoidable, but the more willing you are to embrace change, the smoother it will become to transition within these changes. In a cross-sectional study investigating the adaptability of college students in Israel after transitioning abruptly from in-person classes to online learning Covid-19, it has been reported based on the student responses to a questionnaire that many students had been struggling with the abrupt and unpredictable change from a normal in person education to becoming completely online (Besser et.al, 2022). Hence, there really is no right way to accept change, it may make us feel isolated and uncomfortable at the beginning, but over time we must remember that we will grow comfortable with such changes and adapt to such transitions.   

Another factor that made this week challenging is learning how to balance multiple roles and responsibilities in my life at once. This was a challenge that I specifically faced throughout the past week because I had picked up extra sessions within my internship, finished last minute midterms for my courses, and still had to attend to my other job. Fortunately, I was able to be very vocal with my colleagues and my supervisors as some of them are also in the same exact position as me. Aside from all the responsibilities that I have, my role as a behavioral therapist is something that often comes home with me even after the session is over. It is important for me to learn how to balance work with school and create boundaries for myself that will allow me to end the session without feeling the need to constantly take the work back home with me. I find it particularly important to communicate with supervisors and other therapists on a team if you experience a feeling that you may be overworking, feeling like your roles are unbalanced, and feeling overwhelmed. It is important to remember to prioritize yourself and your mental health prior to helping others with those same exact tasks.  

Reference Page  

Besser, A., Flett, G. L., & Zeigler-Hill, V. (2022). Adaptability to a sudden transition to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic: Understanding the challenges for students. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology, 8(2), 85–105. https://doi.org/10.1037/stl0000198