Professional Interview and Response Guidelines
The following guidelines must be followed when completing the Professional Interview and Response assignment due in Week Four.
Accepted modes of interview:
• In person
• E-mail
• Telephone
• Other Internet medium
Possible methods of interviewee selection:
• Word of mouth
• Personal association
• Internet search
• Print media or other advertisement
Accepted interviewee criteria:
• One of the interviewees must be a licensed clinical psychologist who has been active in his or her practice longer than 5 years.
• The second interviewee may be licensed or license-eligible in a profession that provides mental health services. This interviewee must not be a student in a graduate program. The following is a list of potential interviewees:
o Drug and alcohol counselors
o Clinical social workers
o Licensed professional counselors
o Marriage and family therapists
o Psychiatrists
o Psychiatric nurse
o Psychological assistant
Interview two helping service professionals from two different settings, such as a school, hospital, or prison. Ensure that at least one of the interviewees is a clinical psychologist.
Provide the name and work environment of the two professionals you interviewed.
Ask the following questions to each of your interviewees:
• In what setting do you practice? How long have you been practicing?
• What are your specialties or areas of clinical focus?
• What are the most common disorders you treat?
• Do you have any special certifications or training beyond your original graduate coursework?
• How do you approach therapy or treatment? Do you use specific modalities, techniques, or interventions?
• What ethical and legal issues do you think are the most challenging or common?
• Do you have an opinion on where you think the field of psychology is heading?
• What do you enjoy most about your work?
• What advice would you provide an aspiring psychologist or therapist?
Discuss, in a 350- to 700-word response, the similarities and differences of how these professionals approach treatment in their settings.
Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.
• In what setting do you practice? How long have you been practicing?
I currently practice in a Long-Term Structured Residence who provide services for individual's living with co-occurring mental disorders. I have been practicing for over 20+ years
• ?What are your specialties or areas of clinical focus?
Psychiatric review/medication monitoring; Psychotherapy (Individual/group); psychiatric rehabilitation (individual/group); Community integration and re-integration; family connections and socialization.
• What are the most common disorders you treat?
Schizophrenia; Bipolar D/O; Borderline Personality D/O; Anti-Social Personality D/O; Manic Depressive; Anxiety D/O; Post-Traumatic Stress D/O
• Do you have any special certifications or training beyond your original graduate coursework?
Licensed Social Worker, Trained in Recovery Transformation and Sanctuary Model
• How do you approach therapy or treatment? Do you use specific modalities, techniques, or interventions?
I have a holistic approach to therapy and treatment. I utilize CBT, DBT along with basic social skills training among others.
• What ethical and legal issues do you think are the most challenging or common?
Understanding the current climate in regards to decrease funding for social services it has become imperative that documentation is sound and services are abundant if the agencies are going to continue to exist.
This in itself becomes an ethical dilemma for most clinicians due to the pressure of completing documentation and constant focus on billing along with the desire to provide quality services often experience burn-out at a high rate. We all know how important documentation is and must be generated to produce funds to keep agencies open and for us to produce an income, however at who's expense?
Hypothetically, it is almost like watching a factory worker who must complete a set of many task within a specific timeframe, until they cannot keep up the rhythm or complete another task and the machine and all of the products go haywire.
It is my belief that we must slow down, take a step back and reassess what we are attempting to accomplish so that the individual's we serve can get the best treatment possible.
• Do you have an opinion on where you think the field of psychology is heading?
It appears to be a need for more Forensic Psychologist to address the ever increasing forensic population. (which is growing among young children and adolescents) .
• What do you enjoy most about your work?
Everything. I enjoy the population I work with, my spheres, along with my administrative duties. Yes. It gets tiring sometime, however that's when you get that second wind and your rhythm back to complete the task at hand.
• What advice would you provide an aspiring psychologist or therapist?
Know what and where your passion lay within the field. Continue to learn and grow professionally. If it don't feel right, more than likely you want to take another look.