Blog 23 : Reflection

(1) Positive Statement

What are you most proud of in your block presentation and/or your senior project? Why?
I was proud that I actually made time and it all flowed smoothly without any awkward stops. I had note cards so I said all I needed to say because I usually forget something at the end.

(2) Questions to Consider

a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your block presentation (self-assessment)?

AE       P          AP       CR       NC
P
b.     What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project (self-assessment)?

AE       P          AP       CR       NC
P
(3) What worked for you in your senior project?
Everything worked for me which was such a great thing. From the information to activity and closing.
(4) (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your senior project if you could go back in time?
I wouldn't change a thing honestly because it all worked out.
(5) Finding Value

How has the senior project been helpful to you in your future endeavors?   Be specific and use examples. 
It was helpful because I now have a mentor that has the Big Brother Program that I can join again in summer. I also learned more about psychology that I intended to learn which makes me want to become a psychologist even more.

Final Presentation

Well I did my senior presentation today and I can say I am very proud of myself. The feeling is indescribable because I really can't believe that I actually did it. My presentation went really well, I said all that I needed to say and I did it all at my own pace and managed to hit 30 minutes. What was even better was that I actually provided nice info and examples that most people could easily understand. I wish luck to the rest of the class of 2015 who still need to present their topics. It wasn't hard at all and the feeling in the end is just too perfect for words.

Blog 22 : Mentorship

LIA Response to blog:

    Literal

·     Log of specific hours with a total and a description of your duties updated on the right hand side of your blog

·     Contact Name and Mentorship Place

Patricia Azevedo - School of Mental Health Services 

    Interpretive

     What is the most important thing you gained from this experience? Why?

The most important thing I gained from this experience, from talking to my mentor, reading old files, and helping out around the office was that a person needs to keep things in order and have their own life set in place before helping out others because you need to know what is going on and why so you can have a clear head when helping out a client.

   Applied

     How has what you’ve done helped you to answer your EQ?  Please explain.

It helped me answer my EQ because I was always with my mentor and she was there for me at all times so I would always go to her for advice and asked her any question that I had. 

Blog 21 : Exit Interview

(1) What is your essential question, and what are your answers?  What is your best answer and why?

-What is the most effective way a psychologist can help out a client who is dealing with depression? 1 - Psychotherapy. 2 - Antidepressants. 3 - Exercising. 

- Best answer is psychotherapy because it's effective letting the client make and accomplish their own goals and show them how strong of a person they really are. It's also for every person and in a short amount of time. 

(2) What process did you take to arrive at this answer?

- The process that I took to arrive to my best answer was by talking with my mentor every 2 weeks or so and reading on how effective a treatment it is 

(3) What problems did you face?  How did you resolve them?

- The only problem I faced was trying to find out which answer was the best between antidepressants and psychotherapy. I resolved the problem by researching the two and found out that antidepressants are kind of a last resort type of treatment. 

(4) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?

- My mentor was one of the two most significant sources because she is an expert in the field of psychology and has experience working with all ages. 

- APA(American Psychology Association) is another significant source because it has articles from psychologist and studies on different types of treatments. 

Extra Blog Post : April

It's close to presentation day and all I gotta say is that it's been a pretty exciting and fun journey. I never would've imagined myself speaking to a class for an hour about something that I feel passionate about. Class of 2014 said that senior project was such a drag, but it's not a drag as long as your topic is actually something you'd love to learn about. Senior year wasn't hard at all, well at least to me it wasn't, which is why I actually enjoyed my senior year with no stress or anything. I'd like to wish Aaron, Vinny, Michael, Anthony, Chris, Daniel, and the rest of the seniors all good luck on their presentations.

Blog 19 : Independent Component 2

Content:  

LITERAL
(a) Include this statement: “I, student name, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents ___ hours of work.”
I, Alan Gutierrez, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 31 hours of work.
(b) Cite your source regarding who or what article or book helped you complete the independent component.
My mentor was the one who put me into the Big Brother Program which is what I did for my last independent component.
(c) Update your Independent Component 2 Log (which should be under your Senior Project Hours link)
UPDATED.
(d) Explain what you completed.    
I completed 31 hours of being in the Big Brother Program which is a program where you help out a child from 1st-6th grade that has a mental illness like depression,anger, etc.  You go to the child's school and basically hang out with them for as long as you'd like.

INTERPRETIVE 
Defend your work and explain the component's significance and how it demonstrates 30 hours of work.   Provide evidence (photos, transcript, art work, videos, etc) of the 30 hours of work.  
APPLIED

How did the component help you answer your EQ? Please include specific examples to illustrate how it helped. 

It helped me understand my topic better because by working with Jared it showed me that I'd love to work with people dealing with depression and talk to them or do any of their favorite activities together, but at the same time figuring out why they are depressed. To me it's really eye opening and this program has made me realize that. 

Extra Blog Post : March

For the month of March I've decided that Jared should be writing more in the composition book. The new thing I'm going to do is let him take it home and tell him to write in whatever he wants, he could doodle in it too. I want to see if he shows how he's feeling in his writing because he doesn't share much when we're just outside playing.

Blog 18: Fourth Interview Preparation

1. What other effective treatments are there for depression? 
2. Why do people stop taking antidepressants when it says they shouldn't?
3. Will the client gradually lay off the depressants or what happens?
4. Family plays a huge role for a client, but what if the persons family just isn't there for them?
5. How is exercising an effective way of treating depression? 
6. Will psychotherapy be an effective treatment for every client?
7. Will a client be open the first time meeting them?
8. How long should a session usually last? 
9. Are antidepressants recommended for children with depression?
10. Will clients not hide how they are feeling most of the time? 
11. How is combining antidepressants and talk therapy effective? 
12. Are there are more treatments that can be as effective as talk therapy? 
13. Is talk therapy still effective even if it's a group session? 
14. Will antidepressants usually work for most clients? 
15. What basic exercises should clients do at home? 
16. Will exercising show a vast improvement when seeing a client again? 
17. If a client stops exercising after doing it for so long, will the symptoms of depression come back?
18. Will a client ever need more than one psychologist? 
19. Can't antidepressants just make symptoms of depression worse? 
20. The goal of talk therapy is for the client to figure out why they are how they are. What if the client doesn't want to face there problems? 

Blog 17: Answer 3

EQ 

What is the most effective way a psychologist can help out a client who is dealing with depression?

Answer #3 (Write in a complete sentence like a thesis statement)*

Exercising on a consistent basis can reduce depression and even cut depression risk.

3 details to support the answer (a detail is a fact and an example)

- Reduces odds of depression 1by 6%

- People who have major depression are actually less physically active

- Becoming active 3 days a wake is an effective way to help out those with depression 

The research source (s) to support your details and answer

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/15/us-health-depression-fitness-idUSKCN0I42IS20141015

http://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/exercise-and-depression-report-excerpt

Concluding Sentence

Exercising is an effective type of treatment for depression because those who become active will see improvement in reducing depression than those who don't. 

Extra Blog

This month I've decided to try and get Jared to write in the composition book. I want him to write down what he's feeling and stuff but so far that doesn't seem to be working because he gets bored pretty quickly and so do I. He still does it but quickly. He only does one sentence in under 2 minutes so there's no point in the notebook as of now. My goal though is to get him to write 5 sentences on how he feels and why he feels that way.

Blog 16: Answer 2

1.  What is your EQ?
What is the most effective way a psychologist can help out a client who is dealing with depression?
2.  What is your first answer? (In complete thesis statement format)
Psychotherapy is a form of talk therapy that has been proven to be an effective treatment for mental illnesses. 
3.  What is your second answer? (In complete thesis statement format)
Antidepressants are effective because depression causes some chemicals in the brain to mix up and the depressants help fix that.
4.  List three reasons your answer is true with a real-world application for each.
Doctors prescribe antidepressants for people dealing with depression.
The depressants are for helping a person be more open instead of isolated.
The depressants are more effective if client takes it daily.
5.  What printed source best supports your answer?
Rxlist.com is a good source because they have information on the different antidepressants there are and have the side effects and plenty of information.
6.  What other source supports your answer?
Medicnenet, mayoclinic, and FDAgov are other great sources I have found, 
7.  Tie this together with a  concluding thought.
Antidepressants are an effective way to help out a client dealing with depression due to the fact that it can help them out by not wanting to feel so isolated. By having that change in the brain it's an effective step but the next step would be for the client to keep taking their meds when needed to. 

Blog 15: Independent Component 2 Approval

1.  Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours.
For my 30 hours I plan on doing the Big Brother Program again. I will continue meeting up with Jared and do the things I've always been doing when I go to work with him.
2.  Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence.
I can take picture of him and I, I'll show the drawings he does, and take pictures of other things we do.
3.  Explain how this component will help you explore your topic in more depth.
It will help me by seeing how depression affects a person and how a psychologist helps that person out. 
4.  Post a log in your Senior Project Hours link and label it "Independent Component 2" log.

Blog 14: Independent Component 1

• LITERAL
  (a) Write: “I, __________________________, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents ____ hours of work.” 

I, Alan Gutierrez, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 31 hours of work.

• (b) Cite your source regarding who or what article or book helped you complete the independent component 

My mentor was the one who put me into the Big Brother Program and she was also the one who gave me tips going into the program.

• (c) Update your hours in your Senior Project Hours link. Make sure it is clearly labeled with hours for individual sessions as well as total hours.
• (d) Explain what you completed.    

I completed 31 hours of being in the Big Brother Program which is a program where you help out a child from 1st-6th grade that has a mental illness like depression,anger, etc.  You go to the child's school and basically hang out with them for as long as you'd like.

• INTERPRETIVE 
  Defend your work and explain its significance to your project and how it demonstrates 30 hours of work.   Provide evidence (photos, transcript, art work, videos, etc) of the 30 hours of work.  
  

This is significant to my project because it helps me see how depression can affect everyone for their own reason. It helps me see that being there for someone is also effective just being there for the person. 

• APPLIED
  How did the component help you understand the foundation of your topic better?  Please include specific examples to illustrate this. 

It helped me understand my topic better because by working with Jared it showed me that I'd love to work with people dealing with depression and talk to them or do any of their favorite activities together, but at the same time figuring out why they are depressed. To me it's really eye opening and this program has made me realize that. 

Extra Blog Post : January

This month all I've done for my senior project was do the Big Brother Program just like the previous months. Jared and I have grown closer since the first day we met. He shares secrets with me and talks more with me. This is a great experience and I'm happy to actually see some progress with Jared and I.

Blog 13: Lesson 2 Reflection

1.What are you most proud of in your Lesson 2 Presentation and why?
I'm proud that the information I gave was informative because I didn't want to give out useless information.
2. a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your Lesson 2 Presentation (self-assessment)?
       AE       P          AP       CR       NC
I'd give myself a P.
     b.     Explain why you deserve that grade using evidence from the Lesson 2 component contract.
I deserve a P because I met all of the requirements. 
3. What worked for you in your Lesson 2?
What worked for me was the activity and my mentorship.
4. What didn't work? If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your Lesson 2?
I guess what didn't work was how I had plenty of more to talk about after I finished but while I was presenting all I could think of was what was on my powerpoint. 
5. What do you think your answer #2 is going to be?
My answer #2 would probably be a healthy relationship with friends/family or taking care of yourself. 

Blog 12: Mentorship 10 hours check

1.   Where are you doing your mentorship?
I'm doing my hours at my mentor's office(School of Mental Health Services) here in Pomona. 
2.   Who is your contact?
 My mentor's name is Patti. The phone number for the office is here. (909) 397-4491
3.   How many total hours have you done (total hours should be reflected in your mentorship log located on the right hand side of your blog like your WB)?
I have done 14 hours.
4.   Summarize the 10 hours of service you did.
I pretty much just help out around the office, have a conversation with my mentor from time to time, and that's about it. 

Blog 11: Holiday Project Update

1.  It is important to consistently work on your senior project, whether it is break or we are in school.  What did you do over the break with your senior project?
I honestly didn't do much because my mentor and her office hours operate when school is in session so since every school was on break, so was her office. All I really did was just look up other fun activities to do with the child I'm working with.

2.  What was the most important thing you learned from what you did, and why?  What was the source of what you learned?
I learned that there are multiple things to do for a child to have fun, but the activity has to appeal to the child, you can't just force them to do it. I googled and get a couple of great sources like the APA.
3.  If you were going to do a 10 question interview on questions related to answers for your EQ, who would you talk to and why?
I would talk to one of the ladies and my mentors office because they are all well educated in the field of psychology.