Extra Blog : September

For this month I've began to work with 1 kid. I was suppose be to working with 2 other kids but one of the boys mom's never got back to me about when to get her approval. As for the other boy, he is a more recent case, I need to go back to the office so I can check what school he goes too. For now, the kid I'm working with is a very relaxed, funny little kid. He's in the 4th grade and his favorite thing to do is play sports or draw. I go to his school and get to take him out of class for an hour. So far I've gone to see him 5 times. I have a bag that my mentor gave me that has supplies like a deck of playing cards, drawing book, colored pencils, colored markers, crayons, a soft toy football, and some clay. 

Blog 6 - Second Interview Preparation

1.  Who is your mentor and where do they work?

My mentor is Patti Azevedo and she works at the School of Mental Health Services. 

 2.  What five questions will you ask them about their background?

-What has it been like to work with the School of Mental Health Services?

-What did you have to do in order to work here?

-Where else have you worked? Doing the same thing as you are doing now though.

-What college and classes did you take?

-How was the job when you first started out? 

Blog 5 - Mentorship Reflection

1. Mentorship question: Describe your experience in how you found your mentorship?  If you haven't found one yet, describe your experience so far in the search of a mentor.
I found my mentor through Mr. Purther. I was having trouble finding one at first, but luckily Mr. Purther gave me the email and number to my mentor. My mentor actually was a mentor for someone that already graduated. 

2. Research question: What has been your most important article you have read so far and why?

I actually haven't an article that was most important to me. I've read different articles and the one I found most useful was by the National Association of School Psychologist because it gives you information on childhood depression, some reasons why a child is depressed, the risk factors, what you can do to help, and even more resources, websites, and organizations. 

Extra Blog : August

Hello there. This is my extra blog post for August and I will just tell you what I am about to do in the month of September. My topic is going to be on psychological counseling, otherwise known as psychotherapy. My mentor, Patti, found some kids that I can be a big brother to while they're dealing with depression. I even got my own little box that has my name on it where she will put other forms like the one in the picture down below which means more kids for me to work with. She also said that she's going to get me a badge with my picture on it saying I'm legitimately working with the School of Mental Health. I didn't have the chance to do that over the Summer because no parent wanted there child to have a big brother, they felt that they're son or daughter was fine. I have 2 kids that I can be a big brother to now. I can meet up with them 1 hour once a week, but for some strange reason 1 mother hasn't replied to my email and the other one hasn't answered my call.

Blog 4: Interview Preparation

1. Who do you plan to interview? Why? 
I plan to interview my mentor Patti because she has experience in what she does and she can provide me with information that I need.

2. You have to ask five questions. What additional questions do you plan to ask?
I'll ask her questions more focused on depression in the kids that she's worked with. I'd also ask her what books or articles she recommends that I read.

1. What skills do you think are needed to help out a child with depression?

2. What books or articles do you recommend that I should read that are about psychology or depression?

3. What are the do's and don'ts when helping out a child with depression?

4. Has there been any problems in the past where a child that you worked with who had depression and something else like anger or suicidal thoughts as well? 

5. How do you help out a child dealing with depression? 

Blog 3: Topic Choice and Working EQ

1.  List your topic here: 
Psychology. I want to help out teens or pre-teens with depression.

2.  Write a question that helps to focus your research this month.
How can you best help out a person deal with depression?

3.  Post the working bibliography (WB) on the right hand side of the blog and share it so anybody can view it. 

Blog 2 : Mentorship

1. (Know) Using google doc (drive) link a log of specific hours and a description of your duties (click here for an example) to your blog post.  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rRUbGnyaaZGPayvYbQ_ZIKukFBGC8BGuK3Qne93ppf8/edit?usp=drive_web

2. What is the contact name & number of where you volunteered?
 Patti Azevedo
Program Administrator
School Mental Health Services
Pomona Unified School District
605 North Park Avenue
Pomona, California 91768
909-397-4491 x26594
909-623-9560 (Fax)

3. (Need to know) What questions were raised because of the 10 hours of experience?  List them.     What's a good strategy when helping someone deal with their depression? 
What if the person isn't really cooperative? 
What if you have your own personal problems? 

4. What is the most important thing you gained from this experience? Why? 
The most important thing I gained from this experience, even though I actually didn't be a big brother to a child dealing with a depression just yet, was to put the patient first. Each session would be different, either bad or good from the last session, but either good or bad, I can make it better. 

5. What is your senior project topic going to be?  How did what you did help you choose a topic?  Please explain.
My senior topic is going to be on helping pre-teens, possibly teens, deal with depression. I've always loved taking the time to help out some one that is sad and slowly make them happy again. By doing what I did it helped me realize even more that this is something I could see myself doing in the future.