awesome day

i had a great day at the VA today! i have enjoyed it so far, but i have been longing to have the experience of conducting the mental health intake and assessment process on my own. today, that happened. it went well and i feel much more confident having that under my belt. no longer do i have to agonize over my first therapy session. it was rewarding and affirming. 

one of our class assignments recently was to do a cultural competency assessment of the agencies where we have our internships. in my department i noticed some important questions were missing from the forms we use to make mental health diagnoses--we never asked about what cultural groups people identify with or how their values/beliefs influence their ideas about mental health treatment. 

the second part of this assignment was to conduct an "intervention" that would respond to the problems we identified. i dreaded this part. i feared it would feel like i was judging the department. i didn't know exactly how to introduce this intervention in a natural, comfortable way. but today, my opportunity snuck up on me in a staff meeting. how convenient! i presented my intervention, got a round of support, and the staff decided to include it in a report about ways our department is improving patient care. wohoo!

if only the mass amounts of homework awaiting me would pan out so nicely.

pranky mcprankster

back in january i got a speeding ticket (ugh!). through a series of unfortunate events, i ended up dropping the payment in the courthouse box after 5PM the night of my court date, which was a friday of a three-day weekend. i was freaking out about being late on my payment because the back of the citation said a warrant would be issued for my arrest if i failed to appear or to pay before the assigned date. that weekend, i was followed on four separate occasions by police officers. i swore they were out to get me and that i was headed for the slammer!

i kept checking our bank account for a week, waiting to see if the check had been cashed. after my nerves were nearly fried i called the courthouse to see if i was in trouble or not. the woman assured me that she had my check and that my citation was "cleared". according to her, my payment was on time. i didn't protest.

this past thursday i came home from campus to quickly change into my running clothes, only to find a yellow notice in our pile of mail that said i had failed to pay my fine and/or appear for the appointed court date; therefore a warrant had been issued. i panicked! i immediately called the number listed and spoke with a kind woman. i explained my situation and we went through all the possibilities, including my maiden name, which i haven't used in almost five years. 

then i noticed that there were two address labels on the backside of the note card. she instructed me to peel them back to see if the card was addressed to someone else. i pulled the first label back: blank. under the second label the card read our address, but someone else's name. i read the name to her and immediately she told me they did have a warrant for that person. she assured me that my name was clear, and we ended our conversation utterly confused.

about that time brandon walked in. i launched into my crazy story and told him i called the court house. about that time he stopped me to say, "APRIL FOOLS". what?!? apparently the card arrived at our house that afternoon and he couldn't pass up the chance to prank me with a legitimate fear on this tricky day. how could i be mad? it was too perfect of a prank not to pull!

in five years of marriage brandon has never pulled a prank on me. not even a jump out from behind the closet door kind of prank. honestly, i have been a little disappointed. i expected that would be a big part of being married, seeing who could get the other's goat. but this one, it makes up for all the missed opportunities.