A long day…could have been a lot worse though :)

Left house at 715 to be at OT’s house by 8am to be down in rural Miss. town by 9am…that became 930ish, saw the two kids until 1030ish – mom was there with grandma, normally mom isn’t there, and unfortunately son acted up and cried a lot, boo.

Went another 30 minutes further away and saw beautiful adorable baby with Down syndrome in a trailer in very tiny town, then straight to a mansion for little boy that was 3 but born at 26 weeks under 2 lbs, so had a lot of delay, in another tiny town. Then went to a daycare for two little ones. Then ate lunch, then went to several more houses and another daycare. Daycare workers definitely know their babies.

Two of our kids today have pediatric opthalmologic issues to add to the two we already have. Our low vision baby case load is growing. Need to get that low vision stuff typed up/re-looked at.

My OT and I are both bad with directions and we had to go to seven new places today in multiple unfamiliar rural towns, and didn’t know what order of houses would be in advance, so things were a little um, lost-ful at times, but it all worked out. We got to leave around 4:45pmish and I got home 6pmish and settled in for a quiet restful night. Did a YouTube video when I got home with the toys, then went walking with landlord couple and their dog, it was for first time in months I’ve been able to join them.

The female of my landlord couple, Linda, is a brilliant marriage/family therapist doing a presentation on “Ethical Evolution of Psychotherapists” at upcoming annual conference in October. We discussed as we walked and it turns out the evolution is really a journey undergone by most therapists, period..

It’s an ethical progression – kind of along the lines of Kohlberg’s moral stages. You know you feel those developmental psychology neurons popping as you think back on some of your undergraduate classes. Pop pop pop, Kohlberg neurons going off.

You start as a therapist with wanting to know the “rule/principle ethics” – what is the letter of the law? What are the straight-forward rules guiding me as a therapist? As you become familar with these ethics and gain more comfort/knowledge, and begin to experience situations that cause you conflict, you begin to explore “virtue ethics” where you are examining more of the “spirit” of the law and how the letter of law and spirit of law interact. At this point you probably begin to realize the profound grayness of the ethical spectrum. Then ideally you evolve into aspirational/care ethics. And honestly I need to chat with Linda a little more to fully understand that last part, but it’s similar to the final stage of Kohlberg that not all people fully realize – a more evolved and celestial sense of ethics.

I just liked thinking of how while a therapist gains experience (wisdom and maturity in the process), a therapist is also undergoing ethical evolution…which is often a very difficult thing to handle. Like when your moral reasoning conflicts with your legal imperatives, for example.

Not sure that made any sense. Oh well, the conversation was a dendritic-tree strengthener, haven’t really thought that deeply about such things since undergrad when we had to write essays on Kant’ s categorical imperatives. So glad those days are over.

Goals/plans for this weekend:
1. See friends, including help Kerri & Brent dig for their water main line, and Sarah move into dorm room
2. Babysit Sat night, hold babies Sun morning.
2.5 Work out some, do random errands/chores, boo.
****3. Finish online social community article, diversity/disability article.********* OR PERISH.
4. work on friend’s-home-adaptation blog project, type up evals/plans of cares for 8 kids, AOTF scholarship application essay question, Low Vision Rehab for Children Seminar write-up.
5. Mantain sanity, rest with Lest..er…the Lion GOOSE kitty. He cracks me up when he breathes. Which is um, always. I timed him yesterday (I apparently have nothing better to do in life) and it took him FIVE MINUTES to eat a single tiny treat the size of my pinkie fingernail!

Ok it’s almost 1am, I’m going to sleep and then SLEEPING IN TOMORROW!!!!!!!! Ohhhhh the beauty of sleep. Sleeping beauty. Beauty sleep. It all makes such sense.

Aug 23, 2008 | Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: 1