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Interlude #5: between sessions
Mar. 25th, 2014 01:04 pmIn the approximate chronology of this series of posts, we have now had our first session with a new counsellor, and we are thinking about how to plan for the next one.
A habit I'm attempting to get into is writing up notes from counselling immediately after the session happens (which I then post to DW, because that's the easiest way for me to manage and think through these things): this helps me keep track of the patterns and metaphors I've been discovering, and means I can't forget useful things. Write-ups are based on very brief notes I make during the counselling session.
Over the days before my next session, I start Making A List. Usually longhand in one of the notebooks I carry around, because that's what works for me, but occasionally in a text file I sync between computers. I start out by reviewing the previous session's notes, and from there build it up a bit like this:
have I been keying particularly hard off any music/poetry this week? How's it been making me feel?
have I read anything (particularly relating to How Brains Work) that I'm trying to fit into my working model of myself?
Back at the beginning of March, this was my list:
... and obviously that's a lot of shorthand: but it's enough, in each case, to be a prompt for the tangle of attached thoughts, cf the way that "negotiating care needs" did indeed turn into an essay.
I've yet to start working on the next list - I seem to be antsy about doing it when I don't have a definite date in mind, though we're coalescing on the 4th of April - but for me the absolutely key thing is to give myself time to work on it, so things can pop up and get written down and not just vanish again.
I think I haven't made this explicit before, but I'd love to know how your strategies, if you have them, differ :-)
(Next: setting boundaries with counsellors.)
A habit I'm attempting to get into is writing up notes from counselling immediately after the session happens (which I then post to DW, because that's the easiest way for me to manage and think through these things): this helps me keep track of the patterns and metaphors I've been discovering, and means I can't forget useful things. Write-ups are based on very brief notes I make during the counselling session.
Over the days before my next session, I start Making A List. Usually longhand in one of the notebooks I carry around, because that's what works for me, but occasionally in a text file I sync between computers. I start out by reviewing the previous session's notes, and from there build it up a bit like this:
- have I taken any actions planned last session?
- have there been any developments with respect to situations/interactions discussed last session?
- has anything major happened since last session?
- Shit I Found Difficult
- Shit That Is Complicated
- Shit I Don't Know How To Feel About
- Shit I Am Proud Of
- Shit I Found Difficult
Back at the beginning of March, this was my list:
- Still Catch The Tide
- making a really bad yardstick in general - does this apply to counselling too?
- culture of mental illness among PhD students vs my lived experience
- negotiating care needs
- cleansing ritual!
-- seeds continue to germinate :-)
- craving interaction
... and obviously that's a lot of shorthand: but it's enough, in each case, to be a prompt for the tangle of attached thoughts, cf the way that "negotiating care needs" did indeed turn into an essay.
I've yet to start working on the next list - I seem to be antsy about doing it when I don't have a definite date in mind, though we're coalescing on the 4th of April - but for me the absolutely key thing is to give myself time to work on it, so things can pop up and get written down and not just vanish again.
I think I haven't made this explicit before, but I'd love to know how your strategies, if you have them, differ :-)
(Next: setting boundaries with counsellors.)
