Clinical Concerns

I can't wait for my internship to end.

Looking around my clinical meeting today, I took note of the cast of characters seated around the conference table. The psychiatrist who likes to hear himself talk (and to whom everyone listens with eerie devotion). The Psy-D extern who furtively eats cookies from his pocket and makes eye contact with no-one, ever. The Director who leads our meetings with grace but can't communicate one-on-one. The truly funny psychologist who seems to be deflating before my eyes as the year progresses. My supervisor, whose expression is unreadable. It is incredible to me that these people will sit together for three hours every week, yet ignore each other when they pass in the hallways.

And then there's me: the social work intern who hates to participate in the discussion because of the unwelcoming atmosphere, who blushes every time she forces herself to say something, and who would be virtually unrecognizable as the same person whom her friends know to be intelligent, confident, humorous and warm.

May can't come soon enough.