Something I still need to work on is my interviewing skills. In role playing I tend to bombard “clients” with question after question, instead of incorporating some of the other microskills.

This was the course that first taught me about motivational interviewing and how as human service workers, it’s important to meet the clients where they’re at, which is the approach used in harm reduction.  This is where I first heard about harm reduction and it became something of interest to me since this is closely tied in with substance abuse.  This course didn’t teach me interviewing skills and role play, but it did push me in the direction of substance abuse.  Mental health and substance abuse often go hand in hand because the majority of those suffering from addiction also have a mental health diagnosis.

Although I did not take this course at City Tech, this was the course that started it all for me.  This is where I discovered my passion for psychology and needed a career or major built around it.  Psychology is the groundwork or the basis for working with humans.  It helps you to understand why people do what they do.  Here is where I was introduced to Sigmund Freud, Erikson, Pavlov and Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs which is always at the forefront of my brain.  Having an understanding of psychology and abnormal psychology, which I did take at City Tech, definitely aids in being able to work in the human service field.