Dare

Hey guys, welcome to my newest blog! As some of you may know, I manage two other blogs, Another Drop in the Ocean, and Pieces of My Heart. ADO focuses on a wide array of topics: pop culture, social and political issues, and my own personal anecdotes, and Pieces of My Heart focuses strictly on autism. However, I have noticed as I continue my career as a Marriage and Family Therapist Intern, I'm being exposed to more approaches and different clients and disorders, and I am wanting to talk about so much more of my experiences as a therapist on the front lines, sprinkling in my opinions and thoughts about the field as it continues to grow and progress as well. Since ADO is a casual sounding board and PMH is so exclusive, I needed another blog dedicated to general mental health.

About Me: For those of you who don't know, a bit about me. As previously mentioned, I am a Marriage and Family Therapist in her second year of internship. I worked my first year predominantly with autistic and developmentally disabled children, and had a few adolescents with more common disorders, depression, anxiety, ADHD, etc. I also had a small mixture of neurotypical children whom you will read about as you go. For the past 6 months or so I have been working in a wraparound program which provides a variety of services to the entire system in order to benefit the identified patient. Oh, did I mention I do this in the hood? Yeah, we stretch our tendrils of good intentions through the veins of South Central, Compton, Watts, and Baldwin Village, better known as the jungle, but always (sometimes) in neutral gang colors and we're usually off the streets before nightfall. While exceedingly unbelievably difficult at times, the experience I've gained has been invaluable. I've also worked with SED teens and children, and spent about two years in group homes, behavioral treatment facilities, and juvenile delinquent facilities.

About the Name: While many may initially take the title "Disturbed Universe" to be decidedly negative, it's intention is actually quite the opposite. Many know of my love for T.S. Eliot's The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, a poem whose famous line "Do I dare disturb the universe?" has been immortalized on my back in swirling ink. In the poem, a self-deprecating Prufrock struggles to pull himself out of a bog of melancholy, and questions whether he has the courage to "disturb his universe" by risking everything to seek happiness or remain in his mundane but safe and predictable life. Once Prufrock myself, in many ways I have disturbed my universe with mixed outcomes, but to break away from methodic routine and lose yourself in the uncertainty of life can be quite frightening and exhilarating. Now I've commenced my journey to disturb the universes of others.

About the Blog: Many of the first posts you read here have actually been taken from my ADO blog, as some of them seem to pertain to the field of psychology or therapy, and were written months or even years ago. I will provide the date of the original publication. For those of you who are new to the blog, I hope you enjoy. For my regular (three) readers, feel free to review as the new ones are being composed.