Rice Cat's Art Therapy World

來美國投上百封履歷，經歷10幾個面試。

今天第一次用Zoom 面試，就有四個面試官。
My computer has been weird, and I can not type Mandarin suddenly.
I think it is good to write a reflection of the interview today.

1. Why do you interest to work in our company.
I graduated from Art Therapy and counseling program, and I had completed two internships I had experienced different facilities. And I found out I am more interested in the clinical settings. Also, I look online on your portfolio, I find my education background and my experience are the perfect matches for your company. I wanna give it a try.

2. Describe a successful session you had done with your clients before.
I want to describe two sessions with different populations.
The first one was that I lead an art therapy group in the psychiatry department. And I combine CBT techniques with art therapy to work with patients who suffer from substance abuse. We make a book together and we put a question on each page to challenge the clients to see their unhelpful thinking pattern. I have the patient draw a picture to respond to the question. At the end of the session, the client will become aware of their problem and start wanting to seek more help from the medical team. I think it’s a positive outcome for the therapy.
In the second session. I was leading the group in the nursing home with the elderly population who suffer from depression. I let them draw a positive image or happy memories in white round paper to symbolize good energy. On the other hand, I let them draw negative or sad memories in the black round paper to symbolize negative energy. Then I let them share the story in these two images. Afterword, I introduce Yin Yan image that originated from old Asian culture. The Yin Yan means that there are always negative energy and positive energy in life, but all energy intertwine and interact with each other and flow together. At the end of the session, I told them to combine the two papers into one image which symbolize the wholeness of your life experience. How these two energies interact with each other is control by your hand. You can let dark power shows more on the image sometimes, and you can make light power dominate the image the other day. The result of the group is very positive which can summarize in four key content. 1. Introduce and implement other cultures' themes are always good for multicultural groups who come from other countries. 2. They were able to express their emotion by drawing the mandala. 3. The patient could regulate the negative mood by drawing the image and share in a safe place. 4. It gave them a chance to see the two contradict image and combine as a whole image. It makes their experience a totally different angle to redefine/reconstruct the meaning.

3. Tell me how do you handle the aggressive patient's behavior.
I had a patient who did not receive lunch for some reason. He was acting out and being aggressive. I was able to approach him and keep sharp objects from him and used some effective words to keep him calm by saying I understand why you are angry and it is upsetting you that you didn't get food, let me told to the other staff to prepare food, would you like to sit in my office and we can drink some apple juice. Through active listening and warm body language, some empathy words, I was able to de-escalate the situation.

4. Tell me the time you deal with a sensitive situation.
I was handling a sensitive situation recently. I brought the patient to the private room and had a meeting with our director and my supervisor. For my position, that was the only way to solve a sensitive situation.

5. How do you handle if you had an argument with other staff?
I don't think I really have an argument with someone at work. I can give a brief example. The key is to communicate. I don't like my patient walk out in the middle of the group. I don't like somebody interrupts during group time. However, sometimes, the nurse assistance needs to bring the patient to check vital signs so they explained to me and will come to the group and bring a patient out. I allow the medical check and the patient can re-join the group if we don't finish yet. We all are here to take care of the patient so I can make the exception for the medical team.

That all the main questions they asked. I think I did not answer well at this time. Hopefully, by writing and reflecting the question again, I will perform better in the next interview.