Introductions

Dear readers,

My name is Melanie and I am currently studying Psychology at Massey University via distance learning part-time. I work full-time in Theatre as a Senior Anaesthetic Technician while raising a family. As part of an assignment, I was forced to undertake the immense task of starting and sustaining a blog. I can quite honestly state that I had no idea what makes a blog and was relieved when my eldest daughter told me that it was quite simply writing a letter to the population of the internet. Luckily for me, all I have to do for my first blog is introduce myself, so here it goes:

As previously stated, I am a Psychology student. My interest in this subject peaked when, as part of the organ retrieval team, I noticed the high number of teen suicides among the patients that we were retrieving organs from. This both saddened and encouraged me to try to find a way to both understand and help these young people as I have teenage children myself. It is my hope that I can gain a Clinical Psychology degree and use it to help troubled young people.

Psychology will be a big change from my current practice as I currently only converse with patients for only 5-10 minutes prior to them being anaesthetized for surgery. It is my hope that taking a communication paper will broaden my current patient to practitioner communication skills as I will need to communicate with the patient, their families and other health professionals involved in their care.

I have been told that I am a good listener which I feel is important in communication. I especially feel as a psychologist that this is a worthwhile characteristic. I am able to converse easily with other adults, however, when dealing with youths, especially in a health setting, I find it difficult to break the ice. It would be beneficial if I could learn to relate better to young people that just don't want to communicate.

Kind regards,

Melanie.