Personal Narrative: My Work Experiences

The person who I am working with is a 29 year-old Caucasian female. She is single with no children. She graduated from college with a Bachelor 's in psychology. Currently she is attending graduate school full time, and works part time for the local city in the sporting events. She is the eldest child in her family, and has one brother and sister.

At an early age her parents divorced, but on and off would try to still live with each other. Her mother rarely worked if ever, and dad worked full time. When talking about her childhood in the interview, she made comments that suggested parts of it were extremely difficult. In particular her parents would argue a lot, and when her dad drank he at times became abusive towards her as well as her siblings. In addition, she talked about the pressure she felt as the eldest child to perform, and set a good example for her younger siblings.

Another concern she talked about in regards to her childhood was she was old enough to get a job she went right to work. This was a good thing, but she also stated how she felt that her mother would ask her for money often. She stated how she became frustrated by this because she felt that her mother could have done more, and got a job herself. This continued throughout her later childhood, and put a strain on their relationship.

An example of this would be that rather than studying for the upcoming comps, she finds herself not studying enough, or doing other activities more. In addition, when she was an undergraduate student, she had some issues in regards to substance abuse. She stated how much she use to drink. Also, other drug use included marjuana, and cocaine. Client also stated that this was used as a coping skill to deal with the pressure that she felt, and made her feel more at