“I wrote this volume as a guidebook to the clinical life wherever you are starting from. The goal is to help you feel a bit less overwhelmed or unsure how to start; to provide some basic but also some not-so-basic information so that you don’t feel quite so disoriented on a bad day; to help you not only know how to handle those emergencies but also understand what is normal and common, so you are not fraught with anxiety and can professionally and emotionally hit the ground running so that your journey becomes the one you envisioned way back when. To do this you need to be proactive and take control of your life, go after what you want and need, and do what you have to do. In other words, the goal is to help you feel more grounded, help you see what you might overlook or need to appreciate, navigate the unexpected, look beyond this one day to imagine the many days to come. One of my goals is to create a reading environment that feels more like a conversation than presentation. To do that I’ve used a mix of pronouns throughout, an informal writing style, and included a number of clinical examples that are fictional and composite clients drawn from my experience. Finally, you’ll find questions at the end of many chapters. These are invitations for you to reflect on your clinical skills, your career, the ways your values and personality may impact your work. I hope you’ll pause and consider them”–
