Santa came early this year

When my mom and sister came to town for Thanksgiving I somehow talked them into posing with Mall Santa. Mall Santa was a good sport and even had my mom sit in his lap. When he asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I said "a job".

Thank you Santa! For the past two weeks I indeed have had a job. I am working now as a psychologist (hooray!) at a residential treatment program for adolescents with eating disorders. It is not a place I would have expected to be, but I am finding it quite to my liking. The girls (hell yes, it is all girls) have either failed out of lower levels of treatment or just come from psychiatric hospitals and aren't ready to go home. I see them for individual therapy 3x/week, family therapy 1x/week, and group therapy 5x/week. This doesn't include all of the other psychoeducational groups they attend that I'm not involved in, like nutrition, body acceptance, self-esteem, etc.

I'm having fun! I get to do all the things I like- individual, family, and group therapy. I get to be a bit of a boss, as I'm one of only two psychologists. I get to be called "Doctor M___", which is fun. I feel so lucky to have fallen into a job that I really like, when I was simply looking for a job I wouldn't hate!

Of course, Captain Awesome and I are still pursuing our place in the California Brain Drain, but that won't happen for at least another year. Until then, you'll know where to find me!