About Me

I hope you all had a wonderful Turkey Day with your loved ones. I know mine was spectacular and I'm still so full I can hardly move. Hopefully nobody is working (self care is so important to prevent burnout in this field!) and you are taking this day as an additional day to be thankful. :) So, nothing "educational" today, but a little about me so you know exactly who is giving you your information.

My name is Jessica. I live in the great state of Idaho in the city of Meridian. I am a 25 year old wife to a fellow PSR (every single day I ask myself "How can I be more like my husband at my job?" because he is so incredibly amazing at what he does!), dog mom to two hyperactive Jack Russels (Anybody out there do doggy PSR?!), and overloaded and exhausted graduate student (not only do I work 40 hours a week, but I attend at least 2 classes a week, I do research on the side for one of my professors AND I'm starting practicum and seeing real clients in less than two months! SCARY!).

My husband and I with our oldest JRT, Gus. 

I received my B.S. from Boise State University (Go Broncos!) in Psychology and I am currently attending Northwest Nazarene University to get my masters in Clinical Counseling. I am a behavior interventionist (BI) for a school district in Idaho where I offer PSR services to middle school students with severe and persistent mental illness.

Proof that I graduated!! 

Working within the school district looks very different from working in the community. For example, children in the community get anywhere form 1 to 5 hours of PSR every week. My kiddos get up to 2040 minutes of services per week (2040 is the max, and it means they can receive all day PSR).  In my school, I teach in a classroom called the Therapeutic Learning Classroom and every other day (block schedule) I teach an 82 minute social skills class. This also looks different because I have to teach to a variety of kiddos who have different mental health needs and I'm not focusing on one kiddo individually (that comes later in the day when I follow particular kids around and use prompting, redirecting, etc. to help them overcome their mental illness in the general education population).

I am incredibly artsy (scrapbooking, crafting, home decorating, you name it, I've tried it!) and I love to snowboard. I also love clothing and fashion and maybe someday will feature some outfit of the day posts (but as you can see from above, I'm busy busy busy... so who knows).

At Grand Targee last spring break with (from L to R) my husband's best friend, my husband, me, and my father-in-law. Best spring break! 

So that's a little about me, my life, and what my work. Now back to the PSR!!