Author: Mike Arruda

Aspiring author, graduate student therapist, and military veteran.

3 Points to Behavioral Observation

Today, I’m discussing behavioral observations and the intricacies of describing them in professional records. While I’m sure many of the facets of what I’ve been writing and how I’ve been writing it are primarily supervisor specific at this point, there are some interesting aspects of the process I imagine are wholly applicable across the board.

  • Stick to the visuals.
  • Describe the behavior concretely.
  • Avoid impressions and assumptions.

1. Stick to the Visuals.

When looking at behavior and trying to convey it to others, it’s natural to want to include aspects of character implied by those behaviors. For example, an individual doesn’t hold the door for the person just a few steps behind them. It’s easy to describe the event in a way that represents the behavior negatively. For example, person A “failed” to hold the door for Person B, compared to Person A opened the door and walked into the building without looking behind them. It’s about what we see, not what we believe. There is a time for impression, and it’s best not to include it when focusing on an individual’s behavior versus character or personality.

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Flashbacks

There’s a place in time I always go back to
A bedroom in the home I slept
Where I prayed for love, and I begged you
To stop the cycle you beat me as I wept

You broke the eggs upon whose shells I walked
I hung on your every word, obeyed your every rule
You praised me vehemently though you never talked
The bruises, scars, forced to change my school

One second you were evil; the next, you were fine
I cherished your love unlike any other
You’d move with care and turn on a dime
Nothing a daughter should see in her mother

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Admired

Roaring ocean, warm air, throat burning

Heart pounding, lungs begging for air

Mind vulnerable, loneliness’s glare turning

Eyes on me, a move to make I cannot bare

–

Choices escape clarity, nowhere to hide

Glances cause insecurity, vagueness looms

Specificity, a battle inside

Decisions each clearly own their dooms

–

Fighting feeling meaning, future unknown

Despite effort and exhaustion, sleep escapes

The toil and depression, my own

The tomorrow my choice shapes

–

A dream ever so frantically persistent

Constantly tearing me from the certain

Fault my own, mind so insistent

A beautiful future awaiting a pull of the curtain

–

Watch the pull of the tide

As I craft the end, so long desired

Prevailing decisions, influenced by what’s inside

A future beautiful, designed by me and by all, admired

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Why?

God, what reason is there for this to be so hard to forget? You’ve torn me limb from limb. You’ve destroyed me in ways I couldn’t have even begun to imagine. I’ve been embarrassed and disrespected in front of people I thought would never know our truth. My heart and my soul are exhausted and I’m finding it hard to to keep my head above water. In this world and in this Love, I’m drowning. The one thing on my mind is this question I keep asking myself…Why?

If there is one thing I’m consistently good at, it’s finding the good in the terrible. I’ve found strength I didn’t know I had, Love where I thought it would surely run out. My heart is stronger than I could’ve ever imagined. Continue reading →

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My Ghost

For not once, a reason you could supply

I’ll be in every leaf you burn, every crystal shard

I was the Love you were so ready to deny

Good luck not reading me in every tarot card

 

There isn’t a time, or person, nor place

You can go to escape from under my thumb

You’ve made your bed, now see my face

I’ll be the nightmare you can’t wake from Continue reading →

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