Work Trainings in the Mental Health Field with Psychodrama as Self-Care

Ashley Clayton Kay
7 min readApr 2, 2021

Raise your hand if you’ve ever been to a work training. How many? Is it like one or two? Maybe five to seven? Or is it A MILLION? In the first two years of my career, I could not even BEGIN to tell you how many trainings/orientations I attended. I just. I can’t. I don’t. <shudder>

What have all these trainings given me? Let’s see….

1. Giant stacks of paper (which I’m always glad about for doodling purposes, yet, at the same time, I cringe for the environment).

2. A love/hate relationship with PowerPoint (WHO ELSE HAS DEEP FEELS ABOUT THIS?!)

3. A commute home in which I question everything I am doing with my life. (#existentialcrisis)

PLUS, there is the added all-encompassing disappointment in fellow adults’ abilities to spell. <sigh>

Needless to say, in a training for my new job following burnout, I had reached my capacity for the above as well as: a) small talk with others, 2) stale snacks, and 3) general bullshit.

WHOA with the negativity. Right?!

Time for some self-care. But honestly, I was doing everything I could to care for the self. I utilized all the breaks. I wore comfortable clothing. I slept well. I sang in the car. I treated myself to…

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Ashley Clayton Kay

Writing with heart, humor, & humanity = what I do in theory. Writing while eating ice cream out of coffee mugs = what I do in practice.