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View Full Version : Choice: suffer severe fatigue weekly or pull out of 6yr Training


JessicaV
12-13-2015, 06:51 PM
Hi people, just want some advice. I am halfway through a 6yr training to become a Jungian Analyst. The training requires participation in about 6x3day intensive residential training workshops a year that I have pay my own costs for flights and accommodation between $1000 ash $3000 a time, plus 40x twice weekly Jungian Analysis plus once weekly supervision costing $120 a time per year. Annual fees are about $6000 a year. My fellow students are lovely and the training is very valuable vocationally. I am getting less and less comfortable/impressed by the training committee and directors of training though.

Since July this has also included participating in a 90minute Infant Observation group Seminar on Wednesdays. Mine is 50km away from my home/workplace. There are 4 groups: Auckland, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. 2 people in our Perth group Skype from NZ, the other 2 live less than 10 km away, and all 4 of those are ablebodied and well. I have a 50km drive to get there, half through heavy traffic. I am the only person in the class of 20 who has had breast cancer or any sort of cancer during the training.

For the first 2 months, I mostly attended I/O seminars in person, and was very fatigued after and unable to work competently on the following Thursday. My GP then told me to find something closer because this is not good for me. I then discovered I could Skype and that solved the problem. But after 3 months, I have just been told by the group leader that the Directors of Training will probably not count my Skyped sessions if I continue. He asked on my behalf for me to be allowed to Skype instead. Joy, Director of Training rang me and talked for an hour, telling me I am stubborn, and that being the sort of person I am, I really need to attend in person.

I have specifically asked in terms of needing this reasonable adjustment as an impaired person who needs this as one of my Human Rights, and this does not concern them. The best they have come up with is to take leave for 3 months and only attend I/O by Skype, no supervision or Residential attendance, then alternate embodied and Skype attendance for my I/O seminars from then on. She goes to talk this over with the other Director of Training then will talk with me again on Friday. I am told she is likely to change the offer to something worse not better when I talk to her next.
My analyst died in October, and he was able to help me negotiate this sort of stuff, but now I am handling it very much alone.I want to learn this material, to become a Jungian Analyst, but fear they will string me along and cause me a lot of fatigue and then refuse to let me into Stage 2 or to graduate.
I believe I have a complaint the Human Rights Commission would uphold but am pretty sure bringing such a complaint would wreck all chance I have of being able to complete the training. Not sure I will have the chance to complete at all anyway.
What should I do?

Lucy
12-14-2015, 07:58 PM
How much time is left in the program? I think that would play a big part in how I personally would decide this. I feel like people who haven't been through what we have really have no clue what it's like and they want to tag us as being lazy and whiny and it's hard to convince them otherwise and it sounds like that may be happening to you here.

Hopefully they will come up with a workable solution on Friday but if not, you should consider the complaint with the Human Rights Commission because it may be you're not the first person they've done this to and it may help prevent them from doing this to others going forward.

I'm sorry I'm not more of a help here but this is a hard one to know what to tell you. It may boil down to how badly you want this and how much of an impact you're willing to let it take on you to complete. I'm sorry you're having to deal with this but I hope it has a satisfying resolution for you. Good luck, let us know what happens.

JessicaV
12-14-2015, 10:41 PM
Hi Lucy thanks so much for your thoughts. I think I feel some degree of outrage at being misunderstood, and as you say, been seen as lazy and whiny, and it just seems unfair to have a choice between having to work to help them really understand what fatigue is , or putting up with the effects of not being understood.

I am starting to think that since I will get what I want until the beginning of April, I may just wait till they review the situation then, and see if we get a working solution or not, and if not, go to the Human Rights.

The course has another two and a half years to run. The Infant Observation Seminars have another 18months to run. Still a long time to go, but a long time already invested. Maybe I am just dying for a break!
Thanks again, it is so helpful just to not be alone in it all.

IrvineFriend
12-19-2015, 12:02 AM
Hi Jessica,

What's going on now? I personally would fight for Skype as you have a valid medical reason. But would not spend any time/money if it's going to be wasted moving forward. Wishing you well on your rights :)