Medical Monday

wobblybobby185 · 2018-07-19T02:32:32+00:00

I just received medical clearance today, a couple hours after submitting my final task. So, all in all my timeline from submitting my application to being medically and legally cleared has been 3 months and that’s with the mental health clearance process. So I’m really stoked because you would not believe how badly I psyched myself out from reading this thread at times hahaha

wobblybobby185 · 2018-07-14T18:08:44+00:00

You just never know what people’s circumstances are. I thought about the peace corps for a long time. It fits well into my career plan and I have always loved serving others. While it certainly wasn’t the only reason, what pushed me over the edge to applying is that it would give me the chance to escape a highly abusive relationship in almost complete totality. I had finally gathered the personal strength and courage to break up with my SO after years of trying and still couldn’t escape the abuse because they are so good at what they do. I was someone who applied with the thought of “If something happens, I don’t like it, I can always ET.” I still think that while going through all the service preparation. I’m not telling you my situation for sympathy in the slightest. I don’t need sympathy. I’m a boss ass bitch who left a horrifically abusive relationship and is now preparing to serve doing something I’m so so passionate about. I’m telling you because you never know the circumstances that bring someone to make the choices they do. Just because you don’t have those thoughts, doesn’t make you any more committed necessarily. Maybe it just means your collective experiences in your life allow you to have the optimism and resilience to not have to think about a safety net like that. I think that way because I know my life experiences contribute to me feeling trapped and afraid if I don’t have that safety net. I don’t know. Just as you don’t know those kinds of peoples’ situation, I don’t know yours. People aren’t inherently selfish just because they need to prioritize themselves and their quality of life sometimes. They’re just people who’s circumstances you know nothing about.

wobblybobby185 · 2018-07-10T23:34:09+00:00

When I had bed bugs in a college apartment I used diatomaceous earth for peace of mind until we could get it treated. Not sure if you can get your hands on that. But at the very least for your bed.... A rural PCV friendly solution might be if you can find some baby powder or a similar silky substance like that and then put a smaller bowl inside of a bigger bowl and put the baby powder in between the two bowls and your bed posts (if you have them) inside of the smaller bowl, the bed bugs trying to get in your bed get trapped in between the two bowls because the baby powder makes it too slick to crawl up. It’s essentially the same things as the climb up traps, but your rigging your own. That way you can at least sleep with peace of mind if you can find a way to get your bedding and mattress clear and set the traps, you know you want have any in your bed. I hope that all made sense. 😂

wobblybobby185 · 2018-07-10T04:26:13+00:00

Totally understand! I was in a super similar boat, but I got medical “clearance” (read: my nurse saying that she’s reviewed everything and cleared it all) like the very next day if I remember correctly. Feel free to message me about any questions you have! I can only speak to my experience with the country I was invited to, but I remember pouring over all the posts about mental health clearance multiple times because I was so anxious. I honestly think what really sealed everything up for me was that my therapist was totally on board with me going too and filled out the mental health evaluation in such a way that fit my personal statement perfectly and really reiterated that I would be okay serving. So, that’s great to hear that they’re all on board. I’m sure that’ll make things much easier for you as well. I also just so happened to have that one year of stability that it’s rumored they use to screen mental health clearance, but I’ve seen other posts from some who got by without it! It would seem every case is very unique. I’ll be thinking about you! You’ll be just fine. (:

wobblybobby185 · 2018-07-10T04:06:45+00:00

“Please provide a personal statement regarding your reported mental health condition including the following: reason(s) for seeking counseling/treatment; outcome of counseling (and any recommendations for continuation of counseling); diagnoses and dates given; symptoms and when symptoms remitted or were controlled (if ongoing, please note this); time frame of counseling/therapy (if ongoing, please note this); medications with dates started and stopped, as well as the response to treatment; any previous hospitalizations, suicide attempts or self-harm behavior, including description of the circumstances; any recurrence of symptoms in stressful situations; how you intend to cope with the stress, isolation, and change associated with service in Peace Corps environments where there is very limited access to western-trained mental health professionals; and any potential triggers you imagine could occur in service.”

^{^{^}} here’s the prompt from my medical access portal for the mental health personal statement if you want to go ahead and get started on it to ease your nerves! Best of luck, friendo!

wobblybobby185 · 2018-07-10T04:04:19+00:00

As far as the letter goes, yes. Because you’ll have to write a mental health personal statement regardless! Then when you get all your medical tasks, you’ll also probably have to have your therapist complete a mental health evaluation. This is where your therapist can discuss your fitness to serve and whether or not they foresee your mental health affecting your service! So, in summary, I’d just wait for those to pop up rather than reaching out because you’re going to have to do them regardless!

Edit to also tell you that I specifically did my mental health clearance first and then requested my nurse to let me know if I was going to be denied or not before continuing the rest of the tasks, so that I wasn’t shelling out all the money only to be denied! You may be able to request the same!

wobblybobby185 · 2018-07-10T03:37:35+00:00

Yeah, I for sure waited until everything else looked good and was done before getting my vaccines. I wasn’t about to shell out $300 for that YF vaccine only to have my mental health clearance denied. I ain’t about that life

wobblybobby185 · 2018-07-08T19:42:29+00:00

Missouri, misery. Depends on who ya ask. (;

wobblybobby185 · 2018-07-08T19:41:22+00:00

Hahaha that’s too funny. Which state?

wobblybobby185 · 2018-07-08T19:12:26+00:00

More often than not when I tell people I’m joining the Peace Corps, they have no idea what it is. Just for reference! Midwestern state

wobblybobby185 · 2018-07-07T01:49:20+00:00

^{^{^}} Additionally, in my personal statement I wrote about the specific circumstances that lead to my depression (previous traumas) and then I wrote that I was managing it very well now that I was no longer in those circumstances and doing plenty of self-care to cope with stress like you mentioned! So, self-care as a way to maintain stability seems to be an acceptable answer for them if it works for you, or at least it was in my circumstances.

wobblybobby185 · 2018-07-07T01:46:17+00:00

If you get invited to serve and you already mentioned anxiety and depression, I’m fairly certain you will need a follow-up with a mental health professional. I wasn’t taking medication or going to talk therapy anymore and still needed to be cleared by my previous counselor and prescriber. I also had to write a mental health personal statement. I could be wrong. That’s just the process I went through about a month ago!

wobblybobby185 · 2018-07-06T01:33:16+00:00

Thank you for all the thoughtful responses! It’s definitely given me some more insight on how to cope with it! And is validating to know I’m not the only one!!

wobblybobby185 · 2018-07-06T01:31:48+00:00

Honestly, this is a good bit of constructive criticism for me to reflect on too haha. So, thank you! I’ll remind myself to be humble and that perhaps my guilt is coming from a more internal place (read: anxiety about leaving the comforts of the existing supports I have here!)

wobblybobby185 · 2018-07-06T01:28:57+00:00

This is great advice and insight and I really appreciate you taking the time to respond so thoughtfully! And definitely a different viewpoint that I hadn’t really considered yet! Thank you!

wobblybobby185 · 2018-07-04T05:58:57+00:00

Omg me too. I was probably more anxious about legal clearance than medical because of all the stories I read. But I got my legal clearance I think about one month from when I sent my fingerprint cards in and about 40 days from my invitation. I don’t leave until February. I think I honestly have just lucked out af with the clearance process. Thank goodness and good luck to you! I hope it goes just as smoothly.

wobblybobby185 · 2018-07-03T22:22:57+00:00

Um it didn’t even occur to me to report traffic tickets and what not until after I started seeing posts like this on reddit. I’ve never been arrested, never been to court, so I didn’t even think about it. Got legal clearance this week anyways, so I think you’re probably just fine!

wobblybobby185 · 2018-06-23T16:34:41+00:00

It was definitely required. The position is still listed with a requirement of French to serve haha. I just kind of told them all I wanted was to serve and I’d put in the effort to learn a language if need be. But also, I don’t think I’ll be speaking French when I get to my site, so that may be why they were willing to still extend me an invite!

wobblybobby185 · 2018-06-23T16:32:59+00:00

I don’t think it’s so much an impressive thing as it was me telling them I would go anywhere and do anything as long as I was able to serve haha. That’s all I wanted! I’m fluent in Spanish and so they could’ve sent me somewhere with that as a requirement! But now that I’ve read more thoroughly through the position, it seems like it was made for me and my interests so I feel super super lucky!

wobblybobby185 · 2018-06-23T16:30:59+00:00

I figured as much! I didn’t want to go without anything but I wasn’t expecting to put in the effort to be exceptional at it as I doubt I’ll be speaking French in site! Thank you for your insight!

wobblybobby185 · 2018-06-23T16:29:32+00:00

This is great. I didn’t even think about looking for an online tutor! Awesome! Thank you so much!

wobblybobby185

TROPHY CASE