C&F Addendum Help Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hey--my psychotherapist and support group leader just drafted the below eval and asked me for feedback--anything she should add or omit? She will be submitting it shortly:

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Treatment Summary

Assessment of the patient’s readiness to return to a full academic course load.

[My name] is a brilliant young woman who would be an asset to any law school she attends. Never have I had a patient who learns as quickly as she does. I’ve had the great privilege of being her psychotherapist from March 1, 2015 until the present. She was asked to leave [law school' due to out-of-control manic behavior, a dire consequence of being improperly medicated for her bipolar disorder.

She has subsequently found a treating psychiatrist – [Name of psychiatrist] – who put her on effective medication. She has been stable – no manias or depressions – since she’s been on this medication. As with any individual with a mental illness, she fully understands the importance of taking her medication faithfully.

This enterprising 27-year-old young woman, the daughter of two physicians, who are helping her heal at home in [City, State], was chosen from 20 candidates to work full-time as an intern at the [Legal Aid Organization] in [City]. She successfully wrote a grant and got a $1,200 stipend to be paid for her pro bono work. The patient and two other interns do important work helping the homeless, who reside both on the streets of [City] and in five shelters in the city.

She is being mentored by several [Legal Aid Organization] attorneys and has been invited to work for them full-time after she gets her law degree. See [website].

On her own, she took the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam and passed with a 128, the 97th percentile.

She has applied to [Law School] for the Fall Semester, where she hopes to transfer from [original Law School]. In this way, she will maintain the same stable environment she has now, including her network of “providers.” She sees Dr. [Psychiatrist] on a monthly basis and myself on a weekly basis.

In addition, she is very active at [Support Group] of [City, State] – see [website] - where she is a Telephone Greeter, heads our Discovery Club excursions to interesting places in the [City] area.

The patient is an “idea person,” always thinking of ways to expand our programs and services at [Support Group], the support group I founded in 1986, for people with mood disorders and their loved ones.

Recommendations for follow-up treatment:

Continue seeing a psychiatrist, a psychotherapist, and attending [Name of support group] Support Group.

Be sure to get a good night’s sleep. Since being on the right medication, she gets 7-8 hours of sleep per night. After she took on her “nine-to-five” job at [Legal Aid Organization], she quickly adjusted to full-time work. Before [Legal Aid Organization], she volunteered for the [State] Innocence Project, where she helped in the release of an incarcerated inmate.

Her parents, with whom she lives, will continue to monitor her for manic or hypomanic behavior. She herself has learned how to do this, with the help of this psychotherapist.

Conclusion

Bipolar disorder is no deterrent to living a meaningful, productive life. It has often been noted that individuals with this illness have unusual compassion and empathy for their fellow men and women. [Patient] certainly fits this description. In our support group, we have supported many an attorney, as well as nurses, physicians, business owners, and hundreds of other people – including their family members – who we’ve helped over the years.

[Patient] is definitely ready to resume her law school studies.

[Anonymous User]

BUMP.

Does anyone have feedback on my psych eval? My psychotherapist plans to fax it to the school tomorrow.

[AReasonableMan]

BUMP.

Does anyone have feedback on my psych eval? My psychotherapist plans to fax it to the school tomorrow.

I don't think many people have had psych evals sent to law schools before so it will be hard to give constructive feedback. It's clear s/he likes you, but doesn't seem to go into details about triggers, etc. or specific things that caused you to act out. You also don't seem to have been asked to leave because of your ability to keep a normal schedule or any judgments on your intellect. It was simply a risk assessment. This explains risk reducing measures that have been implemented, but this doesn't seem to be the primary focus. Again, IDK how these should look. Gluck!

[Anonymous User]

Why would adding info about my triggers be helpful?

[AReasonableMan]

Because showing specific things you've put in place would make it less likely you'll flare up again. It's like when you're trying to get someone out on parol, you speak about specific things they've done that go beyond anger management to show it's unlikely they'll reoffend. The fact your parents are both successful being mentioned rubs me the wrong. way, but that's just me. I also don't see your high MPRE score being relevant of stability. Being smart and being safe aren't the same thing.

[Anonymous User]

But she did write of specific things I've put in place that would make it less likely I'll flare up again--principally meds, monthly psychiatrist visits, weekly individual and group psychotherapy, etc.

[Anonymous User]

My school did not let me back in, but they are willing to complete whatever paperwork necessary to effectuate a transfer.

[Clearly]

I didn't read the whole, but this is literally the single worst C+F addendum I have ever seen. Your entire approach to this is ridiculous and misses the point what what addenda are supposed to do.

[BlueLotus]

I didn't read the whole, but this is literally the single worst C+F addendum I have ever seen. Your entire approach to this is ridiculous and misses the point what what addenda are supposed to do.

I thought that the newer version posted a few pages ago was good.

[Clearly]

That could well be true. That's why I clarified that I wasn't gonna read 12 pages to find a new version. I hope you're right!

[Desert Fox]

[AReasonableMan]

I didn't read the whole, but this is literally the single worst C+F addendum I have ever seen. Your entire approach to this is ridiculous and misses the point what what addenda are supposed to do.

I thought that the newer version posted a few pages ago was good.

You wrote it so of course you liked it.

You two have a cartoonist good guy-bad guy thing going on. Can't tell who's the good guy and bad guy. On one hand you can be like batman and she joker. On the other she's the kid trying to have fun, and you're the old sheriff trying to stop the ruckus.

[Desert Fox]

[BlueLotus]

I didn't read the whole, but this is literally the single worst C+F addendum I have ever seen. Your entire approach to this is ridiculous and misses the point what what addenda are supposed to do.

I thought that the newer version posted a few pages ago was good.

You wrote it so of course you liked it.

CanadianWolf and rpupkin practically wrote the whole thing.

[DavidConeSplitter]

IDK OP I'd go with the original version that looks good to me

[Anonymous User]

OP Update: I got into a school. Thanks for the help everyone.

[LAW813FL]

nice, blame all the bad shit you do on your "manic state"

I'd own up to the wrong shit I did instead of try and blame it on bullshit excuses like you. Anybody who knows anything about mental health will be able to sift through your crap.

mod edit: user has been outed and banned for using anon to bash someone's mental illness

[nothingtosee]

nice, blame all the bad shit you do on your "manic state"

I'd own up to the wrong shit I did instead of try and blame it on bullshit excuses like you. Anybody who knows anything about mental health will be able to sift through your crap.

Strong anon use

[Anonymous User]

More detail about what you did. Way less detail about how you feel about it, what you've done in the meantime, and what exactly your therapy entails. And it's not so much that you need to go on at length about your behavior, as that you need to make clear what that was. (Hypothetical re: graffiti - spray-painting the dean's car with obscenities is different from writing "dean x sucks" on a bathroom wall. If you say "vandalism" I'm free to envision the former, which looks worse than the latter.)

I put lipstick marks and crayon on the walls.

[HonestAdvice]

The shorter, the better. You're not gonna get stoned bec you didn't disclose everything. There's a common sense discretion that requires balancing their time against the stuff that really matters. To some degree, your ability to separate what matters from what doesn't will affect their impression of you. Also, if you've grown past this you'd be able to explain it shortly in raw facts. If someone asked you and your bf broke up when you were 18 the next day you'd ramble on for a 100000 pages. if asked again at 25, your answer should be 5 or 6 words. This is no different. Your story isn't complex.

1.) Sent nasty e-mails
2.) Probation period
3.) Used profanity
4.) Smashed window.
5.) Took meds and did support groups

That's like 100 words. 90% of what you have now are mitigating factors, and you only tippy toe onto what you actually did. That's why people were being discourteous. It's because they don't like you. They don't like you because they feel, perhaps rashly and subconsciously that you're untrustworthy.

Go the opposite route - say what you did, and err on the side of making it seem more morally reprehensible than it is. Do the vice versa for mitigating factors. They're going to get the documents regardless. You're much better off have them think, "This isn't as bad as we thought" than "this is worse than they made it seem".

What you did isn't that bad. You just seem crazy, and no offense - you are crazy. Your goal should be is to hide that through not giving them enough of your thought process to realize it.

[BobBoblaw]

ERMIGERD!! Zombie Thread!

[HonestAdvice]

ERMIGERD!! Zombie Thread!

I figured she'll eventually come back, and just wanted to offer some help, because she's only likely to have a problem if they consider her to not be presently fit to practice law. She doesn't need a redemption crusade. She just has to prove she's not a time bomb. "I was sick then, did a, b and c, am confident it will never happen again but have x, y and z in place to ensure that in the off chance it did, it will never hurt a client or disgrace the bar." is the extent of appropriate subjectivity.

[A. Nony Mouse]

She's not coming back.