The Importance of Self-Care for Us Counselors and Clients Too
After 29 years in the mental health field, the most important thing I learned was to take care of myself first. In the helping business, it can be easy to get attached to people you treat, and worry about how they are doing. When this happens, it is a clear sign to stop whatever you are doing and take a break. Why? Because if we are not in balance, it is difficult to take care of others....Learn More
What is Therapy?
With our influx of new clients recently, I’ve found myself explaining what the process of therapy is. It seems that for so long people have sluffed it off, avoided it, realized their problems were not going away on their own and needed some assistance. I recall thinking that I was weak for going into therapy, and lost the fight in trying to help myself. I feel for that younger me who meekly...Learn More
A Message to New Therapists
If you are an intern and starting in this profession, toss away everything you have learned and pay attention to one thing – the customer. This isn’t a time to dazzle them with theory, or prove to them that you are really brilliant, simply let go of that and be yourself. You have to understand that the most important aspect in the healing profession is your bedside manner – so to speak. New...Learn More
My Fondest Counseling Memory
28 years as a counselor has had its ups and downs. There were scary times at the Mental Health Urgent Care when people who were psychotic got unruly. How can you convince somebody who feels you are in on the government plot against them that you are there to help? Somehow, I managed to do so. Though, I wondered this morning what was my fondest memory. I’ve had a lot of incredible memories. In...Learn More
Healing Through Compassion
Twenty-seven years in the industry and I am still learning that heart-centered listening is the best way to treat people. After thousands upon thousands of sessions, I often hear the same things, but I feel it is ultimately important to simply listen with a full heart. I teach my interns how important it is to not fix people. If we were to do this, they would be dependent on us. When you help...Learn More
Top 10 Steps to Treating a Problem
When you are sick and tired of feeling sick and tired what should you do? Most people wait and hope for the symptoms to go away, which will only push the inevitable away. Eventually, you have to face the facts that your efforts aren’t working and need to do something about them, but what? Depending on the ailment, it is important to address the symptoms head-on. If you have a physical ailment,...Learn More
Helping the Suicidal
Suicide. Not a pleasant subject but working in the Crisis field ten years ago and treating thousands that were suicidal makes me some kind of an expert, I guess. The facts are that if we don’t get a handle on depression, it can take you out. As a supervisor of interns, it is my job to help new therapists read the signs. Does the person have a desire to kill themselves, do they have a plan, is...Learn More
Moving to the New Office – The Saga
Blurry eyed, I am writing an account of what went down during our move to Everett Washington over the holiday season. I forgot how difficult moves can be – if difficult can come close to describing it. Why the Move Our expensive lease was up and what started out as an adventure to downsize and save some extra money each month, turned into a monster. It seemed like it was the perfect time to...Learn More
The Reality of Life – Death
The day after Christmas, after the Zoom parties, the nice meals, and the exchanging of presents, I got bad news one after the other. My fiancée from twenty years ago was found dead in her apartment probably due to alcoholism. She had just turned 60. Alcohol had put a chasm in our relationship back then and probably took her as a victim now. A bitter pill to swallow because we had been very...Learn More