ACA MEMBER BLOGS

Greetings readers, it’s been 7 years since I first wrote on this issue, and to date it remains still one of the most asked about topics. This month I present to you a re-visitation, and update!

At the most fundamental level, networking is the exchange of information and ideas that can significantly impact your career.

However, the reality is that the experience of growing a private practice (or any company) isn’t ups then downs – it’s experiencing both at the same time, a lot like this most recent example from my own practice.

Go to the therapy! Take your medicine! You’ll feel better when you get a breath of fresh air. It seems easy to say, but what if that person was in sinking sand with demons around them constantly pushing them further in?

At a recent networking event, a male colleague deliberately blanked me. Yes, I do think that him being male and I being female has a lot to do with why he blanked me. Not being able to avoid me in the small gathering, he came up to me pretending he didn’t know me.

Fall is my favorite time of year as the leaves change color and patterns all around us. The soft bite of autumn winds remind us that the holiday season is on the precipice…fall festivals, Halloween parties, school recitals, school buses, Friday night football, and the hope that this holiday season will bring with it respect, peace, familial harmony, and unity amongst our neighbors.

It doesn’t matter if someone in your family is lazy, argumentative, or a drug addict. They’re still family. They’re still welcome to come over for Sunday dinner. You won’t enable them, but you’ll accept them and love them unconditionally.

Whether you’re 6 or 60, there’s one thing everyone hates when going to the doctor; and no, it’s not getting pricked with needles. It’s waiting to get pricked with needles. Your appointment is at 2, but as 2, 2:05, 2:10 rolls by, you ruminate “I had an appointment. If the doctor wasn’t going to be available, why schedule at this time? Apparently, my time isn’t valuable.”

It’s arguable about how old I was when I entered the field of human services but I was doing state and national conference lectures and meeting with high powered politicians since I was 16. Life was much different then, in so many ways.

Attending a conference, especially if it is your first one, can be very scary. However, it is almost essential to any graduate student or postgraduate student to stay current and up-to-date with the latest research and professional issues of the counseling field. If you are currently planning to attend a conference or the thought of going to a conference increases your stress, then this post is here to offer support.