ACA MEMBER BLOGS

I’ve heard a great deal of concerning messages around the process of counseling, and about counselors themselves. Stereotypes, misconceptions, and myths can be monstrous obstacles in achieving optimal mental health.

As I've already noted, Wyoming has one of the highest suicide rates in the nation. The United States overall has a high suicide rate, when compared with other countries, and so in 2010 the nation's Department of Health and Human Services launched the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention.

I am really proud to be an LGBTQ+ affirmative practitioner and educator. Similarly, it makes me so happy when people approach me with questions as to how they can be more affirming. This joy isn’t because I’m happy to try to summarize my dissertation.

I currently work in a high school and have previously experience in a homeless youth center, a wilderness program for adolescents, private practice, and an elementary school. I still consider myself to be young. I graduated and began practicing recently and have yet to hit 30. I like to think that I have some degree of understanding of the world which children and adolescents inhabit are like.

One of my goals for January is to find a new therapist. Part professional development, part self care, I’ve learned that having a counselor rounds out my support system, even when life feels relatively stable.

During my experience of seeking paid clinical supervision, I have learned a number of lessons that I want to extend to other new professionals and recent graduates. First, utilize resources from former professors or professionals that you might have come across during internship.

I'd like to return this week to the article I referenced last time, in which ACA author Jonathan Rollins highlights some of the challenges of counseling in rural areas.

Mental health counseling can be beneficial for just about anyone. When I share that I’m often met with an array of responses. Some concur, but others are hesitant and even offended. Although we’ve come a long way, mental health stigma is still rather pervasive.

It is that cooooold time of the year again when the hot chocolate is flowing, fleece blankets abound, the fuzzy slippers are preferred footwear, and the mind wanders to the potential and possibility of a new year.

Most of the time when we think of cultural competency, we think about working with people from varying ethnicities. Ethnicities different from our own. I am a White counselor, and so it seems it would be easiest for me to work with other White people. We share the same culture, right?