ACA MEMBER BLOGS

The past five months has flown by, and my intention to write a post once a month has zipped right past me as well. I must be honest. I sat down numerous times to write, but I was so focused on my internship, finishing my classes, taking the NCE exam, and completing my manuscript (which was due to my publisher in May), that I struggled to find the energy to reflect on what was happening in my life.

This post will be my 12th consecutive post which has me feeling very reflective. This process has been such fun, and such a learning experience. It has forced me to really delve into my thoughts and feelings regarding myself, clients, counseling, other passions, and advocacy.

One of my absolute pleasures is being able to spend time with my nephews and niece. They are a few of those individuals that manage to bring a smile to my face every time I am with them, think about them, or when I’m describing some prank they pulled off to my friends or family.

Inevitably after 5 days of no school into their summer vacation, your child will begin to complain that there is nothing to do and they are bored of playing video games or watching TV. I recommend that the planning for summer begins at least a couple of months ahead of the last day of school.

Self-care was talked about tremendously during my degree program. Like therapy, it was an abstract process that would become perfectly clear once a thriving career was established.

n my practice, the number of people I see on a weekly basis who are at the mercy of disorderly eating grows at an alarming rate. I hear their pain. I come from a culture where food is at the heart of who we are and how we relate to others.

The importance of seeking to understand clients cannot be overemphasized, and it is often painful for beginning counseling students to slow down and seek to be present with clients and hear their stories without rushing in to first problem solve, fix, or give advice.

I attended a leadership class not that long ago, and one of the topics discussed by people with a specialty in Human Resources, was “how to have difficult conversations with employees.”

Of late, I have come across various situations in which I have heard people say to each other “you are so strong”, “I don’t know what I would have done because I’m not as strong as you are”.

When I was about nine or ten years old, I decided I wanted to become a therapist. In my home country, counseling and psychology was one field. So I decided I wanted to become a psychologist. Titles and letters after one’s name was not really relevant at the time.