Charmaine Perry

On Sunday, I will be attending the New Jersey Counseling Association’s (NJCA, the NJ chapter of the American Counseling Association) annual counseling conference. This will be the second year that I will have attended. Last year, I was struggling with finding post-graduate placements and attending the conference really helped.

Conducting therapy takes a great deal out of us. We carry our personalities and traits into our sessions where we know it or not. Regardless of theoretical orientation, our personalities factor into the way we conduct therapy.

Recently, while doing some research, I came across a couple of articles with celebrities who spoke out about the various mental health issues they have had or are struggling with. Celebrities have been more vocal about mental health and the stigmas associated with them.

Whenever I watch or read the news nowadays, I am left feeling like there is not much empathy left in this world. Every now and again, a positive story is mixed with the ever-negative news, but for the most part, it is mostly all the things wrong in the world.

I had a parent who cancelled services for a client and I must say that I was very concerned. I wasn’t concerned because of pride – because services were cancelled with me, specifically – or because the parent just didn’t want services, it was because I recognized that the client would not get the help that they needed.