Jaime Castillo

As a member of the Chi Sigma Iota Professional Task Force, one of my responsibilities is to find ways to increase professional involvement in the organization with the goal of increasing the rate of Student members continuing their affiliation as Professional members. Why is there a trend of, upon graduating, student members not renewing as professionals? Is this common in other organizations like ACA? Does the organization not provide the resources or benefits that counselors and counselor educators need as they develop from student to professional? These are the questions that CSI and the members of the Professional Task Force have been researching for the past few years.

Once a year a group of friends I attended graduate school with send out a chain of emails with dates. Aside from the string of jokes, and links to funny youtube videos that follow, we all check our calendars and respond with our availabilities. The dates are for our annual Counseling Program Alumni Night; an event a few of us started after graduating as a way to stay connected with each other, return to old stomping grounds, enjoy each others company, and have fun.

I was part of a serious improv team a few years ago. We were a small group of five individuals who met at an established comedy theater while taking classes. We felt a natural connection with each other, the kind you develop when you’re part of a really good sports team. You know when for some reason everything just organically clicks, and somehow everything just flows? That’s the kind of spark we had right from the beginning.

I provide individual counseling in a group home on a weekly basis, and with that responsibility comes some interesting challenges. When I first started working at this residence the supervisor provided me with a tour of the house and showed me the room that was given to the .clinicians. It was a your standard first floor living room with a couple couches some plants and a TV. For the first few weeks I met with all individuals in this room, but not without some difficulty. I had one client who was particularly hesitant to join me in this room week after week.

In a previous entry “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Client,” I discussed methods of providing individual psychotherapy with adults diagnosed with mental retardation. It’s not a surprise that we must also modify our traditional therapeutic techniques with this population when facilitating groups. Each week I run a group comprised of adults with mental retardation and co-morbid psychiatric diagnosis, and have been trained in the “Integrative-Behavioral Model” for group psychotherapy, as developed by Dr. Dan Tomasulo. Working with this population can be difficult. Not only are we faced with the MR and co-morbid psychiatric disorders, but also we are challenged by the numerous cognitive and social skill deficits these clients face.