Joan Phillips

I recently ran across Newton's laws and felt like I was reading a short concise statement of what happens in a lot of marital therapy. So bear with me.... The First Law states that objects at rest tend to remain at rest, and objects in motion tend to remain in motion, unless they are acted upon by an external force; the Second Law states that an applied force on an object equals the rate of change of its momentum with time; and the Third Law states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

I have the privilege of having just returned from a four month Fulbright Scholar experience in Ireland. I continue to reflect upon and try to integrate the wonderful experiences, challenges and learning that took place for me as I taught at a college there and interacted with the helping professions in many settings and fields of practice.

I am happy to say I have just had the privilege of completing a time in Ireland as a Fulbright Scholar. (This is somewhat to explain my absence as a frequent blogger but really it is no excuse!) I will try to share some insights as I integrate them, as my experience here gave me a very interesting new perspective on the helping professions and counseling in particular. More on that in a future blog. The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. The primary source of funding for the Fulbright Program is an annual appropriation made by the U.S. Congress to the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Participating governments and host institutions, corporations and foundations in foreign countries and in the United States also provide direct and indirect support.

The recent tragic and sad event in Tucson continues to be in our awareness daily, and as I watch the news I note the growing makeshift memorials both at the scene of the crime and at the hospital. This phenomenon of a spontaneous development of a gathering of mementos, candles, poems, prayers, artwork, trinkets, etc. is a common and apparently universal one. In the face of chaos and loss it appears to be a very human impulse to mark the spot as well as create some kind of concrete representation of grief and caring. I saw this in large form after the bombing at the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City (I live near OKC).

Many industries are focusing these days on cross training, preparing workers for different parts of the job to increase coverage and back-up as well as strengthen the overall workforce. In sports, to cross train develops strength and stamina. How about in counseling? We are not in a race nor do we work in teams usually toward a production goal. But we are in a rigorous profession that requires a large degree of self-discipline while still maintaining our flexibility. Sounds like a sport more and more. And our "product" is one of the most important I can imagine- healthy lives. All that said- I have one suggestion today for a cross-training exercise- a book I just read that really invigorated my thinking about clients, students and supervisees. The book is “What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20” by Tina Seelig (2009). The rest of the title is “a crash course on making your place in the world” and that it is!