Kristina Walsh

A while ago I had the chance to volunteer with an organization that helps young people who live in poverty. While timing a hula hooping contest, I started asking the kids and some innocent bystanders questions.

Group therapy is either loved or hated by most therapists. Throughout my practicum and internship, I’ve seen some incredible group process happen in our partial hospitalization program.

I work at my internship in partial hospitalization with many patients who are current students at one of the largest state universities in the country. I’ve been fascinated at how mental illness can be exacerbated by struggling with career options, direction, and choices.

Closing our series on self-care, it’s important to reiterate how vitally important self-care is for our personal and work relationships. I’m a human, just like you, so the other big thing we have in common is that we don’t have the time, or energy, or availability to care for ourselves. We are spread so thin already caring for others that we don’t have time for anything else.

Kristina Walsh is a counselor-in-training at Methodist Theological School in Ohio, completing her internship this year in Partial Hospitalization and Intensive Outpatient Care in Harding Hospital at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.