ACA Blog

I’ve recently begun a new adventure in my professional life. I have joined a new therapeutic community and am building my practice here in Atlanta. I know the statistics. I know that there is a possibility that I will fail, AND there is also this possibility that I won’t. To take this step is huge. In terms of personal growth, it means that I’ve acknowledged the risk and still decided to act in the direction my spirit hopes to go. In discovering different ways to market myself and my unique way of being with clients, I have come across a few insecurities- one of which has to do with my Masters of Divinity degree.

We counselors have an almost impossible challenge: on the one hand, if we come to a counseling session with a particular diagnosis or theory or plan, we are likely to be blind to what does not fit that diagnosis or plan; on the other hand, if we come completely ‘open’ we are likely to miss patterns that give clues to understanding our client’s problems.

I am in the process of taking an online course – Trauma-Informed Art Therapy by Cathy Malchiodi, PhD, LPAT, LPCC, ATR-BC. One of the assignments was to watch a video “Putting on the Brakes” featuring Babette Rothschild in which she describes the need to work with traumatized – if not all clients at their own pace, allowing time to decompress from the emotional intensity experienced during a therapy session. She likened this process to the balance of driving a stick shift car and the need to apply the gas and the brakes to move forward and to foster safety. It is one of the many pearls of wisdom I have gained through this course and other trainings given by Cathy.

The more I read and study and think about it, the more convinced I become that studying other cultures, other religions, other ways of thinking and being in the world more often than not compromises my effectiveness as a counselor. I realize that that multicultural awareness is intimately woven into the ACA code of ethics and CACREP requirements and I can get CEU’s for studying such topics. However, since I have never come across anyone else who has questioned this trend, in part I am writing this blog asking for help. What am I missing here?

Most religions have a rendition of “ashes to ashes and dust to dust” to discuss the cycle of life; how we physically came to be and where we go physically when we are done on this great planet of ours. Dust, not much really yet so symbolic; dust is everywhere, it is in everything. We breathe it, we clean it, and we build with it. It really is appropriate that we start and end as it.

In my last blog, I wrote about the connection between resistance and suffering, basic Buddhist tenets. His Holiness, the Dalai Lama reminds us when teaching Buddhism or Buddhist practices, the purpose is to encourage others to cultivate the the qualities of compassion, love, and wisdom within themselves (Simpkins & Simpkins, 2001, p. 79). I am not an expert in Buddhism, but these qualities resonate with me, particularly in the context of healing trauma and depression. A mindful approach to healing trauma and depression is grounded in fostering presence in the here and now, reframing negative thoughts and stories, meditation and mindful practices. As an existentialist, mindful approaches to healing make sense to me. Thus, I often introduce practices to support the cultivation of self-compassion, love and wisdom very early in the counseling process with my clients. In this blog, I will focus on techniques of fostering the qualities of self-compassion and self-love.

Zen stories nourish the soul and spirit. Whenever I slip into a threshold, I turn to the wisdom distilled in stories to find the fortitude to take my first step into the unknown. As I return to ACA web-blogs, I’ll share a Zen story that presented itself, as stories usually do for me, at precisely the right time.

I once was a little girl around the age of 9. Our family always went on vacation with my dad’s side of the family. We rented cabins along a lake in the northern woods of Wisconsin, and we would spend the week hiking, fishing, swimming (if the water wasn't icy cold in the month of June), playing Frisbee golf, biking, hanging out by the camp fire, and oh-so-much more... Some of my best childhood memories are centered around these trips, and there's one in particular that I'm thinking about today. I believe that significant memories of our past show up in a BIG way in our present and our future. If only we will pay attention, we can learn so much about ourselves.

Neale Donald Walsch said, “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone”. This quote is plastered on my refrigerator as a daily reminder of where I’ve been and where I’m going.