ACA Blog

As we all know, life can sting. People come to us with all sorts of hurts and challenges in their lives, seeking to heal but just don’t know how. There is no shortage of reasons and ways people feel broken, and besides support and having a safe place to “unload,” they need new tools to move forward. In an earlier ACA blog post, I wrote about use of metaphors and how they can help in the healing process. Metaphors help unlock old habits of thinking and coping, and encourage flexibility in learning new ways to tackle old problems. When methods of coping no longer work, even if it had worked or at least seem to have worked in the past, the role of the therapist as teacher of a “new language” is vital for therapeutic success.

[caption id="attachment_4859" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Jennifer Bingaman"][/caption] When I tell people (mostly non-counselors) I work at a men’s residential drug treatment facility, I invariably get two responses.

For some years now, I’ve been really attracted to an idea that began for me when, early in graduate school, I read “Being a Wounded Healer” by Douglas Smith. I appreciated the book for the fact that its emphasis was on how helping professionals, including counselors, use knowledge gained from our own experiences of pain to help others. A large part of the appeal was in my awareness that, like many of you, I came into this work to help make the world something different. I wanted to assure that the acute pain I had felt as “other” that was part and parcel of developing a transgender identity while growing up in South Texas would not be something others had to face.

Foreword About two percent of Americans are diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and patients who suffer from bipolar disorder may have their first psychotic break in their early twenties . I am a part of that statistic. Recovering from the Mania -“Am I in Hell?” I had asked earlier that day. “No. This is Fairfax,” the assistant had replied. -“Am I dead?” I had insisted. “No. You’re in Fairfax,” the assistant had replied more firmly. Fairfax?

Have you ever noticed that when you listen actively to clients, really listen, they become more cooperative? Have you noticed that when you listen this way, your client is also more likely to talk openly? And, do you notice that when you talk to them with dignity and respect, with positive intention, they really listen to you? If you've been counseling for a while now, of course you do!

In celebration of Dr. Irvin D. Yalom being our keynote speaker for this month’s ACA Conference, I’ve decided to highlight some of his wisdom in my next few blogs. More so than any college course I’ve completed, any lecture I’ve heard, any workshop I’ve attended, or any article I’ve read, lessons learned from Dr. Yalom’s The Gift of Therapy: An Open Letter to a New Generation of Therapists and Their Patients influenced my therapeutic interactions the most. I wouldn’t call myself an existentialist, but his words proved to be very useful in many different contexts. One lesson I learned came from reading and then pondering this concern of Dr. Yalom’s: “I worry about psychotherapy-about how it may be deformed by economic pressures and impoverished by radically abbreviated training programs.” Is this indeed occurring?

I cannot even count the number of clients who have come in complaining of the winter blues! We here in NE Ohio have received very little snow; however our rainy days are more than I’ve ever seen in the rainy month of April. Rain, even thunderstorms, and lots of gray days. My clients report feeling more depressed and hard to get started to doing anything. I have tried to put together a “rainy day kit” of stuff to do. Different activities both inside and outside, how to take advantage of this weather and believe it or not, with encouragement and support my clients are outside walking, getting those feel good hormones going. They report feeling a little bit better, I’ll take it !!!!!!!!!! A little bit is better than nothing.

Counselors have run cash practices since the beginning of psychoanalysis. Today, however, a wave of change is occurring wherein clients are, more than ever, demanding that their counselors accept health insurance. There are many reasons for this, but consider these three points: 1) In tough economic times, clients have less discretionary cash. 2) Mental health parity means that counseling is almost always a covered health care benefit. 3) As counseling has established itself as an important medical service, clients now see their counselors in the same light as their family physicians (who have always accepted insurance). Although these changes have been going on for years, a tipping point has taken place. Today’s clients aren’t sheepishly asking, “Will you accept my insurance?” They’re demanding it.

When I was a young first year graduate student in Counseling and Guidance a professor asked, “What area of counseling are you interested in?” The only answer I had at the time was mental health, substance abuse and corrections. You see, I had a personal experience that had haunted me for most of my late teenage years. First there was the phone call in the middle of the night that someone had died, and then my friend was arrested, next came the article in the local newspaper, and finally his many years of counseling trying to fight his demons.

My name is Minnie Almader. My Masters of Education in Counseling and Guidance is from the University of Arizona. I also graduated from Northern Arizona University with a Doctorate in Education. One year ago, I took a leap of faith and accepted a Counselor/Faculty position in Morocco. I work at Al Akhawayn University, in Ifrane, Morocco. It is a private, American model system, with English as the language of instruction. I believe students are the purpose of my work. I adopt the posture that I help students survive, cope and thrive. I meet students who speak French, Arabic and English.