ACA Blog

I recently watched the original film version of Neil Simon’s “The Odd Couple” and it was as funny and touching as when I first saw it. Viewing the classic flick as a counselor-in-training I have rediscovered Felix as a person with obsessive compulsive disorder who would benefit from a combination of cognitive behavioral therapy and medication. And Oscar? Clearly Mr. Madison has executive functioning challenges and really could use some help from a professional organizer. On a more psychoanalytical note: I don’t even want to consider how either of these two were toilet trained!

[caption id="attachment_4859" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Jennifer Bingaman"][/caption] The rule I’ve learned in school about self-disclosure is that we must only share our stories if they are therapeutically effective for our clients. In my naïveté, I took this law at face value. I accepted therapeutically effective as a binary option, either a self-disclosure for therapeutic effect or not at all - something that would be resoundingly clear to me. Having never been in the field before, it did not occur to me that self-disclosure and its possible effects on a client were more than two options. In a matter of three weeks in my internship, I’ve begun navigating through shades of grey.

As a clinician we are not immune to having personal prejudices, preferences and double standards. We may explore options with clients that we would never try personally, either due to personal preferences or religious beliefs; we understand that our clients’ are not us, have a different lifestyle, religion or sexual preference and that they do not come into counseling to learn to be or act like us. Sometimes we may simply feel immune to an issue, or rationalize that though it is an option for others, “it’s just not my thing.” Such thinking can lead us to less than optimal success if we let it.

Yesterday I got an urgent email from a coaching client regarding a situation she encountered many times when working in agencies, but for the first time now in private practice. This question almost immediately triggers my “supervision” mode, so I really had to pull back and grab my coaching hat to respond.

Recent news headlines about protests by domestic workers in Chile offer lessons to us in this country about employment. You may have heard the story.

[caption id="attachment_4859" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Jennifer Bingaman"][/caption] I don’t feel like I was properly warned about what goes on inside an intern’s head in the beginning of internship. I have had to check my self-talk every day I’m working. I find myself questioning what I know about being a counselor. In the back of my mind, I know I know my stuff. I’ve read the books, I’ve done (and I keep doing) the internal and external work, and I’m passionate about what I do.

I have been thinking about this for a while but when I read the final blog post by Ray McKinnis this morning I was moved to put my thoughts in print. My thanks to Ray for publishing his thoughts over this last year. His posts never failed to prompt me to think and challenge what I believe and that is something that is invaluable. I will miss his voice.

As I embark on the middle leg of my second year of graduate school in clinical mental health counseling a course looms on the horizon that I’m simultaneously excited about and simply wish I didn’t have to take at all. That class is Intro to Psychopathology with an emphasis on psychopharmacology. Both words are packed with oomph and leave me with an array of mixed feelings.

As I move towards the end of my time as a grad student, I am spending time thinking about life as a business professional. I’ve always noticed customer service type issues, but now these issues have a new importance. I’d like to think that I will not make these mistakes as an employee, and certainly not as a business owner.

As you all may have noticed, I have strayed away from my initial subject of supervision in counseling. I felt that I needed to verbalize the significant events that were occurring around me.