ACA Blog

I remember when the practice opened. Large empty client medical cabinets, vast blank pages on the schedule sheets, things were so unsettled and so open. I had visions of a quite little practice where I would see a few clients, take a break on the hammock outside or perhaps paint. Some days I would do both. I received a great hammock for my birthday, it was quilted and oh, so comfy. I even set up my paints in an unused office. I had every color and brush in my collection and a stack of canvases to go with my rough sketches. Then the phone rang with my first client…

Como Aplicar la Psicología Deportiva a la Vida Diaria: Una Sinopsis Todos los días escogemos entre jugar el juego de la vida o quedarnos apartados observando---inevitablemente esperando que la vida juegue con nosotros. Siempre tenemos la oportunidad de mejorar nuestra condición por varios tipos de entrenamientos --algunos físicos y casi todos mentales. Puede parecer obvio, sin embargo, la pregunta permanece la misma: porque nos quedamos paralizados en vez de luchar contra la corriente y salir adelante?

Over the past week, I’ve been following the story of Jenna Talackova, the transgender woman who is competing in the Miss Universe Canada pageant. This is an exception for me- as both a transwoman and a counselor who works with the population, I’ve learned that a good strategy of self-care is to avoid following individual transgender stories in the popular media and to encourage vigilance for transgender clients who choose to do so. Invariably, the public’s reactions to the lurid element of transgender lives that the media exploits largely range from voyeurism to disgust and dismissal. Think back to any positive images of transgender persons in the media that you’ve ever seen in which it was evident that the media was attempting to share a message of hope, healing, or just a feel-good story. I believe you get my point. This story, however, combining my love/hate relationship with beauty pageants with my concerns for transgender liberation, has attracted me like a honeybee to a glass of sweet tea at a backyard barbecue.

Recently a conversation was overheard that troubled me deeply. Two mental health professionals were talking about another who had recently published in a major journal. I had expected to hear support, possibly some constructive criticism or even that they had been inspired to write an article themselves. Instead I heard what I would define as a diatribe about how they disliked the writer, hoped she never got published again and that they could not believe anyone would support her in the first place. I was shocked to say the least. I was also very confused. Being curious (nosey?) I listened to the conversation that was taking place at the next table. I became more and more concerned and bewildered when it appeared that they were exploring ways that they could prevent her from reaching the next level. They explored the various ways they could block her via people they knew or connections they had. It was very sad to hear and any respect I may have had for them was soon lost.

As the youngest of 10 children, I learned the importance of being a member of a team very early on in life. Whether it was getting a seat at the kitchen table for dinner or getting a point across, it always helped to have an ally. The importance of partnership and community has been reinforced throughout my life, my counseling career, and in my role as the former Connecticut Counseling Association Executive Director; it is a key reason that the CCA was honored during the American Counseling Association Annual Conference in San Francisco last month.

This year the ACA conference brought with it some wonderful news I wanted to share with everyone on the blog. The ACA Governing Council passed a motion according to which, starting with next year, the Graduate Student Representative will have the right to vote. I learned about this change during our ACA Graduate Student Committee meeting, when the ACA president- elect, Dr. Bradley Erford stopped by to thank the Committee for their hard work in designing and implementing the Mentoring Program –with whom most of you are familiar by now.

After a few hectic and overstimulating days at the ACA World Conference in San Francisco, I’ve now secured the back table at a Starbucks in Vancouver, WA for brief written reflection. This reflection weaves quotations (and paraphrases) from the great Irvin Yalom into my own personal conference experiences. My formal conference highlight was watching and listening as NPR’s Craig Windham interviewed Yalom onstage for the keynote. After listening to Yalom’s keynote six years ago, I think the interview format was an ingenious method for capturing a more personal glimpse into Yalom and his writing than a stand and deliver keynote speech.

“Let’s try this from a different perspective. Michelle, let’s say Barack answers all of your questions to your full satisfaction and he’s got an answer for every one of them.

[caption id="attachment_4859" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Jennifer Bingaman"][/caption] I’m sure it’s no surprise, but working at a residential drug treatment center can be interesting. We have a bunch of grown men living side-by-side all trying to work through some heavy issues along with their addiction. We have anger and apathy. We have motivation and we don’t. We have a good proportion of Axis IIs intermingling with people who have never had to understand something like a personality disorder. It’s an adventure in understanding for staff and clients most days.

I worked with a Masters-level counseling student, “Jennifer,” a number of years ago, and I was her onsite supervisor. She was completing her internship requirement at our agency, and it was the last requirement prior to graduation. The population our agency served was severe mental illness, and the agency was a private, nonprofit providing counseling and case management to this population. The clients were voluntary, stable, living and working in the community.