ACA Blog

I write this blog moments after receiving an email telling me that my father, Warren Corson II, passed away over night. I was checking my email between sessions as I always do and must say that I never expected this. After closing the office and feeling numb I decided to write in hopes that it may benefit others.

As the anniversary of 9/11 comes and goes, I know that many emotions and thoughts swirl around America. I am reminded of the pain, suffering, anger and fear that I and other Americans experienced at that time.

This weekend I’m finishing up my portfolio, which I will submit for tenure later this month. This process required a lot of reflection on my accomplishments and challenges over the past 6 years.

I’m sure you are familiar with the words, “thesis” and “dissertation.” Prior to my PhD program I thought I was too—but then, mid-way through my PhD program, I quickly figured out how much I DIDN’T know. Why? Because that’s when the infamous dissertation suddenly became a very large, very ominous part of my life. Until you have successfully endured and survived The Experience, there lies a plethora of questions surrounding the innocent little projects. For starters, what is the difference between the two? What kind of research must take place? What are the components of the work? Are there differences between the requirements in the social sciences and in another field such as literature or physics? And just what does it take to successfully write and defend a Thesis or Dissertation?

I recently experienced something that I had not experienced since I opened my practice several years ago; several open session slots. This was not due to the economy or because my clients just stopped coming to treatment, it was due to the fact that several clients were heading off to faraway places to attend college. Some of these clients had been with me for a few years and in a sense became fixtures in the office. I mean, sure they improved and as a result came to sessions less and less based on need, but for the most part not a month had gone by since they entered treatment that they did not have at least one session. Some of them left an impact either by being extra nice to staff or by going out of their way to pet our mascot Ophie (short for Ophelia of Shakespeare fame) or a number of other things. A few left an impact because of just how far they had progressed from when they first entered the waiting room.

Last week, as Hurricane Irene threatened our friends on the East Coast, I got an email from someone I had met at the ACA Conference last spring. She was in one of the areas that was threatened by the storm. She knew I was in South Louisiana and had some experience with hurricanes, especially one named Katrina. This friend emailed to ask me what I do in my practice when a storm threatens. Specifically, she asked me if I have a policy or plan. Hmm….yes and no. I do have a process but until she asked me that, I don’t think I ever thought of it as a “policy”. They say necessity is the mother of invention. Because I live in hurricane alley, I think that I handle the storm issue the way I do because it has just evolved out of necessity. Her email got me thinking that disaster planning isn’t something we automatically associate with our practices but the fact is, stuff happens. Having some kind of plan for the possibility of your practice being disrupted can give you peace of mind and make recovery much easier. You may never need to use it, but if you do, it’s there. I thought that if my friend was wondering what to do, others might be too. So I thought I’d share with you here a bit of what I shared with her.

I was so excited to get the opportunity to talk about this topic because I truly believe ALL counselors need it regardless of their level of expertise or certification. Since this is my first blog entry, I wanted to start with the basics and discuss the benefits of clinical supervision. Some people think that supervision is just discussing problems with clients. Some people think that supervision is only necessary when you are a “novice” counselor, when you are in a Masters program completing a practicum/internship or when you are trying to get a license.

That’s exactly the situation David Mitchell Schwartz, 44, faced at Webster University. He’s filed a lawsuit against the university, who (allegedly) told Schwartz he “lacked empathy.” His story made a big splash in the news, and I think any counseling student needs to check it out. (Links are at the end of the article.) He believes that his criticism comes more from his (supposedly) anonymous commentary on a professor’s romantic relationship with a member of the administration than from a genuine concern about his ability as a counselor. Even if there is a genuine concern, he states that the situation was handled poorly from the beginning.

Sometimes clients say that they have no idea what career to focus on. Although the reasons for feeling this way are varied, perhaps clients have not yet had the chance to recognize and create a language for their skills, interests, and ideal work environment. Instead of reaching for an assessment right away, there are a lot of great questions we can ask clients that will spark new career ideas or even reunite clients with old ideas that were never pursued. I wanted to share some of my favorite questions you can use with your clients to brainstorm skills, interests, and ideal work environments.

I was sitting here and wondering what to blog about and I thought about my week and my clients and how I enjoy so much when they make even the tiniest bit of progress…it keeps me going. I have an adult who loves to paint, he was having a really bad week and was feeling depressed. I had him take all of his feelings and paint them out, however he wanted to. He painted a country scene, used a lot of orange paint for the clouds and golden yellow for the sky… he is a great painter and looking at the picture you really wouldn’t know he was so depressed, it could almost be a autumn scene. I left the picture out and a few days later my 11 year old client was looking at the picture and she said out of the blue, “I get it, that’s a picture of feelings and whoever painted it must have been sad” I said yes, you are right. She immediately said she wanted to paint her feelings… she painted a beautiful scene but added lightning bolts and two tornados and cut out a hole in the middle of them.