ACA Blog

Recently I have been listening to a song by one of my favorite artists; Brandi Carlile named “The Story.” One part of the song really spoke to me:

Horses communicate primarily through the use of body language, eye contact, voice and smell. As we learned last time, observing the horse can often provide clues about his emotional state and temperament. This week, we will discuss how understanding horse communication may help counselors communicate with clients on a deeper level.

Stepping out of Pudong International Airport in Shanghai, China for the first time you’ll immediately notice the air. You never really thought about air much before but you notice it now, and you wonder if it’s always this gray. After you get in a taxi and it takes you a few miles away from the airport, you begin to see high rise buildings and you think, “Oh, we must already be getting to the downtown.” But then the taxi keeps rolling on and the buildings keep getting bigger and 45 minutes later you finally arrive in what is actually the downtown. And then it sinks in that this is what a city of 20 million people looks like.

I remember fondly those first few years of being a clinician; that newbie air smelled so fresh as I entered the therapeutic world with my head held high, my mind and ears wide open. I was a sponge and I absorbed every idea I could, experimented and put the ones that held the most promise into my clinician’s toolbox

When I started as president, I knew I was coming into a “dying” chapter. There were hardly anyone that came to the meetings, very few participated in activities. I had meetings and most of the time it was just me alone who would show up. I didn’t take this as defeat though. I found it as a challenge to tackle, I needed a secretary because mine quit!

As a guy who has lectured to folks from as far away as Japan on issues related to private practice (and wrote a chapter on the topic a few years ago), I always look forward to reading blogs related to the topic. Like any blog topic, sometimes I agree, sometimes I shake my head but I always feel that I have left with something from the process. From time to time I chime in with a thought or two on the topic, usually on an aspect that I have not seen covered, or that has not been covered in a very long time. Below are a few issues that I feel needed to be explored. I hope they help.

In brainstorming about what I would write in this, my first blog with the ACA, I really struggled with getting started. I typed and deleted, typed and deleted and then once more, some keystrokes followed by a stab at the ole backspace. Nothing seemed adequate for describing or introducing what it is that I do and where I live. I’d come up with a smorgasbord of topics that I wanted to write about, but I didn’t feel I could just jump straight in to one of them with no introduction.

I have received some really great feedback about the various types of therapeutic horsemanship programs available. I have also received some great questions. This week, I will take the opportunity to answer one of the recurring questions: How do horses communicate?

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.

Frequently, I get contacts from students panicked, sometimes legitimately, over one internship thing or another. I try to help in any way I can, but often, my answers may have a similar ring to them. It lead me to start wondering, both from the perspective of counseling interns and the perspective of the counseling industry’s culture toward them, what is wrong with this picture?