2011

I was going through my basement collection of academic boxes and came across some old case notes from the middle 1980s containing records of my work as a doctoral intern in two college counseling centers. The records were in the form of diaries or log books. Names and identifying data had been changed in the original notes. They were sealed and the discovery was like a time capsule. When I was an intern at the University of Rochester, I counseled "Eric" a 19 year old first semester sophomore who lost his dad in a car accident. The father fell asleep while driving home after a weekend of snowmobiling, and crashed into a large tree on a country road. The father, a form carpenter, was only 42 years old. Alcohol had not been a factor. This discovery seemed like a good time to reflect on my work as a mental health and vocational counselor, which can also inform the practice of other such counselors and counselor educators.