“Theories are Like Toothbrushes…”

Posted on March 4, 2010, 9:27 am | 166 views | 4 comments
Joan Phillips

Joan Phillips

“Theories are like toothbrushes….. everyone has one- and nobody wants to use anyone else’s.” This anonymous quote was shared with me during my doctoral study and really stuck, I think because of how very truthful it feels at both an intellectual and gut level. Having been in practice now since 1977 I have gone through many iterations of various theories, as I am sure many of you have. I can actually remember when child abuse was an emerging clinical focus and when there were no personal computers in every family room and marriage. Prevailing theoretical orientations when I began work were Rogerian and Freudian. The emergence of cognitive-behavioral thinking as well as post-modern deconstructionism, narrative therapies, and now positive psychology (just to name a few toothbrushes) all unfolded over the years I have been growing as a counselor, art therapist, and marriage and family therapist.

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Counseling in Higher Education

Posted on March 3, 2010, 8:42 am | 135 views | 2 comments
Marianela Medrano-Marra

Marianela Medrano-Marra

Hear blessings dropping their blossoms around you.
-Rumi
As a new director of counseling at the community college level, I am greeted by a pressing need to think creatively and proactively to counterbalance the myriad students’ needs on the rise while the resources to address those needs decline. The severity of psychological and academic problems among college students disrupts the balance they need to achieve academic success. Counselors in community colleges need to wield kaleidoscopes with ample lenses that embrace the multiplicity of issues.

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Another Public Policy Victory for Professional Counselors – the Congressional Commissioned TRICARE Report

Posted on March 2, 2010, 11:05 am | 158 views | No comments

On Friday (2/12/2010), three ACA staff headed into still snowmageddoned Washington DC for the release of the long-awaited Institute of Medicine (IOM) TRICARE study. With reports of three hour commutes into DC on the first day of post-snowpocalypse work, we had every reason to back out of attending the meeting. But this report was just too critical for the cadre of professional counselors who want to provide services to those who serve our country and their families not to make the journey.

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Sinister and Dexter

Posted on March 2, 2010, 9:03 am | 124 views | No comments
Bob Stahn

Bob Stahn

Sinister and Dexter? It is actually a name that I have given a cognitive exercise that I have found very useful in my clinical practice. It helps my client to be able to better dispute faulty beliefs. The exercise starts by drawing a line from the top of a page to the bottom. At the top of right side I label “Right” and above the left side I write “Left.” I review with my client that there are several synonyms for the word “right” and then I write a few of them near the column heading of “Right” (i.e., correct, true, etc.). I then write the opposites of the synonyms near the “Left” heading (i.e., wrong, false, etc.).

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Animal Abuse Linked to Domestic Violence

Posted on February 25, 2010, 2:43 pm | 121 views | No comments
Amy Johnson

Amy Johnson

Suppose you’re counseling a young girl and she mentions that her father kicks her dog when he’s mad. It was not made as an isolated statement, but more as a part of the discussion of life in her house. As a counselor, what comes to mind? Do you address it? Let it go? If we probe just a little, chances are, someone else in the house is being battered as well. Studies indicate that 88% of families who have been reported for child abuse also had an animal abuser in the house.

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A letter from Haiti

Posted on February 24, 2010, 1:31 pm | 91 views | No comments

Karin Jordan is an ACA member working in Haiti. This is a letter she sent today to David Kaplan, ACA’s Chief Professional Officer.

Hi David,

Time seemes to pass quickly as I work with the displaced people in the many camps all over the place. I have spent time with children, adolescents and adults, seeing that many are quite resilient. Food and shelter is and will be continue to be a challenge for a while. Most people I meet eat once a day. They are living in places that will soon be inadequate with the rainy season coming up. Children worry, and they are scared at night, as we had two nights of aftershocks of 4.7. People are very afraid, as a few were killed who were close to partially destroyed places.

The work with the children, adolescents and adults is providing a picture that is filled with horrible memories of death, fear, injuries, pain, helplessness, chaos, and death. So much destruction, so many lives changed, children orphaned, wives and husbands widowed… The little children in orphanages cling to people, as they have lost everyone: mom, dad, siblings and grandparents. They have no one….

Karin

 

Are You Holding Out For or Holding On To a “Real Job”?

Posted on February 24, 2010, 12:30 pm | 173 views | No comments
Deb Legge

Deb Legge

Perhaps you are old enough to remember when the goal for most of us was to graduate and get a “real job”. You know, the whole enchilada: secure (and decent) salary; health, disability, and life insurance; holidays and sick days; and a retirement package that included benefits for life. Wow… are those days long gone! Colleges and universities are hiring more adjunct faculty and decreasing their tenure-track lines. Agencies are hiring counseling interns and recent grads for less money, and with new benefit plans that are “bare-bones” or highly employee funded.

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Hope is the thing with feathers…

Posted on February 23, 2010, 9:03 am | 188 views | No comments
Joan Phillips

Joan Phillips

How to help in Haiti? This is on the mind of many counselors and Americans. I think we all fantasize going directly to Haiti and kneeling down to talk to a child or parent, offering a steady presence that is comforting and problem solving, or applying our knowledge of trauma and disaster work directly. In other words we want to be counselors. But in the wake of a disaster of this magnitude are we willing to help in the ways that we can if those options are not in our immediate future? No matter what resources we have, of course donating and local efforts have great value. For example, giving time to local relief groups that then transfer goods and services directly to Haiti, or giving money to national reputable groups channeling resources appropriately. But as much as that is needed, I know I sometimes still wonder if I am doing enough- or what more can I do.

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