Disclaimer: this may be jumbled, this is a topic I've been thinking about but haven't written about it or put it down on "paper," so part of this may be me just trying to make sense of a lot of thoughts. So, yeah.. .you've been warned :)
Okay, so I studied psychology in undergrad, and heard in my junior year about marriage & family therapy (mft) and thought it was perfect, and it totally is, I am in love with my program & enjoy my classes! At the same time while I was looking for graduate schools, I considered going to a Christian program because I didn't know how to incorporate both by myself, I wasn't sure how to counsel without that label I guess. So skipping ahead a few tortuous months (applying to grad school suuuucks) and I am at Akron, obviously not a religious school.
So I start the program and all of these realizations hit me: I will have to talk to my clients about their sex lives (it seems obvious, so maybe I was just being naive), I may have a pedophile as a client, how do I counsel a homosexual couple, etc. So I'm thinking of all this and just being really overwhelmed, because I did just start the program so I have no clue how to counsel anyone. Then one day in class someone brought up the Rogerian theory: Unconditional Positive Regard, which basically means we accept people no matter what, no judgement on what they have done. So in the middle of class this feeling of... shame but also of relief I think, came over me. Shame because I was being judgmental before I was even a counselor, relief because I realized how present God was and how much He was teaching me without me even realizing it (which is something He does often). Now I see how alike counseling and being a Christ follower are, I'm suppose to love people, regardless of what they've done or who they are.
I went to a workshop on Friday with Mary Jo Barrett as the presenter. She is a social worker who works with complex trauma - so instances of rape, domestic violence, etc. At the beginning of the workshop she put up a list of ways a person, who has been traumatized, may be expressing this, including: depression, substance abuse, suicidal ideation, eating disorders, etc it was quite the list! I just sat there and briefly thought, what am I getting into? As the workshop progressed and Mary Jo went through her model for therapy I became really excited. Now, a lot of the presentation was over my head, because it is my first semester and I haven't learned many of the theories her model is based off of. Still I was able to see how the model worked in therapy. Regardless, I'm considering specializing in trauma, which is both exciting but also scary. Seeing traumatized clients is going to be hard and exhausting and really sad, but at the same time I can see the reward in it. This also means I could see the perpetrator, the rapist and the abusive husband as my client - but whatever that person has done, he or she is a child of God, God wants to know them and be in relationship with them. It is not my place or job to judge them or condemn them, but to love them and help them the best way I can. The truth is, these people are probably victims of abuse themselves and suffering with no idea of how to heal.
As a Christ follower, I believe He is the way, the truth, and the life. As a counselor, I believe people need therapy and counseling, and not just the overtly troubled people, I think the majority of people would benefit from it. There are stigmas to both, which I will challenge every day.
God is so amazing and I love how He teaches me and reminds me that He is in control, He has a plan, and He works for the good of all. I am so thankful to be called to this profession and I am so excited to learn how to be a counselor.
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