continue to improve my abilities as a counselor

So, I have this client who is in foster care, and she is going to be placed with a family member in the very near future. I’m bummed about it. Well, I’m happy for her, because this is what she wants, but I’ll miss seeing her each week.

Anyway, we were talking today about her bio mom, and about how she is much more open and honest with her, when she said, “If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be able to tell my mom any of this stuff.” It was soooooo hard not to cry at that moment. (Didn’t, but it was a challenge.)

That’s one of those moments I hope to remember.

I just got some new books on counseling in the mail today, and I’m really excited about it. Every once in while, I need a little something to renew my interest, and new books can do that for me. They’re especially exciting because they are all about different subjects, so they should hold my attention.

I feel really good about my abilities TODAY. I guess I’m writing that not because I am arrogant or because I believe that I am the best counselor ever, but because I’ve done this long enough to know that there will be days when I come home and feel like I am horrible at my job and that all of my clients hate me. I’ll want to cry and eat a whole bag of Doritos and a pint of Phish Food ice cream. And I’ll want to quit my job and move to a remote, desolate part of the Appalachians where I will not see a human face for months. But that’s when I need to remember days like today, when I feel like I was able to do something to help my clients, and when I feel like I am in the right field, and that my clients don’t all hate me. Actually, some of them don’t mind me being around… Anyway, I hope that I remember to look back on this entry on those bad days, in the hopes that it might make those bad days a little bit better.

I started my new job about 2 1/2 weeks ago. I feel like this was a great decision, and I think that it’s really going to help my career. I think that I’m going to be a lot happier there, too, because I love working with kids! I hope I’m right!