“Amanda” sat on the couch across the room from me drawing on a sketch pad. A lovely young girl of 14, she weighed scarcely 100 pounds, and with her cheery and naïve smile, she looked as innocent as they come. If I hadn’t seen attachment disorders many times before, I
Month: January 2015
A client said to me: “I wish someone would just fill in all the answers.” Caroline is a bright, motivated and seemingly confident college senior, yet she is terrified of graduation and bewildered in the face of her future. She wants “variety” and options, but she does not want to choose
One of the most widely published statistics on child sexual abuse, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2005, asserts that 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys are sexually abused before the age of 18. Furthermore, research by John Read and colleagues in 2004 estimated
Robyn Chauvin was happily married in the early 1990s. Having spent time in counseling, she had given up drugs and alcohol, was studying to be a music therapist and was working with patients in a psychiatric hospital. But she knew there was one more change she needed to make. “I
Each year, I have the honor of working closely with the person elected to serve as ACA president. During my tenure with the association, I have shared a special 12 months with a number of these individuals. Each president is hardworking. Each is dedicated to making the counseling profession even
What is happening in Orlando, Florida, March 12-15? It’s the 63rd annual American Counseling Association Conference & Expo. I hope you are planning to be there. If you haven’t made your plans to participate, it’s still not too late. This year’s conference could be one of the best ever with
Drunk. Junkie. Loser. These are just some of the ugly labels that get thrown around when people talk about addiction. Labels that reinforce the belief that addiction happens to “other” people — or other counselors’ clients. Counselors know that addiction is a disease, of course. But it’s a disease with
Relationships are the heart of counseling. No matter how the profession grows and changes, relationships will remain central to the good that counselors do in their clients’ lives. And counselors should never lose sight of that fact, say Jeffrey Kottler and Richard Balkin. The duo will deliver the Saturday keynote
To ensure the overall well-being of child clients with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), counselors frequently work in combination with other service providers such as speech therapists, physical therapists, occupational therapists and sleep specialists. According to the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), many children with
The following article was inspired by Robert Fulghum’s All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten . ***** All I really need to know I learned in practicum. Practicum was just the beginning of a rewarding career that includes lifetime learning, giving of self, acceptance when a client