When Manivong J. Ratts arrived in the United States in 1977 as a 6-year-old refugee from Laos, he quickly figured out that he and his family weren’t mirror images of the other families in town. Yakima, Wash., where his family settled down, was a predominantly agricultural community, and although Asian
Category: Cover Stories
The American Counseling Association is made up of approximately 43,000 members, representing a combined wealth of experience (and experiences), diversity and knowledge. Counseling Today wanted to tap into this deep reservoir of wisdom, so we contacted member practitioners from all over the country and asked them to share their “best
In just the first two months of 2010, devastating earthquakes rocked Haiti and Chile, a University of Alabama in Huntsville professor stood accused of gunning down colleagues at a faculty meeting and a reportedly disgruntled pilot flew his private airplane into an Internal Revenue Service building in Austin, Texas. These
It was Tiffany Craig’s turn to do a “squiggle story.” She had drawn a squiggle on a piece of paper and, out of respect for her young client, took a turn imagining what the squiggle might be. Craig, who runs a private practice in North Laurel, Md., determined the squiggle
If you think elementary school students are only learning their ABCs and 123s, think again. Some are also absorbing societal messages that place importance on counting calories and dropping dress sizes. Anna Viviani, a counselor in private practice in Peoria, Ill., who works with eating disorder clients, remembers a conversation
It’s often said that when you love what you do, it doesn’t feel like a job. That sentiment might be a little idealistic, but all too often, career counselors say, people miss out by not following their hobbies and passions into a career. Cyndi Doyle met one client in that
Deborah Pinkston moved to Venezuela in 1985 after her husband was stationed there with a church organization. She went as a missionary to work with orphanages and at-risk children but realized she needed additional training in counseling. So, during their furloughs back to the United States, Pinkston earned her master’s
Counselors across the country are heeding the call to conduct research, working not only to increase the knowledge base of the profession but also to improve society as a whole. Following their passions, they search for information that may hold the key to effectively confronting some of society’s most vexing
Early on in her career as a professional counselor, Sally Atkins was working with a client who was suicidal and experiencing severe depression. Progress was painfully slow, and after several sessions, Atkins feared she and the client had reached an impasse. “As a kind of last resort, I said out
Six weeks into her pregnancy with triplets last spring, Kristin Douglas, a licensed professional counselor at Laramie County Community College Counseling Center, had a miscarriage. Douglas, who’s earning her doctorate in counselor education at the University of Wyoming, was no stranger to the grief caused by miscarriage. At the time