As a new counselor we have all sorts of expectations. We have expectations for ourselves, how we “should” respond, what techniques and theories we “should” use, how quickly we “should get it” or conceptualize the problem, that we “should” be able to fix it, or help. We also get caught up in the expectations we […]
Author: missycooper1
I studied Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling, with a specialization in Marriage and Family Therapy at the University of South Florida. I enjoy learning and teaching. I began blogging as a way to capture moments of engagement with clients as well as personal discoveries. Counseling for me, is a way to go on a journey with someone in an incredibly meaningful way. I am honored to help them see the things they may be overlooking, and observe in awe upon the lifechanging breakthroughs they encounter along the way. People are amazing beings, we sometimes need to be reminded of that.
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Letters to a Young Therapist
Letters to a Young Therapist, by Mary Pipher, is a novel that feels like a conversation with a supervisor who cares deeply for the work of helping people and is committed to guiding a novice through the tricky parts of counseling. I like the style of letters through each chapter. The overall themes categorized by […]
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On the road to life…
We experience ups and downs…good times and bad….blah, blah, blah! On the road to life, you are responsible for your actions, for your decisions, for the people you choose to surround yourself with. I believe there are many choices we make each day, and the more present we are in each moment, the easier it […]
Establishing goals with a client can sometimes be one of the most difficult parts of the relationship. When working at my internship site last year, I worked with folks who were working towards self-sufficiency. Even if we explained to them that counseling is part of the program during their intake process, they quickly forgot that they […]
Gestalt therapy emphasizes the significance of restoring the wholeness of a person’s disembodied parts to create integration and balance. These “disembodied parts” are the source of a person’s difficulties in life, and bringing awareness to this imbalance supports change. Perls is quoted by Seligman (2010) describing the human organism, “We have not a liver or […]
I am close to graduation and completing my internship, I have the privilege to work with some amazing clients that are in recovery. So far, it has been an eye-opening learning experience. After class the other night, I started to reflect on a case conceptualization that we discussed in class. I began to think, how do you know that you […]
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Why is it?
Why is it that when we have nothing to do we want to do everything, and when we have too much to do we only want a slice of time to do nothing? Yet when given a chance at either, we still end up feeling disappointed? As I begin this blog I will ask and […]
Counseling and Life 