by Jill | Aug 4, 2012 | Child Therapy, counseling, parenting, Play Therapy
Sometimes when you are entering therapy for the first time at an agency or private practice it’s hard to know if you are making the right choice for your child. Think about it, when looking for a therapist, many people look up their insurance provider list, find a few names, ask a friend, pastor or teacher, and maybe look them up on the web. The following are ten things parents should ask when finding a therapist for their child.
1. What is your background in (_child’s problem__)
2. What are your fees, and do you take my insurance.
3. How long have you been practicing
4. How much will I as a caregiver be involved in my child’s therapy
5. What methods do you use (i.e. play therapy, theoretical background)
6. Can I get information about (play therapy, sandtray,) or Can you explain it to me?
7. How will I know if therapy is the right choice for my child?
8. How much will I as a parent be involve?
9. How long will therapy last?
10. What do you do if for some reason my child needs to see someone else?
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by Jill | Jun 4, 2012 | Uncategorized
I have been exploring the book, “Spiritual Journaling: Recording Your Journey Toward God,” by Richard Peace. Today I was exploring parts of my recent past that led me to where I am now, which is at Eagles Landing Christian Counseling Center. About a year ago I attempted to open my own office by myself in order to delve into the world of private practice. After much prayer, seeking God, crying, and changes at my job at the time I decided instead to stop going that route, hince ending up at Eagles Landing. But I asked myself today, what if I never tried to open that office? Where would that have taken me? Was it God’s will or my own stubbornness to try to make things happen myself? And, is that door completely closed to me?
I imagined myself back at that place. I had just turned down an offer to join another group, and began to feel some courage that I could begin making the move towards private practice. I have felt this pull for a while, and while I enjoyed my co-workers the job I was init was no longer working with the rest of my life, and my growth as a therapist had begun to feel stifled. I needed something new, a risk, something fresh. I remember dragging my playroom toys upstairs and starting to make the move, and beginning to feel like I was disconnecting from the job then, and connecting to something new.
I think if I stayed in the job I was in I would have continued to feel stress from not spending enough time with my family, and more pressure to give precious hours away. I think I would have continued to feel that I wasn’t growing as a therapist anymore. I think I would have continued to feel like I couldn’t try anything new.
Or, I could have made a move to Eagles Landing earlier than I planned.What If I had done that? After watching a massive change at my job, and some painful things I experienced and saw people I care about experience, I think it would have saved me a lot of heart ache, and probably saved me from the trauma that I experienced from that time period.
During that time I learned courage. Courage that God gave me to make a change and take a risk in my life. Courage and faith that God is leading me closer to His will and closer to the desires for my career that He has placed in me. Courage that if I am unhappy that there is a reason for it, and that God is speaking to me about change.
Today I accept the decision I made to try things on my own, and I can look back and see how God lead me to the decision to leave that job I was in and move to Eagles Landing Christian Counseling Center. If you think about it, it wasn’t really a wrong choice, it was God leading me the whole time, and showing me that I can trust Him and have Courage to move on when it is time.
My prayer today is is that God will show you how to have Courage to make changes in your own life, and that He will show you how He is really there with you all along, no matter what direction your life is taking. Peace.
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by Jill | May 8, 2012 | Uncategorized
What money resentments do you have…that you could let go of?
Ok, so this Burning Question was sent out a few weeks ago, and it’s been nudging me ever since it came out. I have been wrestling with money issues for a while, and about 6 months ago went into private practice, which brought more of these issues to the surface for me. There’s this fine balance that I feel I walk as a therapist. The balance between feeling my work as a ministry I believe God called me to, doing good in the world for the sake of doing good in the world, helping others, seeing people heal, etc… and the fact that it is a business and I have a family to support. Up until this point most of my career experience has either been with those in poverty, on medicaid, with disabilities or the counseling was a free service, so when I entered into private practice and began charging fees, collecting money for services rendered directly from clients it felt odd. I thought I was prepared for it, in fact I was excited about the fact that I could charge fees and also encourage more responsibility from clients.
It has been a more difficult mind shift than I expected. The past month or so I’ve really been asking myself why it has been so hard and where my money resentments are so that I can let them go and make some brain space for creativity which is what I really want to use my brain for :o).
I think as it relates to the counseling business my resentment is more about feeling confused about how to integrate the idea that I believe God called me to be a therapist, my passion for it (especially those little kiddos) and the idea of therapy as a business. In addition, as I search my heart, I noticed some negative messages I received as a new therapist about money contributed to feeling undervalued and disrespected, and having the false belief that I shouldn’t expect get paid for what I do.
Negative Messages I Received as a New Professional
I have spent a lot of grunt work time providing services free or reduced for “experience” and “to help the client out.”
Take for example graduate school. While I was working full time in the mental health industry, I was also expected and required to complete a practicum/internship component that was UNPAID and took up approx 30 hours a week of work on top of a full time job (I have to eat you know). Those students who had paid internships were rare, and we were told, “Don’t expect to get paid, everyone interns for free.”
Even after graduate school, I spent time working somewhere where we saw clients often in homes and schools, and drove around a lot using my own gas, paying for more insurance than usual, and also spending lots of unbillable, unpaid, unproductive time in the car. In addition, I was often required to take days off from seeing clients (that I got paid for) to go to all day or half day workshops (that I did not get paid for and didn’t really learn from). WHAT??!! That put me in a horrible bind, so do I go see my clients so I can feed my family today or do I go to a training I don’t get paid for so I don’t lose my job. When asked about that time spent, we were constantly told that there was either not money or we shouldn’t expect to get paid for such and such.
So where do my resentments lie? That I worked hard and saw little financial return, and spent hours away from my family working and not getting paid. I began to feel undervalued and disrespected, and the false belief that I shouldn’t expect to get paid for what I do was planted.
So What’s The Truth? I’m Giving Up that Belief Today!
1. Time is valuable, family is valuable.
2. Clients who invest monetarily are more invested in therapy.
3. Therapy is both a business and a ministry for me, they are not mutually exclusive.
4. There are ways to give back that don’t necessarily involve reducing fees.5. I can expect for clients to pay a fair fee for counseling services. 6. My self worth is not what I am paid, it is who God says I am and who I believe I am.
I am sure there are many more truths I can think of that will help to combat the negative beliefs and give them up today. Feel free to leave positive comments and thoughts.
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by Jill | May 2, 2012 | Uncategorized
I’ve been thinking, praying, reading a lot about business, life goals, re-inventing myself lately. I keep wondering what’s missing from my life, and why am I where I am at this point. It’s easy to get into this thought pattern of what I don’t have right now. I am so glad this question came up today. I find it refreshing to think positively. It helps me to see where I am blessed, and how God is working in my life and building my trust and faith. So, here’s the list.
1. I want more than anything to be loved: I have a God, husband, son, family, friends all that love me right now.
2. I want to be a play therapist: I have Eagles Landing Christian Counseling where I can practice play therapy and help traumatized children and children with disabilities learn to cope. I have my supervisors and colleagues I can call on if I’m stuck clinically.
3. I want to write more: someone emailed me about starting the writers critique group again just today, I started a new blog, I have Jill’s Writing and Play Therapy Page, I have at least 3 unfinished manuscripts hanging around my computer files.
4. I want to support my family: I have a great group of therapists I work with, a building client load and it is surprising how many people have given me groceries, childcare, and odd jobs to help fill the financial gaps.
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by Jill | Mar 13, 2012 | Alison Gopnik, Association for Play Therapy, babies, Child Therapy, children, infants, thinking
A wonderful video about research and the way Babies and young children think and communicate.
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Sometimes when you are entering therapy for the first time at an agency or private practice it’s hard to know if you are making the right choice for your child. Think about it, when looking for a therapist, many people look up their insurance provider list, find a few names, ask a friend, pastor or teacher, and maybe look them up on the web. The following are ten things parents should ask when finding a therapist for their child.