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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by Jill | Mar 11, 2012 | Association for Play Therapy, children's activity books, children's self help, Play therapy toys, playroom
Congratulations to Play Therapy Mystery Session contest winner, Jerri Dunn. He won a copy of my book, Sam Feels Better Now! An Interactive Story for Children. It is available for purchase from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc… in both paperback, Kindle, and Nook editions.
Thank you everyone who voted in the give-away. It was neck and neck between the Amusement Park and the Chocolate Factory so as the contest winner, Jerri broke the tie and now I am in the midst of creating a Chocolate Factory. What a challenge, I can’t wait to post the finished product. I want to continue to encourage you to be creative with your playroom, and think outside the box. If you have a Pinterest account, please feel free to
follow me as I pin creative ideas for the playroom.
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by Jill | Jan 24, 2012 | Association for Play Therapy, children activity books, children self help, Creative Therapy, Dr. Stangline, Jill Osborne, therapy, Trauma Therapy
If you are like me, you are on a budget, and don’t have a lot of money to always spend on toys or craft materials. That’s why I am so glad and inspired to find the Play Therapy Mystery Counseling Session from Dr. Michelle Stangline. In this exercise, the therapist creates and item needed for play therapy or creative therapy with objects he or she already has (no buying anything you don’t already have!). I thought this would be a fun exercise to try myself, and involve you! Please visit the “Creative Counseling Play Therapy Mystery Counseling Session” page, check the list of possible items that I might want for my playroom and comment below which one you would like to see me make. After I finish the object I will post a picture of it on my blog. As an added bonus, I will randomly select a reader from the comments who will receive a copy of my book “Sam Feels Better Now! and Interactive Story for Children.”
I will be taking votes through Monday February 6, 2012, Thanks!
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by Jill | Nov 30, 2011 | Activity Books, Anxiety, Anxiety workbook, children activity books, Play therapy interventions, Play Therapy Techniques
I receive frequent referrals for children who experience some type of anxiety, and I found a wonderful resource by Paris Goodyear-Brown titled, The Worry Wars: An Anxiety Workbooks for Kids and Their Helpful Adults!. In this book there are three stories addressing three different types of anxiety children might struggle with ; “Daniel the Dragon Slayer,” “Polly vs. Princess Perfect,” and “Oscar and Clyde, the Clinging Octupus.” The illustrations are black and white color-book style and fun, so you could easily have your child color the pages as you read. After that, there are many techniques, activities and reproducible pages that therapists can use, to help their clients cope with anxiety. Some of the activities include shields, bubble blow, and my favorite, the worry worms. I have used the stories over and over with children. They are really helpful metaphors explaining anxiety in a way that children can grasp. I would recommend this resource to others who help children work through anxiety issues, and look forward to trying other recourses by Paris Goodyear-Brown. You can purchase this book, other resources, read her biography, and find out about her counseling services at her website, Paris and Me
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by Jill | Nov 11, 2011 | divorce, family therapy, parenting, parents
Case Notes and Divorce: A Parent’s Rights
I find that therapist who work with children often work with divorced or divorcing parents. I thought I would share this article from my liability insurance company that I think will be helpful.
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by Jill | Oct 8, 2011 | Association for Play Therapy, attachment, dolls, kenya, missionaries, parenting, Play therapy toys
I want to introduce you to Garry and Brenda Kean. Garry and Brenda Kean are missionaries in Nairobi, Kenya. You can see more of their story and ministry here. A part of there mission there is through their sewing ministry, Jacaranda Creations, helping women earn a living. Often these women would otherwise turn to prostitution or homemade beer making. Instead these women sew beautiful creations such as dolls, animal toys, bags, and purses.
They recently launched a children’s sponsorship program. For $35.00 per month a family or individual can sponsor a child from the slums to go to school. The sponsorship amount includes funds that will allow us to purchase a uniform and shoes for the child, school supplies, school fees and one meal per day. We follow up with the children in the program as well., Jacaranda Kids in this area as well.
I have posted several pictures where you can see the beautiful mother carrying her baby, and if you look closely you can see the baby peeking out from behind her mother. What a beautiful way to show the bond between a mother and child. I wanted to purchase these beautiful dolls they make which is a mother carrying a baby. I can feel confident that not only do I have a great, nurturing toy for my play room, I am also helping other women and children have better lives. Please take a look at their website and check out the Kean’s full ministry in Kenya. If you are interested in ordering their beautiful dolls please email me and I will send you Brenda Kean’s contact information. They do not have a website where you can order online. These dolls are handmade and are shipped from Kenya. To email me, you can find my address under the Referral Info tab of my blog, or if you click on my profile there is an “email me” button.
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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.
