I thought I would write a brief post about how counselors can become frustrated… actually, how I can become frustrated. I think what bothers me most when I do counseling are those times when I see a possible solution but then, for any number of reasons, the client decides to stop before the finish.
Hackney and [...]

One way of looking at counseling is to think of it as a three phase process for solving a problem. The three phases described by Hill in her book Helping Skills, are exploration, insight, and action. Interestingly, any of us who routinely solve problems, meaning all of us, are well aware of these three phases [...]

I brought a new kitten home a few weeks ago. Now she is more an adolescent. Her name, by the way, is Mimi. She reminded me that people (and sometimes kittens) are an “independent center of initiative.”

The Genesis Therapy Center (where I do all of my counseling work) has a Community Care Program that offers reduced fee schedules to clients with limited ability to pay. We are implementing the program in our downtown Chicago office where I work. People are asked to contribute what they are able. However, in many cases [...]

Emotion as Information has been a theme in several of my recent posts. I read a nice article called Feelings on Steve Pavlina’s personal development blog that describes a very similar idea.
Steve says
“Our feelings are a feedback mechanism.”
and
“Simply put… we feel good when we’re moving towards what we want, and we feel bad when [...]