I love my work. Right from junior high school, I knew I wanted to be a counsellor. I enjoyed listening to people’s stories. But more specifically, I really liked the idea of being able to make others feel comfortable and safe enough that they could share the struggles they were facing in life. It was interesting to me, not only that I could provide that kind of environment, but that by sharing their challenges with me, they felt some relief. It was very cool! The other part I found interesting was that, in the stories they were sharing with me, I could see what was at the centre of their pain, which often times, they weren’t aware of yet. To be able to ask the right questions so that they could gain insight into their own struggles was something I wanted to do. Bigtime. I wanted to help others through the pain, and see them come out the other side, free of suffering. And with the right tools to be able to work through it when the next challenge arrived. Rather than coming back to me each time, I wanted to armour them with all the tools and skills I had to work their own challenges. It doesn’t make for a very good business model, mind you, but that was my goal. And still is. I went to the Adler School for Professional Psychology, and earned a master’s degree in counselling & organizational psychology two years later. Shortly after graduating I began to practice, and have been counselling for the last thirteen years. There are times during which I’ve felt effective, and others when I feel like I totally suck. I begin to question my methods and whether I should try other approaches. Of course it’s always good to have a variety of tools in your toolkit. But when I started rereading the work of Alfred Adler, who discussed a variety of theories including the inferiority-superiority complex and the concept of free will and responsibility, I was reassured that, not only had I gone to the right school, but that I aligned more with his theories than any other psychotherapist over the last century. That reassurance that I had made the right choice for my education and practice provided me with such immense relief. And THAT CHANGES EVERYTHING!
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