ProgramDescription

Those of us who are helpers in the helping field, currently work under a system called ‘Managed Health Care' (MHC). Because of the limited view of mental health this system operates from, many helping professionals are experiencing burn out and compassion fatigue. Some are getting out of the field entirely or choosing not to enter. This suggests that our profession is in need of a radical transformation in the way we view counseling and therapy. MHC was started with good intentions, however, at this point, is in great need of transformation. The focus of MHC suggests that we conceptualize in terms of ‘stabilizing' our clients and ‘returning them to their previous level of functioning' versus supporting them in healing and growing. We look for pathology and in order to get paid for our services or converse with other professionals, we must come up with a diagnosis based on what is ‘wrong' with an individual or family. In this system, too often our focus is on making clinical decisions and judgments based on liability fears and MHC demands. We see our clients as problems to be fixed rather than living processes with inner resources and strengths to be tapped. Is it any wonder counselors suffer burn out and compassion fatigue? Our creativity can take a back seat to fear, as our hearts and souls fall prey to the dictates of a system that asks that we focus on finding pathology and stabilizing, often with medication. However, this viewpoint assumes that their previous level of functioning was acceptable. The burn out and frustration this creates can darken our view of both the profession and the clients we work with. What if we all agreed to shift the perspective we bring to our work with clients?

We invite you to join us for a one day seminar where creativity will flourish, heart and soul will be nurtured and honored and the health and wholeness of both counselor and client will be the focus. In this seminar you will experience creative, experiential and expressive modalities that nurture the spirit and soul and awaken vision, purpose and inspiration in you so that you might awaken these same gifts in your clients. It will provide people in the field an opportunity both to examine existing views of what it means to help another person and to create a renewed vision of mental health. It will offer an opportunity to remember what drew you to the field and inspire a renewed commitment to the profession, coming from a new perspective that offers hope and inspiration to both therapist and client. Who says we need to give up our ideals to operate in the “real world” (MHC)?

Remember, we can only accompany our clients where we ourselves have gone! Treat yourself to this day of honoring the deepest aspects of yourself and reinvigorating your view of your professional life.