‘Musings’ means thoughts, contemplations and ideas. This is where we share what’s going on in our heads, in a more spontaneous, intuitive way. Here you will find articles, letters, essays, pictures (maybe even a cartoon or two) about our work, and the ideas and experiences that guide and shape it. We hope you will enjoy them, but more than that, we hope you will have questions, opinions and feedback for us about them.
This page includes musings that are interesting to the general public and musings that are targeting mental health professionals.
Check back here often – we add new material all the time.
Contrary to popular belief, most folks in the entertainment industry aren’t pulling in large salaries. And considering that most jobs in entertainment are freelance/contract, you may not be working regularly. Many of us have been left sitting at home hoping that unemployment will keep us afloat until the studios reopened. If you’ve found yourself in this position but, like many of us, are not content to sit on the sidelines, you’re probably looking for options.
In this coronavirus crisis, we have been bombarded with the question of whether or not to quarantine. The benefits of quarantine during a disease outbreak are well-known, and so are the drawbacks. The idea of quarantine is simple: If you separate people from one another physically, you make it less likely that they will catch diseases from each other.
Have you noticed that a person suffering from addiction is quickly judged, and categorized? Dependent acquaintances are labeled as “weak,” “immoral,” ”lazy” or “ungrateful” and dismissed or ignored. The dependent’s family usually labels them the “black sheep,” minimizing them and their problems.
I work with many couples whose relationship is suffering from a lack of erotic attraction. Usually, they started out strongly attracted to each other, but find that attraction has decreased over time. Sometimes their circumstances were more difficult, and the attraction was never there in the first place …
This is the first of three musings about transformational anger. This musing is an introduction to angry feelings and encourages you to think about those feelings in a new way. The second and third anger musings will follow in the next few weeks. The second musing will explore what your angry feelings are telling you and the final anger musing summarizes the angry habits of those who are able to use their anger transformationally …
What does “interview bias” mean? It’s when an interviewer makes an unfair or inappropriate judgment of the interviewee, or when their judgment is prejudicial, which means ‘decided in advance without any evidence.’ We mostly think of negative bias, but positive bias can be a problem too - getting hired for the wrong job can be just as bad as not getting hired for the right one …
For mental health professionals
The transition from student to professional can be very difficult for counselors. New graduates looking for their first job are often confused, frustrated and sometimes even exploited, because they do not have the information they need about the complex licensure process and the market for jobs in our field.
On March 20, 2020, Governor Pritzker of Illinois issued an Executive Order in response to the spread of the COVID-19 virus. That order, “Staying at Home; Social Distancing Requirements and Essential Businesses and Operations,” designated counseling services an essential medical service, allowing them to remain open. However, many counselors and counseling services have increased or shifted entirely to telehealth services.
“She just doesn’t get it – like what I need or want to focus on. She just talks about her own cases and never asks what support I need,”
said my friend, about her clinical supervisor. We sat down at a neighborhood café, her with a Ceylon tea and me my usual half-caf Americano.