2018 Justice & Recovery Conference

I have a certain responsibility to my license that I must maintain a level of learning each year to provide my clients the best possible psychotherapy available.

After four years of attending a conference specializing in teaching the most current theories and concepts to help children, I had the opportunity to attend the 2018 Justice & Recovery Conference!

For laymen, this is a convention designed to teach professionals (from law enforcement, judges, etc. to treatment providers of all different levels of education and experience). Experts inform the attendees the latest progress, information, legislation as well as a drug-specific treatment focus in our state about specialty courts and recovery for our entire community.

Here are my key points:

I have only occasionally been away from my 3 year old and only actually traveled without him once before so obviously we were a bit nervous that he would have a tough time adjusting to my absence. Obviously I knew that I would have more difficulty than my toddler.

However, my boys and I knew I needed a quick break as this is time I usually don’t have to myself. I absolutely enjoyed the experience and the much needed time with my colleagues, along with likeminded professionals.

I’ve been fortunate enough to experience many years of conferences that are sponsored by the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse. This one was no different; along with the variety of workshops, seminars and speeches given by informed, educated individuals, they do a great job of keeping the registered participants fed and comfortable.

I actually enjoyed each of the courses I attended but if I had to choose a favorite, it’s definitely a tie between “Hearing Voices” and “Current Drug Trends, Threats and the Elephant in the Room”.

The Current Trends was a workshop that focused on teaching us exactly what is happening in our youth: the drugs they’re doing, how they’re getting them, why they are choosing them and how to spot all the signs from adolescents themselves. It was awesome because it was from the perspective of law enforcement, so it’s fascinating to get information about what is on the streets of our community including the raw details of the people who are responsible. Law enforcement don’t have to be polite about what they see. Treatment providers look at the kids and families from a different angle. It’s important to have a source like police to see the truth and how to hold everyone accountable if we expect to be a vessel for change in our clients.

Hearing voices was by far the most emotional and stimulating workshop I’ve ever had during a conference! It’s purpose was to show us what a person suffering from schizophrenia experiences daily. Wow! I was fascinated with schizophrenia during grad school and seemed to research the disorder every chance I could. This still humbled me and left me feeling intense sadness from the mystery and power of schizophrenia! We got to listen to MP3 players and attempt to complete normal comprehension exercises which showed the depth of its power. I knew textbook information but it left me feeling stunned with how profound schizophrenia truly is.

I got to travel a total of 5 hours in two days, have many fun conversations with articulate people interested in similar ideas, learn a variety of new skills and concepts, PLUS I had the rare opportunity to do a little shopping!! You know me well enough to know that there’s ALWAYS time to SHOP!

I’m going to attach some of my photos that I thought were important or worth capturing. Check out my new work bag! My coworkers all love their bags and swear by Vera Bradley’s quality so I joined the club.

Thanks for reading my thoughts! I hope you enjoyed my summary of the conference and I’d love to hear your thoughts on recovery or your experiences traveling for your career!

Xoxo

Blog visions + photos 🎀

I hope you enjoyed my Visualizing Goals blog! If you haven’t seen it, Read it here.

As I discussed in that blog, I’m hoping to share with my readers more than just my thoughts. I’m hoping to create a digital vision board! I’ve noticed a pattern in my blogs that I like and don’t plan to change. I discuss ideas, experiences and pose questions to my readers then try to share photos of my life. Obviously I love to share so why wouldn’t I continue that concept with things that benefit others and keep me focused on ideas of my own!?

I wanted to make sure my reasoning was clear for any need to post ideas, products or items. I also want to be careful to share where to find awesome stuff I love! I’m not partnered or advertising so I’m sincere in sharing things I actually use and of course what’s worth extra if I feel so inclined!

I see tons of lifestyle blogs now. Maybe because I’m not really on Facebook anymore and my taste has changed. I typically spend my social media time on Instagram so I’m noticing quite the trend in lifestyle blogs. I’m really a little more interested in mom blogs so feel free to share in the comments!

Lifestyle blogs are great, but the general idea seems to be – forgive me if this sounds hateful – basic…

These bloggers have awesome lives, please don’t misunderstand what I’m saying. I am just confused about how they actually support themselves. Sharing clothes with readers does not seem like it could pay my bills. Is this naive of me?

I know that influencers have specific opportunities on Instagram that others don’t. I’m pretty sure they have contracts with sponsors. Still, product lines and all, does this make up for not having a regular career? Maybe the ones I am wondering about are not actually business owners so I should clarify.

Hey, I’m excited for women to reach financial security – especially mothers!! Come to think of it, I’ve rarely seen too many men bloggers. I’ve actually never seen a dad blog. This is definitely showing me that I need to continue researching blogging and reading blogs. How are you supposed to be great if you don’t learn everything you can about the subject, right?

I did a little revamp of my Instagram and designed some cute pictures to organize my highlights. In doing that I noticed I only have 388 followers. Of course I’m a little picky about who I even allowed to see my Instagram, and have been keeping it private so I’m seriously going to have to start being more open if I actually want followers. Which seems to me like a no-brainer. Followers = blog readers, right?

And I used to make fun of my teenager when he would brag about his followers! Ha! The tables have sure turned.

Any suggestions? I’m ALL ears!

As always, here’s some awesome (and some silly) photos of my kids and fam from the past weekend at the lake for our nephew’s birthday.

Xoxo 😘

Inspired to Blog

One of my favorite parts about my career is – take a guess!

Hint, it’s definitely not the 20 hours of paperwork for a week of providing psychotherapy.

It’s the resulting introspection from the years of spending many hours with people learning about their problems, that forces me to confront mine.

It’s not easy to see some of your problems when you’re spending days and days with other people talking about theirs. It comes with the territory.

THIS is the process that inspired me. It inspired me to start pouring it out of my brain. I had so much to say because I’ve not only been a licensed therapist for many years, I’ve been through tough times AS that therapist that has given me an extremely thankful perspective. I’ve reached points in my career where I had to re-evaluate, be honest with myself, face my own demons, change myself and RE-focus as a person that is CAPABLE of helping others. This also comes with the territory.

You can only deny problems for so long. If you decide to face those issues, quitting bad habits, making a commitment to a spiritual journey, to face those challenges even when you don’t know if you can make it through – you’re able to look back later as a better individual with more VALUABLE experiences in your heart and soul.

I believe this is what has inspired me to not only focus on MORE positive changes and growth, but to give my professional identity exactly what it has given me: VALUE. Education. Research. Commitment, dedication, and ABSOLUTE devotion. If I don’t do this in my life, I can never deserve the benefits I receive daily.

So in effort to make a more valuable blog, that gives not just me satisfaction – but my readers who are taking the time to give me a chance, MORE beneficial SUBSTANCE.

Recovery/sobriety, motherhood/parenting, psychotherapy, supervision for licensure, research, learning, growth and passion are just a FEW of the components that you’ll find in this website to create a more informative, well-rounded and inclusive journey to a better version of myself. I have an obligation to my profession (clients, administrators, support, supervisees, community) and I’ve decided to put it in a public format to hold myself accountable to this unique lifestyle.

I know there’s other mom therapists in the world. Now I’m devoting myself to a niche of that group – mom therapist BLOGGERS. They’re also out there and I can’t wait to find more. I’m excited to learn how to reach my audience more, engage with my readers and be the perfectionist-slacker I am in everything else!

If you are interested in more ways to reach people through blogging and how to not FAIL at the whole experience – check this out:

How to Create Engaging Content

I’ve only just begun researching this and I’m excited to show you more that speaks to me.

Enjoy!

 

Inspired thoughts

I’m the world’s worst at trying to accommodate others – not uncommon in “helping” professionals. More specifically, I’ve noticed some patterns in myself. Those behaviors include being over-apologetic, taking most of the blame or explaining away others mistakes to resolve conflicts quickly and avoid tension.

I’ve noticed that I tend to lead with my flaws, even though I’m a pretty confident person, especially as a therapist which makes me dissect this part of my personality in effort to grow.

My question to you: when is being flexible with others too much?

I find myself being quick to take responsibility for miscommunication between myself and others. It seems like even this is not enough for some, because they take advantage of it and still refuse any accountability. I find myself irritated with other people’s lack of humility.

Why is it so difficult for some to recognize their mistakes or even to acknowledge that they could have accidentally misunderstood, miscommunicated, etc.? I’ve reached my limit with specific people that I’m recognizing as unfair to my kindness. I realize that I’ve got to practice what I preach/teach. I have to be more assertive in some situations. That’s obviously my problem to tackle.

This is my challenge to navigate, which is not impossible. Thankfully I’m self-aware enough to put some effort into this. However, as a therapist I’ve always had a bit of a curse to evaluate the reasoning behind those who choose the position that I continue to encounter in my professional and personal life.

My reason for the blog is inspired from these particular questions after the ideas surfaced in some discussions with my family and friends.

I tend to sense a common trait in the person in this situation and that’s why I’m having the difficulty understanding them.

Maybe it’s just me! Maybe I have been through a journey that’s taught me to show others that I’m a human being capable of making mistakes in a very vital part of introducing one to the idea of therapy. This is probably more of a subconscious process to create collusion and trust. I’ve always been told that people in the the therapeutic process engage with me easily and quickly.

After a lot of thought, I’m seeing that although it seems like it’s strange that this isn’t common sense… many people haven’t realized that it’s a little ridiculous to be critical of others. In 2018 if you have the nerve to be judgmental, do you really think that other people believe the concept you’re attempting to present?

Perfection is NOT possible. In fact, the people so arrogant to assume they always know the answer completely discredit themselves. Especially when they attack others that seem to make them feel threatened.

Every single person is always in a learning process. Those open to the process, are even changing and growing throughout their experiences! Unfortunately, the people that need to be open to that growth or learn ways to be better in general seem to be in denial that they can always improve. The ones that especially bother me are those that have made major mistakes, as a parent (those are at the top of the list because it has affected children) or they’ve hurt other people – they seem to be the ones I’ve noticed in this pattern of behavior the most!

If you’ve ever had a problem with a substance, yes – even those that say “I used to drink too much” or take too much prescription drugs (yes, I know you’ll argue because “hey, it’s prescribed to me”) you have had a problem. This puts you in an addict category. If you’re not familiar with addiction, and seem to have never had any issues-ha! Good for you! We ALL have our weaknesses. Our character flaws. It’s rare that you’ve been able to avoid all mental illness and addiction. I’m not being harsh-it’s just reality. My mantra was for years, “some are sicker than others”. Meaning: great for you that you’ve been blessed to not have to beg for help or forgiveness. But at some point, we all need to.

Either way I’d put money on it that the statistics are high that so many people have, at the very least gone through tough times. These are all my reasons to believe that EVERYONE should have compassion for others.

✌️

Ideas

I have a hard time staying consistent on my blog when it comes to writing short blogs daily or even every other day. An idea I’ve considered is to use my Instagram Stories since I’m the most active on that platform than other social media – as a blog post for the days I don’t have a specific topic to write about.

Since I write when I have free time or I’m not seeing a client, I can use some time to focus on documentation and also sharing my thoughts and experiences with friends, family and followers!

This could help me save time allowing me to finish blogs I’ve started! I’m not kidding-I have 17 drafts right now. Eeeek!!

Here’s my newest accomplishment: my supervision contract with private details covered for the protection of myself and my supervisees.

I’m so proud! I even brushed up on some reading to write plans for my first session with my new supervisee. I hope those who know don’t know me as well as others, understand why this is such a major component of my blog.

I’ve gone through extremely difficult times in my life that could’ve cost me my career but I’ve been blessed with an amazing partner and supportive family & friends which all continued to believe in my success. I was able to persevere through the lows and accomplish becoming a certified supervisor. Therefore I’m not bragging, I’m so thankful to be experiencing dreams I’d almost lost hope in obtaining.

I’m open to resources and suggestions anyone would be kind enough to send me. Documents I’ve found online have helped me put together materials for my supervisees but since I’m new to supervising (plus it’s been FIVE YEARS since I’ve been under contract for supervision) I’ll definitely be learning/remembering as I go!

I hope all my loyal readers know I appreciate your feedback and support! Email or comment, even constructive criticism is helpful.

Xoxo

Amy