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Personally
I will ask you all kinds of questions in therapy and get to know lots about you and that's the way it should be because therapy is ALL ABOUT YOU and what you need. However, over the years many clients and potential clients have told me that they like to know a bit about me. So, I thought I would take a moment to tell you a bit about myself personally--to answer a few of the questions I often get asked.
I have been married for over 35 years. I don't feel old enough to be making that statement, but apparently it is true. Well, okay, some days I feel old enough! Our marriage has been a wonderfully supportive one in which we have faced many challenging situations together such as coping with financial struggles, caring for a terminally ill parent, recovering from car accidents, dealing with infertility, adopting children, and parenting (need I say more). Perhaps the most challenging years were early in our marriage when my focus was on healing from the abuse I experienced in my childhood. I sure am glad I did that or my marriage (and life) could never have been this good! I learned that not only was my husband a "keeper", but so was I. I found my voice, my values, my priorities, my dreams...myself. Three words guided my recovery and began to define my life: honesty, integrity, and genuineness. These three values still guide my psychology practice and my life today.
As I mentioned earlier, we struggled with infertility. Through this struggle we realized that what we really wanted was to be parents and we adopted three amazing kids. We are so grateful that God built our family through adoption and we are certain that He had his hand in it all along...you would be too if you knew the stories. Our children are now young adults.we made it! Although becoming parents was a wonderful blessing, we were also presented with many challenges and a variety of needs. Parenting has been a challenging (but worthwhile) journey. Let's just say I have a very thorough library on a wide variety of parenting topics and approaches and I can tell you which books are best and which have approaches that are, shall we say, less helpful. Twenty years ago I used to provide support to families with challenging children....now that I have children of my own, I wish I could go back and see those families again...first to apologize for what I didn't know and second to actually help since I now have "lived experience" to go with my book knowledge. I often say I "earned my parenting stripes" (and believe me when I say they didn't come easy). Need help with parenting? I have lots of knowledge, experience and information....both personally and professionally. You might hear a few stories...like the time...no, I better not...my kids will not be impressed if I post those memories!
I hope that gives you a bit of a sense of me as a person. I am quite open so if you have other questions, please feel free to ask.
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