Little white lies emerge from the field!

• Gestalt Therapy and Mental Health Care: Part 1 by Brian O'Neill, 11/3/96
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    • Little white lies... by Dale R. Smith, 7/19/97
      
      

Little white lies... You didn't ruffle my feathers! I don't have feathers - yet. Isn't there some adage about birds of a feather flock together? It's something like that anyway. Me, I am busy. In March or April (my memory banks are shot this summer) my past was made public in the newspaper. The local district attorney said someone like me could not be rehabilitated... The politicians began positioning them selves to position me. I was the program director of a Day Reporting Center in Statesville, NC. I resigned. The local county commissioners stated (and publically) that they would bot seek refunding from the state if I remained in the position. So, I have been busy taking care of myself, supervising a brand new MSW with no experience (who is now in my old job, and has no therapy training or experience working with offenders), and started working at a new job. I couldn't get a job as a therapist. So I have a supporting job now, in a TC. Plus, I opened my own business (it's not legal yet). I plan to write (actually I am writing) do some seminars, and increase the awareness of the public with respects to crime, substance abuse and dependency, and relationships. Yes, I am busy. I stopped doing therapy because I feared bringing my issues into the session. Now, I am just starting to get back into the swing of things. I meant it when I said we need more people like you Dale, and other like you. I am of the opinion that there are too many therapists (substance abuse counselors) who have no depth. I shan't complain about them, least I become one of them. My personal challenege at this juncture in life is simply to incease awareness (and attempt to make a living while doing so). I will be back. I hesitate to write a great deal. I am who I am. One of my shortcomings is that I think I know more than I do (or at least I think I think I know more than I do). A friend and I have started a project: Practical & Developmental Approaches to Working with Chemically Dependent Offenders. He works from a gestalt perspective, a much more trained perspective than I. I work from a cognitive perspective (and I fall back on learning theory [general, some specific] and practical applications). Your comments about slow response time in this forum were taken into consideration. Why do people respond? What is their reward? Me, I am starved for brain stimulation. I read, and read. Comment little. It's like going to meetings, you go, and you keep your mouth shut for a while. Once you learn the rules, you start to speak. From what I have read on my screen from this Behavior On Line, I just need to read and learn. Peace!

• Dear Bob by Dale R. Smith, 7/29/97