Justice delayed is justice denied.

I did not want to make this blog about politics. Obviously I can't dictate how the government will dictate policy, and  how I feel as a mental health professional I must respond. Today's blog that was originally going to be published will not happen, it will be published on Tuesday. I would like to talk a little bit about politics. The governor has signed a budget. Before he signed the budget he used his authority to get rid of certain items in the budget. He has every right to do this Constitution. This is a common thing that happens. It is meant to get rid of funding that was wasteful. One of the items he got rid of, was $100,000 for a organization family justice center.  It is a organization that provides one-stop access to survivors of domestic violence. They provide treatment, and support to this population.

This is a mistake. The family justice center, is not a organization that is a waste of tax money. They provide life-saving support to individuals in the most horrible situations that you could imagine. I had difficulty imagining what domestic violence, before I began my time at Metropolitan ministries. It is my belief that as a mental health professional is to advocate on behalf of my client's, who often cannot advocate for them self's. Issues of domestic violence has become a advocacy issues for me. Just like disability rights. I am right now very angry at the governor for the decision that he has made. One of my colleagues, is the executive director of the family justice center. I guess I am a little bit outrage with the decision that he has made.

What is going to happen to to the family Justice Center? I am having difficulty imagining what would happened if they would close. I am very concerned about this. I have a friend in the disability rights movement that says your budget reflects your values. I believe this decision that could be life changing to some people. If the family Justice Center was too close, it could be life ending to some people. This is the reality of domestic violence. Domestic violence is a plague on the community, that must be stopped. This is a tragedy for the community. The community must figure out ways to keep the family Justice Center operational.

listen and do not judge

I have been trying to come up with topics for this blog. I have been asking my friends about what they would think would be a good idea for blog topics. There have been very helpful. I will be using many of their ideas. This process of coming up with ideas for my blog, has had me thinking about about giving people advice. I was looking for people to give me advice on how I should proceed with my blog. When I was beginning my training as a mental health professional, I assumed that giving people advice would be part of my job. I have come to understand, if I give people advice I would not be a very good mental health professionals. As a mental health professional I believe that listening is better than giving people advice. Sometimes you have to be quiet, and let the other person talk without judgment to make any real progress in the counseling relationship. I have been surprised with the type of the information that I was able to get by just sitting back, and listening to my client. To be honest, I do not know where this blog is going, but thinking about the writing process of this blog has reminded me of two very important things. Do not give advice to your clients in most circumstances, always listen to people you will be surprised with how the counseling relationship will develop.

The theoretical concepts of counseling

So this is part two of helping you guys get to know me as a professional counselor. So I guess I should begin by talking a little bit about my theoretical prospective on counseling. Your theoretical orientation gives you a roadmap in the counseling process. It provides you with a guide to help clients achieve change. Now I am still very young as a mental health professional, so I am still developing my theoretical perspective on counseling. I have been influenced by different type of counseling schools.
　
I believe that the therapeutic relationship is the primary vehicle for change my job in the relationship is to facilitate the counseling process. My job is to provide a safe place of my clients, that they can accomplish the change that they need accomplice. I want to be able provide a environment, that will allow my clients deal with some very difficult issues.

I have been influenced by positive psychology. I like to focus on what is good with my clients, and try to build upon what is good. I don't like to focus on my clients weaknesses, I always try to focus on what is good with my clients.

I have also been influenced by the creative side of counseling. I have had supervisor that was very much into psychodrama. Psychodrama is a very powerful tool to use with clients. I am right now interested in gestalt psychotherapy is the way to work with clients.
I am also a marriage and family therapist. So part of my theoretical orientation is the systems perspective. The systems perspective believes that the client is the relationship. The systems perspective focuses on the relationship. I am not going get into systems theory, this will be a topic for a future blog.
　
Why do I talk about why theoretical orientation? I believe it is very important for the individuals reading this blog to understand my beliefs on what counseling is. If someone was going to ask what my theoretical orientation is? I would probably say that I have been influenced by many of the great schools of counseling. I guess you can say that I am truly a student of many types counseling theory.

What exactly do I do?

Hello everyone. This is my first blog of any substance. It is my goal in published blog postings between 2 to 3 times a week. This will be on various topics related to the counseling profession. So I am dedicated the first couple of blog articles to letting you guys know me as a counseling professional. Why am I doing this? I think it is very important for you guys to understand where I am coming from in the counseling field. Let me say from the beginning that this blog is not meant to be a substitute for counseling. I am not a license mental health professional. I am a master's student in a rehabilitation and mental health counseling program. What does that mean exactly? Rehabilitation means employment of individuals with disabilities. Mental health counseling, helps individuals deal with emotions. Now notice that I did not say that mental health counseling is about helping clients deal with mental health issues. That is any of mental health counseling, but that's the only area of counseling. It is about helping individuals or groups facilitate some type of personal change. The client is the one doing all the work, I am the one just facilitating the process.
What type of clients do I like providing counseling to? Now I am still a student. Right now I specialized in providing counseling in several areas of the population. I like to provide treatment to individuals dealing with chronic medical conditions and disabilities. I also enjoyed providing marriage and family counseling services. These are the two areas that I enjoy providing treatment to. Now I know that there are areas of counseling that I want to explore. I would like to explore working with individuals dealing with significant trauma. What do I mean by this? This could be issues of abuse, and domestic violence. Now I know that I will need additional training to do this. This is the great thing about the profession of counseling. You always have to receive additional training to keep up your skills as a counselor.
I am also actively involved in research. I will be published in the academic article with a colleague, later this year. I have a very active research agenda. Right now I'm having an interest in counselors values and believes. I also have a interest in the disability rights movement, and marriage and family therapy.

Why have I decided to do this at this particular time

The mental health profession is a rapidly changing profession. The profession has developed new philosophy of practice. We are long past the days of the process of therapy being a mysterious process. This blog is about the development of a young profession.

What is this blog not about? This blog is not about my clients. I would not discuss my clients with you on this blog. This would be a violation of confidentiality. Although I might get into some self of the therapist issues. The target audience of this blog is mental health professional in training, and mental health professionals. It is also for anyone that is interested in the counseling profession. It is my hope to discuss current issues in the counseling profession. This will be my opinions and ideas. I also hope to use this as a tool to develop my writing abilities.

Welcome to my blog

Hello everyone my name is Richard Chapman, and I am a mental health counseling student at the University of South Florida. I think it is time for me to start keeping a blog of some type. So I decided to keep this blog about the counseling profession in general. I hope you enjoy it. Welcome to on the profession.