Lost My Job and Doubting Myself

[Hopalong]

Do you have a support group you attend weekly, Bones?
Do you go to therapy weekly?

Hops

[BonesMS]

Do you have a support group you attend weekly, Bones?
Do you go to therapy weekly?

Hops

My 12-Step group is aware that I have been job hunting.  I'm leery of therapists now since I got burned by the last one.

Bones

[Ami]

Dear Bones,
   How did you get burned by the therapist,if it is not too personal to share?              Ami

[BonesMS]

Dear Bones,
   How did you get burned by the therapist,if it is not too personal to share?              Ami

I have reason to suspect that my last therapist was a Narcissistic Chauvanist.  No matter what I needed to discuss, he would ignore it and attempt to force me into his pre-selected "solutions" (i.e. "You're only a woman and you need a man."   , or "I can CONTROL your addiction FOR you."  )  It appeared he was more interested in listening to himself talk than to LISTEN to his clients!  I finally got fed up and fired him because I didn't see the point in wasting my money on this jerk.

Bones

[Hopalong]

Sounds like a good choice Bones.

How about seeking out a wise woman counselor who comes well-recommended by good women you know?

Hops

[BonesMS]

Sounds like a good choice Bones.

How about seeking out a wise woman counselor who comes well-recommended by good women you know?

Hops

At this point, I'm not sure if any wise women counselors exist in my neck of the woods.

Bones

[BonesMS]

((((((((((Bones)))))))))))

?!?!?!?! jeez, how does someone like that stay in business, but they do

Did the hotline volunteering start?  If so, how is it going?

hugs,  besee

Thanks, Besee.

I'm still going through the hotline training so I'm not ready to answer the phones yet.

Bones

[BonesMS]

Also, I've had a bit of a strange experience this morning. 

As some of you may be aware, I tend to read the advice columns such as "Annie's Mailbox" and "Dear Abby".  Today's "Annie's Mailbox" has a letter from a fifty-something woman dealing with a dysfunctional family.  Her situation feels almost identical to mine where there has been a cut-off for nearly ten years.  Oh boy!  I can sure IDENTIFY with that!

Bones

[Ami]

?!?!?!?! jeez, how does someone like that stay in business, but they do


Dear Besee,
  My answer to that is that people don't trust themselves.                             Ami

[Hopalong]

Hi Bones,
Do you mean you feel there are no good women counselors within driving distance?
No one accessible to you?
Are you in a rural area?

Hops

[BonesMS]

Hi Bones,
Do you mean you feel there are no good women counselors within driving distance?
No one accessible to you?
Are you in a rural area?

Hops

It's not the geography, it's the quality.  I had a clinical social worker back in the late 1980's who constantly focused on how my health insurance imposed limits.  Another female therapist, who was conducting group therapy, abruptly abandoned her clients which I felt did us more harm than good.

Bones

[Hopalong]

I see.
I have seen nearly a dozen therapists over the years and several were duds, one was beyond unhelpful.

On balance, the Ts I have seen have been professional, smart, caring, ethical, and have given me enormous practical and insightful help to get past depressions, romantic heartbreak, and an 8-year period of either unemployment, unhappy employment, or unstable employment.

I don't understand completely why you are reasoning that a couple negative experiences mean that therapy isn't an important key. Maybe that's your depression thinking, not smart logical you...?

I wish you whatever help you will seek and accept, dear Bones, to lift you from depression to new kinds of action and imagination that can help you find satisfying work, and satisfaction in the small joys of daily life.

Hops

[BonesMS]

I see.
I have seen nearly a dozen therapists over the years and several were duds, one was beyond unhelpful.

On balance, the Ts I have seen have been professional, smart, caring, ethical, and have given me enormous practical and insightful help to get past depressions, romantic heartbreak, and an 8-year period of either unemployment, unhappy employment, or unstable employment.

I don't understand completely why you are reasoning that a couple negative experiences mean that therapy isn't an important key. Maybe that's your depression thinking, not smart logical you...?

I wish you whatever help you will seek and accept, dear Bones, to lift you from depression to new kinds of action and imagination that can help you find satisfying work, and satisfaction in the small joys of daily life.

Hops

Thanks, Hops.

I know that this depression is impacting a lot of things.  Having lived with depression all my life, it's hard to imagine how things can be different.

Bones

[BonesMS]

Dear Bones,
   I guess the best "defense" you have when chossing the therapist is your intuition.   A woman's center may have sliding scale counseling.
   Bones, I would be really interested in hearing about the hot line. I am interested in doing something like this.Do you go to the facility or do it from home?
  Can you use these hours to get your certification. I have a masters degree but never got certified.
                                                          Talk to you soon                               Love Ami

Thanks, Ami.

To answer your question, I go to the facility for the training and the shifts will be worked from there due to safety reasons.  The Hotline has a wide variety of callers and not all of them are exactly stable.  These callers can and do have a wide variety of issues, including Borderline Personality Disorder, along with the occasional stalker, which could pose a hazard.  I'm hoping that this experience will help hone my counseling skills.

Bones

[BonesMS]

A few unexpected surprises during the past couple of weeks that I kept quiet about because I wasn't sure where it was going to go.

I got a phone call asking me to come in for an interview as they had my application from CareerBuilder.com.  (I don't recall applying to them recently so it might have been from last Fall.)  I went in to the interview on a Thursday and simply laid all the cards on the table, not expecting anything new since I had dealt with these people back in September and it had gone nowhere before.

Then I was asked to come in for a second interview and meet with a different person this past Wednesday.  I figured, "Okay.  Can't hurt."  I go in and answer more questions (i.e. counselor-client scenarios, ethics, Tarisoff, etc.).  Again, I'm expecting same-old, same-old as the past nine months while rattling off the answers I knew as I had studied this stuff thoroughly in graduate school.

Then the other shoe dropped............................................................

I start Monday morning, June 4th, even though it is a two hour round-trip commute, three counties away, in a correctional facility as an Addictions Counselor-trainee. 
Yes, I am apprehensive.

Bones