Having a Heart for People
From Rachel Bridgewater, MA’10…
Wow… I have so many thoughts and feelings that this blog cannot do it justice.
I know blogs are supposed to be brief, light-hearted snippets with minimal detail… but the nature of this conference is anything BUT that! I am finding this experience to be extremely valuable, and I can see why counselors are required to attend such events for continuing education.
I have met so many interesting people from all over the country and world… and I’m discovering that there is no such thing as just a “counselor.” There are many specialties in this field. But I am finding one element that ties us all together — the “helping” component. Each person I have met has that distinctive “heart for people” that I have come to see in most counselors and healthcare professionals. It is quite inspiring, and it becomes increasingly clear to me why I love this profession so much.
Well, I have attended so many sessions now; I couldn’t possibly explain all that I’ve learned. However, I will note an important theme that I am seeing here. I have run into a number of counselors who have been working directly with victims of 911, Hurricane Katrina, and the Iraq war. They are presenting lessons and stories of trauma, and more specifically, how to help culturally diverse populations with various types of trauma. They ALL spoke to the fact that these disasters are still very much alive in the hearts of many families, and that we, as helping professionals, are the key people who will deal with these ongoing traumas.
They also spoke to the horrifying facts that we as a nation were so unprepared for such types of disasters, and that many of our social programs are still ill-equipped to handle the complexity of the ongoing issues and effects.
We have an intense need to advocate for the education of our social services and government programs (and the general public) to better prepare for any future tragedies. I was deeply moved by the stories of these people. There was a certain urgency and desperation to their claims. We do need to pay attention.