After 40 years working as a social worker and manager of mental health services in non-profit agencies, I recently retired and am very excited to join Life Changes Counseling and Care Planning. It is not an accident that I have chosen to work in this particular practice. I believe in work that is values based and I especially respect this practice’s values of passion, authenticity, and purpose. They align with how I do my work.
Part of my retirement planning is a thoughtful return to what has given me the most joy in my career: being a therapist. The real passion of social work for me has always been in forming helpful alliances with clients. I am a strengths-based, family systems-focused therapist who centers on clients’ values, passions, and successes. Life’s transitions and the stressors that challenge us as we are aging can certainly be unpredictable and overwhelming but with support, most of us are able to re-tool and take on these new challenges with energy and purpose. I have an established tool kit of evidence-based therapeutic tools to offer my clients, but I am aware that most therapeutic work is done in the listening to and affirming of the client. Most clients have a good idea of what is missing or out of line in their lives, and with support and encouragement can find what needs to be done to reduce their distress and get themselves back on track. By identifying past successful coping skills, clients are often able to identify what they need to do to meet their current major life challenges.
For the last thirty years of my career, I worked exclusively in community organizations across the Chicagoland area with older adults, people with disabilities, and their families. I provided individual and group therapies, supervised clinicians, staff and students and have been responsible for all aspects of program administration including program development and staff training.
When I was a young parent with children, I started my career as a therapist working with young children and their families. Slowly, I transitioned to working with aging adults and their families. I am fascinated by the similarities and differences in these life and developmental stages. There is so much about who we are as we age that is grounded in our early life experiences or in our younger adult lives. For me, working through concerns about aging or caring for an older adult is so much more challenging and interesting than work at earlier life stages. I find that the perspective of a client who has more earned insight, based on history and experience, makes the therapeutic connection much more balanced and equitable, stimulating and rewarding. I have discovered a real passion in working with older adults and have proudly shared this passion with countless developing professionals through the years.
Beyond my strong identity and commitment to social work, I am very committed to my immediate (and growing!) family of children and grandchildren. I am also very committed to my chosen extended family of friends and neighbors on Chicago’s Northwest side. My real passion is being outside in nature; I have learned to breathe deeply and take in all the beauty that surrounds us. I am a gardener and have a deep appreciation for all gardens. I especially love the woods and the depths of their scents. But water is my real element and I appreciate all time that can be spent in or near bodies of water. My soul really soars at our family place in Michigan, where I am extremely fortunate to live with woods and water around me.
If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health emergency, get support now. Call 988 for support and assistance. If it is a life-threatening emergency, go to your nearest emergency room or call 911.
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