I have been watching the new HBO series Lanterns, and there is a lot about the show that I find interesting. I grew up with superheroes, and like a lot of adults who grew up reading comics, I still enjoy seeing these old characters reimagined for another generation. But there was one storyline in Lanterns
Fearless or Foolish? What Lanterns Gets Wrong About Courage Read More »
There are some words in our CACREP professional standards that deserve much more attention than they receive. Here are five: Those words appear in CACREP’s 2024 definition of professional dispositions: The commitments, characteristics, values, beliefs, and behaviors that influence the counselor’s professional growth and interactions with clients, faculty, supervisors, and peers, including working in a
Should Counselor Education Be Measuring What Students Believe? Read More »
I have always loved old family photographs. Sometimes they capture more than the people standing in them. They capture a story. The man in this photograph is my great-great-grandfather, William Perry Martin. He was already an old man when this picture was taken, well into his seventies. Behind him is an enormous tree stump, and
Sometimes It Is Time to Dig Out the Stump Read More »
Today, counseling is often marketed as though almost anyone can become an effective therapist with enough coursework, enough supervision hours, and enough credentials behind their name. Training matters, of course. Ethics and skills matter. But I am not convinced that training alone creates the kind of counselor people seek when their lives are falling apart.
The Making of a Counselor Read More »
When I was younger, I often found myself wishing I could fast-forward time. Sometimes it was because I was looking ahead to something I was excited about, a trip, time with friends, graduation, or some new season of life that felt just out of reach. Other times, it was because I wanted to get through
One of my first introductions to what would later become modern social justice training happened years ago while I was working as a Child Protective Services investigator in Arizona. At the time, I was also working toward becoming a therapist, and I believed strongly in treating people equally. I believed investigations should rise or fall
When Equality Became Equity (The Same Pants, Part 2) Read More »
My dad taught me something simple that has stayed with me my entire life. He used to say, “Everyone puts their pants on the same way, one leg at a time.” To some people, that may sound like just an old country saying, but to my father, it was a philosophy of life. My dad
The Same Pants (Part 1) Read More »
Years ago, I worked as a mental health crisis counselor on a mobile crisis team. I loved that job. It was fast-paced, unpredictable, and emotionally intense. Police officers, hospitals, schools, families, and emergency dispatchers would call us when someone was threatening suicide, spiraling into psychosis, or emotionally collapsing in front of the people around them.
I keep thinking about this idea that we are all writing a story. None of us fully controls the opening chapters. Some people begin life surrounded by stability, encouragement, safety, and opportunity. Others begin with chaos, neglect, poverty, addiction, abuse, loss, discrimination, instability, or trauma. Life is not fair in how it distributes suffering. Some
You Still Hold the Pen Read More »
The Supreme Court handed down a decision today striking down Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy for minors. The ruling, decided 8–1, surprised many. It will likely reshape how states regulate therapy, speech, and professional boundaries moving forward. For many of my colleagues in counseling and mental health, this decision feels like a step backward. For