Donna’s

I wouldn’t do Antioch justice without mentioning the food service. On the second floor of Antioch, there is a small kitchen with a variety of foods for breakfast, lunch, and snacks. The staff is always friendly, and the food is high quality.

I am always in a rush in the morning, and Antioch’s breakfast provides a quick meal I can enjoy in class. I almost always make a stop for a pastry and coffee before rushing off to my first class. The selection varies, but I always find something tempting – a scone, banana bread, coffee cake, etc. and a coffee. There’s a coffee club card for one free coffee after 10 coffee purchases, and I make good use of those. Coffee refills are available for a discounted price if the same cup is used – great pick-me-up during class break. Egg sandwiches and yogurt with granola are also available.

At lunch, there is usually a selection of soups and sandwiches (Tomato cheddar soup is one of my personal favorites). Taco salads are also popular among the students. The food is freshly prepared and served hot or cold depending on the selection. A variety of drinks are also available. I’ve never had anything I didn’t enjoy.

Homemade cookies, brownies, and other treats are also available for dessert or an afternoon snack.

Without doubt, Donna’s kitchen is a bright spot at Antioch. I once heard a classmate say that the food service atmosphere was one of the deciding factors in her decision to come to Antioch.

almost there

As this final school year winds down, I have noticed how much we have all learned through the program at Antioch. I hear classmates discuss issues with clear understanding of this profession. All the pieces learned in the many classes are coming together as we develop our individual approaches to counseling.

I feel a greater confidence in my abilities while maintaining an awareness of areas where I still need to grow. I think one of the important concepts I’ve gained through the education process is an understanding and appreciation of the complexity of the art of counseling. There is no one correct approach, but there are certain treatment protocols that have been shown to be successful.

One of our final projects is an analyses of our own theoretical orientation. This is an interesting process because we are challenged to understand what theories are driving our individual work and what aspects of our life and training have drawn us to these particular theories. We write a paper explaining our understanding of our orientation, using current literature to support the efficacy of our work. Finally, we present the information to our professional seminar courses, demonstrating our competency with recordings from client sessions that illustrate our work. The process is fascinating.

Not only does this project serve to demonstrate to our competency to the professor, it allows us to identify our own level of competency in the work we are doing at our internships. It clearly illustrates how prepared we are to step into the role of counselor independent of Antioch.

The End is Near

Last week I got a letter from Antioch from the financial aid department. It said that I have borrowed over $50,000 to finance my education, and I should anticipate a repayment rate of over $700 per month for the next 10 years. YIKES! Well that letter got me thinking about getting a job when I’m finished with school.

A few days later, I received an email about ordering a cap and gown and other preparations for commencement in May. The reality of school coming to an end is becoming more and more obvious. It feels sort of strange and very sudden. Perhaps because I completed my undergraduate degree over seven years. These past three years seem to have moved very quickly. I have a feeling these final months are going to seem to move even faster, especially with the workload this semester.

Last year a friend had to remind me that I wouldn’t be in school forever. That was the first time I had really thought about finishing school. I was at the half-way point at that time, and now I’m in the final semester. It hardly seems possible. One of the hardest things about finishing will be the people. Because Antioch is small, we form close-knit groups. It ’s enjoyable to visit with friends each week, and I’ve heard many students express concern about losing those connections. The people I’ve gotten to know through Antioch are a fantastic group. I know I will miss seeing them each week. Hopefully, we can continue to stay in touch as professional after we graduate.

Self-care, self-care, self-care

From the first semester at Antioch, the importance of self-care has been emphasized. As graduate  students, we have a lot of work, and it is not always easy to take time to care for ourselves. However, when entering a the field of counseling, self-care is essential.

First of all, the work we do can be draining. We often work with clients who have experienced trauma. Through listening to their stories, it is easy to develop compassion fatigue or experience symptoms of trauma. Counseling is a field with a  high rate of burn out which effects not only the counselor’s quality of work but also the quality of life. The little things we do for ourselves can make a big difference.

For those of you who begin to argue that you don’t have time for self-care, it is all the more important that you find time. About a year ago, I decided that I couldn’t save all my pleasure reading for semester breaks. I made a promise to myself to read for pleasure every day. I’ve never regretted that decision, even when I’m overwhelmed with class assignments. Around the same time, I decided to sign up for a yoga class. The class meets Monday evenings, and my classes are on Tuesdays. I was a bit concerned that I would find this schedule too daunting. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I felt I had more time, not less, for my studies.

I find the more I pay attention to my needs, the better I’m able to attend to my work. My most recent self-care experience was a trip to Mexico, along the Caribbean coast. Sun, sand, exciting excursions… self-care doesn’t get better than that.

An Intense Semester

Entering my final semester at Antioch, I had some choices about what classes to take, and how many credits to take. I didn’t choose to the the substance abuse concentration so I didn’t take the classes that are required for that concentration. I took the two required classes: research and professional seminar IV. I also chose to take 4 credits of elective courses.

One elective is a crisis strategies class. It seems like it will be a beneficial class, and I enjoy the teacher’s style. Becoming more competent in my ability to respond effectively to crisis situations will be very helpful, especially considering the families I work with through my internship are often in crisis situations. The crisis interventions class is a regular three credit class that meets weekly throughout the semester.

My other elective course is a one-credit course on grief counseling. It meets one weekend in January. The teacher for this class taught another elective I took in my first semester on death, dying, and bereavement. Although these topics may seem depressing, the teacher is very knowledgeable and the information is really helpful. This year, I’ve had a lot of clients who are dealing with the loss of a loved one, and I am eager to learn more effective ways to help these clients.

I chose to take the maximum allowed credits each semester. For some students, this is more difficult because they don’t live in the area. For me, I feel that I should get my money’s worth so I want to learn as much as possible.

The required classes are intense, but I’m trying to remind myself that good is good when it comes to my grades. I’ll do my best without sacrificing my sanity. The elective classes I’m taking are not as intense as the other two classes so I’m not too worried at the moment.

It will be an intense, learning-filled semester. I am already jumping into the assignments so they won’t all catch up with me at the last moment. We’ll see how long I can keep that up. No matter what, though, there is an end in sight.

Graduation is scheduled for May 3rd!

Back to school already?

It doesn’t seem like it should be time for the semester to be beginning again, but it is here. For me this is the beginning of the final semester which seems impossible. I feel like I just started, and I’m already finishing. Some teachers post reading assignments that need to be completed prior to the first class. I got started on my reading today.

At Antioch, the Internet is a tool for communication that is essential. We have to check our course folders for important information regarding our classes and assignments. Only one of my classes has posted the syllabus already which is how I knew what to start reading. I would prefer more teachers to post the syllabus earlier as I like to  have a sense of what to expect from the semester a little earlier than this. Hopefully, the other classes aren’t requiring assignments to be completed in advance since I don’t have a lot of extra time for last minute assignments.

I’m looking forward to reconnecting with my Professional Seminar group. I’m also looking forward to my electives on crisis intervention and grief counseling. I’m feeling a little nervous about the research class. That’s the class with the posted syllabus. It looks like a lot of work, but the texts were surprisingly readable. I haven’t had any classes with this teacher before, so I’m not sure what to expect. Based on the syllabus, though, she seems very organized and has clear expectations for the students.

Content Versus Process

On the last day of classes, we did an experiential activity in my Family Approaches to Counseling class. I really crystallized for me the importance of addressing the process in therapy. For the activity, we were divided into groups of about four and discussed where most of our learning took place in the class. Then one person from each group became the anchor. Everyone else were explorers. The anchor stayed where they were and the explorers had to relocate to a new group. The anchors from each group explained to the explorers what their group said. The explorers returned to their original groups and reported what they learned from the anchors.

Each group was asked to choose three themes they thought were most important based on all the information they gathered. The teacher wrote the ideas on the board and labeled that as the content. He then asked about the process. It took some time for everyone to switch gears and be able to name the process. The teacher helped by asking leading questions such as how did the group begin the first task of discussing the learning or how did each group choose an anchor.

The teacher emphasized the importance of paying attention to process, especially in family work. He said sometimes you need to switch the focus from content to process as he did in the activity. In some cases, it might work to simply stop and ask a family, “what just happened?”

One student asked, “What if nothing happened?” The teacher replied that there is always something happening, even if the therapist doesn’t notice it. Sometimes it is important to focus of the content of the client’s story, but other times the process provides essential information. When working with families, the process can provide an enormous amount of information if the therapist chooses to pay attention to what happens during the session as well as what is said.

I think a new goal for me this semester will be to pay closer attention to the process as I work with clients.

Financing Graduate School

When I first started considering graduate school, I was concerned about being able to afford it. At Antioch’s visiting day, the speaker from the financial aid office was very helpful in her explanations of how to finance tuition. I was comfortable with the idea of getting loans to return to school. I’ve taken the maximum amound of loans offered to me without the graduate plus loan. My first year, I was able to work full-time because I didn’t have an internship. I saved the extra money in a CD so I could access it when I couldn’t work as much. This year, I was glad to have the extra because I needed some major car repairs. Of course, loans aren’t the only option for financing graduate school.

Scholarships are a great way to lesson a student’s financial burden. They key for getting scholarships, is to apply for as many as possible. I know it is just one more thing on top of all the other work graduate students need to do, but it can pay off. I applied for a couple of scholarships when I was going to be starting school and didn’t get any. For my second year I only applied for one scholarship and didn’t get it. For this year, I put more effort into finding scholarships and I had success. I was awarded a scholarship through Antioch for $750. I also applied for a Datatel Scholarship and a Yarnold Scholarship. I didn’t get the Datatel Scholarship, but I recently learned that I was awarded $1000 from the Yarnold Scholarship. It takes some extra time and work to find and apply for the scholarships, but the financial help is fantastic.

Financing the education was the easy part… Now I need to think about repaying all those loans.

Sensitivity

One of the things I’ve experienced from many of the staff at Antioch is sensitivity. There have been a few times when I was experiencing personal hardship, and I felt supported by my teachers who offered options to meet my personal needs.

My first semester, a friend’s father (like a father to me) became suddenly ill. Complications followed and he spent about a month in the hospital before dying at the end of December. It was hard to focus on my work, but I managed to get through it. In one class we had to give group oral presentations on the last two days of class. The teacher offered me the choice of which week I wanted my group to present. I opted for the later time because I felt I could use a little more time to prepare.

Just a few weeks ago, I had a similar experience. On the day I was scheduled to do a case presentation, I was having a really bad day. This happened as I had been trying to care for a group of very sick foster kittens, most of whom didn’t survive. The teacher offered me the opportunity to wait to give the presentation. In this case I opted to do the presentation as scheduled.

It has been my experience that teachers at Antioch have been understanding and accomodating for students who have unexpected stressors.

Mind-Body Connection

One of the classes I took this semester is on mind-body approaches to mental health counseling. The reading, though very intensive, has been fascinating and the content has been captivating.

One of the things I’ve learned in this class is how to be more mindful in my daily activities. When I’m more mindful, I am better able to experience each moment without being drawn into ruminations about the past or anxiety over the potential future. It’s hard to sustain that level of focus for any length of time, yet for the moment when I do everything seems brighter and clearer.

One of the expectations for this class is meditation. We are asked to work toward meditating for a half-hour each day. This is a process, and we journal about our progress. The teacher recognizes that this may not be an assignment students can adhere to perfectly. It’s more about the process and what we learn from the experience.

You may wonder what meditating has to do with counseling. Research has shown that therapists who meditate on a regular basis are better able to focus their attention on their clients for longer periods. What I’ve noticed about the benefit for me is I have less stress and more sustained focus on assignments.

Selecting classes for the first semester of my final year was difficult because the choices were excellent.