First semester down: and I didn’t flunk out

Grad student once again

After four months of study, quizzes, lectures, discussion posts, papers, presentations, and group projects, the first semester of my clinical counseling degree is now behind me. This fall I returned to graduate school at Central Methodist University in Fayette, Missouri, to begin training to be a licensed professional counselor. 

My studies are made possible by the VA’s Veteran Readiness and Employment program. Formerly known as Vocational Rehabilitation, VR&E provides training and employment support for qualified veterans as they transition out of military service. My medical retirement from the U.S. Air Force became official in May and at the same time I decided to step back from parish ministry to focus on a different kind of service that would allow me to use my chaplain and pastoral skills in a new way.

My final Sunday in Dexter was Memorial Day weekend. I cannot say enough good things about the Disciples of First Christian Church. They supported Lily and I throughout my military career, during my deployment, and all that came afterwards. My transition to a new form of ministry is not a reflection on them, but on the emotional baggage I brought home from deployment with me. I am incredibly grateful for each and every member of that church, and am so excited for the new relationship they are establishing with Rev. Mindy Kiepe, their new interim pastor.

Remembering how to learn

CMU required me to spend my summer fulfilling two undergraduate prerequisites. Introductory psychology and undergraduate research methods helped me brush the rust off my study skills and ensured that I was ready when my master’s classes began in August. The program began with three classes, introduction to clinical counseling, theories of counseling, and graduate research methods. Although there were several stressful moments along the way, I am happy to report that I passed all my classes and my grades turned out better than I had hoped.

Each class gave me several valuable takeaways. My intro class exposed me to several different niches within the counseling field, ranging from school counselor and addictions treatment to community mental health and traditional private practice. Theories gave us basic understandings of many different types of treatment and encouraged us to begin thinking about what kind of counseling approaches might best resonate with our personalities and experiences. 

Research methods was less focused on conducting research than it was on teaching us how to evaluate the studies conducted by others. The intention was that by being informed consumers of research we will be better able to apply those findings in our own clinical practices. We also had the opportunity to directly work together with other members of our cohort on group projects that reflect the kind of efforts we might someday be called upon to do in our careers as professional counselors.

Not an entirely blank slate

In addition to the information I learned along the way, I truly enjoyed getting to know my professors and the other members of my cohort. Although we still have a long way to go before we are licensed and turned loose for real, I was impressed by the experience many members of my class already bring to the table. We have people who have taught, worked as technicians in the mental health field, and served for years in other helping professions. The wisdom they brought to the class discussions helped deepen my own understanding of every topic we covered and I know that they are all going to make a great impact on the clients they will ultimately serve.

Some of my own previous ministerial experiences came into play this semester. Early on in our theories of counseling class we focused on existentialism. In seminary I was exposed to writers like Soren Kierkegaard and Paul Tillich. Those thinkers have not only deeply shaped my own theology, but also had a huge impact on existential therapists like Irvin Yalom and Viktor Frankl. By sheer coincidence, in October I also was taking a continuing education class in existential theology with Dan Koch and Tripp Fuller and the fact that the writers all quoted each other so many times made for a delightfully incestuous few weeks of reading.

While in the Air Force, I was trained in solution focused brief therapy. It is a form of counseling that perfectly reflects the sort of crisis intervention chaplains are called upon to provide on a regular basis. When our theories class introduced us to SFBT it was like old home week getting reacquainted with Steve de Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg, both of whom I had read over a decade before. 

The familiarity I had with SFBT and existentialist thought informed the paper I wrote describing my initial preferred counseling modalities. Knowing that I start off as an existentially informed solution-focused counselor-in-process helps me be more aware of my own biases and as well the experience that I bring to the table.

Brief pause before the fun begins again

Now that the first semester is under our belts, we get nearly a month of downtime before heading back to the virtual classroom. In the spring we will begin going deeper into the specific techniques we will use in our counseling career and start preparing for our field education experiences.

As Christmas break begins, I am grateful that my training is officially underway, that I have not flunked out, and that I get to study with such a great cohort of students and professors. 

Thank you again to everyone who has offered their prayers and support over the last few months.