Therapist-Personal Narrative

“I’m sorry, that I scared you. I will make sure that the next time, I approach people in a different way.” Then he just walked away and I saw him walk over to two kids and his wife. Then knew he was telling the truth.

I never thought that I'd be writing to you out of all people. Everyone may question my sanity once they figure out I've been trying to write to you ever since you were convicted five years ago. It's just.... I couldn’t find the right words to explain how badly you hurt me. However, my therapist said that writing this letter will help me accept the fact that I made the dumbest mistake in the world seven years ago when we got married. Oh yeah, I'm going to a therapist. I find that quite ironic since one day I thought I could become a therapist, and specialize in women sciences, but instead, I'm going to one.

As I await the therapist in the waiting room, my mind is racing, heart pounding, and palms sweating. I’ve been waiting for three years to meet with him, but of course, Dr. Johnson was completely booked until now. Each night I have been taunted with an atrocious dream and ready for the affliction to cease. Finally, he appears in the doorway and calls my name. Instantaneously, I stand up and shuffle behind the therapist to the cubicle.

I walked away to get some distance then turned around. “Listen, your wife and child are going to die if someone doesn’t help

Has your world ever been flipped upside down overnight? Well, mine has when my Uncle had a bad stroke that causes him to lose the left side of his brain. This event changed my life forever it was like I was blind to being able to see for the very first time. Those horrible days truly made me rethink my life, and it taught me how precious life is and how quickly life can be taken away. The biggest thing that came out of this was the improvement in my work ethic, giving it my all 100% of the time, and not procrastinating on anything in my life. Having my world flipped upside was probably the greatest thing that could have happened and here's why.

“I want to live.” She said. She lifted her feet off the small coffee table and set them gently on the floor as she continued to look through me, too interested on the inner workings of her own mind.

You are in a deep sleep and having a terrible nightmare of a shady figure following you. He gets up closer and closer, no matter how fast you run. You know he’s behind you. You slowly turn around and only see bright white eyes with only black pupils and the biggest ghoulish grin you have ever seen. You wake up as he gets closer to find a 6’7’’ tall male just staring at you, not saying a

In the beginning, physical therapy made my recovery tedious. I was only interested because it allowed me the opportunity to learn numerous types of injuries from a variety of individuals. For example, I met a girl who broke her arm from falling off the monkey bars. Or the boy who had a complete elbow dislocation, while playing basketball. Although I was entertained by these interesting stories, they made me feel guilty. I was congratulating strangers for their quick recovery, while my own felt treacherous. Therefore, I grew frustrated and irritated with physical therapy and I denied any positivity in my recovery. I became envious until my envy evolved into a depression because I was incapable of physical activities. Therefore, I was forced

I screamed and stood up. I backed into the corner. He walked closer while saying in a very distorted and scary voice

Often times, people live through painful events in their life that can alter their perception of themselves, their family, and the world. Narrative therapy offers the client the opportunity to re-write their story and gain a different perspective of specific events. It is important to understand that within the history of narrative therapy, therapists view client’s stories through a political lens. Often times, focusing on the oppression and cultural dominance that exists within the constructs of our society. Thus, empowering clients to change their story allows them to break free from the constraints that have shaped their outlook and allow for alternative ways of thinking.

Scorned Last year, I went to see a therapist and was diagnosed with depressive disorder. I was not feeling myself. There were days where I struggled to get out of bed. I was very mean to others just because and refusing to apologize for my mistakes.

Then I see someone I say hey you and they answer what I say can you help me there's a guy following me and the person says who there's no one there I turn around and there's no he says you must be hallucinating you might wanna get somewhere that doesn't have a lot of smoke I said ok. Then I go take a rest on the sidewalk, then I see this strange character against and it gets closer and closer and closer until it a couple feet away from me then it says something, then I started to get freaked out and then I got up and ran I don't know what it said I ran n I'm right by the lake and there's someone there I think it's Mr. Thomas baker I was so relieved. When I got there I told him what was happening with the guy chasing after me he says oh that was me. I say what. He laughs and says I was trying to catch up to you, but u kept on running so when you sat down I tried to talk to you, but then you got right back up and ran luckily I found a shortcut and beat you here. Oh i thought you were a killer or trying to do something to me. He said no then he said do you have what i gave you. I said said yes it right here i held on it as tight as i can here you go. And he took it. I asked him what are you gonna do with it. He said i'm gonna collect water so i can stayed hydrated and i can give out to people that need it

As a narrative therapist with this particular family the goal would be to be an empathic listener and touch on the key facts they describe as part of their narrative to unravel and mend the dilemma that brought them into therapy.

I have always wanted to be the person others look to when they feel scared or vulnerable. In return for that trust, I have put enormous effort into helping people who seek me out identify their best options for the future. Not until I encountered life in all its confusing, brutal truth, however, did I realize I wanted to occupy that advisor’s role as a professional. My aim in applying to Northwestern is to become a licensed professional counselor in my home state of Wisconsin so that I can help young people tackle everyday problems, learn life skills, and ultimately, be the best people they can be. Ultimately, my goal is to complete a doctorate in counseling psychology, from University of Wisconsin-Madison in particular, after completion of my master’s degree while gaining vital work experience in my field and to use my expertise to train other aspiring professionals in my field.

It was May of 2015 that I happened upon an internship opportunity while visiting friends during a feast at San Felipe Pueblo in New Mexico. My friend made sure to inform me that the gentleman seated directly across, at the other end of a very long table, was the clinical director of the counseling center at the Santa Fe Indian School. “You should go say hello” my friend encouraged with a wink and a nudge that read more like, “we talked about this, go ask him for a job!”. I felt that a decision had to be made, ask for the chance at an internship I want, or shy away and make an official application, perhaps to another agency. Resourcing from my self-confidence I made my introduction, which led to an interview the following week, resulting in an offer, and acceptance for an intern art therapist