School of Children Counseling 2

Today is my first day to be at School of Children Counseling. It is actually the 3rd day of the event, but I couldn’t come earlier, for I still had my classes to attend. What I learned from David Goodwin at the first place is not to set high expectation based on last year’s experience. Last year was the first time this event been held and it was a great event. The participants were almost twice as much as this year participant, which hit 57 people. The commitee was also had hectic week last year, while this year seems a bit slow and not too packed.

I had a chat with the leading Pastors and his wife. They think that this year is somehow better, because the situation is not too crowded like last year. So, the speaker and the participants can get along better and they can interact in a better way too. I hope so too …

I only had two sessions today. The first one was about John, the previous client of David Goodwin who had ADHD back then. Now, John is in his mid 20’s and we do not know much on his development (for this is not part of the seminar). Goodwin mentioned the good development of John on his 21st birthday a few years ago. He was a very talented young man who took charged on a big Christian Seminar in NSW and, mostly, in his church.

The second session was movie night. It is still the same movie, Antwone Fisher. It’s a movie about Fisher, who had gone through hard times and rejection during his childhood and the damage still has its effects up until his adulthood. The traumatic event of being sexually abused, makes him a man who was still virgin at his 25 (of course, for some culture or beliefs, having pre-marital sex is not acceptable). The rejection from his mother turns him into an angry man, who unconsciously always be part of any quarrels and other forms of aggression. I have been watched this movie 4 times, but still I missed some detail parts of the movie. I am glad that I watched that movie again a few hours ago.

Note:

Being a counselor for children is a way of helping them recognizing their problems, help them to understand their situation and also, to help them find the best way out based on their characteristics. Working with children is exciting, and yet troubling, because we need to read beyond the lines. We can’t notice that any emotional/psychological abuse is happening, because there is no physical marks on the children. But, we can notice such abuse is happening, only if we can build a close and trustworthy relationshop with the children. They are the most honest people, who would change their behavior when their circumstances has been disturbed, even by a small incident.

So, keep the hard work, counselor!