Our Personal and Professional Lives: Learning Positive Connotation and Circular Questioning

The work of the Center for the Study of the Family in Milan has had wide influence. We describe its influence on us--the positive connotation of many car journeys, our self-training, and changes in how we view, and function in, our personal and professional lives.     

Racism's Impact on Counselors' Professional and Personal Lives: A Response to the Personal Narratives on Racism

The author identifies common themes among the personal narratives pertaining to racism (Journal of Counseling & Development, 77[1], 1999) and discusses implications of some themes for counselors' professional and personal development.     

The Changing Self: Using Personal Documents to Study Lives

ABSTRACT In this paper we describe a technique for coding expressions of preoccupation with aspects of the adult self in personal documents and retrospective autobiographical writings In particular we explore the value of this approach by analyzing themes of identity, intimacy, and generativity expressed in Vera Brittain's diary and correspondence, written during her adolescence in World War I, and in her retrospective autobiographical account of that period in her life Analyses aim to use Erikson's theory of personality development to describe her psychological experience at the time and to compare that account with the later one     

Post-September 11th Perspectives on Religion, Spirituality, and Philosophy in the Personal and Professional Lives of Selected REBT Cognoscenti

The purpose of this article was for selected Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) cognoscenti to examine the impact of the events of September 11th, 2001, on their beliefs about religion, spirituality, and their personal philosophy—including the role of evil in the universe and the implications of these issues on their use of REBT. The degree of consistency of the author’s views with classical REBT theory and philosophy was examined. The authors are current or former members of the Albert Ellis Institute’s International Training Standards and Policy Review Committee, of which Albert Ellis, REBT’s founder, is also a member. Reprinted from Journal of Counseling & Development, Fall 2004, Volume 82. ACA. Reprinted with permission. No further reproduction authorized without written permission from the American Counseling Association. We regret to inform readers that Stephen G. Weinrach died in April 2004. Stephen G. Weinrach expressed gratitude to Jacqueline Mirabile, Laura Hutelmyer, and Phylis Wright of Villanova University’s Falvey Memorial Library for valuable research assistance. Jesse Clancy and Bethany Coover provided deeply appreciated and important editorial support.     

Post-September 11th Perspectives on Religion, Spirituality, and Philosophy in the Personal and Professional Lives of Selected REBT Cognoscenti: A Response to My Colleagues

This is a discussion and evaluation of the views of the authors of the article “Post-september 11th perspectives on religion, spirituality, and philosophy in the personal and professional lives of selected REBT cognoscenti.” Several of the authors are shown to endorse most of the main principles and practices of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) but also to hold some of its important views on unconditional self-acceptance and unconditional other-acceptance lightly and inconsistently. Reprinted from Journal of Counseling and Development, Fall 2004, Volume 82. ACA. Reprinted with permission. No further reproduction authorized without written permission from the American Counseling Association.     

Personal Standards in Professional Relationships: Limiting Interpersonal Harassment

An attempt is made to define abusive actions by offering criteria against which the behaviour of individuals can be considered. These criteria are based on whether the behaviour is avoidable, the appraisal of an objective observer and the impact of the behaviour on the ‘psychological contract’ between employer and employee. Particular abusive actions, identified by these criteria, are described and are contrasted with what are termed ‘reasonable expectations’ of one person's behaviour towards another. It is argued that only by translating these expectations into personal commitments, against which one's own behaviour can be compared, will interpersonal harassment be limited. It is also proposed that the size of consensus about what constitutes abusive actions measures the integrity of an organization's culture. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Post‐September 11th Perspectives on Religion,Spirituality, and Philosophy in the Personal and Professional Lives of Selected REBT Cognoscenti

The purpose of this article was for selected Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) cognoscenti to examine the impact of the events of September 11th, 2001, on their beliefs about religion, spirituality, and their personal philosophy—including the role of evil in the universe and the implications of these issues on their use of REBT. The degree of consistency of the authors' views with classical REBT theory and philosophy was examined. The authors are current or former members of the Albert Ellis Institute's International Training Standards and Policy Review Committee, of which Albert Ellis, REBT's founder, is also a member.     

Five Therapists' Personal and Professional Reflections and Integration

Abstract

Women come to the therapeutic table with varying degrees of integration of sexuality and spirituality. Some have felt harmed by traditional religious interpretations and practices, others embrace these, and still others recreate and reclaim this integration in ways that are empowering and meaningful to them. Both the literature and the profession's guidelines have compelled us to begin with ourselves as women who are therapists. Five diverse women who are therapists share their own personal accounts of their sexuality and spirituality. Their experiences and identities run the gamut from keeping spirituality and sexuality distinctly separate to finding sacred meaning in the intersection.     

Rebuilding Professional Lives: Immigrant Professionals Working in the Ontario Settlement Service Sector

Based on an online survey and in-depth interviews conducted from 2009 to 2010, this study looks at the reality of a particular group of foreign-born and foreign-trained professionals in Ontario. These are the professionals who did not get to practise their respective professions after immigration but acquired a new profession in the form of settlement work. The study identifies their pre-immigration education and work history, the reasons they left their countries of origin (or of permanent residence) for Canada, the expectations they had, the choices they made about pursuing professional practice, the efforts they put towards that or some alternative goal, and their eventual professional reconstitution as settlement workers. Following the Canadian trajectory of these dual professionals has three contributions to research into immigrant access to professions. First, their individual experiences reveal the social processes of inclusion in, and exclusion from, professional practice. Second, unlike those immigrants who are de-professionalized in the post-immigration period, our target population reinvent themselves as practitioners of a new profession and thus provide a more nuanced immigrant experience. Third, their common practice as settlement workers gives us insight into the dynamics of an emerging profession that is settlement work.     

Literature, Religion, and Science: A Personal and Professional Trajectory

By tracing the trajectory of his own personal and professional life, the author provides a perspective on how intellectual and religious or spiritual growth, while often seemingly at odds with each other, can nonetheless advance in a mutually enhancing manner. The historical conflict between literature and science is briefly outlined as a parallel to that between religion and science, and the importance of metaphor as a common element in all three fields is explored. Emphasis is placed on metaphor as a means of challenging absolutism, encouraging humility, and promoting a sense of wonder about the universe.     

Preparation for Counseling Adults With Terminal Illness: Personal and Professional Parallels

This article presents a review of the literature on counseling adults with terminal illness, particularly the literature on the nature of preparation that counselors and other professionals who attend to the needs of adults with a terminal illness require. The authors review information and findings from philosophical, psychological, practical, and spiritual works. It is evident from these readings that a personal and professional examination of making meaning of life and death is integral to the performance and personal well‐being of professionals who take this caregiving role.     

Personal and Professional Development for Judges: The Institute for Faculty Excellence

This interview study describes the role that participation in the Institute for Faculty Excellence in Judicial Education (IFEJE) played in the personal and professional development of four judges. Judicial education is a relatively new field of adult and continuing professional education. There is limited literature devoted to this area of study outside of the arena of substantive legal or judging topics. Interviews served as the primary data source for this study along with program evaluations, photographs, and e-mail correspondence from Institute participants. The findings revealed that the combined safe environment, challenges, and support participants experienced at the Institute and learning about adult learning helped them: feel less isolated in their work; stretch their normal work boundaries resulting in the completion of projects for which they had great passion; and benefited them as judges, supervisors, teachers, and in other social relationships.     

Teaching Ethical Decision Making: Helping Students Reconcile Personal and Professional Values

Because conflicts between personal and professional values can interfere with ethical decision making, a goal of counselor education must be helping students reconcile such conflicts. This article describes one counselor educator's experience teaching ethical decision making and the effects on student learning. Growth was observed in increased tolerance for ambiguity, awareness of how values influenced decision making, use of multiple factors in decision making, and emphasis on the welfare of clients. Implications for teaching and future research directions are discussed.     

Post‐September 11th Perspectives on Religion,Spirituality, and Philosophy in the Personal and Professional Lives of Selected REBT Cognoscenti: A Response to My Colleagues

This is a discussion and evaluation of the views of the authors of the article “Post‐September 11th Perspectives on Religion, Spirituality, and Philosophy in the Personal and Professional Lives of Selected REBT Cognoscenti.” Several of the authors are shown to endorse most of the main principles and practices of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) but also to hold some of its important views on unconditional self‐acceptance and unconditional other‐acceptance lightly and inconsistently.     

Critical Incidents in the Professional Lives of First Year MFT Students

First year MFT students engaged in a journaling project, selecting one event daily which captured something about being a student, including the process of therapy, consultation, and supervision, that struck them as important in terms of their professional development. On reflection, the students saw therapeutic success and professional confidence as systemic products of a variety of contextual factors: transient and enduring aspects of the self and the client, faculty, peer, and family influences, and treatment setting and program factors. Students and faculty experienced this formative self study as valuable and believe that it should be done at the beginning, middle, and end of an educational program and the results shared with both faculty and students.