I have always been interested in people: their stories, their emotions, their thinking.
In some ways, just as there are natural story-tellers, I believe I am a natural listener.
I enjoy it. Always have.
Well, nearly always. When I was a child, I was as egocentric as the next one - happy to prattle on about myself and my world to anyone who cared to listen (or didn't walk away fast enough).
As an adult though, I discovered that everyone had an interesting story to tell, and if I just listened carefully enough, I would find out what makes them tick.
My love of books is a parallel: good writers create "real" people and their stories, protagonists that ring true, not just hastily cobbled together in two dimensions. So reading a great book is like meeting new people in all their complexity.
When I first finished my law studies (a "family curse"), I wanted to work as a headhunter - to find the right people for jobs at the pointy end (executives and/or specialists). And I did, listening to their always interesting, often fascinating lives. The perfect job for someone collecting people's stories.
After a while though, I wanted to know more than just their employment background, or how they got to where they were. I yearned for more depth. So when I took a break to have my first child, it seemed like the perfect time to go back to university for a postgraduate degree in counselling and psychotherapy. I haven't looked back since.
Now I am in the privileged position to listen to my clients' innermost stories, doubts, struggles, to offer them support, and (mostly) to have the wonderful chance to see them come out the other side of the depression, addiction, conflict or abuse they were facing, able to lead a life of their own choosing, instead of a "life-sentence" imposed by their childhood or later traumas.
To say that I enjoy my work as a therapist is an understatement: I actually love it. I often joked that I would do it for free; and the reality is that I have worked pro bono for close to 5 years for the St Vincent de Paul Society (which operates a free counselling service in Redfern).
So I guess this is a perfect example of what Freud called "a conflict of ambivalence": I need to choose between fulfilling my vocation - improving the world, one person at a time - and making a living... And I choose to offer reduced rates to clients with financial difficulties, ensuring thus that therapy is accessible to everyone. Because at the end of the day, what satisfies me most is to see the change I have facilitated.
If you liked this post, you might also enjoy this one.
In some ways, just as there are natural story-tellers, I believe I am a natural listener.
I enjoy it. Always have.
Well, nearly always. When I was a child, I was as egocentric as the next one - happy to prattle on about myself and my world to anyone who cared to listen (or didn't walk away fast enough).
As an adult though, I discovered that everyone had an interesting story to tell, and if I just listened carefully enough, I would find out what makes them tick.
My love of books is a parallel: good writers create "real" people and their stories, protagonists that ring true, not just hastily cobbled together in two dimensions. So reading a great book is like meeting new people in all their complexity.
When I first finished my law studies (a "family curse"), I wanted to work as a headhunter - to find the right people for jobs at the pointy end (executives and/or specialists). And I did, listening to their always interesting, often fascinating lives. The perfect job for someone collecting people's stories.
After a while though, I wanted to know more than just their employment background, or how they got to where they were. I yearned for more depth. So when I took a break to have my first child, it seemed like the perfect time to go back to university for a postgraduate degree in counselling and psychotherapy. I haven't looked back since.
Now I am in the privileged position to listen to my clients' innermost stories, doubts, struggles, to offer them support, and (mostly) to have the wonderful chance to see them come out the other side of the depression, addiction, conflict or abuse they were facing, able to lead a life of their own choosing, instead of a "life-sentence" imposed by their childhood or later traumas.
To say that I enjoy my work as a therapist is an understatement: I actually love it. I often joked that I would do it for free; and the reality is that I have worked pro bono for close to 5 years for the St Vincent de Paul Society (which operates a free counselling service in Redfern).
So I guess this is a perfect example of what Freud called "a conflict of ambivalence": I need to choose between fulfilling my vocation - improving the world, one person at a time - and making a living... And I choose to offer reduced rates to clients with financial difficulties, ensuring thus that therapy is accessible to everyone. Because at the end of the day, what satisfies me most is to see the change I have facilitated.
If you liked this post, you might also enjoy this one.