It has been a while since I blogged last. My time writing to you will shortly be coming to an end. I hope through the last year something I said or an experience I shared helped you in some way. Today I wrote my last graded paper and I will be writing my last CMHAW test. Wow this journey has been a trip. There has been a lot of ups and downs. A lot of late nights and early mornings. I have drank my fair share of cold coffee while struggling to stay wake to finish writing papers at 3 am or just trying to get through a night of work after a long day at school. I have faced challenges head on and grown so much because of it.
When I was first looking into going to school I honestly had no idea what a CMHAWwas. I really didn’t know what type of work they did, but I knew that in the description of the courses, I was going to be taught things that I wanted to learn. Sometimes when people ask what a CMHAW is I honestly don’t know how to answer the question. People ask “are you a counselor” and I say no but I have counselor qualities. There are so many things that we do that, it truly makes it hard to tell people an exact answer. We do so much that I think a simple description would never do it justice. No one told me that in this job I would possibly be the first person a lost and damaged soul would meet and that from the moment I meet them by my strength and my example I could help them start a journey to a better quality of life that they deserve. I never thought that a simple gesture of sitting with someone and offering an ear could change someone’s day, week or life. I have had so many amazing things happen this year as a direct result of what I am doing in this program and how through changing my own life for the better I am helping others. This program gave me so much more than a basic knowledge.
I will miss the school’s welcoming environment, the sense of community we all make and the festivities that made long stressful weeks bearable. The faculty that makes you feel important and the Booster Juice staff for knowing my order off by heart. I was given a lot of amazing opportunities this year they truly were life changing. First off being asked to write this blog for you was a new experience that at first I was not going to do, but I thought that trying something new wouldn’t kill me. I was asked to attend the last info session for the recent April cohort. It was an honoring experience to be one of the faces of the program and to be able to answer questions and share my experience face to face with potential students.
I will be starting my practicum in the next week. The idea of this new experience is a little scary but I think that my weekly placements have set me up with a little bit of experience to bring to the table. I now have lived experience, book knowledge and the ability to present it all and use it to better help someone who is suffering. I will let you know where I am going in my first blog about my practicum. Last thing I want to touch on is the fact that all of my experiences this year have helped me learn that I truly have the ability to help others by just being me. Don’t pretend to be something you are not, if you don’t now something ask. Don’t let fear hold you back and always remember it’s in the simple acts of kindness that we make the biggest difference.
Have a beautiful day,
