The First Post

Hi. This is my first blog, and therefore my first blog post. Ever.

My name is Lisa Turner and I am a Marriage and Family Therapist. I am heading into my fourth year of counseling – three of those years in private practice. I can’t believe it’s been that long already, although to some of you, that may not sound like nearly enough time or experience to handle the problems my clients set in my lap. News flash – I have learned that there is never enough time to be fully prepared for what my clients bring to me on any given day. And no matter how prepared I may feel, someone will thrown me a curve and the plan goes right out the window.

I am in the process of becoming licensed as a Mental Health Counselor in the state of Iowa. I am more than halfway through my 1,000 hours of clinical time, with one intimidating exam standing in my way. My goal is to be licensed by January 2011, if not before. Currently, I am supervised by two FABULOUS counselors, who give selflessly of their time every month and have for years: Mary Jo Pfeifer-Wulf at Catholic Charities in Ames, Iowa and Nancy Schornack at Family Legacy Counseling in Johnston, Iowa. I don’t know what I would do without them, their guidance, and mostly their support.

As you will come to see in this blog, I am not your academic or overly theoretical MFT. I got into counseling because of that old cliche – I want to help people. My strongest assets as a counselor are being a good listener, caring and compassionate person, and a willing and avid learner. I believe that a majority of the work done in counseling is through the relationship of the counselor and client, and the counseling environment.

My goals with this blog to: 1 – reach and help more people; 2 – build my practice; and 3 – update it with useful information and/or insights at least once a week. But only if I have something worthwhile to share. This blog is for you, your friends, my friends, your clients, my clients, your family, my family… you get the picture. Enjoy.