Category: Vocation
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Very Inspiring Blogger Award
Dyane Harwood, author of Birth of a New Brain | Healing from Postpartum Bipolar Disorder at http://proudlybipolar.wordpress.com, nominated me for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award. I am thrilled and very, very honored. Not only is Dyane an incredible mental health advocate on behalf of women who have suffered from postpartum bipolar disorder, but she has been a…
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Conversing with Katherine Sartori, Author of The Chosen Shell
This spring I had the pleasure of corresponding with Katherine Sartori regarding her novel The Chosen Shell, which was inspired by her experiences as a nun in the 1960s. Sartori’s protagonist, Celie O’Rourke, struggled with reconciling her vocation as an Augustinian Sister with her powerful attraction to New York businessman Tony DeStephano. The theme of…
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Chafing at Structure?
Tuesday April 29th I went to group therapy and attended my first Toastmasters meeting. Toastmasters was very structured, probably too structured for my tastes; though, the structure worked well in that they covered a lot of ground in one hour. Mentioned in group that I completed my continuing education units to renew my Marriage and…
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I’m Back
My California Marriage and Family Therapist license is now current and renewed until May 31, 2016. Inactive license no more. Yes, that’s right, inactive no more. Coming out of a long, very long, two decade long, sabbatical. Wahoo! Here are my California Marriage and Family Therapist license stats: License Number: 29796 Current Date: 05/11/2014 10:01…
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Advocate or Narcissist
Thursday a new member of OC Writers, a MeetUp writing group I attend, referred to my work as “changing the world.” Of course, he hadn’t yet read my blog. As a Christian author, he assumed my writing was altruistic, since I described it as a mental health blog where I have also posted some seminary papers. The…
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Princess to Queen
When in high school, I overheard a “friend” say as I approached, “Here comes our Princess.” I was shocked to learn that this was how my friends saw me. Apparently, I was a Princess, and now I must be a Queen. Indeed, I was a drama geek, an actress. Apparently I was also somewhat aloof.…
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Where Am I Going From Here?
Went to group therapy Tuesday, and attended my first Toastmasters meeting earlier that day. Toastmasters was very structured, probably too structured for my tastes, though worked well in that they covered a lot of ground in one hour. Mentioned in group that I completed my continuing education units to renew my Marriage and Family Therapist…
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MFT License Activated
Just completed the continuing education units (CEU) required to renew and reactivate my California Marriage and Family Therapist license (LMFT) and sent my license renewal to the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. In discerning whether or not to do so, I had this email exchange with my friend JB: KO: Right now I am looking…
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Found Notes
Recently found some notes I jotted down while attending a workshop at The Gathering on Mental Health and the Church at Saddleback Church. Here they are: Enjoy speaking to individuals and small groups. Anxious when hear mental health professionals discussing mental health crisis intervention. PTSD for me. Difficult past experience. Do not want to go back…
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Not Just Dysthymia
Not until I was 39, was I diagnosed as having bipolar disorder. I am now 50. At 39, I recognized the symptoms of mania in myself, euphoria, the feeling of being called by God to a particular church, to a particular path. The diagnostic criteria have changed over the years. For two decades, I had been…