Memoirs of A Healer/Clinical Social Worker: Autobiography of Bruce Whealton

Section Six: Success, Accomplishments, Private Practice Psychotherapy Work

It seemed like anything was possible indeed if you put your mind to it and work hard. There is a career or profession for everyone; an area where one is most adept; a field where one is meant to work. I had found my career and my direction in life and everything was falling into place.

In this section of my autobiography, I will describe the success I found as a mental health professional, a therapist (a psychotherapist as opposed to a physical therapist), in private practice. Just getting to this place in life and in my career demonstrated the many accomplishments I had made in my life.

I had achieved the recognition of my colleagues and the admiration of my friends and family. I felt like my family was now very proud of me and amazed at all my accomplishments.

It would be a logical assumption to think that your family is proud of your accomplishments and happy for you. It would be years before I realized that this was not the case – that they had not cared about my happiness or success at all!

These were things that I sought after my whole life. I mean who doesn't want their parents, their brother, and sister to be proud of them? Or similarly, we want our friends to be amazed and to admire us for our accomplishments. I had friends who were interested in what I was learning and my accomplishments.

Among my colleagues, this success and these accomplishments gained me recognition in the field which is very valuable.

We want our colleagues to recognize our success because this helps us network, get new client referrals, as well as confirm our sense that we are doing things right. We can appear as an authority in our field as well. Most importantly, this confirms for us that we have what it takes and our skills, talents, character, expertise, as well as trustworthiness, are recognized.

I will describe the types of treatment techniques or modalities that I employed. You will learn about the various therapies and diagnoses, problems, or issues that my clients had for which they were seeking my treatment.

Therapists in the mental health or psychiatric field use techniques that they choose to specialize in employing. It's not the same as treating a medical problem where there is a very specific treatment that exists for a specific problem. Instead, the skills of a therapist are employed and adapted to the needs of a client.

I had always wanted to help others regardless of their income, i.e., the most financially vulnerable and well as those who are vulnerable due to other factors such as having a mental illness.

I could see clients on a pro-bono basis (for free) if they could not afford to pay for treatment.

My life with Lynn was something that sustained me, brought me so much joy, peace, support, self-esteem, and self-confidence. Sometimes it is said that we shouldn't rely on others to feel good about ourselves or to maintain self-confidence. That might be true but if there is someone who gives us these positive feelings then that is very helpful and valuable.

In this section, I will describe all these things.