I am back in school. The picture is of my cohort and I’m on the bottom right. At 55 I started a Ph.D. program last August. I’m in the Counselor Education and Supervision doctoral program at the Townsend Institute at Concordia University in Irvine, CA. The program is online so I didn’t move to California…although it sure is beautiful there. I have been teaching for the Townsend Institute’s Master’s in Counseling program since 2017. I love teaching but realized I want to increase my effectiveness in my work with students. It’s also a benefit to my clients. The program focuses on expanding my counseling skills, increasing my effectiveness in educating and supervising future counselors, equipping my research-brain to expand knowledge in counseling and counselor education, and advocating for various aspects in the counseling field.

It’s a long road and if all goes well I hope to complete the requirements by December 2024. I hesitated to start this program since I’m kind of old. I know, I’m not 80 but most people my age are starting to think about retiring. I’m not. I’m getting a second wind. I want to stay active both physically and intellectually and this is my way of achieving that. Well, not the physical part. That’s up to me to make sure I take care of my body. But the intellectual part is definitely being challenged right now. I’m in a research methods class that has been kicking my butt! Youtube videos of research terms has been invaluable!

The point of all this is to say, I’m so sorry but posting on this site is going to be very sporadic…like it has been lately. If you are ever in need of encouragement, I have hundreds of posts. I posted nearly every week from 2012 to 2021. That’s a lot of posts! Go check them out.