By Allegra Borghese
I appreciate the change in seasons. As the temperature and colors shift, I am forced to change up my routine, feel things differently, and assess my choices. Mid-September is a world away from mid-July. I observe the subtleties in how I am thinking and seeing; I am different. My hair can no…
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Andrew Fearnside's Blog Series offers unique, poignant and tragi-comedic insights into the work of being a therapist. He is a graduate of Southwestern College.
3,000 Hours: The PO (Probation Officer)
Court-ordered clients [hereafter referred to as patients] bring their PO into therapy with them. As the therapist, I have to handle this complication,…
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by Debbie Schroder
I seem to need to continue the idea of a summer reading list. I don’t understand why, because my summer is always as busy as the rest of the year. The fantasy of a book and lemonade out on the front porch is just that – a fantasy. I don’t even…
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The Insurer
by Andrew Fearnside
3,000 Hours: Meeting The Auditor
I've got this image of The Insurer lurking in me, down deep where it's dark and close and stuffy. He's tall and hefty and ten plus years older than me. He's got a crappy grey Men's Wearhouse suit on, old loafers, and a waistcoat:…
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This video is an amazing piece of inner reflection, exploration, engaging the shadow side of a "nice person" coming to peace with all she finds.
Amazing piece by Amy Hautman-Bates
(Mural featured in photograph is from Southwestern College Art Therapy/Counseling students' Capstone project...)
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By Michelle Walker Harkey
If life is a test, I think I just marked an incorrect answer this morning. As a volunteer at the Los Alamos Triathlon, my stated assignment was to keep a designated part of the course safe by keeping spectators on one side of the ribbon and participants running the correct direction…
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Today I attended the first of a two-day Phoenix-based EMDR conference with Columbian born Ana Gomez. Ana is reputed to be a leader in EMDR implementation, research, and development of protocols for children and adolescents.
Her presentation today began with a liturgy on the importance of metaphors (Thanks, Jim Nolan!) in reaching…
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I moved to Santa Fe from Texas in August 2012 to start my first year at Southwestern College. It was a hard move for me because I basically uprooted myself from a place I called home for 15 years, leaving my family and friends behind. It was rather lonely for me until I met Paloma…
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by Amy Hautman Bates
We talk a lot about language at SWC. What are you saying? What do you really mean? This careful attention to words is part of the school’s mission of “Transforming Consciousness Through Education.” And in a way, transforming education through consciousness.
A huge step in gaining self-awareness is hearing what is…
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By Molly Doerner
"Bwoof... my name is Graham. Molly was my Mama for almost exactly 15 years and 4 months. We had so much fun together - walking, hiking, watching movies (Charlotte's Web was one of my favorites!!), going for rides & getting treats at drive-through windows all across the country. I'm pretty sure we…
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My Personal Take on Family Constellations
by Beza Addis
In my 3rd quarter I had the opportunity to participate in a class activity that left a great impression in me. The activity was centered on family constellation and its influence in a counseling therapeutic setting. After listening to our guest instructor, Naomi, explain how…
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Lessons from my Multicultural class
by Beza Addis
In my multicultural class we each had to select a topic that is focused on multicultural issues which has bearing in our personal life and future work with clients. As an immigrant minority, it is a benefit to myself and to those I come across to be…
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Using Art to Slow Down and Feel Loss
by Allegra Borghese
I had a nervous breakdown my freshman year of college due to over exertion in athletics and an insistence upon academic perfection. The compulsion to achieve and appear on top of everything was a chronic addictive pattern that was not serving me anymore. Art…
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In our Group Dynamics class we looked at who we were in our original group– our family of origin. It helps to see how we came to operate in groups the way we do.
My brother is a physicist, a painter and an optical illusionist. Although we were born with the same parents, in the…
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by Debbie Schroder
The front door was already open and as I opened the sliding glass door to my patio, a fierce gust of wind blew through my house, lifting an antique plate and a figurine right off of the shelf they were on. They crashed to the floor in jagged pieces as I quickly…
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It’s been raining. I am wet up to my knees. Cold and overcast. I am already primed with fear because I saw a black bear on the side of the road on my way here. Sure enough, a few minutes into the bush and there is fresh bear spore... less than a day old, I’d say. I retrace my steps…
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Ishwari Sollohub, LPCC, graduated from Southwestern College in 2007, with a Master's in Counseling with a Concentration in Grief, Loss and Trauma. She has been in private practice since then in Santa Fe.
Ishwari works with adults and couples facing a wide range of issues, as well as offering grief-specific work. Utilizing a variety of…
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8 Things I Miss About Being at Southwestern College This Summer
by Allegra Borghese
Having the summer off and being home in New York with family is fantastic. I am working on a vineyard right near the beach, rent is free, and I have no papers to write. As much as I love receiving a…
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by Amy Hautman Bates
The Mandala is a symbol of wholeness. And within that oneness, there is a wonderful kaleidoscope of experiences and expressions. Every moment is new as everything sparkles and changes, and as each facet moves everything around it shifts in response. It is a beautiful dance of creative energy all within a…
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by Debbie Schroder
As it got close to 6:00 on Monday evening I could feel my eagerness to begin painting. Every Monday evening the in-state art therapy interns and I engaged in amazing relationships with our canvases. We painted for an hour, then shared our work and talked for the rest of…
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"To find truth, we must always begin with ourselves...Art is our vehicle...When we access the realm of archetypes, we are entering the consciousness from which we 'create' our reality." - Robert Waterman (Mandala of the Soul: A Spiritual Approach to the Art of Archetypal Psychology)
Year One students explore the language of…
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by Gabby Valdez, A Truly Beautiful Girl
My hat is off to Gabby for her courage in enhancing our consciousness about body types and the way cultural values can impact our entire lives.
PLEASE watch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRuLCttD5Ng…
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by Amy Hautman Bates
I just read Mindell’s The Shaman’s Body and it reminded me of how much I used to know– how much I have always known that has become deeply buried in the last 35 years. Carlos Castaneda’s Journey to Ixtlan was an important book during my college years. Now I look…
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