I used to think that dreams were the all encompassing guide to the arch of a lifetime. That one dream sustained a person. But I have found myself on a journey much larger than myself. I laugh when I reflect on how I thought the Camino de Santiago was the journey. It is funny that consumer America conditioned me to believe that personal transformation could be an extended vacation. Or that journeys have a beginning and end date. Perhaps it was the writer in me that wanted a beautiful beginning, middle and end. The setup, conflict and resolution.
Sooner or later we must realize there is no station, no one place to arrive at once and for all. The true joy of life is the trip.
— Robert J. Hastings
I used to think that dreams were just a vision of the future. Kind of like a goal only so big it was hard to see the full picture. But I have come to see that in order to dream you often have to say painful goodbyes. To dream we have to let go of expectations, failures, and familiar ways of being. Dreaming is equal parts building the new and letting go of the old.
Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men.
– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
After attending the American Family Therapy Academy conference I found myself in this place. A place where perhaps the dream that lead me this far no longer fits or at least needs modification. It has been my intent to build a private practice that provides the community with such a valuable service that it would draw people in. I could become a supervisor and educate consumers and other therapists about the power of a systemic perspective. Most of all, I am on a mission to empower people to take control of their mental health by asking questions and finding a therapist based on fit and excellence… not just because insurance pays for it.
As I have pursued self funded research and began to build this practice I have realized… I don’t find the same passion and fire working with people one on one week after week. I LOVE to change people’s lives. And I LOVE challenging myself to do my absolute best work. However, if I were to have a full practice and making a comfortable income, how would I be impacting the field of marriage and family therapy? How would I have time to write, connect with academic faculty, collaborate, and paint the vision I have for the field? How could I inspire the next generation of therapists who are coming into a broken and fading mental health system?
It was my dream to show up at the AFTA conference and blow people away with two master’s level therapists caring so deeply about the field that they still pursue research and excellence. I believed this would challenge academic faculty that I felt often spits out crappy studies to secure paychecks. It would be a “what now?!?” to a field directed by much older semi-retired therapists who have endured so much change they have struggled to adapt to the world we live in today.
But instead, I got the challenge! Here were all of these incredible people making steady income, pursuing their passions, and having amazing conversations about how to better the field in ways that had not even occurred to me. I felt so silly. I had lumped academia into the wrong category. And those assumptions were not based on ignorance, I have been to other conferences, and I have seen what my field continues to lobby for in politics. But AFTA was amazing!!!
Another factor that always held Michael and I back is that we both really want to pursue PhDs. I mean, if we are going to move and live the college life, we might as well. However, paying cash for two masters degrees over 5 years was a lot of work. Looking at the numbers for two PhDs in only 3 years made us both faint!
It turns out the PhD level of our field is different though. It is so small that there are more assistantship and scholarship opportunities than we could have ever imagined.
So suddenly we have found ourselves looking at the very real possibility of moving away from Bend (hopefully only for a couple years!) to pursue a PhD in Marriage and Family Therapy. This would catapult us both into supervisor, professor, and research positions that were going to take years to create for ourselves. Not only that but we would also be better able to discuss research and critique research, a skill we didn’t realize we were lacking until the AFTA conference.
I am totally laughing as I am writing this because, between you and me, I thought that going to the AFTA conference would make Michael see things my way. I have been telling him that we can create all the opportunity we want in our private practice and that, “we don’t need to pay some old white dude to give us another credential” (unfortunately my exact words)…. haha marriage is hilarious! I wish I had a dollar for every time I was wrong! I am so lucky to have such an amazing and patient husband.
I have found myself dizzy for the past few weeks trying to take in all this new information and digest the experience. It has also left me reconceptualizing Cascadia Family Therapy. It may not close… but it is going to take some creativity to recalibrate and organize life around a potential two year hiatus.
The journey continues….
The key to realizing a dream is to focus not on success but significance – and then even the small steps and little victories along your path will take on greater meaning. – Oprah Winfrey
we built a camper 