We were lucky to catch up with Carly Robinson recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Carly, thanks for joining us today. If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.
I was working at the college counseling center completing my internship, and had recently gone through a relationship ending. I was struggling with that change in my personal life, and one client came in extremely emotional for her session. During this session, she described a recent breakup, feeling confused and abandoned, struggling being a single parent, anxiety about her ability to be successful in her future career, and personal insecurities. I remember vividly that I thought “Me too!” repeatedly during that session, and struggled not to cry while listening to her struggles. Although we are taught to do self care, and be able to leave our personal struggles at the door, I was very aware that I was not feeling competent in that moment. Later that day I met with my supervisor, and discussed this session. I remember saying to her “How can I be a Counselor and help people when my own life is such a mess? I feel very anxious that they will see that I am faking it. I don’t think I can be good at this job!”. She calmly asked multiple questions, was supportive, and encouraging. She reminded me that we are not required to be perfect, and that our personal struggles make us human. She calmly reframed my insecurity from “I’m broken so how can I help others” to a much healthier thought that “Because you have struggled and worked through it, you will be more empathetic with others”. She reminded me that sympathy and empathy are very different, and that without having to disclose my personal struggle, my empathy would still be noticed and that questioning ourselves and our abilities occasionally actually help us to ensure we are competent and practicing within our scope of practice. While I appreciated the advice at the time, it was the most useful several years later when I struggled with the devastating loss of my child to suicide. That was in March of 2015, and I had gotten married, was working on my play therapy training and supervision, and things felt very stable at home. When this loss happened, my faith in everything was shaken. I struggled with religion, marriage, feeling competent at work, and even daily activities. I was working with multiple teens with suicidal thoughts who had also had previous suicidal attempts, and my faith in my ability to notice signs of self harm or suicidal thoughts was broken. I discussed this with my boss who verbalized understanding that I needed to not take on any new clients during this time frame, and that I would discuss with her any concerns or insecurities I was having. I had not only lost a loved one, the perceived loss of my ability to help others was devastating to me. I worked hard in my personal counseling to address several issues related to the grief and loss, and eventually my confidence in myself returned. Recalling that defining moment years prior to this experience was a pivotal moment in my grief counseling. I was also lucky to have a supportive family, play therapy supervisor, personal counselor, and best friend who was unconditionally supportive.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I work in Lake Charles Louisiana at Compass Counseling. I have worked in a variety of settings including a college mental health clinic, inpatient psychiatric unit, outpatient state run facility, and personal practice offices. I have had additional training in Play Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Youth and Preschool age PTSD training, and continue to work on learning and growing in my professional practice. I enjoy working with clients of all ages, and use a variety of interventions and modalities in therapy. I believe counseling is helpful because you have a safe place to vent or purge your feelings, get validation and are told you are allowed to feel this way, and get ideas and help with problem solving. Many individuals get some of those needs met at home or with peers, but still struggle to be ready for problem solving, Education and coping skills are also provided, and clients often report feeling more empowered by having the ability to regulate their emotions, understand what is happening to trigger the distress or feelings, and are more motivated to continue treatment. I also coordinate and communicate with medication prescribers when appropriate, for continuity of care.
Although I feel confident in my ability to play an important supportive role in a client’s life, I also tell every client during the initial session that everyone doesn’t mesh with everyone else. I encourage them to come to several appointments but if the fit is not there, I will help them with finding the right person to play this role for them. I communicate that I will not take it personally, and I genuinely want them to look forward to counseling and trusting the person they are work with. Many people have not had an experience where they were able to disagree respectfully, communicate their needs without feeling judged, or been able to say “This just doesn’t feel right”. I am able to demonstrate accepting that without challenging their feeling, and respectfully assisting them with getting the needs met. I am hopeful this helps build their confidence in their ability to assertively communicate their needs, and not have to justify why something doesn’t work for them. I enjoy being a part of each client’s story of healing and growth, and am proud to say that I have many clients who have discontinued regularly scheduled appointments due to progress, some have moved away for college, or married and had children, and still contact me for a session when they are in our local area.
If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?
Yes, I absolutely would choose to become a Counselor again. My mother joked with me that I “fell backwards into a career” because I loved learning about why people think the way they do, and through personal counseling I learned coping skills and the power of support and validation. I am lucky to work in a field where there are multiple different modalities to help clients, and am surrounded by supportive professionals to help with professional competence and growth. I attend and volunteer at the yearly Association for Play Therapy conference, and the support and encouragement that attendees and presenters provide for each other is amazing to witness. I have had my license as a professional counselor since 2011, and been a registered play therapist since 2017, yet continue to have amazing conversations with other professionals that result in my feeling motivated to continue to learn and grow personally and professionally.
Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?
I get referrals from other counselors who are also in private practice, pediatricians, primary care physicians, and through the court system. I am lucky to be surrounded at my place of employment by professionals who enjoy working with a variety of different clients, have different specialties and interests, and refer to other providers within our office when appropriate and in the client’s best interest. I try to stay available to coordinate or consult on cases of concern, and to be willing to share with other providers what progress and concerns I continue to have with our shared client’s treatment and well being. However, I have noticed that I consistently see my client caseload grow due to referrals from current or past clients or their guardians, who recommend me to their peers, friends, relatives, and coworkers. I try to be genuine and consistently myself, and work on self care so that I am able to help others work through their struggles.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.compasslc.com
