[Crystal]

Hi Tammy, I’m so glad you put this question out there, I would really love a space to connect with other RCCs in Victoria, especially within the West Shore. Connecting with others matters as I’m a newly minted RCC who believes in the power of mentorship and I’m hoping to build a sense of community as I go along on this journey. I’m finding counselling can be challenging and lonely work at times and it would be nice to feel supported by those who can really relate, as well as be able to offer support to others who need it. In addition, it would be great to get a sense of the preferred practice areas of different local RCCs so that I know who to refer out to if a client comes with concerns that feel beyond my scope or training.

[Tammy Van Hinte]

Hi Crystal,

So great to meet you. It really can be a lonely profession that’s for sure. Community matters. We used to meet in person once a month for cafe’s and it really helped. Now there are some good trainings online which is great for learning, but not as good for meeting others. Did you attend the training that BCACC just put on regarding Family Law. That was a really successful event. It felt strange and exciting to be in person again. There was a pub night as well which was really fun.

I see you work with couples. What couples therapy modality do you use? I’m a training junkie and I’ve taken most models, but work primarily in the Bader Pearson Model. This model has a community membership and since I joined it in 2017 I have not felt that feeling of isolation that you mentioned. Here’s a link if you are curious:

https://www.couplesinstitute.com/developmentalmodel-wl/

Thanks for reaching out. I think this e-connect thing is so awesome.

[Crystal]

Hi Tammy,

Thank you so much for reaching out to connect with me. Being a new graduate and new member, I’m only experiencing the counselling community in the context of COVID. I’m so glad to hear there were different ways that local counsellors could connect pre-pandemic and I hope there will be a return to that in the future when the pandemic is not such a presence in our lives. Have RCCs found a way to do virtual cafes at all through zoom, or is everyone feeling zoomed out?

As I’m just starting out on my journey I’ve not yet had any couples seek me out, but I developed a social-relational approach to working with couples experiencing postnatal depression that blends response-based theory, narrative therapy and some Gottman theory. Thank you for sharing that info with me, I am quite interested in the Bader-Pearson model as those I know in the field have really great things to say about it.

I was not able to attend the recent families, family breakdown and the law training, there just wasn’t room in my budget; however, I certainly recognize the value of it especially when couples and family counselling is one’s main area of practice.

In your experience, what has been the most useful or valuable training that you have taken? I see there is a lot available and it can be challenging to choose, so what advice might you have for a new member about deciding what to take?

[Tammy Van Hinte]

The course I was referring to is Money Management for Professionals.

https://learn.bcacc.ca/courses/money-management/

Money Management for Clinical Counselling Professionals

[Daniel]

Hi fellow Region 2 colleagues, I am well and would love to connect. Cafes or zoom, if the time is there it would great to stay connected with RCC’s in my community. Every month sounds like a good schedule.

I’d love to connect to get to know more people in the region and learn different ways of practicing that we all bring to our work. Such a rich and diverse field and always something to learn.

[Tammy Van Hinte]

Hi Daniel,

Nice to meed you. Your idea of connecting monthly sounds great. Will you organize something? I’m sure there are likely others who are interested. If you contact BCACC they may be interested in bringing back the cafes and it could be a bit more formal.

Tammy

[Daniel]

Hey Tammy, I’ll look into organizing something. I noticed another person in these discussion threads was also looking to do the same. I’ll connect with BCACC and get a sense of how they organized these meetings in the past. It would be great to have a steady group

[Tammy Van Hinte]

Daniel,

That is awesome. I’d love to meet up at organized events. I really enjoyed the cafes when they were happening.

[Crystal]

Hi Daniel, I would be very interested in a monthly meet up, please let me know if you do organize something, it would be great to connect with and learn from other counsellors!

[Tammy Van Hinte]

Hi Crystal,

I might be wrong about this, but I think some of the regions have been interested in zoom cafes and held them, but I don’t think our region has had any. I do think there have been some lunch hour get togethers, but I haven’t attended them.

I looked at your website and it looks great. The counselling is hard to find, but I can see how expanding it on your current website would work really well. That is what I did because I also already had a business when I became an RCC. I was a family law mediator and I added counselling to my mediation website and with time I dropped the mediation and just kept the counselling. this is why my counselling business is called Conflict Options. When starting out there are so many options for training and I think the answer to your question about the best training really depends on the direction the counsellor is hoping to take in their business. I really liked the training that Jose did for BCACC on the financial aspects of a counselling practice. It was low cost and very informative and Jose presents in a way that is enjoyable to listen to. You can find that training on the BCACC e-connect. I think you have a real niche market given your background and specialty with birth and babies. I have some ideas I’d be willing to share about what direction you might want to take in getting your counselling practice off the ground. If you want to meet up for a coffee chat to talk more about training and directions send me an email at [email protected]

It’s great to connect with you Crystal.

Tammy

[Crystal]

Thank you for all the helpful advice and info Tammy. I will be in touch by email to see if there is a good time for us to meet up soon.