November, 2023

Dear TCA members,

As we roll into fall, I am aware of feelings related to the shortening days, changing leaves, and lowering (very slowly) temperatures. For some, these feelings are warm and are associated with thoughts about family, fires in the fireplace, slowing down, and tasty food. 

However, I am equally aware of the struggle that this time of year is for many. Whether it be due to increasing academic or occupational demands as we approach the end of the year, stress related to the upcoming holiday season, tension with or absence of family, and even general lowering mood with the lowering light and temperature.

Fall can be such a time of opposites in this way. As counselors, we often encounter our clients when they are struggling with the changing of the season. It is so important to be able to sit with them where they are in that struggle, aid them in finding their own resilience and support systems, validate the stressors they are encountering, and notice with them the strengths and skills they have to navigate those stressors. We walk the line of those opposites.

While this is highlighted for me in the Fall, it is always the case in the work we do. We must alternately be fully in the client’s struggle with them while also seeing and holding hope for a brighter alternative. Clients need us to hear them without trying to “fix” them but at the same time they need us to give them a sense that there is something to do, a way to climb up.

I am continually impressed by all of you as I hear stories of working with clients, helping them find their way through the dark and cold to the warmth and strength on the other side. You are all amazing and the work you do is vital.

Please continue to share with and support each other and to let me and all of the TCA leadership know how we can best support you in your work and in your own growth.

Warmly,

Jay Tift, Ph.D., LPC-MHSP

TCA President 2023/24