Well, it's a Tuesday evening and you are hearing from me for what I hope will be the first of many Tuesdays to come. My colleagues and I are undertaking this blogging adventure as a way to put our thoughts, stories, ideas, observations, and wonderings out there for anyone in the world who is interested in reading them. Just as in the work we do together each day, this is bound to be sometimes funny, sometimes sad, sometimes thought-provoking, sometimes entertaining, but never dull. We hope you'll tune in often to join us on our adventure!
I'll start by telling you a little bit about myself. I am married with four children - 3 sons (ages 6, 4, and 3) and a daughter (age 4 months). There is alot of child development to observe at my house! I own the Horizons clinic and am blessed to have the most talented and wonderful staff anywhere. I am also blessed to have an amazing group of families who allow me to consult with them and learn from them as they evolve on their own journey with their children. I have a teaching / special education background and currently do some school consultation in addition to RDI consultation with families. My main extra-curricular activity outside of my family and work is taking classes toward my PhD in Clinical Psychology. I'm on the slow boat with that, but I figured if I never started I'd never finish!
Tonight I am thinking about my role as a consultant in the life of families. A consultative role is really about guiding more than doing. Just as we talk about the master-apprentice relationship between parents and children, there is a similar relationship between consultant and family. My role is to guide and scaffold for parents so they can be more effective guides for their children. There is a tendency for me to sometimes feel that I need to solve everything for families (or at least provide some ideas), but my real role is to make sure that families find their own path for success by staying focused on what is important to them and helping them achieve a productive problem solving process for themselves. Consultation is a paradoxical thing - the better job you do the less you are needed! It can be a difficult role at times when I want to jump in and "do" things, but I am learning that it is far better for me to stay in a guiding role so that families can become competent and truly own the competence that develops. It is not about my competence - it is about the competence of parents and children together.
Until next week,
Nicole
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