Soul Matters... September 2008

PC&CC to Expand Low-Fee Options with New Fundraising Effort

PC&CC is launching a new fundraising effort to help extend counseling services to those facing financial difficulties. Through a donation option on its website, the nonprofit counseling agency is hoping to increase to its ability to offer more low-fee counseling.

"As it stands now, the therapists at PC&CC have volunteered to give 10 percent of their work to low-fee and/or pro bono counseling. But the need is much greater," Executive Director Carl Siegel explains. "In order to service that need we must raise money. We are establishing a fund for low-fee counseling so that we can reach out to an even greater number of the underserved population."

Anyone making a donation to PC&CC can be assured that 100 percent of it will be used to pay for low-fee counseling. Siegel adds that the need for these services is growing daily as the economy continues to tighten. "In tough economic times mental health counseling could be one of the first things to come off the budget, but it really may be the most necessary as it supports the rest of the person ability to function. This is not a luxury service," he says.

Many of the counselors at PC&CC have chosen the nonprofit group as an alternative to private practice so that they are able to work with a diverse economic population. This fundraising effort enables them to widen this outreach. "Our personal and professional ethics motivate us, and require us to take an approach to counseling that honors cultural and economic diversity," says PC&CC's Bob Gordon. "I didn't realize until I started working here how many requests for counseling come in from clients who otherwise go unserved. The pro bono work we take on is quite taxing to us personally, but it is heartbreaking and unacceptable to turn away clients in need."

"When people are in pain, the last thing that comes to mind is often money," notes PC&CC's Cate Shea Riihimaki. "People want to feel better as soon as they can and should have access to the most qualified people available to help them begin healing. As money often dictates who can receive services and where, I am proud that PC&CC is working to remedy this problem.”

To make a donation for low-cost counseling at PC&CC, please click here.

THERAPIST SPOTLIGHT: Sears and Siegel in South Africa

This summer, PC&CC’s Rebecca Sears and Carl Siegel traveled to Pretoria, South Africa to train a new crop of Imago Relationship therapists (see group photo at left). Over several days, the two taught 12 therapists – including six clergy and four married couples – the theory and practice that helps establish safety and dialogical connection.

“Imago is wildly popular throughout the country and within religious communities because of its spiritual components,” Sears explains. “It was a mature class, and all were pretty set in their professions. They knew quite a lot about Imago and were very enthused to learn more.”

Siegel notes the training class was a powerful experience. “To be in a place where the sentiment of working on peace and reconciliation has already been started on a national level, and to be a part of it locally was powerful, humbling and sobering. There’s so much continuing work that needs to be done in terms of healing old wounds,” he says.

Sears agrees, adding that being in South Africa reminded her of the Imago approach’s universality. “It speaks to everyone because it’s helpful as we’re all relational creatures, but also the concept of safety is a very timely issue in the history of South Africa. Under [former President Nelson] Mandela things were idealized, but now crime is a strain, and there is rampant brain drain and corruption. People have to make very conscious choices not only in their relationships, but in their communities on a different level than we have to make in the United States.”

These political issues were apparent in the training class. “There was a lot of talk about not feeling safe in their lives and it seems to cross all racial and economic levels. Anyone will be robbed regularly and the infrastructure for the police is just not there yet. There’s a particularly resonating tone with Imago and safety and working to not always be in their reactive, reptilian brains that speaks to these therapists on a level beyond what we experience in the U.S.,” Sears says.

Safety also was a concern for Sears and Siegel, as they took their families with them for the training. Sears explains that she is committed to bringing world peace and connection, and traveling to a dangerous corner of the world is part of her responsibility. “I know that country wants it, like any other. I didn’t want to miss an opportunity to visit a country with such a novel and rich transition of power,” she says. The class even applied the Imago theory to the country’s struggle, describing the times of Mandela as an illustration of the Imago notion of the romantic phase of a relationship, with the current situation demonstrating the principle of a power struggle.

Although they have presented the Imago workshop together for years, Sears and Siegel, who will be married next February, trained the group as a team for the first time. “Carl was patient and wonderful. As always, presenting relationship work as a couple makes you take a look at the differences in your personalities. Having to do that and watch the participants observing you while you do that are both challenging and helpful,” Sears says.

While the two are looking forward to returning to South Africa in October and January to complete the last eight days of training, Sears notes that the long, cramped flight was arduous and impacted her energy level. She is hopeful that she may receive frequent flyer point donations in order to secure business class tickets for the next two trips.

For more information about Imago training or to make a donation, please contact Rebecca Sears at 202-449-3789 x702 or email her.

REFERRAL CORNER: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

It's become common for people to say, "I'm a little bit OCD," when explaining their need to check voicemail during dinner, or to sit in a certain chair during a meeting, and so on. But despite the awareness of obsessive-compulsive disorder-like symptoms in popular culture, OCD continues to be a specific, diagnosable condition that impacts the daily functioning of many. With therapeutic assistance, those suffering from OCD can create healthy daily habits to alleviate their symptoms and restore control over their thought processes.

The DSM-IV-TR criteria for OCD diagnosis includes the presence of obsessions or compulsions. Obsessions are defined as recurrent, persistent thoughts, impulses or images that are intrusive and cause distress. These thoughts are not better defined as excessive worries about day-to-day problems, and are recognized as products of the sufferer's own mind. The person often works to ignore, suppress, or neutralize these thoughts. Compulsions, however, are defined as repetitive behaviors and mental acts that one feels driven to perform in response to an obession. While the sufferer believes that these behaviors will prevent a dreaded situation, in actuality they have no realistic connection to what they are designed to neutralize. For example, one might have the compulsion to check if she turned off the stove exactly 10 times so as to avoid causing an earthquake in her town that day.

In order to distinguish these obsessions and compulsions from more common personality quirks, clinicians seek to learn if they cause marked distress, take up more than one hour per day, or significantly impair one's functioning in relationships or at work. OCD treatment may include cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy and prescription medication.

PC&CC therapists are available for consultation on OCD and other disorders.

RELATIONSHIP TIP OF THE MONTH: Avoid the Exits

Find yourself watching too much TV lately? Spending all of your waking hours with your children? Staying late at work? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may be unconsciously avoiding being in relationship with your spouse. Who would think such innocuous activities would be energy leaks out of your relationship, yet, there are plenty of couples that are technically married but have filed for an “invisible divorce.” Exits happen when we don’t know how to talk about our uncomfortable feelings with our spouse. We either withdraw inside ourselves or go elsewhere to get our needs met, rather than deal with each other. Exits are a way of “acting out” our frustrations about our marriage. The good news is that we can close those exits and bring that energy back into our relationship.

Ask yourself the following questions to help raise your consciousness about the exits you may be taking:

1) The feeling I am avoiding by doing this activity is ….

2) When I take this exit, how it affects my relationship . . .

3) If I don’t stop exiting, what I expect to have in my relationship is …

4) One thing I could do differently than take this exit is….

5) And if I tried to do this new behavior I would probably feel. . .

–Rabbi Shlomo Slatkin MS, LGPC

PC&CC EVENT CALENDAR

Our "Getting the Love You Want" workshops for couples can serve as excellent premarital preparation or as a way to supercharge a couple's ongoing marriage counseling. Past attendees have described the experience as powerful, deeply spiritual, inspiring, and fun. The weekend course offers the equivalent of 6 months in couples counseling work. The next Washington, DC workshop will be Sept. 6-7. Click here for more information.
PC&CC is excited to offer the following therapy groups this fall:

      -Sept. 11, QuarterLife+10, led by Nathan Gehlert and Cate Shea Riihimaki. Click here for more information.

      -Sept. 16, Women in Transition, led by Joanne Comstock. Find more information here.

      -Sept. 17, RTA: Releasing and Transforming Anger, led by Kathleen Scheg. Learn more here.