Clinical Professional Counselor

Brian’s Interview

My name’s Brian Suter. I was born and raised in Taylor, Missouri. I grew up there. I was the oldest of four boys. Really a great place to grow up. Had a lot of good experiences and a lot of outdoors and life there. And then, fast forward, I graduated with my master’s degree in 2007.

And then I started working here at ACCFS in 2009. And I’ve been working here ever since. You know, when it comes to my career and thinking about moving into the mental health field, that was not even on my radar until way down the stream. Growing up, my academic school career was just not on the radar at all.

And even going into college, I had no idea what I wanted to do. I was still in love with football at that point in my life and that was really it. But then as my freshman year of college kept moving along, I went into a sociology class and I always loved people. I loved thinking about people and thinking about their stories.

And that just kind of blew my mind as I walked through that class. And all of a sudden, I still wasn’t thinking about career or what I might do, but I was like, I’m interested in people, this is fascinating. And then I just started taking classes in the vein of psychology, and that’s how things got started.

So right now, I do a lot of work with depression, anxiety, and, in my world, anxiety is a whole realm, so that includes trauma, OCD, those sorts of things, but just a lot of different areas where there’s emotional distress. Relationships and attachment is certainly an interest that I like to explore and think about.

Some of the things I really love about my work is just getting to interact with people, a variety of people. So, one of the keys in the mental health field that is the gateway into doing counseling work is licensure. And so, my license is LCPC, which is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor.

So that’s the license I hold, and that comes after walking through a master’s degree and then two years of supervision. You have to pass a couple of exams along the way. And then that license comes available to you. That’s the gateway into being able to do a lot of the kind of counseling that people probably think of when they think of counseling work.

Along the journey, there’s been a lot of things that I’ve had to wrestle with in this work. Straight out of my master’s program in 2007, I worked at Lutheran Social Services. And in that setting, I’d work a lot with foster kids that were in the foster system, or the parents who had their home, or the foster parents that were now caring for them.

And so that setting just opened my eyes to so much suffering and brokenness and pain that was just so foreign to me. So that was a big hurdle. But even in that work there, one of the things that was really challenging for me was thinking through what is actually helpful to people, because in that setting, the primary goal was symptom reduction or training in some of the basics, which there’s certainly benefit, but I found it really hard to feel like I’m giving some skills or some tools or support that maybe helps reduce symptoms, but isn’t able to reach the real core of an individual’s problem.

Whereas from a Christian perspective, we would say it is the gospel. When the gospel isn’t a part of therapy, that causes a huge struggle along the way. I would say one of the places to think about the mix between what I know in my training as a counselor and what I read and know is true in the Scriptures, is just out of view. And think about people. On this hand over here, the Scriptures tell me at a very deep level we are corrupt and that we are broken and we need something outside of ourselves to help us. Over here, the answer is well, actually you’re generally good and everybody else is generally good and if we can just help find that goodness inside then that’s the answer.

But it seems like in many ways, as I think about people and look at people, it seems to me that, yes, we are broken. And therefore, there’s this equal playing field where the Scripture says, no, actually we’re all in this together. The things you do well, praise God and it’s probably a gift from either the Lord or the people that he’s put around you. The brokenness that you experience is either part of just how you’ve been knit together or from some of those experiences. And so, it’s not a sign of righteousness or greater depravity, it’s part of the human experience. T

The reality is the research over here sees some of the things in people’s hearts. People do what they do for a reason and there are some things that are a common good, which I think speaks to the common grace that God’s spoken. And if we can give people the benefit of the doubt and say, even in their brokenness, we’re not doing that because we want to, or even because we know what we’re doing. We’re doing that because, yes, we carry brokenness and we are trying to sort through it as best we can. And a lot of times we just come up with the wrong answers in and of ourselves because of this core brokenness and because it gets so complicated.

And I’ll say this often in the counseling room, I don’t any difference between the seat that I sit in and the seat that you sit in. And I think this could change any moment. Puts us on this level playing field where we all need Jesus. And in him we all have gifts and talents and places to serve and be used in his kingdom.

I have learned so many things about myself in the work of counseling. Some have been really hard and some are good, but I think one of the biggest things I would say I’ve learned about myself is that I see life through the lens that I see it through and so often it’s wrong and I don’t realize it. And so, in that, I would say, getting the privilege of being able to interact with so many different people who have different experiences and even come at life with a different set of convictions or interest is a blessing.

I’ve learned, while we’re all very different, in another way, if we can just sit across each other as fellow human beings, we’re so similar. And I think that’s helped me become much less dogmatic about a lot of things.

Typically, my day starts off with emails and looking through the meetings that I have for the day and getting prepared for those. So that’s generally the first hour, emails and prepping. And then, through the rest of my day, about half of it tends to be counseling sessions that are roughly an hour each, and then paperwork, one of the drawbacks of counseling work, and then phone calls, whether that’s following up with a contact person or somebody else who has a question or a connection to something. Probably a quarter of my day is focused on project work, maybe not quite even that much, whether it’s writing an article for the website, or working on a presentation, or some other resource that maybe would be more on the teaching end of things.

And obviously I showed my cards there in the sense that one of the things I don’t enjoy about my job is the paperwork that comes with it. And I would just say though I recognize that it’s necessary and that it’s important. And part of the reason it’s important is that after meeting with someone, to capture what’s been talked about or a quick summary is helpful.

Part of the first hour of my day where I’m preparing for the meetings, a lot of that is going back and reading what we visited about last time. It jogs my memory. Oh, this is where we were at. Here are some of the things that maybe I’d asked to think about or work on and then an important piece of the counseling is checking back in on that and the work that goes on in between.

Because really at the end of the day, the hour meeting that we might have, whether that’s once a week or once a month is going to have minimal impact if there’s not additional work going on in between. So that’s a very important part of the work for sure. One of the other parts of my job that would fit really into the counseling work is what we here in the office would call a triage.

And a triage is a 30-minute free phone call for anybody who would reach out to us. We would want at least to provide somebody with the opportunity to touch base with a counselor for that 30 minutes to talk through what’s going on. And, really, this is one of the things I really enjoy about my role here at ACCFS. I love the opportunity to be able to talk with anybody who reaches out whether they’re in the community or the church and say, okay here’s a little bit about what’s going on, here are maybe some ideas, here are some resources or here’s a counselor in your area and that’s a pretty unique thing that we do here in the office that I think is a really neat part of the day. And I get the opportunity to talk with someone in the morning on the West Coast and then later in the day I might speak to somebody on the East Coast or across the ocean. So on any given day I may have one to three of those kinds of phone calls depending on what the day brings.

One of the things about our office that’s pretty unique in the sense that I can see is send out an email to the counselors or the church outreach folks, hey, do any of you have a Bible study on this? Or have you read a book on this topic? And within 12 hours, usually somebody has. Oh, here I would recommend this or I just read this. Here’s the pros, here’s the cons. And being able to draw from each other’s knowledge base in that way. One of the great joys of my work or the opportunity to work here as well as one of the challenges is just being immersed in difficulty and problems. And so in that, I really appreciate the opportunity to be invited into people’s pain.

I count that a great privilege and so I’m honored in that and really grateful for that. But it is a challenge at times to be able to sit with that and then unhook. And so, I’m really grateful, I think the Lord has given me a heart for people in pain but also an ability to step out of it.

And I would say too that would be one of the things that is a skill that’s probably been gained over the years that seeing the need to not only step into it but then also to step out and release it, that I can’t carry that all day, every day because it’s just too big. It is just too big.

And in truly trying to exercise that, I believe that healing comes by God working and moving. And therefore, it’s essential and even an act of faith, to release those difficulties and trust that the Lord is doing the work that I can’t do, whether I’m present or not present.

And so, I would say that’s a big part of it, being able to give myself the freedom that says, yeah, this is heavy, and yet, I need to release that. And even in that, I would say early on in my counseling work to sit around and talk with a group of friends about what was going on with the Cubs or the Cardinals was really hard, was really tricky.

And I found myself just getting so frustrated and angry about what are we doing? Why don’t you know what is going on over here or over here? Like, how can we care about these things? But I would say, over time, I realized it’s really important for me to find those things that are not important. That I can enjoy and that help me connect with people that I love. And the freedom to say, yeah, it doesn’t matter and it’s probably important for me.

In this, journey of counseling, often it starts with a difficulty, with brokenness and this pain and struggle and you start off for them as well as for me like what’s this journey going to look like and boy, I don’t know exactly the path forward. But I would say as that unfolds and that brokenness comes, I’ve walked that journey with enough individuals at this point that now there’s this great anticipation like something’s going to happen. Anyways, in that counseling room, I’m just waiting and interested. Is this one of those times that freedom or that light bulb has come on or God has done something that’s unexplainable and I get to just be an observer to that. And it doesn’t happen all the time but when it does, that is like those moments like, that’s good, boy, this is a really sweet thing, and just try to soak that up.

Those sweet moments where there’s some understanding, or freedom, or healing, or there’s been this sweet interaction for them in a relationship that’s been broken, and I get to be a part of that, that’s really special.

One of the things certainly I’ve learned and experienced in the work is that I’m not going to be able to help everybody, and not everybody’s going to like me. And those, I would say, are pretty deep challenges for me. To be able to accept that and to come to terms with God has maybe gifted and equipped me. I can’t help everyone and not everyone is going to like me, and maybe that means somebody else down the hall from me can be helpful, or maybe somebody else in another town can be. And again, coming to terms with that in a sense that says, no, God still has equipped you, and you have gifts and talents. And, yeah, you maybe did mess up here, and you should have done something, how do you learn from that, rather than just kind of collapse under it?

Those are probably, some of the deeper things that are really challenging, those would be some things that create a lot of wrestling, but I think by God’s grace a lot of refining as well. Coming into the field, I would have told you that I think If I could just get people to believe or think correctly, we’d be home free.

And I think there’s certainly truth to that. But I think one of the things that has surprised me is just how profoundly impactful really painful experiences can be on the human soul. That it impacts people at such a deeper level even than like their thoughts and beliefs and in ways that I wouldn’t have even imagined were possible.

And so, I think that’s really surprised me. How wounded an individual can be when they’ve experienced really hard things. And that a lot of times, that kind of healing doesn’t come through just thinking through things and the right information and the right beliefs. But a lot of times it comes at a deeper level, even just starting with physical sensations and things that are outside of your conscious beliefs and trying to work in that realm and put those on the map for healing.

And I still haven’t wrapped my mind around what that means or even how to do that fully. I hope at least some of you who are watching this maybe would be thinking, is this field for me? Or, would have a degree of interest in pursuing being a people helper even as a counselor.

And in that, I would just want you to know that that journey can look so different from individual to individual. If you have a heart to learn and grow, if you have a heart to help people, we need people in the helping field who love Jesus and love other people. There’s a great deal of need and if the Lord’s calling you to it, we would certainly be excited about that.

Craig’s Interview

My name is Craig Sickling. I was born in the Dunlap area, Peoria, North Peoria. I finished high school there and graduated then went to college, local colleges, but I’ve always been in the area, the Dunlap area. I’m an LCPC, Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor. I work part time with ACCFS, and I also work full time in a school district in Pekin at a junior high as a school counselor there as well.

Yeah, my path to school counseling was not a straight line. I started off looking into actually computers. Those were just kind of a big deal back then. And so, looked first at that. And the Lord opened some doors to consider the teaching profession. And so, I finished my ICC associates. I went to ISU and received my teaching degree there. And then that started another detour and jog in God’s plan and will. And I struggled with getting a job and what that looked like. I tried to do some substitute teaching for a while. And it just seemed like doors kept closing. And so, I did that for a couple years.

And then I applied back to ISU into their counseling program and did two years of a degree there and then a year of internship practicum and was able to receive my school counseling degree at that point. Passion or my heart for counseling? I wouldn’t have been able to put maybe my finger on it earlier in high school or early college.

I enjoyed being able to speak with people. I enjoyed being able to listen to people. I look back, our family had some struggles and challenges and I saw the impact of that in our family life. At one of my teaching interviews, I was interviewing and the person interviewing me said, you’re interviewing for the wrong job. You’re interviewing for a teacher position, but he says you should be interviewing for a school counselor position. I think from what he shared, I think he thought I was not speaking enough about the content that I was going to be teaching, but I was speaking more about kids and how to connect with kids and my desire to build relationships and connections with kids and I think he saw more of that piece as opposed to I think this might be a good math teacher.

I must not have sold myself very well on the math element, but it was a good question that he had. 25 years of working with kids, with parents, with teachers, and with families, I’ve really learned to appreciate God’s design. He creates us with a heart. He creates us with a mind, the ability to think, the ability to feel.

When those things go well, they go super well. When those crash, when those systems crash or something goes out of the norm and there’s a struggle with the resources of how do I problem solve, how do I move forward, what do I do with this that? I’ve loved being able to be there to step in for people at that time and place in their life.

I’m grateful in the counseling process anyway, being a partner in their problem solving, looking at where am I at, what is hurt or struggling or what’s difficult and then being able to work and find ways that are able to find a way to move forward or find a way to accept to be able to manage where they’re at and being part of that process and their insight and their awareness when that comes into their play or comes into their mind and what that looks like. Especially for kids, young people, a light bulb going on, I love that. Yeah.

A piece that I have appreciated or learned to love over the years of working with kids is I’ve been amazed, even for young kids, like I said, God’s given them a brain that’s trying to figure things out. And I’ve found with kids, when we pour in information that is helping them with the issue at hand, whether it’s relational, or even in a mental health way, or even an emotional regulation piece, when we’re able to pour in good content for them, to be able to trust that, okay, they have a brain.

Their brain is ready for some of this. And to be able to pour some of that in, I’m just amazed at what some are able to do with that. It’s almost like they’ve been waiting for this. My brain’s trying to figure out where I’m at or the struggles and challenges, but I just haven’t had that specific content information poured into me in specific way and to be able to pour into and be part of that piece is, I just love that part of my job.

There’s an old, it still hangs in our school copier room, and it’s just a saying that most of us heard, right? Kids don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. I found that there’s a lot of truth to that. In being able to set away other things, set aside perceptions or awareness or some kids come in with name tags or labels of what they think other people think about them.

But to be able to come in and just say, you know what, there’s a wide open blank slate. We get to decide what that looks like. Allowing that freedom in a sense to go back or to recreate or to at least in that room to be able to look and say where would I like to be? Giving kids permission to speak.

Sometimes we’re quick to correct. They say things that maybe aren’t always accurate and we want to correct them, right? But if I’m constantly correcting, I lose the ability to get to where they’re really going. So sometimes letting them speak through their incorrect statements, but knowing that’s leading to another place.

So, giving time for them to speak, allowing that opportunity to unfold through that. I’ve learned that young people like to know that you’ve heard them. And that’s a basic counselor 101 step of reflecting back. This is what I’ve heard you say, or my perception is, or this is what I think I heard you say.

But to be able to do that with a young person, they’re not used to that. They don’t expect that. They’re used to just being told this is what you do or this is what you say. And so, when you’re asking them, did I get that correct? That resonates with them as well. Following up is huge. If I have shared with a young person or even a school setting and I see them the next day or I follow up with them the next day, look for them and pull them over for a second.

Say, hey, thanks for what you shared yesterday. Just checking in. There’s an element of that to all our hearts, right? To be remembered. And there’s a huge piece of that I found that’s very beneficial as well. One thing, though, that I recognize as, okay, I think we’re making a turn here.

I recognize is when someone will come in and they’ll start off saying, this is what happened yesterday or this is what went on over the weekend. And when they start coming in and they start being willing to share or sometimes in the counseling office. They’re like, I’ll say now is there anything you want to make sure we talk about and they’re like, yeah, I wrote down some things. When I see someone get to that point where they’re taking investment and ownership and the time to connect the time for counseling. When I see that piece, that’s always exciting to me.

The advice I would have for someone going into the mental health field is to lower your expectations. Yeah. We go in with a mindset that, you know, every scenario is going to be the perfect solution and I’ll have the right answer and I’ll create this plan or this awareness and right therapy and oh, it’ll just solve every issue that was going on and to lower that expectation, um, To come in with a heart to recognize that as Christians, right, as followers of Christ, we get to be ambassadors and we get to represent our Savior and that you’re representing your Savior, even with each kid, each person, each parent that you talk to every interaction, we get to be a representative of that and to keep it.

I need to make sure I keep my vertical alignment healthy. So, I’m able to do a better job with my horizontal work and recognizing that. I’ve also learned to recognize that I don’t always get to drive the combine. I’m not always the harvester. I don’t always get to see the end product. But that a lot of times with people in places, that sometimes we’re just a part of their journey.

We’re a part of that, I’m a rest stop on this interstate and there’s just a long stretch and they’ve just pulled over for a short time. They just need some fuel. They just need some energy. They just need to confirm their map. And sometimes I’m just a stop on someone’s interstate. And to be okay with that.

Sometimes I’m a seed planter, hey look at this, what do we got, where are we at, and here’s some different things to consider. And sometimes we just plant seeds and someone else gets to water and harvest as the Word says. And to be able to recognize that, or over the years I’ve learned to recognize that there will be failures, there will be things that I don’t do well, that haven’t gone well,  that I wish I could do over.

Hindsight. Oh, wow, or things that we learn later that we didn’t know at the time that are heartbreaking and discouraging, but also to be able to recognize that God loves this person way more than I will ever be able to, and I’m grateful for that.

I get to be a piece of God’s plan in their life for this season and for theirs and for their time, and if there’s still struggles involved, I want to do the best that I can. There’s still struggles involved. I’ve got to be okay to understand that. If there’s things that go well, praise the Lord. He gets the glory.

And we’re thankful for the opportunity that we have. The most important quality for someone in this line of work is interesting because I think if I would have answered that question 25 years ago, it may be totally different than what I’ll tell you today. But, right now I would say the most important quality is patience.

To be willing to be patient. Even when I know someone is just angry or they’re frustrated and they’re not being truthful or honest or they’re giving the run around or they’re not coming in, but to be willing to be patient. To not take that personal. To be able to step back and recognize, alright, tomorrow’s another day or the next session’s another day and sometimes we have to move in some hard love ways and what that looks like, but to be able to be patient in that sense.

e Lord’s calling you to it, we would certainly be excited about that.