Chapter 10: Out to Save the World

When I was 12 years old, I decided I wanted to be a child psychologist. I wanted to help kids deal with difficult times in their lives; things such as divorce, illness, moving, school, and just the general angst associated with growing up. Not that I was all that great at handling my own life at that age but nonetheless, I had, and thought everyone should have, someone to talk to and have in their court as they managed life’s hurdles. I was born into a family of incredible educators who consistently and conscientiously strived to help all children learn AND grow up happy and healthy. I was blessed with a caring and compassionate older brother who watched out for me mostly without my knowing, who loved exploring and adventuring with his sister, and who exhibited an easy going, affable approach to life that was a great foil to my more anxious and cautious nature. My family was not the perfect, Beaver Cleaver family as we had our own issues to work through, but work through them indeed we did, and do. I remember when I decided I wanted to change graduate programs from a straight school psychology program to the combined program in mental health counseling and school psychology. I was meeting with the chair of the counseling department who was scary in her ability to “see” people and ask probing questions, and who had a reputation for having very high expectations. After what seemed like several hours but was probably only two, she smiled and said, “so, who do you have in your life who has helped you be this empathic, reflective, and adjusted?” I remember feeling immensely relieved and warmly proud that, (1) she thought I was good enough to be in the program, (2) she thought all my struggles to make sense of the world and its relationships were basically healthy, and (3) she thought my family was as wonderful as I did. I believe it is from these roots that I set off on my mission to save the world, one child at a time.