Educating and Empowering Veterans with Julianne Hansen, M.S., CRC

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Welcome back to Inside Rehabilitation Counseling.
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I'm CRCC Director of Communications and Marketing Taylor Bauer, and I'm excited to bring you another conversation exploring the art and science of rehabilitation counseling.
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During the week this episode is releasing, we observe Veterans Day.
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And as we all know, military service and the veteran community are the bedrock of how rehabilitation counseling came to be.
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Many certified rehabilitation counselors themselves are veterans or have close ties to the veteran community, including directly working with folks to find work and navigate the return to civilian life.
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Julianne Hansen is the founder and CEO of Team Hansen Education and Empowerment, and much of Julianne's work has been focused on finding ways to show the veteran community they are supported.
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As a CRC with a disability and spouse to a permanently disabled veteran, Julianne has a unique perspective on the support necessary to help this population thrive, and it begins with meeting each person where they are.
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Please enjoy this insightful conversation with Julianne.
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And I want to start with you, where we start with all of our guests, which is kind of how did you become a certified rehabilitation counselor?
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Can you tell me a little bit about your journey and kind of when you learned about this profession?
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Thank you for having me, Taylor.
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I know it's really important for all of us as CRCs to kind of meet ourselves as individuals but as professionals so that we know where our resources are in each other.
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My original introduction to the field, believe it or not, was back when the dinosaurs roamed the earth, uh, I was homeless for six months.
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And one of my counselors voluntold me in the program that I was in that I would sign up for Vogue Rehab.
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And I laughed and I said, I don't need Voke Rehab.
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I don't know what it is, but I know I don't need it.
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Uh great decision.
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I was still very young.
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And so um when I did finally get introduced to it, um, I worked with uh the California State Department of Voke Rehab.
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Um and at first I was like, okay, I kind of get it, but I'm still not really clicking.
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Um and then about nine months or so later, my vocal rehab counselor was reassigned.
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And I I was devastated.
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Now, mind you, five minutes ago I didn't know what Voke Rehab was.
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But apparently in that nine months, I was heavily invested.
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The blessing was that my vocal rehab counselor that was assigned at that point and I worked together across the span of almost 20 years.
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Um, every time I reached the goal and I was about to become employed, I mean like mid-interview for jobs level of about to become employed, I would be hit with you know an episode of MS.
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I would land in my wheelchair for a year and a half with no voice and no swallow and a questionable ability to walk.
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And so every time there was, oh, we're gonna, we're gonna hit this goal, there's gonna be employment, there'd be something else to kind of sidetrack it.
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And after a while, it was okay, I have to make a decision because clearly I have enough disability in different ways that I could just sit back and go, you know what, the world's a horrible place.
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I'm not doing this anymore.
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I every time I do it, I fail, forget it, I'm not gonna do it.
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But something in me was like, you know, that's not you.
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You need to stop it, you'll figure it out.
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And I realized that the acronym for hope is Hold on Pain Ends.
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And that my book, Rehab Counselor, and the counselors I was working with, occupational therapy, physical therapy, everybody, we're all hope dealers.
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And we every day we come to work, we are offering some glimmer of something better.
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And I wanted to be a part of that.
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I wanted to be a hope dealer, and so that's part of what put me on the path to become a CRC.
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I feel like um that that hope element, or even just that um empowerment and advocate role that that CRCs play, and we know other professions as well, can be so vital because you're right, depending on how many, you know, no path is linear.
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Um, and you're, you know, there's there are gonna be, as you mentioned, chapters of your life where you're feeling like you're taking maybe more steps backwards than forwards.
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And that can be a really hard thing to deal with uh mentally, physically, emotionally, everything.
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And um, one of the things we hear a lot from clients who work with CRCs, beyond just the actual, you know, rehabilitation counseling skills, is it meant the world to them to have someone in their corner who was like, you know, this is a this is a marathon, not a sprint.
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There are going to be periods that are harder than others, but we are going to stay goal-oriented, right?
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And I think hope is part of that, right?
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The goal of of any sort of professional or personal aspiration for somebody is to is to hope that you're going to get to that place you want to get to.
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And and and now you're doing that work um and impacting so many.
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You are the founder and CEO of Team Hansen Education and Empowerment LLC.
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Um, can you tell me a little bit about your business and kind of what drove you to start it, as well as some of the programs and workshops that you offer?
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So, Team Hansen, um, we put a stop to it for a minute.
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We are reframing as we've relocated across the country to get better VA healthcare for my husband.
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So at the moment, Team Hansen Education and Empowerment, uh, we have we're developing further for an online audience what I call the We've Got Your Six program.
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And it's six elements of don't hate the play, hate the game.
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Understand if you are accommodating at school or trying to get through a VA claim, there's a process and it's not personal, it's business.
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It feels personal.
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Oh, trust me.
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I'm sure.
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And it will feel even more personal before it's done.
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But that level of self-care baseline of healthcare education.
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You know, if you ask an elderly veteran, well, do you have high blood pressure?
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Well, yeah, I have high blood pressure.
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But the PACT Act says hypertension.
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Well, if they're not calling it hypertension, their automatic answer is no, I don't have hypertension.
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Okay.
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Do you have a heart problem?
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Well, yes.
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Do you have ischemic heart disease?
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No.
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Okay.
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What kind of heart problem do you have?
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The way they understand it, they're almost like automatically talking themselves out of it because, well, that's not for me.
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So that's what we love to do, including students with disabilities, including veterans and their families, is reframe the work.
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Reframe the work, the what I call worksheets because they're not just technical forms.
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We're not filling it out for you.
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We are educating you on past a certain era of service.
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Your VA number is your social security number.
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You know, little things like that.
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The Vietnam era veteran is not just were you boots on the ground in Vietnam?
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We don't want stolen valor, but we want some respect for having served where we were when we were there.
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A lot of our younger kids, our younger uh veterans right now don't recognize, don't process.
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If they serve post-2001 to present, this and their boots were on the ground outside of the US, they serve in a war zone.
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Right.
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So when the box asks, have you served in a war zone?
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Well, no.
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Why?
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Because nothing blew up in front of you.
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And so we talk about that.
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And we talk about the moral injury.
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We talk about coming home to adjustment disorder and not having any concept of social construct outside of the base.
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Not that we don't know how to handle ourselves, of course we do.
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But little things like on time is late, well, you better know it.
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But a lot of people who have never served in the military, 20, 30 minutes is nothing.
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We work on making it less of a personal affront and more of an empowered presence.
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You know, we don't have to fight it every inch of the way.
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Yeah, and that that's so important.
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I think the intricacy of all of these systems, which can be life-changing for folks to access all of the benefits that they've earned through service, can be so overwhelming.
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And I think having a a CRC or an organization like yours kind of there to say, like, like you said, we've got your sets, you know, these are complex systems that we are not only going to, you know, work with you on navigating, but I like what you said about self-empowerment and not filling out forms on behalf of someone.
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So they're not gaining insight into why certain things are organized the way they are.
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And even if, you know, even after they understand it, if they're like, still doesn't really make a whole lot of sense.
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Like you said, it's, it's, it's, it's, don't hate the player, hate the game.
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This is how it's set up right now.
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So how do you navigate it in the way that's going to work for you?
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And um, that doesn't mean that there still aren't hurdles, but the more you understand where those hurdles are and how to give the answers that they're looking for, that's just a lot to take in.
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And I think it's so vital that CRCs work with veterans because this is all so, to me, as someone who hasn't even gone through it, so overwhelming to hear about.
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I can't even imagine if now it's like my benefits are on the line, right?
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And if I don't understand how to follow the necessary steps, I might not get access to those things that I'm that I've earned.
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And that that is an intimidating thing.
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And the funny thing about intimidation or feeling overwhelmed is we know sometimes it our instinct is to kind of be like, okay, never mind.
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I'm not gonna pursue this, I'm not gonna seek these out.
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It seems like too much.
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And they could greatly benefit from having access to these services.
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So it's so important that you know, you and other CRCs who work with the veteran uh community are there to walk them through this.
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Part of it as well, and I absolutely I appreciate your concise explanation.
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Um, part of it is, for example, a mental health claim.
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If we say, Oh, well, I have PTS, well, depending on the examiner, uh, literally they said to my husband, Well, did you see anyone die in front of you?
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And he said, No.
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He said, then you don't have PTS.
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And that person denied their claim, denied his claim right off the bat.
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And I'm like, okay, um, that's my husband, first of all.
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Right, right.
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I'm living this.
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Uh but on the other side of that is instead of filing, I'm, you know, I'm requesting disability for PTS.
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If you use the words mental health all-inclusive, that interprets too, I don't really want to get into an argument about what to call it.
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I want someone to identify what's going on with this person and assist them, whether that's through paying them and giving them provisions and services or not.
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The suicide rate for veterans is way too high.
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And if we go out of our way to jack it up with stress even more, how is that serving the veterans?
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So that's why to me it's it's a personal goal to at least reduce that stress load.
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The first thing we do is we have them call up and submit an intent to file, which hands them one year, one year to figure out the rest of it.
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This isn't the longer you take, the the less money you're gonna get paid back.
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This isn't a parasitic company saying, I'll take 30% of your back pay for what?
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For 10 minutes of your work?
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How is that fair?
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So I would be able to educate and empower not just the veterans but their families.
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Yeah, yeah.
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We know those like um support systems.
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Obviously, you're you're not always just working with an individual who's kind of an island, right?
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They have folks around them, hopefully.
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And and some folks don't, we know, but for a lot of folks, they might have friends or family who are going to be heavily involved in the journey of getting these benefits and what comes next for them.
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And I think involving all of them is so crucial.
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And one of the things that you note um uh with your business is that you like to help, and this is a quote, navigate red tape without losing themselves in the stress of it all.
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And I think that stress, like you've like you've you know aptly pointed out, can be so much of an additional experience that they're going through on top of whatever they're already experiencing, that unfortunately we know can be uh you know the catalyst for some sort of really scary thoughts and episodes.
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And it's really important for folks to be able to get these things without, I don't know, exacerbating ongoing conditions or experiences.
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About that, but we are still paying off 60 years of veterans who are living the old VA.
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So my Vietnam era veterans who are still so and rightfully so angry, bitter, and hurt of the last 50 years of how they've been treated.
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Why would they trust after 50 years of not being able to?
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And so I have appreciated because it's not really anybody's fault in terms of people who are in charge of the forums.
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Right?
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I mean, we're all trying to do our best by our veterans, of course we are.
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Sure.
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But it's that that high stress, those high stakes, you're in that constant pain, whether it's emotional or physical, and no one does well.
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So we need those rabid dog advocates on our side in terms of family and friends.
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And you know, that was actually a nickname an ER doctor gave me when I went in demanding answers about my husband.
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He said, Who's the rabbit dog advocate?
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And I was like, That would be me.
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Well, there you go.
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Add it to your uh list of credentials at the end of your name on your email signature, right?
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I am most proud of my honorary Marine status.
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I did, I did take it.
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I love that.
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I love that one.
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Yeah.
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Knowing the way to navigate these systems for benefits and things like that is why we, you know, at CRCC think that every veteran should have access to work with a certified rehabilitation counselor, um, because navigating these systems and having that knowledge to guide clients through benefits and programs is so vital.
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Um, we know some of that hurt that happens with veterans is if they have an experience where they work with someone who maybe isn't as helpful as they need them to be.
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And ideally, you know, you want to put veterans or anybody who is receiving these sorts of services with the best possible professional who can help them, which, you know, is a certified rehabilitation counselor.
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So what sort of difference do you feel like your training as a CRC makes in not only just working with veterans in general, but in kind of getting to be that prime example of like, these are the services you've deserved all along.
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And I'm I'm here to work with you uh and meet you where you're at.
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I think part of what helped me was that my professional ethics and my personal ethics are so in alignment.
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I was raised on Michael Landon.
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I tell people that all the time.
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And for the youngest who may not know, Little House on the Prairie, Bonanza, all those kind of, you know, do the right thing.
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So I was raised on that.
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But part of that comes with just being able to be present with the person, right?
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I was one of the only people for quite a while that would assist with military sexual trauma claims.
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And people assume they're all just women.
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Well, no, because the bulk of the military is just men.
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Um so to be one to establish rapport and be trustworthy and be approachable as CRC, we're we're trained on all of these things.
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We are trained in our oars, we are trained in you know our our communications style, um, all of it.
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I work best with detoxing parolee homeless marines.
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Who knew?
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Part of it is, and they've told me this, I didn't know this before.
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Um, I'm not scary, I'm approachable, and I'm real with them.
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Veterans, and especially parole uh detoxing parole marines can smell BS a mile away.
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And if you come in acting like you know, they will shut you down on principle.
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I mean, I have no idea what the experience that you've had as someone who's been inside.
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So let's sit down and share what we know.
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It's similar to CRC.
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A lot of us have walked different paths, a lot of us have disabilities or family members with disabilities, right?
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So we've seen things that other people have no concept of.
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We just think everybody's family is like that.
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No, everybody's family is not like that.
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Same idea with the people who have been in any kind of institution or in service.
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You know, you have to gain the trust and the respect, and it will be returned.
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And I think that that as CRC, we know that.
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And we appreciate that.
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And we bring it and then we hand it right back to them.
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Yeah, it's it's part of providing ethical service.
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And, you know, as as we know, that code of professional ethics for CRCs is one of the things we hear uh certificates point to most often as what are they value about their credential.
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And it's not only the training that gets them into a position to pass an exam that says I can provide ethical services to this, uh, to this population, but it's really like you said, it's a mindset and an embodiment of I am going to do the right thing by this client.
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And that means meeting them where they are, not pushing um judgments or um inappropriate assumptions about somebody before you even get a chance to sit down and find out who they are.
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It's it's also, you know, knowing that you might not know where your client has been before you're coming, you know, you're crossing paths, but it's about knowing that you have the skills to get them to where they need to be in terms of, you know, goal setting and achieving those goals.
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And it does not begin with walking in and telling them, I have all the answers, I know everything about you, let's get started.
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You know, there's a difference between being an expert and um assuming your knowledge is going to be, you know, just all that the person needs to trust you.
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And I think that trust building and that counseling part of a CRC's training really comes to shine there.
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And then as they're navigating things like disability, that that disability training and education comes in.
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And it's a perfect blending of of skills and and and knowledge and all of these different things that that folks need, that I think we just need to see more CRCs working with with veterans, with people with disabilities in general, because it's such a a unique blend that no other profession offers.
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And and that while while you're saying that, it I flashed on the memory of how my business came to be.
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The day that I no longer worked as a veteran service officer, I went to the local coffee house near um near the base.
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So really, there's only eight, six thousand total people in the county, and more than half of them are on base.
00:18:55.359 --> 00:18:59.519
You go into the coffee house, of course you're gonna run into your clients, right?
00:18:59.519 --> 00:19:04.000
And uh I sat down and one of my clients said, you know, Miss Juliana, why are you here?
00:19:04.000 --> 00:19:06.480
And I said, Oh, you know, why aren't you at work?
00:19:06.480 --> 00:19:08.720
I said, no longer working there.
00:19:08.720 --> 00:19:10.480
And he said, Well, why?
00:19:10.480 --> 00:19:14.880
And I said, Well, I'm expected to defend your rights, but not my own.
00:19:14.880 --> 00:19:22.480
And as a person with disability, filing for you know, an appropriate desk was apparently too much to ask.
00:19:22.480 --> 00:19:33.200
And so we talked a lot about how I needed to give my veterans what they deserve in a positive light, and I wasn't uh um afforded the opportunity to do so.
00:19:33.200 --> 00:19:39.680
He looks at me, he slams his hand on the desk and he's all right, or on the table, he's all right, this is what we're gonna do.
00:19:39.680 --> 00:19:45.839
And he turned into, you know, and I'm like, um, and he's and he started mapping it out.
00:19:45.839 --> 00:19:48.079
We're gonna do an online business, we're gonna do this, we're gonna do that.
00:19:48.079 --> 00:19:51.519
And he mapped it all out, and I'm still sitting there in shock.
00:19:51.519 --> 00:19:55.680
And he I looked at him, I go, Why are you doing this?
00:19:55.680 --> 00:19:58.160
Why are you helping right now?
00:19:58.160 --> 00:20:00.960
And he said, You don't remember the first time we met.
00:20:00.960 --> 00:20:02.160
And I said, No.
00:20:02.160 --> 00:20:05.599
And he said, I came in, I was devastated.
00:20:05.599 --> 00:20:17.039
You gave me a roll of toilet paper instead of Kleenex, you handed me a bottle of water, I told you my story, and you slammed your hand on the desk and you said, All right, this is what we're gonna do.
00:20:17.039 --> 00:20:23.119
Okay, and he goes, and we did it, and it worked.
00:20:23.119 --> 00:20:27.279
He goes, and I'm telling you, if we do this, it's gonna work.
00:20:27.279 --> 00:20:35.920
But isn't that nice that my legacy to him, he was able to flip in a way that made sense for both of us.
00:20:35.920 --> 00:20:49.920
We're not becoming anybody other than who we are, not you know, in that moment, this wasn't about crossing any kind of weird boundary, we're sitting in a coffee house talking about how not to cry ourselves to death.
00:20:49.920 --> 00:20:55.279
But it was more about be approachable from both angles.
00:20:55.279 --> 00:20:58.400
You know, be real with your clients.
00:20:58.400 --> 00:21:03.440
If you don't know, don't tell them you know, don't act like you know, and they'll hopefully do the same for you.
00:21:03.440 --> 00:21:08.960
But when when you talk to people and you meet them where they are, it doesn't matter who it is.
00:21:08.960 --> 00:21:15.039
Doesn't matter, I mean, yeah, like I said earlier, I've been homeless, uh, I've been a lot of things.
00:21:15.039 --> 00:21:24.720
But that personal context of I don't have to be you to know you, but don't come in knowing like I know what we're gonna do.
00:21:24.720 --> 00:21:32.960
One of the toughest questions for people on the CRC is about um a client needs a piece of adaptive equipment, I forget how it goes.
00:21:32.960 --> 00:21:34.400
Uh, who do you ask first?
00:21:34.400 --> 00:21:39.279
Your supervisor, the equipment provider, or your client?
00:21:39.279 --> 00:21:43.039
And more of my classmates got that wrong.
00:21:43.039 --> 00:21:45.599
Will that client even use it?
00:21:45.599 --> 00:21:46.960
Do they even want it?
00:21:46.960 --> 00:21:48.640
Do they need it?
00:21:48.640 --> 00:21:51.440
It's all just be present with the person.
00:21:51.680 --> 00:22:07.680
And I do think one of the things that particularly people who maybe don't have um education or training to work with people with disabilities, um, they they run into this kind of unforced error of wanting to do things on behalf of an individual to assist them.
00:22:07.680 --> 00:22:13.279
And part of that is that like adaptive equipment or thinking, oh, I see this person's in a wheelchair.
00:22:13.279 --> 00:22:15.839
You know what they could use or you know what they could need?
00:22:15.839 --> 00:22:19.200
I saw this, you know, piece of equipment that could be huge for them.
00:22:19.200 --> 00:22:32.079
And they won't even necessarily ask, like, oh, is there anything with being in a wheelchair that you're experiencing difficulty with or things like you want to immediately almost offer a solution before you even know what sort of problems they might be experiencing.
00:22:32.400 --> 00:22:35.519
It sounds out of like a like a discomfort, an awkward nervousness.
00:22:35.519 --> 00:22:36.880
Where does that come from?
00:22:37.200 --> 00:22:43.039
I I think genuinely it's, and this is something we've talked a little bit about with other podcast guests.
00:22:43.039 --> 00:22:54.720
I think most people who don't have a firsthand experience of uh being disabled themselves or being around disability have a very uh finite understanding of what disability even is, right?
00:22:54.720 --> 00:23:02.319
Um they might I even the example I used, right, of someone in a wheelchair, that points to a kind of a preconceived notion that a disability has to be visible.
00:23:02.319 --> 00:23:13.599
So I'm like that, you know, checking myself right now and saying there are a lot of things that we just kind of fill in the blanks about disability if we don't have a ton of hands-on experience being around people who are disabled.
00:23:13.599 --> 00:23:22.480
And I think when people don't understand things, they get uncomfortable because they're a little concerned maybe I don't know the right thing to say or the right thing to do.
00:23:22.480 --> 00:23:27.599
And they lose this kind of basic truth that like disabled people are people.
00:23:27.599 --> 00:23:29.920
You can talk to them like a person, you know?
00:23:29.920 --> 00:23:32.960
And I think it just it freezes people up when they don't understand something.
00:23:33.039 --> 00:23:38.319
And I think that have to speak to us loudly and over-enunciat-oh, yeah, no.
00:23:38.559 --> 00:23:42.960
Yeah, you've mentioned on this episode you're married to a permanently disabled veteran.
00:23:42.960 --> 00:23:50.559
There's a very unique perspective you have as someone with a disability who's also married to someone with a disability on top of your training as a CRC.
00:23:50.559 --> 00:24:02.079
And I think those lived experiences are so unique and provide you with a perspective where you've probably run into things that other CRCs have not, based on, you know, your personal life and your experience.
00:24:02.079 --> 00:24:09.680
And then there's also, you know, your training and your education that equip you with that knowledge that folks who study other professions don't have.
00:24:09.680 --> 00:24:20.079
So, what sort of perspective does all of this blend to provide you in terms of just disability in general or um the ways in which people receive services?
00:24:20.480 --> 00:24:22.079
Two two things come up for me.
00:24:22.079 --> 00:24:25.599
And one's kind of funny, and the other one's just kind of sad.
00:24:25.599 --> 00:24:41.200
When um when I get frustrated, um the MS processing and the TBI processing and all kinds of other joint forces, never mind the paramenopause, joining forces, which yes, paramenopause is a temporary disability.
00:24:41.200 --> 00:24:47.839
If I can't figure something out that should be easy, I hear myself shout, I have a degree, damn it.
00:24:47.839 --> 00:24:49.359
And then I have to laugh.
00:24:49.359 --> 00:24:52.559
I have to make myself laugh because it's really not that serious.
00:24:52.559 --> 00:25:02.799
But part of it also, I was in like an isolation, like a step down from ICU uh just over a year and a half ago.
00:25:02.799 --> 00:25:04.960
And they came in, they were all very serious.
00:25:04.960 --> 00:25:06.640
And they said, We're very sorry.
00:25:06.640 --> 00:25:11.519
Uh, there's evidence of TBI and it's causing and it started listing like all these problems.
00:25:11.519 --> 00:25:17.039
Well, what they didn't know about me is one of my specialties was cognitive disabilities.
00:25:17.039 --> 00:25:21.279
Another one of my specialties was was psychiatric disabilities.
00:25:21.279 --> 00:25:28.880
Um so with the cognitive disability, he's being very serious trying to explain this.
00:25:28.880 --> 00:25:39.599
And I just started rattling off like you know, technical terms and you know, and then I kind of laughed and he said, Well, have you had a traumatic brain injury before?
00:25:39.599 --> 00:25:42.240
And I said, I've had a list of them.
00:25:42.240 --> 00:25:45.519
I said, in fact, you know, playing sports in the 80s.
00:25:45.519 --> 00:25:52.960
I mean, come on growing up with without any protective gear, uh riding bicycles and doing all that.
00:25:52.960 --> 00:26:01.279
But then just as you know, an adult with neurosurgeries and things like that, yeah, that's that's traumatic brain injury if you're not careful.
00:26:01.279 --> 00:26:04.799
But it wasn't about I'm upset and you're gonna have to educate me.
00:26:04.799 --> 00:26:07.680
In fact, it gave the specialist such a run for his money.
00:26:07.680 --> 00:26:14.799
I felt a little bit bad for him because he looked like a little bit thrown when I would ask him questions.
00:26:14.799 --> 00:26:19.440
And finally I paused and I said, Well, what's what's what's what's the eyebrow?
00:26:19.440 --> 00:26:20.400
What's going on?
00:26:20.400 --> 00:26:25.039
And he goes, These are not questions I've ever heard from a patient before.
00:26:25.039 --> 00:26:38.000
And part of that to answer your question is in a way, the education does serve us because instead of sitting there and having a pity party for myself, I sat and I realized, okay, I already know where my resources are.
00:26:38.000 --> 00:26:44.559
I'm surrounded by people who are now family who already know how to handle this.
00:26:44.559 --> 00:26:47.200
It's just another speed bump.
00:26:47.200 --> 00:26:51.119
Um, my mentor, one of my mentors, uh Dr.
00:26:51.119 --> 00:26:59.759
Charles Dejenau, who's one of the one of the bigger researchers on in some of the sports injury type TBI, a lot of cognitive disability research.
00:26:59.759 --> 00:27:02.480
To make myself laugh, I'll go, okay, where's Chuck?
00:27:02.480 --> 00:27:05.759
You know, where's where's the person who's gonna talk me down?
00:27:05.759 --> 00:27:07.599
Because this is gonna stop me.
00:27:07.599 --> 00:27:18.799
And that helps because when I sit with other even the the young uh interns or somebody that'll come in and ask a question about, well, how does this work if my client is duly diagnosed?
00:27:18.799 --> 00:27:22.720
I don't understand dual diagnosis, I don't understand TBI.
00:27:22.720 --> 00:27:31.839
As a person on both sides of the desk, it makes it easier to um approach that answer gently for both of both the provider and the consumer.
00:27:31.839 --> 00:27:36.880
But it makes it a little harder once in a while because as a provider and a consumer, well, how come I'm not doing this?
00:27:36.880 --> 00:27:38.480
How come it because I'm tired.
00:27:38.480 --> 00:27:39.519
I'm tired, boss.
00:27:39.519 --> 00:27:56.960
Right, you know, and that has been the nice part about creating a small business that you know we're shifting to online so that way it can accommodate everyone's disability when it needs to, without losing the quality of care on either end.
00:27:57.279 --> 00:27:57.519
Right.
00:27:57.519 --> 00:28:15.119
Yeah, I think one of the things that I've enjoyed learning uh just about the disability space in general from CRCs um is this idea that, like, you know, experiencing and living with a disability gives you a perspective that doesn't always include that, okay, here's what we're gonna do to start navigating this.
00:28:15.119 --> 00:28:26.480
Depending on, you know, the resources that they've had access to or the support system they have, there might be um opportunities out there for them to access services that they don't even know exist.
00:28:26.480 --> 00:28:35.200
And I think that's the thing, being on the marketing side of CRCC, that uh I'm constantly kind of driven to figure out new solutions for.
00:28:35.200 --> 00:28:41.839
We know that there are people with disabilities in the United States who do not know rehabilitation counseling is there for them.
00:28:41.839 --> 00:28:44.319
They they don't know that Vogue rehab is a thing.
00:28:44.319 --> 00:28:50.319
They don't know that there's an entire profession of folks who study counseling and disability and how those intersect.
00:28:50.319 --> 00:28:54.079
And that's the part that um that I wouldn't say keeps me up at night, right?
00:28:54.079 --> 00:29:15.200
But like in a way, it kind of does, where I'm like, there are people who could benefit from these services, even CRCs I've talked to, who didn't have access to services as an individual with a disability until much later in their life when they're maybe discovering that this is even a profession they could pursue, and they've gone through entire decades of their life without services or resources or things that could have benefited them.
00:29:15.200 --> 00:29:24.240
And that that to me is um a perfect example of why we need to continue to find ways to get awareness of this profession out there to as many folks as possible.
00:29:24.640 --> 00:29:28.480
That and the the profession and also the availability of services.
00:29:28.480 --> 00:29:35.119
So um, master's program for Vogue Rehab, there was a cohort of 20 that year.
00:29:35.119 --> 00:29:44.319
More than five of them have major disabilities of some kind, qualified, and had no idea about Vogue Rehab, and they planned on paying for that degree all by themselves.
00:29:44.319 --> 00:29:47.920
So I was like, oh no, honey, that's not how we do this.
00:29:47.920 --> 00:29:52.240
Look forward to paying it forward later on down the road, but we're gonna get you help.
00:29:52.240 --> 00:29:56.880
Being a resource would have happened anyway, whether I was a CRC or not.
00:29:56.880 --> 00:29:58.319
And it was happening.
00:29:58.319 --> 00:29:59.839
Um, my friends just came.
00:29:59.839 --> 00:30:05.519
Me goo short for Google because if I didn't know it, I looked it up and I found out and we made it work.
00:30:05.519 --> 00:30:06.960
So I am goo.
00:30:06.960 --> 00:30:11.599
But it's so I mean, especially for the people that are, oh, what do I want to do?
00:30:11.599 --> 00:30:12.720
What do I want to do?
00:30:12.720 --> 00:30:14.400
What fires you up?
00:30:14.400 --> 00:30:15.920
What gets you out of bed?
00:30:15.920 --> 00:30:26.000
Because when it is cold and you don't feel well, um the animals still need to eat and you need to still pay rent or mortgage, the light bill.
00:30:26.000 --> 00:30:31.279
We gotta do something that makes us connect with who we are on every level.
00:30:31.279 --> 00:30:42.160
And for me, that's what this field does, because it really does allow me to be present with people who are awesome in their own battles.
00:30:42.160 --> 00:30:43.599
I've yet to meet a quitter.
00:30:43.599 --> 00:30:45.200
I have yet to meet a quitter.
00:30:45.200 --> 00:30:50.640
I've seen people that are tired and burned out, I've seen people that get overwhelmed and make poor decisions.
00:30:50.640 --> 00:30:52.799
They didn't quit, they just ran out of resources.
00:30:52.799 --> 00:30:54.799
They chose the wrong resource at the end.
00:30:55.119 --> 00:31:10.000
I think that I think that's a really impactful thing to kind of sit with to know that for a lot of the folks that you work with, particularly with a lot of your clients being veterans, there's kind of a failure is not an option, a mentality sometimes.
00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:13.920
And there are going to be days, obviously, where you have more of that fight in you than others.
00:31:13.920 --> 00:31:20.400
Like you said, being tired is a very natural thing while you're navigating disability or just being alive in general, right?
00:31:20.400 --> 00:31:31.920
Um and so I would imagine with with the work you do and being someone who naturally gravitated towards helping others, that there's a lot of um fulfillment with specifically working with that veteran community.
00:31:31.920 --> 00:31:42.480
Are there aspects or or um takeaways from working with veterans that you've felt most fulfilled by or that have kind of impacted your outlook on this type of work?
00:31:42.720 --> 00:31:47.279
Um, two things that that come to mind with that.
00:31:47.279 --> 00:31:54.880
Getting people to connect with the idea that you were in perfect health when you entered the service or they would not have accepted you.
00:31:54.880 --> 00:31:58.720
There is a small book on ways to screen you out.
00:31:58.720 --> 00:32:06.000
And to have left the service and have a list of things wrong with you doesn't fly well with me.
00:32:06.000 --> 00:32:14.000
But what really it's my Vietnam era veterans that really have have my heart because I mean, uh it's random.
00:32:14.000 --> 00:32:29.440
Um, when I was very small, there was a TV show called Barney Miller, and an actor, Max Gale, played Wojo Hoets, and Wojo was a Vietnam uh Marine, uh had just come home because you figure the show was set started in 73, right?
00:32:29.440 --> 00:32:34.960
So if you figure they're filming it from 73 to 81, he had just come home.
00:32:34.960 --> 00:32:52.480
Um and he was um he was a peaceful protester as an actor, he still is, but the character was always very hyper aware of chemical exposure, environmental poison, you know, veterans' rights.
00:32:52.480 --> 00:33:08.559
And I'm this teeny kid watching MASH being all about MASH and being all about Woe Jehoas and feeling so passionate, you know, six years old, five years old, however you, you know, ten years old, depending.
00:33:08.559 --> 00:33:12.640
I raise my hand when I'm 11 and what do you want to write your report about?
00:33:12.640 --> 00:33:15.119
The effects of Asian Orange on the Vietnam War.
00:33:15.119 --> 00:33:19.680
Well, I got sent to the principal's office because he thought I was being facetious.
00:33:19.680 --> 00:33:23.200
And I'm crying because why are you here?
00:33:23.200 --> 00:33:24.799
I don't know.
00:33:24.799 --> 00:33:31.680
I want to write a report on the effects of Asian Orange in the Vietnam War.
00:33:31.680 --> 00:33:35.359
Um, so here we are over what, 40 years later?
00:33:35.359 --> 00:33:36.480
30 something?
00:33:36.480 --> 00:33:37.359
40 years later.
00:33:37.359 --> 00:33:38.400
I'm very bad at math.
00:33:38.400 --> 00:33:39.440
We talked about that.
00:33:39.440 --> 00:33:45.440
Um and I'm still doing it because it does matter.
00:33:45.440 --> 00:33:50.559
I currently have an autographed picture of Max Gail on my desk that my husband left her the other day.
00:33:50.559 --> 00:33:55.599
It's because it has been that lifelong thing.
00:33:55.599 --> 00:33:58.000
No, there's no guarantee of anything.
00:33:58.000 --> 00:34:01.920
I can get hit by a Guinness truck as soon as I walk out the front door.
00:34:01.920 --> 00:34:03.440
Wouldn't that be unfortunate?
00:34:03.440 --> 00:34:05.759
And why would a Guinness truck be in Kentucky?
00:34:05.759 --> 00:34:06.720
But anyway.
00:34:06.720 --> 00:34:11.360
But no one knows what's gonna happen.
00:34:11.360 --> 00:34:14.159
I don't know if I'm gonna wake up tomorrow.
00:34:14.159 --> 00:34:18.480
God forbid I wake up and my husband's not waking up next to me.
00:34:18.480 --> 00:34:23.360
Does the time that we've had make a difference in whatever condition we're in?
00:34:23.360 --> 00:34:30.480
I'm cracking jokes in ICU and getting in trouble for it because apparently I coded.
00:34:30.480 --> 00:34:37.440
And the nurse the last thing I clearly remember as I'm fading was she's screaming, we were just laughing.
00:34:37.440 --> 00:34:40.960
And they physically removed her because she was too upset to be there.
00:34:40.960 --> 00:34:42.320
You have to laugh.
00:34:42.320 --> 00:34:49.599
You have to make it at least a little less extreme than it feels to be able to stay centered.
00:34:49.599 --> 00:35:12.159
If the CRCs of the world end up melting down and not taking care of themselves, and the people with disabilities end up melting down and not taking care of themselves, and our veterans come home so turned around that they end up using drugs and end up being in prison and end up being homeless just for the fact that they served and they ended up with enough stuff wrong with them that they ended up on the wrong path.
00:35:12.159 --> 00:35:20.960
If we all keep going down these really weird paths and none of us hold, we're not holding out, you know, we're not giving a handout, we're giving a hand up.
00:35:20.960 --> 00:35:25.519
We have to hold up and hold out hope and be the hope dealers.
00:35:25.840 --> 00:35:28.320
And and we need more hope dealers, right?
00:35:28.320 --> 00:35:34.880
We know, you know, over a quarter of the American population is lives with a disability.
00:35:34.880 --> 00:35:40.239
We know that there are people who, even if they don't understand rehabilitation counseling exists as an option.
00:35:40.239 --> 00:35:48.960
I can't tell you how many of these episodes begin with people being like, well, someone just randomly mentioned rehab counseling as a as a graduate program to me.
00:35:48.960 --> 00:35:50.239
And I said, Oh, that makes sense.
00:35:50.239 --> 00:35:58.159
We know people like yourself gravitate toward professions where they can make a difference, and like you said, use use their time to impact others.
00:35:58.159 --> 00:36:14.480
For folks who are listening to this podcast who might be kind of considering what they might be doing, whether it's their first career, second career, third, fourth, fifth, um, and they're curious about making a difference and they're maybe hearing about rehabilitation counseling for the first time.
00:36:14.480 --> 00:36:20.559
What is it about this work that you think is worth pursuing on a personal level, on a professional level?
00:36:20.559 --> 00:36:26.000
And uh I guess what would you say to folks uh knowing full well we need more CRCs out there?
00:36:26.320 --> 00:36:39.840
When people ask me how how exactly did I get involved, I kind of got involved based on a dare because, like I said, about that uh CRC that I worked with for so long, I had lost my ability to walk, talk, and swallow.
00:36:39.840 --> 00:36:42.159
I had done all kinds of other stuff.
00:36:42.159 --> 00:36:51.679
I was sitting in his office one day because I had finished my uh my bachelor's degree and he leans back in his desk and he kind of puts his feet up on the corner of his desk.
00:36:51.679 --> 00:36:55.199
He goes, So what do you want to do?
00:36:55.199 --> 00:36:56.239
What do you want to be?
00:36:56.239 --> 00:37:02.320
And I looked at him and I kind of leaned back and I said, I want your desk when you retire.
00:37:02.320 --> 00:37:04.559
He's like, What?
00:37:04.559 --> 00:37:05.840
And I said, I want your job.
00:37:05.840 --> 00:37:10.800
I mean, clearly I know how to do your job because we just spent 20 years together.
00:37:10.800 --> 00:37:14.159
I think I figured out what that looks like from both sides.
00:37:14.159 --> 00:37:15.679
And I was kidding.
00:37:15.679 --> 00:37:18.559
Um he says, You want to go to grad school?
00:37:18.559 --> 00:37:20.239
And I said, Do I have to?
00:37:20.239 --> 00:37:22.960
Yeah.
00:37:22.960 --> 00:37:24.960
And I said, I don't know that I can afford that.
00:37:24.960 --> 00:37:26.079
He goes, that wasn't the question.
00:37:26.079 --> 00:37:27.840
Do you want to go to grad school?
00:37:27.840 --> 00:37:30.320
Because you're gonna need your CRC.
00:37:30.320 --> 00:37:40.400
And the fact that I could write well was what kind of clenched the getting permission thing from the powers that be.
00:37:40.400 --> 00:37:48.000
And I made sure that I graduated at the top of my class as a student of the year for the graduate year because it made a difference to other people.
00:37:48.000 --> 00:37:50.400
Um little kids, veterans.
00:37:50.400 --> 00:37:52.159
It's it's an awesome field.
00:37:52.159 --> 00:37:57.519
I enjoy it because you're not trapped in a cubicle unless you choose to be.
00:37:57.519 --> 00:38:03.920
Uh, you are making a difference, even if you do have cubicle walls, you're still making a difference in someone's life.
00:38:03.920 --> 00:38:10.480
You're not a faceless person or a nameless person whose work doesn't matter in the end of the day.
00:38:10.480 --> 00:38:14.559
I've had parents come to me weeping and thanking me.
00:38:14.559 --> 00:38:19.280
And all I did was my job as a state representative for Volk Rehab.
00:38:19.280 --> 00:38:22.960
Um, they had no idea the Volk Rehab was a thing.
00:38:22.960 --> 00:38:32.239
And when their child was born, the doctor had said they're never gonna get to go to college, they're never gonna have a real job, and now they're going to college and they're having real jobs.
00:38:32.239 --> 00:38:34.000
That has nothing to do with me.
00:38:34.000 --> 00:38:37.119
I'm just the person that said this way, you know.
00:38:37.119 --> 00:38:38.880
But we are the people.
00:38:38.880 --> 00:38:42.079
We have to be the ones to put that on blast.
00:38:42.400 --> 00:39:00.239
It it's it it's also probably, you know, a a a fact that if you're gonna go into this field, you are going to have to advocate for people who either don't think they need advocacy or don't think they potentially deserve it, or that they have a a right to seek out these services or something like that.
00:39:00.239 --> 00:39:02.159
Like they uh that's that's spot on.
00:39:02.239 --> 00:39:15.119
It's an even split sometimes between I don't need you, I don't want you, and how dare you say I have a disability, or I'm not worthy of spending the money on, or but the the heartbreaking ones are the ones that just don't know yet that they can.
00:39:15.119 --> 00:39:20.960
And that's my job to convince them not only can they, but they they will if they just do the little baby steps.
00:39:20.960 --> 00:39:22.559
It doesn't have to be all at once.
00:39:22.559 --> 00:39:28.159
I certainly will be the last one to tell you to graduate on time, it's just not gonna happen.
00:39:28.159 --> 00:39:30.000
The the timelines are not realistic.
00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:31.760
It takes what it takes.
00:39:32.079 --> 00:39:32.559
100%.
00:39:32.559 --> 00:39:33.119
Yeah.
00:39:33.119 --> 00:39:38.159
And there's uh I think this is true of anybody, whether they have a disability or not.
00:39:38.159 --> 00:39:46.400
Um, there's so much harm that can be inflicted on oneself if they say, okay, I have to follow this specific path beat for beat.
00:39:46.400 --> 00:39:49.039
And if I don't, I'm somehow behind or failing.
00:39:49.039 --> 00:39:50.079
Oh, I'm a failure.
00:39:50.400 --> 00:39:51.119
Oh yeah.
00:39:51.119 --> 00:39:54.079
I have to be with disponibility that I want to be.
00:39:54.079 --> 00:39:57.360
I mean, it's not about being a nonconformist, it's being true to you.
00:39:57.599 --> 00:40:06.960
And that's why I think it's, you know, there are professions out there that do uh job placement, vocational work that don't have this understanding of disability and counseling.
00:40:06.960 --> 00:40:20.079
And I think having an approach of, okay, I can see that you have this skill or that skill, here's what you should go do, here's what you'd be good at, is so much less effective than what CRCs do by showing up and say, where do you want to be?
00:40:20.079 --> 00:40:21.199
What do you want to do?
00:40:21.199 --> 00:40:26.880
And then having the ability and the knowledge, like you said, to actually get them there and point them in that direction.
00:40:26.880 --> 00:40:30.400
That's not something, and you know, all of these professions are important.
00:40:30.400 --> 00:40:48.559
I'm not trying to demean anybody, but that's that missing link of why CRCs specifically need to be the ones who are working with these folks who, to your point, might have no vision for what could be coming in the future because they're just they're they're seemingly to themselves, they're out of options.
00:40:48.559 --> 00:40:50.480
They're like, I don't know what I could do.
00:40:50.480 --> 00:40:54.880
I don't think I can work, I don't think I could be at a job where I'm happy you're fulfilled.
00:40:54.880 --> 00:41:00.480
And CRCs go, okay, well, here's here's here's the condition you're experiencing and what we know about it.
00:41:00.480 --> 00:41:01.760
What do you want to do?
00:41:01.760 --> 00:41:04.639
Don't tell me what you can't do, tell me what you would like to do.
00:41:04.960 --> 00:41:12.559
For my we've got your six program, part of my tagline is it's for the wars fought at home in the battles we tell no one about, right?
00:41:12.559 --> 00:41:21.119
So for for your to go back to what you just said, it's really by the numbers, right?
00:41:21.119 --> 00:41:25.599
I should be able to do this, this, this, this, and this.
00:41:25.599 --> 00:41:29.280
Oh, I should be a doctor, I should be, you know, blah, blah, blah.
00:41:29.280 --> 00:41:32.719
But acquired disability was never considered.
00:41:32.719 --> 00:41:35.039
My interests were never considered.
00:41:35.039 --> 00:41:43.119
So to be pigeonholed into, well, it says on that on that screening, you're interested in this, and you never ask me.
00:41:43.119 --> 00:41:51.519
You know, in in high school, I was in ROTC until I was diagnosed with MS, and then my recruiter fell off the planet because, of course, they don't want you.
00:41:51.519 --> 00:41:53.119
But now I get it.
00:41:53.119 --> 00:42:00.079
So instead of working as a Marine, I work for the Marine Corps indirectly for that entire time.
00:42:00.079 --> 00:42:03.039
And that's fine because that redirects us.
00:42:03.039 --> 00:42:09.840
None of us are gonna have, like you said, that linear like what are we gonna do to accommodate our own wishes and our own wants and represent.
00:42:09.840 --> 00:42:20.639
And I think as a field, we do a really good job being not only the cheerleaders but the boots on the ground who make sure that people are fully aware of their capabilities, their capacities, and their potential.
00:42:20.639 --> 00:42:26.000
And for as much as I hate the word potential, it is it's that drive and that tenacity.
00:42:26.000 --> 00:42:30.559
That is the one thing with my people, my my clients with disabilities and my veterans that tenacity.
00:42:30.559 --> 00:42:31.679
We do not quit.
00:42:32.639 --> 00:42:33.119
Right.
00:42:33.119 --> 00:42:39.360
There are a lot of folks who want to do um this impactful, important work.
00:42:39.360 --> 00:42:48.880
And one of the areas that I know you're interested in professionally is this kind of concept of leadership and and workplace toxicity.
00:42:48.880 --> 00:43:03.119
And I'm also very interested in how, you know, the environments in which we're in can negatively impact us to the point where some of that potential that you just mentioned uh can feel like it fizzles out because you're not in that environment.
00:43:03.119 --> 00:43:24.639
And, you know, CRCs are asked to handle a lot in the work that they do, and that stress and that workload and all that comes with this important work uh can be exacerbated by leaders or peers who are not supporting them, are not uplifting them, and not being that helpful, you know, neighbor or friend or coworker that they deserve.
00:43:24.639 --> 00:43:47.519
Um, for leadership in particular, what are some of the things that should be the primary focus for anyone in this kind of rehabilitation counseling disability space uh when it comes to maintaining self-care and then also looking out for yourself so you don't lose that passion and you stop and you don't um start to see yourself like lose that spark that you feel for the work you do?
00:43:48.079 --> 00:43:50.159
Art is it's a team effort.
00:43:50.159 --> 00:44:02.800
Um if if we have, you know, my my team when I was with uh California State, I had a coordinator, I had somebody at the front desk, I had more than just me.
00:44:02.800 --> 00:44:16.719
And it was my responsibility as the lead for that subsection to be aware of everyone's, you know, current status, not just on the job, but personally and you know, emotionally, all of that, right?
00:44:16.719 --> 00:44:18.480
Are we getting burnout?
00:44:18.480 --> 00:44:21.119
Are we getting sick from working too much?
00:44:21.119 --> 00:44:26.400
And it's COVID era, which made it even harder because you're supposed to track that from wherever you are.
00:44:26.400 --> 00:44:31.119
Watching the feedback from above and how it affects my team, right?
00:44:31.119 --> 00:44:33.039
Being aware of each other.
00:44:33.039 --> 00:44:36.400
I have a colleague that we would go on walks.
00:44:36.400 --> 00:44:45.039
We would just take 10 minutes and physically leave the building and go walk to the, you know, a good quarter mile each way, a good half mile, just go.
00:44:45.039 --> 00:44:48.239
And that was enough just to go out and not just mentally vomit.
00:44:48.239 --> 00:44:52.239
We would just sometimes not talk about anything, talk about whatever we watched on TV.
00:44:52.239 --> 00:44:54.480
But it was enough to just remember who you are.
00:44:54.480 --> 00:44:58.079
Don't forget that the forms are not the be-all and end all.
00:44:58.079 --> 00:45:00.320
The deadlines are not the be-all and end-all.
00:45:00.320 --> 00:45:08.079
And it's up to us to look out for each other, because some management teams will just step right over your corpse and go hire someone else.
00:45:08.079 --> 00:45:15.599
If you're not in at least somewhat of a positive environment that supports your own self-care, your own ADA rights.
00:45:15.599 --> 00:45:27.519
Um, you know, if you're not getting the accommodations, if you are not being paid what you're worth, in that you are a bilingual counselor and you're not being paid bilingual pay, have that discussion.
00:45:27.519 --> 00:45:31.840
If they're not willing to lift you up as the prize that you are, get to walking.
00:45:31.840 --> 00:45:36.960
Because that's a valuable asset that prints.
00:45:36.960 --> 00:45:39.840
And I see too many people go, oh, but I have a job.
00:45:39.840 --> 00:45:40.800
Yeah, okay.
00:45:40.800 --> 00:45:43.599
Talk louder until you get the respect.
00:45:43.599 --> 00:45:47.840
And really, it's the same thing with advocating for our rights as people with disabilities.
00:45:47.840 --> 00:45:51.840
If you are a bilingual employee and you're not getting bilingual pay, talk louder.
00:45:52.159 --> 00:45:59.760
Yeah, speaking, speaking to your own value seems sometimes to be harder than speaking for someone else's value, right?
00:45:59.760 --> 00:46:00.960
Because we know every day.
00:46:00.960 --> 00:46:02.480
Yeah, right.
00:46:02.480 --> 00:46:18.239
And I would imagine as uh as uh certified rehabilitation counselors, it might come more naturally to advocate for your clients than it would for yourself, just because you're always thinking, what can I do to support the clients I'm working with and the people who need my services?
00:46:18.239 --> 00:46:34.960
And um, self-care isn't just like you said, it it's taking those walks, it's taking those braids, it's giving yourself that humanity and that space to breathe that you need, but it's also self-care to say I have a skill set and a knowledge that is worth what it's worth.
00:46:34.960 --> 00:46:39.280
And if people aren't seeing that worth, then you have to show them that worth, right?
00:46:39.440 --> 00:46:44.960
Um they were hiring people from the post office, not to dismiss the people from the post office.
00:46:45.199 --> 00:46:45.360
Sure.
00:46:45.599 --> 00:46:47.119
I love my postal workers.
00:46:47.119 --> 00:46:49.360
They're they're the elves, they truly are.
00:46:49.360 --> 00:46:51.440
Without them, there are no holidays.
00:46:51.440 --> 00:46:56.719
But I have my CRC, I have a master's degree, I have background in what we're doing.
00:46:56.719 --> 00:47:08.159
The person next to me is actually getting paid more than I am because they've been there six months longer than I have, and they worked with the post office before graduating or after graduating high school.
00:47:08.159 --> 00:47:09.679
That's the big background.
00:47:09.679 --> 00:47:21.280
So is it my fault for not stepping up and saying, hey, um, thought the requirement was, or do I just look for someone where there's or somewhere where there's more value?
00:47:21.280 --> 00:47:32.000
Pay attention to really what's going on because who's pulling that weight in that end would be I'm the one they're coming to to get the real feedback of what they're supposed to do in that situation.
00:47:32.000 --> 00:47:41.360
Just pay attention to your own health and your own well-being, but also surround yourself with close enough friends that will call you on your BS when you're not doing that.
00:47:41.599 --> 00:47:41.840
Yeah.
00:47:41.840 --> 00:47:44.880
I mean, I think it's it's impossible to be perfect all the time, right?
00:47:44.880 --> 00:47:46.800
And I think it's good to have people around you who are.
00:47:48.400 --> 00:47:50.719
We're just totally oblivious to it.
00:47:50.719 --> 00:48:03.119
Um, I have friends from my graduate cohort that we all feed off of each other in that we will call each other and check in and then just be like, hey, what about this opportunity for you?
00:48:03.119 --> 00:48:04.960
Or what about this accommodation for you?
00:48:04.960 --> 00:48:05.920
Would that help?
00:48:05.920 --> 00:48:07.679
Because we're not seeing it for ourselves.
00:48:07.679 --> 00:48:13.679
That and in the last 10 years, the accommodations are automatic now on our cell phones.
00:48:13.679 --> 00:48:19.920
It used to be a thing that you needed approval for to do speech to text and to do you know any of that.
00:48:19.920 --> 00:48:21.760
And now it's just everywhere.
00:48:21.760 --> 00:48:24.239
The school's providing it for everyone.
00:48:25.440 --> 00:48:25.760
Okay.
00:48:26.480 --> 00:48:32.960
Yeah, all the dinosaurs that have been around since be before the ADA passed, um, it's a big deal.
00:48:32.960 --> 00:48:33.840
It's pretty cool.
00:48:34.079 --> 00:48:34.400
Yeah.
00:48:34.400 --> 00:48:34.880
Yeah.
00:48:34.880 --> 00:48:40.800
Like what like we touched on earlier, it's not always gonna be every step you take, isn't always gonna be forward.
00:48:40.800 --> 00:48:44.960
And we know that there's so much more advocacy that needs to happen for people with disabilities.
00:48:44.960 --> 00:49:00.320
But see seeing that kind of change and just how some certain assistive technologies and things like that are more integrated into everyday life and the technology we use, those are those signs where it's like, okay, we're we're we're moving forward, even if it's not every single step, right?
00:49:00.320 --> 00:49:06.639
Um, and then, you know, motivation to keep pushing for those things to become even more and more commonplace for people.
00:49:06.960 --> 00:49:10.400
And to just be aware of opportunities.
00:49:10.400 --> 00:49:15.920
If you don't know, just chat GPT or just ask somebody or just be willing to be open.
00:49:15.920 --> 00:49:28.320
That's part of what the We've Got Your Six program talks about as well is you know, buddy up with someone, tag team, because my interest in your issues may be a lot deeper than my interest in my own sometime.
00:49:28.320 --> 00:49:34.239
I know I'll fight a bear for you, but if the bear comes after me, I'll be like, I yeah.
00:49:36.239 --> 00:49:40.480
Yeah, I I I give way better advice to others than I take for myself.
00:49:40.480 --> 00:49:42.960
So, um, and I think that's most of us, right?
00:49:42.960 --> 00:50:00.079
We've touched on so many different things, you know, the the positive aspects of this work and you know, the uh the impact, but also some of the um more serious things that need focus too, because we know that stress and anxiety and everything that's related to work does occur, and you know, mitigating those things is so important.
00:50:00.079 --> 00:50:09.440
Uh, we like to always end these podcast episodes on a similar note, um, talking about, you know, the way that this work is very much a calling for people.
00:50:09.440 --> 00:50:15.519
And I'm curious what brings you joy in the work that you do as a CRC?
00:50:15.760 --> 00:50:16.880
The aha moment.
00:50:16.880 --> 00:50:27.920
The aha moment of whether it's a family member, whether it's a kid that believes the bullies until we sit down.
00:50:27.920 --> 00:50:48.159
Um, if if it takes me risking telling my story and really getting into the weeds of it to let somebody see that success can happen, that that we grow up, that we become empowered, that dreams come true, the aha moment makes it all worthwhile.
00:50:48.159 --> 00:50:50.400
You know, and that's been the greatest blessing.
00:50:50.400 --> 00:50:54.800
It doesn't matter if it's a veteran or a widow or a little kid.
00:50:54.800 --> 00:51:05.199
Um you know, when I tell people that Darth Vader, James Earl Jones, stuttered until the day he died, a severe stutter.
00:51:05.199 --> 00:51:10.320
And the reason he enunciated, and I explained that whole story behind that.
00:51:10.320 --> 00:51:15.679
And then I tell them that oh, you're too young for this reference, I'll have to find new ones.
00:51:15.679 --> 00:51:18.159
But you know, the Fonz is dyslexic.
00:51:18.159 --> 00:51:26.880
You know, all these people, and you start talking about the people in recovery and the people see now this generation has is it's less shameful to talk about any of it.
00:51:26.880 --> 00:51:33.280
But back in the day, it was it was it was newsworthy if anybody had anything wrong with them that they admitted to.
00:51:33.280 --> 00:51:35.920
So I I look at that and I go, okay, what does it?
00:51:35.920 --> 00:51:47.360
It's the aha moment that by the time you get to B50, you're gonna know exactly who you are, and you're gonna either be just fine with it, and it's much more fun to be just fine with it.
00:51:47.360 --> 00:51:54.480
I don't I don't even to me, it doesn't matter as MS and TBI and all this stuff is all gonna be progressive.
00:51:54.480 --> 00:51:58.000
Um, where you are is where you are sometimes.
00:51:58.000 --> 00:51:59.199
Make it fun.
00:51:59.199 --> 00:52:01.840
So it doesn't all have to be you know doom and gloom.
00:52:01.840 --> 00:52:05.920
It's uh we it's definitely the aha moments.
00:52:09.920 --> 00:52:16.000
A huge thank you to Julianne for an excellent conversation on this episode of Inside Rehabilitation Counseling.
00:52:16.000 --> 00:52:24.159
If you have any comments or insights to share about today's topic, you can email us at contact us at crccertification.com.
00:52:24.159 --> 00:52:30.320
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00:52:30.320 --> 00:52:39.119
Like, subscribe, and rate the show on your favorite podcast platform, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you're listening to us today.
00:52:39.119 --> 00:52:48.480
If you have an idea for a future episode of the show, or you want to come on and tell us about the work you do as a certified rehabilitation counselor, we'd love for you to get in touch.
00:52:48.480 --> 00:52:51.679
Thanks for listening to Inside Rehabilitation Counseling.
00:52:51.679 --> 00:52:55.599
I'm CRCC, Director of Communications and Marketing, Taylor Bauer.
00:52:55.599 --> 00:52:56.639
Take care.