My twenty plus years being involved with conferences for professionals and the general public has kept me alert to emerging treatment practices. I have made over 50 presentations at regional, national, and international conferences for professionals. These presentations include light hearted approaches to serious issues like "DeSpooking- The treatment of Anxiety" to serious explorations of emerging ideas as in "Holism, Connecting Self with self and Other with other". My volunteer work in planning conferences brought me into contact with a wide variety of keynote speakers which broadened my understanding of the variety of treatment possibilities.
While I was being trained in clinical education for pastors I began to hear each student reporting dialogues with clients that reflected the belief system of the student. I conducted a session where all the students wrote the dialogue they heard from two people. The dialogue was also recorded. When the dialogues written by the students were compared with the recording it was clear that each student remembers the parts of the dialogue that fit his beliefs. Since then I have made a concerted effort to find ways to minimize therapist bias that start with knowing ones own positions and includes gathering repeated examples before suggesting something is significant, and stressing the importance of the client being involved in the verification of issues in therapy.
Work experiences have included a broad range of clients from back ward hospitalized mentally ill, to church clinics, to physically and sexually abused children, as well as the upward mobile people who currently seek counseling from me. I have been a consultant on group work, case supervision, personal growth, and organizational issues to hospitals, children's agencies, law enforcement organizations and mental health agencies. In each instance my understanding and skill increases.