Frontiers Friday #93. Random Currents– A Call to Community ⭕
Frontiers Friday #93. Random Currents: A Call to Community
(We pause from our usual Frontiers Friday program this week.)
My clinical supervisor asked if I was homesick.
I wasn't.
But she was on to something that led me to an unexpected place.
I have been living in Australia for about 12 years. Plus, I haven't seen my folks since the pandemic reigned down on us.
Even though I'm not homesick, my supervisor saw something in me that I had been yearning for: A community.
I found myself unexpectedly in tears.
This hasn't got to do with being an Asian minority in Western lands, nor is it about having friends and colleagues. I have a few good friends here, and besides, I am part of a group private practice.
Others asked me to join this committee or that. Because there's often a goal, an agenda or an aim to these professional clubhouses, I find myself reluctant. (Or maybe I should?)
Maybe because I really miss the band that I was in for about 2 decades. Or maybe because when I started out as a youth worker, I was part of a religious community that had a profound impact on me, and I missed that sense of camaraderie.
I long for a community of truth-sharing. No goal, no agenda, no aim to pursue. Nothing to impress upon. Just for its own sake; to invite an exchange of the soulful parts of ourselves with each other.
Do you want this?
If you do, I'm trying to conjure up a way that we can connect, maybe on a small group level, quarterly or monthly basis.
Hit reply if you are interested. Note: Again, there is no agenda about this. It's not about deliberate practice, FIT, or any other stuff. Just to walk with each other as folks in the healing profession, where profession-hood meets person-hood.
Some of the best conversations I've had were when I can hear myself clearly. When I am received by the other, I am invited for more of me to come out and play. My hope is that such a community might help you and me to experience more of that.
Thanks Juliana, for listening to me into speech.
P.S.
1. My friend Steve Carroll is looking for therapists who are ignited by deliberate practice to join his private practice in Geelong, VIC, Aus.
2. My other pal, Duane Smith is also inviting psychologists to join the team where I practice in WA, Aus. Drop me an email if you are interested.
Reflection:
The greater the cup, the more to replenish.
BIG HUGS TO NEW PEOPLE WHO ARE AT THEIR FRONTIER!
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