About a month ago, I got a call from a young woman named Pearl asking if she could volunteer at Pear Tree. She explained that she was studying psychology and wanted to get to know more about being a therapist. As we spoke, I racked my brain for things that Pearl could do to help out that would also have some value to her (or at least wouldn’t be pure drudgery).
Because confidentiality is king and since Pear Tree is such a small organization, there isn’t much for a non-therapist to do around here. (Obviously, anything to do with clients stays with me and my filing cabinet!)
Luckily…
Luckily we had two things going for us, Pearl and I. The first was that I’d just gotten in new Pear Tree brochures. So I figured that if she had some spare time, she could head out and deliver those on a sunny day. This isn’t ideal and wouldn’t teach her much about counselling, but it’s not a bad way to spend an hour on a sunny October afternoon.
The second, better, thing is that she can help me source content that would be meaningful and helpful to our community. So far she’s found some quality articles on relationships and parenting for me to post in the near future. It’s great to have another pair of eyes on this, and to have a different perspective always helps, too.
This will save me some time, energy, and help me spend more time on writing original content for the blog.
My Gratitude
Thank you Pearl for the generous offer to volunteer. I also appreciate the questions you ask and how you listen. In the stories you tell me and questions you ask, you project a willingness to meet people where they are while to being yourself wherever you happen to be.
Those are two of the most valuable skills a human being can have. It’s great to have you at Pear Tree.