Fall quarter is ending, and I am happy to be back on the blog after a long break. Over the past few months, I have been enrolled in Couples Counseling and Practicum. Now that I am seeing clients, my questions inside and outside the classroom have become much more specific. Instead of wondering how a theoretical model works, I am thinking about real people, real dynamics, and the challenges I face in session, as well as how I can apply what I am learning in class to these situations. That shift has changed how these courses landed for me.
In Couples Counseling, I found myself responding to the class differently than I might have a year ago. I often wished the class were more hands-on because my immediate needs were more concrete: What do I do when this particular couple becomes stuck? How do I handle a dynamic that doesn’t fit neatly into what I have learned so far? Those answers, of course, came more fully through supervision. The contrast made it clear that my learning has shifted because my needs have shifted.
Practicum included a weekly class and the actual counseling work through which I saw clients. I will write more about that next week. The Practicum class brought another layer of adjustment. In previous quarters, our cohort moved through the program together as a group of people I had come to trust, rely on, and grow with. This quarter, though, we were split into new groups, and that felt disorienting. Not because I hadn’t taken a class outside my cohort, but because Practicum requires a level of vulnerability that is hard to replicate outside a familiar circle. We are asked to share our areas for growth, our doubts, our mistakes, and materials from our sessions. Doing that with people I had never met before felt uncomfortable. Not unsafe, but unfamiliar enough. I didn’t realize how much I had relied on the support of my original cohort until I didn’t have it in the same way.
Learning isn’t static. It changes as we change. Earlier in the program, I needed structure and theory. Now, I need guidance that connects directly to the work I am doing in real time. I am also noticing that being a student feels different when the finish line is finally in sight. This is quarter nine out of eleven. The end of the program is close enough that I can picture it, but not so close that I can relax just yet. Before I get there, two internship-heavy quarters await.
So, I am in a transition period, somewhere between student and emerging clinician. The shift requires a different way of learning, a different kind of presence in class, and a willingness to adapt to the discomfort of change. It wasn’t my most academically satisfying quarter, but it was one of my most defining professionally. I can feel myself stepping into the next phase of this journey, and while it is challenging at times, it is also exactly where I need to be.
I will see you next week!
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Roque Neto 