Working to get all things established for Private Practice out of Oregon - with ability to see clients in any U.S. State.
Quite a few things with Oregon State LLC we've established, (4U, LLC), taxable stuff, banking accounts, insurance, website(s) with domain based email.
Thus far:
www.peaceandflourishing.com ("up" though new pics and graphic/logo in process)
~ marty
A multi-state teletherapy practice with Marty Alan Michelson will exist.
I feel like I have to be making progress on some task, and usually some tasks, everyday.
I'm not good at relaxing.
Late Summer and Fall 2020 involved quite a bit of re-orientation to new work as Clinical Mental Health Counselor. From diagnosis to billing insurance for mental health assessments, there was much to engage.
October 2020 - I "moved" from Oklahoma to Oregon and have been serving as pastor to the Eugene, Oregon Fairfield Church of the Nazarene. (Links to Sunday Sermons their youtube site here, toggle to November 2020 to January 2021 for what I shared.)
January 2021: I passed the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) National Counselors Exam (NCE) and created a video to help others succeed in passing the NCE.
I've been hiking or skiing in the Oregon Cascades at least one day per week - or - one day per week at the Oregon Coast. I love, love Oregon. I've helped many persons in various issues personally or in projects in the past week - from chopping wood to serving the homeless.
Life's curious. Even in "my happy place" in Oregon and with emerging professional achievements, I still don't feel like I accomplish enough most days. And, there are many days where loneliness is clearly present in my existential awareness.
Alas.
Life.
Meaningless, meaningless . . . everything is meaningless.
Most urgently, I miss my wife and her dog, Lulu (Punky-Diddle).
SARS-CoV-2 and the way humans are freely offering their bodies as carriers for SARS-CoV-2 to mutate to infect more people, is distressing. The last months of 2020 and first month of 2021 in American non-bi-partisian-ship and disruptions have been distressing.
Meaningless, meaningless . . . everything is meaningless.
In my early 20s, I distinctly remember a conversation with another Graduate student about one aspect of his childhood. While we lived in California, he narrated growing up in Oklahoma for a portion of his childhood, and as one of the few facts he cited, he shared the fear he had of the Tornado Sirens that would blast their warning.
Having grown up in Oregon, with no fears of any inevitable cataclysm, I remember thinking how sad it was to grow up afraid.
Ironically, as I would end up teaching in Oklahoma for over 20 years, each of our children would grow up with this same fear - the T.V. New Anchors are famous in Oklahoma - sadly, like local celebrities "We'll keep you informed" - as they tell people to "Take Shelter Now" as tornadoes approach. It is genuinely scary for children. I am certain it instills trauma in some. And, for those who experience a tornado that ruptures homes, it disrupts everything and kills.
For my part, I never told my kids when Tornados were active - - except when they could see the obvious disruption in stark weather out the window. I prepared the house and readied our items for Tornado precautions (basement, etc), - I stayed alert to the news and tracking, though I did my best to insure our children did not experience every storm event as a trauma/tornado event. And, most threats of tornados did not produce a tornado, and even when tornados were "on the ground," they only impacted small areas/acreages of impact. [Of course, where a tornados hits, even a few acres - it causes massive, immediate chaos.]
While I understand that people "need" to live in Oklahoma, and natural tragedies can come in many forms any place on every continent, I wish Trauma could be mitigated or avoided.
The current situation of SARS-CoV-2 seems, to me, to be a wide-scale, across every county and every State in America "tornado" of sorts. I fear that *across* America the poor posture of "dealing with" SARS-CoV-2 and how it has been presented to children, now being forced back to school, only to be going home soon and/or to be facing rolling quarantines, is causing trauma to millions of children. Granted, some things must be done to mitigate the spread of SARS-CoV-2. [ I have been for the successful New Zealand, sensible, calm, scientific, full-lock-down, engaged approach of the populace, myself!]
I am certain not enough people are considering the long-term, life-long trauma for social factors and relationships and human development that is *right now* impacting children - and will shape them for their entire life's journey.
It makes me sad that adults, leaders, humans with maturity - have chosen to not be more wise, caring, sensible, and compassionate to all children and all living beings.
"More than 140,000 Americans have already died from the coronavirus, meaning that in the span of six and a half months, SARS-CoV-2 has killed more people than the number of Americans who die each year from opioid overdose (46,000), traffic accidents (36,500), and gun violence (40,000) combined."
"The COVID-19 pandemic isn't subsiding in the U.S., with more than 70,000 new cases per day as of July 15."
