Theology, Psychology, and My Life I don’t think I’ve ever outlined how I came into the therapy field on this app, but I feel like writing today, so here we go. I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I finished high school, and so I entered community college in my town. I made friends with some dudes at church who had just finished college and moved back, and they took me into their group. They ended up sort of tricking me into being the volunteer leader of the college ministry because they knew they might move onto other jobs, and I loved it so much I decided I wanted to go that direction in a career. The university they had come from had bachelors programs in ministry, and I thought that would be a perfect avenue. In that stage of my education, I came to believe that because God created everyone knowing every shortcoming they would embody and enact, that each person (regardless of race, sex, caste, etc.) has inherent worth that no person can diminish. This was proven 1000x over through Jesus’ sacrifice. About a semester and a half before graduation from my bachelors, I was in a Pastoral Counseling class, and there was a tragedy at the professor’s church in which a child died. This petrified me as someone who came from a very low conflict/conflict avoidant family. I said to myself, “I’m certainly going to need to be able to companion somebody in a situation like that, but I have no idea how to do that.” I was afraid I wouldn’t know what to say, or that I would say the wrong thing with good intent. I saw the way my professor was talking about his companionship with the family through their loss, and thinking “how does he look so calm?” He was an LPC, and I drew the conclusion that if I pursued training in therapy, it might give me the ability to better serve suffering people as a minister. Upstairs in the same college, I found a Marriage and Family Therapy program. I had no idea about the background of that field or of General Systems Theory, but other than being married to my wife and starting my family, this was one of the greatest decisions of my life. Right up until the end of my masters program, I was still planning on entering ministry, but I started to realize that the opportunity to participate in “God’s plan to restore all of creation into full relationship with himself” via the constant service of aiding the reconciliation of relationships was itself a beautiful ministry (Rom. 8: 18-21). I decided to give it a go. I went from being someone who was afraid to companion people in bereavement, to becoming a suicide crisis intervention worker for my first job. I’m proud to say I had a higher rate of helping patients find avenues other than hospitalization in that role. I credit my great training for that. My second professional role was two years as a hospice chaplain. I met so many amazing people, and found that helping people to find dignity at the end of life, or to reconnect with dignity which is already there, is one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done. I’ve continued on in other roles since then, but I love how beautifully God’s plan for reconciliation and the practice of really good therapy work together to bring peace to individuals, families, and even organizations. I hope I can do this for my whole life.

I would’ve picked Helm’s Deep or Pellenor Fields, but Hogwarts works too I suppose. 😂

The neuroscientists *do* say that intuitive responses are on target about 85% of the time for the average person.

Going Live today at 3pm PST on YooToob. Link in bio. A few hot takes incoming. Especially on why therapy or treatment does not “work.” Hope to see @SystemicTexism @Careerflex @RyanMalphrus @DFMagee and others there!

Carefully considered and articulated clarifying communication be like:

Whatever you’re doing, it’s worth it to stop for a minute and read this:

If you work anywhere in the child welfare or protection sphere, and that includes you therapists out there, you ought to be following @bx_on_x. She’s on the front lines of protecting children, and is shining a light on the individuals and organizations seeking to exploit children, and the corporations, apps, and sites enabling them.

Roblox's complicity towards their massive child predator problem is criminal. Not only are they fighting like hell to keep over 150 child predator lawsuits in arbitration, they are now eliminating global user IDs, which is one of the only ways we can track predators and criminal networks throughout Roblox. This will massively stunt the success of investigators who hunt child predators on Roblox, and I suspect they know that. It also prevents developers from creating ban lists and keeping known predators out of their games. Roblox doesn't care about the safety of your kids. Keep them off!

New strange twist in the case of the two teen girls who were caught plotting a classmate's murder in the honor of Adam Lanza. The girls both had accounts on X and other platforms indicating their connection to harmful online groups that intersect with "Com".

roblox just added an update that’s going to get thousands of kids groomed. unbelievable

Average Boys Night: Halo 2 Dual Wield Edition

What does your "trans" kid have in common with a hermit crab — and how do you get them to come out of their shell? In this week's solo episode I share observations from my work coaching hundreds of parents of ROGD kids while their identities are under construction.

Cling to what is old, abandon what is new, says @realsamlax

Ethical AI Use Case Idea: Teach students and job applicants to create an AI tutor to: 1) Coach them in writing high-quality personal responses to application or interview questions via guiding questions. 2) Simulate a job interview by supplying it questions and asking it to generate additional questions.

This is a sexual assault—unknowingly captured by a mom filming her daughter’s wrestling match. Kallie didn’t know her opponent was male. But she knew something was very wrong. Today @ADFLegal helped Kallie sue the WA officials who placed gender ideology above her safety. 🧵⬇️

There can be a big difference between perception of safety and actual safety. There can be a big difference between perceived harm and actual harm.

For more probably correct takes visit my channel. Link in bio.