"Ms. Tiffany, I'm gonna pray for you..."

Monday mornings in inpatient rehab are usually a bit dramatic. There is not as much structure over the weekend and so the ladies can get a little bit lazy/crazy. There are usually a couple of incidents between the girls that carries some drama into the week. Some of the ladies get passes to spend half a day off campus with their baby daddy or their imbalanced family and that can cause some emotional mood swings when they come back. So needless to say, when I walked in the door this morning the energy in the room was not ideal. Clients approaching me on my way to the office asking if they can to upstairs and get their jacket; a line of people outside the tech office waiting for the answer to some question they must have the answer to immediately; a client telling me that there are alot of new clients and asking me if she has to share me with any of them. ughh. So one of the many crazed women wondering around takes me by the wrist and says, "Ms. Tiffany, we were talking about you this weekend and I have to ask you something. Let's go in your office." At this point I'm afraid of what this woman is about to ask me. She goes in and points to my license on the wall and says, "What did you have to do to get this right here?" I told her that was just my license to be a Licensed Professional Counselor Intern. She said, "But what are these letters right here?" pointing to the M.A. I explained that it meant I got my Masters degree in counseling. She goes, "Yeah, so you had alot of schoolin' for this. Like how long?" I told her 7 years. She asked how many diplomas I have. I told her that including my high school diploma, 3. She was dumbfounded. She said, "Ms. Tiffany you are the genius around here. You mean to tell me Ms. Tiffany that you have all this schoolin' and you're working here with us!??! Ms. Tiffany I'm gonna pray for you to get a better job because I know you're not making that much mondy working here with us." You see, some clients had been asking if I was an LCDC last week and I attempted to explain that my license was very different...but it's hard to explain to women who have probably never seen a 10th grade classroom. The truth is that many people working in substance abuse counseling do not have adequate education or clinical experience. Their passion and life experience can often times make up for this, but sometimes it's lacking. The clients have already noticed the difference. I was really taken aback by this lady's concern for me and for her encouragement. I explained to her how much I really loved what I did and that all the "scoolin" is worth it to be able to model health and be an effective counselor to them. I explained how my job was to serve them and how much I really cared for them and their success. I told her there was no need to pray for me to get a new job b/c I'm exactly where I should be, but she could pray in thanks...and that I was always praying for them. The whole experience just rocked my day. Especially considering that 5 minutes later I got 4 new clients that made my day 4x crazier. And don't forget the Monday drama that just is. So after I got left work about 2 hours later then I usually do, I went home and now have a taco/margarita meal in my belly and I'm laying around with my hubby. Life is good. And I'm blessed to be a part of something that is bigger than myself.