Below is a description of my job, using the only the thousand most common words in English. I used the Up-Goer Five Text Editor, and saw this via ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
nanila, who wrote about being a super cool spacecraft engineer!
Words I could not use: therapy, behaviour, feelings, emotions, shame, test, diagnosis, assessment.
nanila, who wrote about being a super cool spacecraft engineer!People come to talk to me about their problems. They could be grown-ups or children. They could be feeling all kinds of things: sad, worried, angry, confused, hurt, or bad. They might have problems with their family, friends, and work. I listen to them a lot. I ask them questions about themselves, like how long they have had their problem, what they do about it, their situation, their family, and the things they did in the past. We work together to change the way they feel by changing the way they see and do things in their life. They might go home and try to think and do new things, and then they come back to tell me how it went.
Sometimes we laugh about the things we talk about, sometimes it is hard work to talk, and sometimes there are tears. I help people feel the hurts they were not allowed to feel before, and when this comes out people feel much better over time. I help them tell their stories to help the pain go away.
I have learned how to give a name to the set of things that people are thinking and doing when they don't feel good -- and this is usually a name that makes sense to doctors and other people who could help them. Some people like to know the name as it helps them feel less alone and that their problems were real after all, and some people don't like to know because they think it might make other people think worse of them. The name doesn't really matter though; what matters is that they are hurting somewhere and they want it to stop. Sometimes I get people to answer questions or do some games so I can see what they might have trouble doing in their life. Once we know the bits they have trouble with, we can come up with ways to do things better and to feel better.
I work in a place that lets people talk to me for free. I think this is important because getting this sort of help should not be just for people who can pay for it. Doing this job is hard work because I have to think on my feet a lot, and people often have very sad stories that leave my heart hurting. But this work makes people feel good, and that makes me feel warm and full of hope.
Words I could not use: therapy, behaviour, feelings, emotions, shame, test, diagnosis, assessment.
