TPC-Journal-V4-Issue4

The Professional Counselor \Volume 4, Issue 4 407 responsibilities, working in a variety of different settings, and driving long distances. For example, The Pastor’s Wife explained her struggle with flexibility when she is in a town only once a week: “Scheduling is hard. . . . And so if a kid can only be seen after school . . . at a certain time . . . I’m only in [town] one day a week. That’s a challenge.” Super Nanny explained driving as part of rural life: “I mean, where I grew up, you just have to drive everywhere. To get groceries, to get a job, you have to drive at least half an hour.” For this participant, it was therefore not challenging to commute: “It’s about an hour drive from my home to visit with my supervisor.” Putting Out Fires, on the other hand, described struggles with driving: “The hardest part for me is the drive. I drive 45 minutes one way. I just hate that. For me, that’s the most frustrating.” The Pastor’s Wife had a different problem with driving: “The thing that gets me . . . is cost. . . . It costs a lot for travel. . . . With budget cuts, they cut back on that kind of stuff. So, to get creative, [I] carpool to different trainings.” To help close the distance typically found in rural areas, participants met with clientele in a variety of untraditional settings to lessen the physical gap between counselors’ offices and clients’ homes. Settings included town libraries, churches, schools and funeral homes. Putting Out Fires candidly remarked, “I even go to their work. It’s approved by their boss that I meet them. I do that every week.” Even in her office space located in a church, All Things Rural must be flexible with the comings and goings of congregation members. We’re very respectful of the church people and they are very respectful of us. If they know we have something going on, they stay away. Like [if] we have someone in the family room, they’ll go somewhere else. It’s wonderful. In addition to juggling different settings, participants juggled many roles in their positions as well. Whether it was the role of teacher, case manager, secretary, grant writer, administrator, supervisor or advocate, all four participants acknowledged that an essential part of being a rural counselor entailed wearing many hats. All Things Rural commented, “So, we do everything: phones, insurance, make our own appointments, case notes. We make our own grants. It is very all encompassing.” Similarly, Putting Out Fires admitted, “I do trainings with the pre-natal classes. . . . I do a lot of community activities. I do a lot of prevention. [When] they have community activities, like National AIDS Awareness Day, we’ll have a booth.” Of course, Super Nanny described her teaching responsibilities accordingly: “I do a lot of Super Nanny type stuff . . . a lot of hands on, experiential, teaching type stuff. Like taking advantage of teachable moments. So I’m teaching.” Flexibility also resulted in fewer people doing more jobs in the community as a whole. For example, doubling of other roles also occurred. All Things Rural explained, “The church secretary also double-times as our treasurer.” Putting Out Fires echoed a similar example: “They were without a social worker for a while. So they had a nurse trying.” And if roles are not filled, then it is the community that must go without. Resources Another dominant theme was resources in rural communities. All Things Rural described the affordability of counseling for community members: “We can see people who for any reason aren’t having their mental health or counseling needs met, we never refuse anyone for inability to pay.” Putting Out Fires mentioned the availability of transportation for clients: “I really do not have very many no-shows because we provide transportation. So we even go to the houses and pick them up.” For those individuals initiating services, culturally diverse staff is available, according to Super Nanny: At the agency that I work, they have at least two licensed therapists that, one of them is actually from Somalia and the other one is kind of like an expert in that area . . . really knows a lot of the culture