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This work is a narrative of personal experiences, thoughts and understandings that occurred while the author was a graduate student in counselling psychology. What the author came to understand about both the art of counselling and being an individual in pain is explored. While learning to become a counsellor, the author experienced the significant life event of going through a divorce. In this work the author explores the influences, connections and insights that she experienced and attempts to connect how her struggles with instability and her shift toward a more grounded perspective were shaped by both the academic and practical content of the graduate studies program she was attending. The experience of this personal distress is presented over the time frame of three seasons, combining both an individual process of therapeutic writing with an attempt to connect the outer world of academic learning with the inner world of being human.

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Karla Florian, B.A. (Child and Youth Care), currently completing an M.A. in Counselling Psychology at City University of Seattle (Vancouver, B.C.), Early Primary teacher

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