Our hope at 西雅图学派 is to be led by our alumni and their stories—how they embody text, 灵魂, 以及他们所服务的人群和社区的文化. Dr. 克里斯蒂·威廉姆斯, MACP ' 05在黄金城集团的校友中一直是一个令人难以置信的领导者, 黄金城集团校友社区的校友顾问和盟友团队. She is full-time 教师 at Walden University in the Clinical Mental Health Department as well as in an affiliate at Northwest Family Life 学习ing and Counseling Center. 在这反思中, Kristie describes how her personal experience and her time at 西雅图学派 helped guide her outside-the-box journey into a career focused on social justice. 对于在读学生, she shares her advice on how to know when to take the leap and explore new paths for personal and vocational growth.
I graduated from the Seattle School, known as Mars Hill at the time, back in 2005. 为了离家人更近一点，我回到了俄亥俄州. 我本希望回国后不久就能在俄亥俄州参加驾照考试, but soon found out that state requirements would require me to take additional coursework to do so, 我心碎了. 结果是, I worked for a few years as both a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor and a Case Manager for a local Psychiatrist. I also began to volunteer for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), and became a Group Instructor and eventually a National Facilitator training new instructors. Serving and working with clients and their families in a teaching and mentoring role reminded me how I truly wanted to utilize my Counseling degree. 结果，我考上了一个博士.D. program at the University of Akron to earn my Doctorate in Counselor Education and Supervision.
Recognizing the competitive nature of gaining a Graduate Assistantship within the Counseling Program. 我知道我需要跳出思维定势. 作为个案经理, I recalled attending a meeting in support of one of my clients who required accommodations in college based on a diagnosis he was managing. This meeting happened to be in the Office of Accessibility at the same college I’d been accepted for the doctoral program. Remembering how kind and attentive the person conducting the intake was, 我心里想, 如果能以同样的方式为学生服务，那就太好了. So, I wrote a letter of interest and submitted it with a resume to the office to see if they accepted graduate assistants. 在与主管面谈之后, 有人问我, 如果获得了GA职位, 我愿意处理这么多案子吗? 这开始了我的旅程. 我在大学的时候, 我从研究生助理做起, but was later promoted to Disability Specialist and ultimately Director. I truly felt honored to have been given the opportunity to work not only at the institution but also with NAMI because it allowed me to work with students, 退伍军人, 父母, 教师, 和工作人员. 这也给了我一个机会，不仅仅是咨询, but to teach which is something I absolutely love and am extremely passionate about.
我一直热爱学习和教育. It is something I’ve always felt is a tool and an answer to almost every concern. Yet I realize you have to be open to enlarge your territory and to recognize that you can always learn something new. 从我的博士毕业后.D. program, I sought out and applied for a fellowship opportunity and was accepted at Ursuline College. There I was given the opportunity to teach a number of classes including a class on Diversity and Community. 这门课程重新点燃了另一种激情, 那就是为种族问题的坦诚对话创造空间, 股本, 包容, 以及社会公正. It also supported a desire to address two very important topics: domestic violence and racism. 你看到, 在黄金城集团最新平台网址的时候, 我不仅拿到了心理咨询的学位, 但我还获得了家庭暴力宣传的证书. During my time at the Seattle School, two individuals that I was most inspired by were Dr. 南希·墨菲教授家庭暴力课程. Caprice Hollins教授多元文化咨询课程. I continue to be inspired by them to this day and will forever consider them to be mentors. They both genuinely cared and helped guide and encourage me while in my graduate studies and beyond. I also feel in some way that God placed them in my path to not only guide me toward my career, but to help heal some of my brokenness as they modeled genuine love and compassion even in difficult times and spaces.
I believe it is for this reason that I ultimately came to a place where I now teach about the issues of power and control which is the root of both domestic violence and racism. I feel blessed to be able to engage individuals in teaching and learning opportunities that support diversity, 股本, 包容, 以及社会公正. I have been able to continue to do this within my full-time role as 教师 at Walden University in the Clinical Mental Health Department as well as in an affiliate role at Northwest Family Life 学习ing and Counseling Center.
With that stated, If I could offer any advice to students now, it would be to seek out mentors. It is wonderful to be connected to those that support and encourage us. It is also invaluable when we have mentors that have gifted us with words of wisdom when we need it. Still, there are those times when we have to trust God and the voice that He has placed inside of us. That’s the voice of wisdom and discernment that even in those times when it looks as if we are moving against the grain, 黄金城集团继续. 你知道那个声音, 当这个世界想要你设限的时候, 它告诉你展开, 去探索，去飞跃. 这是一种声音，尽管困难重重，但你知道你可以走得更远, do more and trust that there is a plan and it is greater than you know, Think或could imagine. I don’t know about you, but that was the very voice that got me to Seattle in the first place. That was the voice that began my journey and led me to where I now am, still trusting and believing in God’s great love for me and the vocation and life he has called me to.