Chapters 2023 and 2024
2023 has been an eventful year for us here at AMHP. We'll end the year with a membership total twice what we expected it to be back on Jan 1. Thank you. We produced a lot of content we're very proud of and we had a very successful first annual conference in October. We attribute that success to both you, our members, and our God who has guided our hand in whatever we may have done to contribute to the outcomes that He wants.
Chapters 2023 and 2024
Phillip and I believe 2024 is going to be a watershed year for America. A very tough, cross-roads year.
- Inflation is the worst it has been since the late '70's (the actual rate, not the CPI), and bank failures will continue. Our national financial system is in extremely bad shape and ripe for systemic change.
- Our political leadership is....shaky, and we are no longer respected outside of the limited, compromised borders we still have.
- Major companies are laying off 5-figures of employees and we're being told from the White House that the economy is rosy and job creation is up. ???
- Our healthcare system is in full-blown crisis mode and public trust in our doctors is at an historic low. A report out of New Zealand, just last week, by the sole professional in charge of tracking NZ's healthcare db estimated that over 10 million deaths worldwide (so far) can be attributed to the Covid vaccine (not the illness), but the vaccine (the cure). And that's just deaths and doesn't include the walking wounded, miscarriages, etc. This nightmare is not even close to being over and the people living it are coming into your office.
- Half of the citizenry still seems oblivious to any of this and what's left of our main-stream media (MSM) isn't talking about it.
Fortunately, we have a national election coming up in November which is going to act as a natural backstop for change, good or bad. Not that a single election is going to fix every problem, it won't. But those in elected offices across the land know that the sand in the hour-glass is running out, that they have limited time to affect whatever plans they have.
"Winning" the election only means that we will have hopefully managed to put people in office with the nation's best interests at heart, but it remains only the beginning of a major clean-up operation that will take some time to affect.
Meaning For Your Clients?
We're in a unique position as mental health counselors. We cannot ignore what's happening in the world because our clients bring the world into our counseling rooms with them. The highly abbreviated list of "Debbie Downer" problems above is impacting our clientele even as you read this and we have got to ready ourselves to help our clients think through these issues. 2024 is not going to be "business as usual". That modality is gone and it's not coming back. So where does that leave you?
Reflect Upon Your Practice
I'm urging you to proactively take some time, find a quiet place to think for awhile and ponder the direction you want your practice to take in 2024. I'd like to ask you, "what are you going to do to change the direction of your practice, to fuel it to the next level and help even more people, and how will you let the world know?"
Those should be exciting questions to consider because you get to determine the answers! You get to affect the outcome and you will witness your own success. Don't just let the world happen to you in 2024, go make something happen for the betterment of everyone around you. Doesn't have to be world-changing, just life-changing, and you have permission (should you require it) to begin with yourself.
Summary
We're going to take the next two weeks off from content production and focus our efforts on readying a few new features on the AMHP website for our membership. We'll also be using that time to reflect on a few chapters that closed in 2023, and plan the writing of a few new ones, just like we're asking you to do!
2024 is going to be a rough time for a lot of people so prepare yourself to help them with the unique issues of our time, think outside of your counseling rooms to do that, and say your prayers.
With His help, we got this.
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About the Author
Kathleen Mills is a fire-breathing, 33+ year veteran of the counseling world. People react in one of two ways when evil touches their lives: some retreat in fear, and some advance without pause to engage it. Kathleen falls firmly in the latter group. She owns and operates Life Tree Counseling in Frisco, TX, possesses a tireless work-ethic, and eagerly awaits your arrival into her growing army of warriors.
