Counselor Johnson

From Friday, May 30, 2020 The Psychology Behind Rioting From Your Friendly School Counselor Last night, I sat here talking to my husband about trauma and racism and police brutality and rioting and looting and I cried. I went to bed with a heavy heart and tossed and turned and couldn’t rest. I finally got up and went to sleep in the other room because I was so restless and I knew he had to be up at 5:30 this morning for work. This morning, I woke up with tightness in my chest as I immediately felt hurt for the people of this world. I looked at these pictures of what was my home city (Louisville) for more than a decade and I sobbed. The link to these pictures is in the comments.  I want to say upfront that I am not condoning, justifying, or encouraging rioting, looting, or violence. However, I do want to encourage my white friends to be empathetic. To try to understand it. To try to imagine what it might take to push you that far.  I teach my students several lesson...

From Thursday, May 28th, 2020 “Jesus loves the little children. All the children of the world. Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight. Jesus love the little children of the world.” I grew up singing this song in my all white hometown surrounded by great examples of Christian living. Love others, help those who are less fortunate, and work hard were all values instilled in me through the many adults in that hometown (family, teachers, church members). I went to a high school where there were no people of color. I went to church with only white people. We didn’t travel much as kids and there was no internet or social media back in the 80’s and 90’s. My only exposure to black people was on tv (Bill Cosby, Fresh Prince, Family Matters). In my history classes, I learned that the slaves were freed after the civil war and I learned a little about Martin Luther King, Jr. and that black people had the same rights as we do. They could vote, own property, work for a li...

Imagine that you just graduated from college, you have student loan debt, but you are just offered your "dream job". When you sign your contract, you are informed (not your choice) that they will be taking 13-14% of every paycheck and putting it away in a retirement fund for you. On top of that, they'll even match your contributions and when you retire after 27 years, they will pay you a full salary! Yay! But, in exchange for this retirement system, you will not be able to draw social security and if your spouse dies, you can't get their social security benefits either. You're already getting paid less than other positions with your level of education, but this is your "dream job"! It's not all about the money.  You love your job, but it costs you a lot of money to do it. You buy a lot of supplies and tools that you need to do your job. Plus, you end up buying clothes, shoes, and food for your clients, because they don't have things you need. ...