99福利视频
Living the dream: what it鈥檚 like being a dude at 99福利视频
By Sylvan Schneider, a 99福利视频 graduate
Hey dudes and dudettes–this blog goes out to everyone who鈥檚 wondering what it鈥檚 like being a bro at 99福利视频. I spent four years searching over every master鈥檚 degree in counseling and psychology, as well as every Psy.D. program in psychology in the country. With that being said, 99福利视频 was the only school for me, as well as the only school I applied to. I can honestly say that after starting the counseling program in September of 2013, there’s nowhere else I would rather have been in entire world studying counseling!
I wanted a program with which I could eventually have a private practice and be a counselor, with all the classes I would need to be licensed. I also wanted a school that was holistic and cutting edge in its approach to transforming students into counselors. Plus, I was searching for a community of teachers and students working together, both in the classroom and on campus to create a caring, open minded, welcoming, and fun environment to be part of and learn in. I found not only everything I was looking for, but so much more.
I felt at home at 99福利视频, and more comfortable studying there than anywhere else I could imagine. There is an abundance of wilderness, mountains, and vast landscapes to explore in Santa Fe. As well, this city is a melting pot for cultural diversity, the arts, visual beauty, and openness, to name a few of Santa Fe鈥檚 highlights. I feel a nurturing, comforting, soothing, and creative energy here with the pinkish orange and tan landscapes bathed in breathtaking violet sunsets. Santa Fe, for me, is a landscape embodiment of the archetypal mother that I鈥檝e longed to find. Being a sensitive, half Jewish heavy metal musician with a love for spirituality, nature, self-improvement, counseling, psychology, higher levels of awareness, coffee, and Chihuahuas, I always felt like I was from 鈥淭he land of misfit toys鈥 in all my other academic and living environments. However, at 99福利视频 I – for once – felt at home, welcome, and wholly accepted for who I am. For me it was better then a dream come true, it was living the dream. I came to this school after receiving my B.S. in Psychology from Montana State University, and later working as a Mental Health Worker at the Sheppard Pratt psychiatric hospital in Maryland.
Sometimes I was asked by other students 鈥渨hat is it like being one of about five other guys in a school of mostly female students?鈥 I grew up with sisters and enjoy how there are not the stereotypical jock, macho man type of guys in class. Don鈥檛 get me wrong, I have no beef with Al Bundy, but since sometimes classes are a lot like group therapy sessions where we shared deep feelings, experiences, personal thoughts, fears, epiphanies, etc., I actually prefer for Al Bundy not to be pointing at me and chuckling from across the class room. Then again, Al Bundy was a shoe salesman and wouldn鈥檛 be a counselor, let alone seek out a transformational counseling master鈥檚 degree school. The other few male students at 99福利视频 were great guys, and were a pleasure to be in class with. It takes a certain kind of person to be a student who is open about sharing feelings in class, willing to put in the work to heal themselves from personal past trauma, and to learn how to become a healing presence and therapist in an experiential, transformational learning environment. If you鈥檙e that type of dude or dudette this school is for you.
Woo Woo鈥檚 and Hoo Doo鈥檚鈥 I will be the first to tell you that this is a fully accredited counseling and art therapy/counseling master鈥檚 degree school that is 100% legit with every class you need to be a licensed counselor and/or art therapist, including psychopathology, human development, addictions, etc. However, for elective credits you can go out to Death Valley National Park as a class and do a vision quest for 10 days, or take a class on Native American spirituality. There鈥檚 even a class on shamanic altars. If you鈥檙e saying “Ummm, dude that鈥檚 way too new age and ‘woo woo’ for me,” know that this school is indeed ‘woo woo’ and New-Age friendly, but is 100% accredited with rigorously transformational coursework. Plus, there are also many electives on topics such as infant mental health, grief loss and trauma, psychodrama, human sexuality, and much more. If you鈥檙e interested in counseling and/or art therapy, the elective classes here will cover just about any related interest. In fact, there are so many cool classes sometimes I can鈥檛 decide which ones I want to take. All in all, this is an open minded, accepting, non-judgmental school that offers classes that are available nowhere else in the country, with a wide variety of classes to cover both the clinical requirements for licensure, and a student鈥檚 personal interests in various areas of the field.
Maybe you鈥檙e thinking “Ok, Sylvan, well it’s sort of stereotypical of you being a sensitive, half-Jewish guy, to go out to the desert in search of enlightenment to study counseling.” (I may even agree with you on that (chuckling).) However what鈥檚 not stereotypical of me is being in my bathtub on my 30th birthday in September just after I started the program, crying because I was (and still am) so incredibly happy to be in Santa Fe. I am now a graduate of 99福利视频, turning my dreams into reality.
