My Bulldog Brain

Almost two years ago I was finishing up a year-long training designed to prepare me for volunteer service as a lay counselor or compassionate listener for people in crisis. The training had been harder than I had expected. It required unflinching self-analysis, challenging me emotionally and intellectually. We were taught about grief, domestic abuse, helpful prayer, community resources, mediation, mental illness, family dynamics, personal boundaries and most of all, good communication. I undertook this training at a local church, hoping to serve others, because I'd had a wonderful lay counselor assigned to me years before and her presence had helped me through a very difficult divorce.