Steve the Therapy Dog?

I have a new love in my life. If you follow me on Facebook (you’re welcome for all the kitty and otter videos, bad Dad jokes and hopeful quotes), you know I made a new category called “Steve” with a variety of adorable pics of my new rescue dog.

This is a major deviation from my original self. I was, first and foremost a horsey gal.  Growing up, my planet orbited around horses, barns and riding. Seriously, my favorite snack was carrots and raw oats because I wanted to bond with my pony. It was, admittedly, a little over the top. But, hey, I was dedicated! 

Then I turned 12 and got a cat for my birthday. Sadie curled up in my heart right alongside my pony and suddenly, I was both a cat AND a horse gal. These 2 loves co-existed nicely for a very long time. If you know anything about horses, you know that they take up a ton of space, time and resources and I gradually grew into my adult life admiring horses from afar, but I always had a cat. And then I met KT. My now husband’s dog single handedly decided to convert me into a dog person. She certainly won a spot in my heart, and she was so friendly and wonderful that the next thing I knew I became that woman on the street who makes sure to say hi to all the doggos who want to say hi. 

KT has passed on, and Steve came into our life. He is a 5 year old Jack Russel mix, who evidently was a Mexican street dog someone brought back to Colorado. He too has decided that I am a dog person and he has enthusiastically wiggled his way right into my world. Because he’s never lived in a house before he needs a little training but he’s coming along nicely. He even “helps” me at work some days.

As I was snuggling Steve the other day, I was pondering change and development. Here is this dedicated horsey gal, who no longer has a cat (everyone is allergic, such a bummer) and is falling in love with a new dog. I was thinking about the expansion of my work and how my current practice is so different from how I started out. In the beginning, I worked almost exclusively with kids and teens. As I have grown older, so have my clients, and right now my entire caseload is adults in therapy. I am eager to reach more people at a time and have published my first book and started speaking to large groups.  I’m trying new ideas, collaborations and ways of helping others. Some of them are terrific (hello, book!), some of them are terrific ideas but don’t work out (my recent May course I’d told you about has unfortunately been cancelled). I hope you’ll enjoy seeing how things grow and change over time for me and my business. 

Let me know if you have directions you’d love to see my work take, I’m always open to learn, experiment and bring in new ideas. Looking forward to growing together.