Shredding client files.

Del and I had an opportunity a few weeks ago to get free shredding at a local bank.  Del sorted our things and I sorted client files.

Throughout my years as a psychotherapist in private practice, I have been obligated to keep client files for 7 years from the date of a client's last visit. 

I have sorted clients' files into groups with labels denoting when a stash is ready to be shred. 

The morning of our preparation, I found several groupings ready to be purged.  As I looked through them, double checking, I was sobered by the reality of                                                                   

THE END OF A LONG, BELOVED SEASON.

As of 4 days ago, August 31, 2025, I am now retired. I am thankful for this blog format to process such a significant transition.

I graduated with a clinical counseling degree, getting my Master of Social Work (MSW) in May of 1982.  ALL of my financial needs (tuition, books &, shockingly, even my living expenses) were miraculously met by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).  In return for the grant money, I agreed to work for 2 years (equal exchange for the 4 semesters of grad school) in a setting that met the needs of an underserved population (there are still so many underserved).  My first position was working with individuals and families at Born Free, Inc., in Little Rock.  I was hired by John Neaves to work with families of alcoholics.  John's personal testimony was that when he was born again in Christ as a new believer, he was miraculously freed from his addiction to alcohol. Though it was a brief season, I cherish it even now.  I had grown up around the family disease of alcoholism but it is only just now occurring to me as I write that I am still involved with families of alcoholics (my tribe) through the organization of Al-Anon. 

After marrying and moving to Jackson, MS, I was an adult orthopedic social worker at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC back then).  I would stay in this position long enough to complete my 2 years of "pay back" to NIMH.  What amazing experiences each of these first positions were.

After being a stay-at-home Mama with our two young babies, I worked for 6 years as a psychotherapist in a large out-patient and in-patient psychiatric clinic in Little Rock.  The next 27 years, I worked in private practice in our home (loved it), in a traditional office setting (loved it), and on-line (loved it).

Each client has been very dear to me, no matter the length of time I counseled them. Especially dear were those clients who would return to see me at different times when needs arose. And then it was a privilege and so fun (for me, not that my clients relished the need of a shrink) when one particular client brought her sister to see me.  Then the same client brought her adult son; I think her husband came, too, for a marital session?  Once there was a family session with the 2 adult daughters and their Mama.  And, the sister of this original client brought her two children whom I saw individually..... A different client comes to mind.  She told her siblings about working with me. Over time, each of them came to see me individually.  Once I counseled all siblings together for a family session after working with the 4 of them individually. So many, many stories - many fond memories.

Client work has been a profound privilege.  Many times I thought:  I can't believe I'm getting paid to do what I love.

My sweet brother Paul, two grades behind me in school, told me something a few years back.  He said: "You've been a social worker <helping people> your whole life.  I remember in elementary school, you'd share your milk (early morning before school began) if you noticed another kid didn't have any."  I had no memory of this at all.

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This morning I was reading from a novel by Dr. Irvin D and Marilyn Yalom A Matter of Death And Life:  Love, Loss and What Matters in the End (2021).  It was something Dr. Yalom, a well-known psychiatrist, said on pages 95 and 99, that motivated me to write this post:

"But my life's work has ended <he counseled into his mid 80's!>, and I'm in mourning for it.  I miss the deep intimacy of the therapy process.  No one now, except Marilyn, invites me into the deepest and darkest chambers of herself....what I will miss the rest of my life:  the sense of engagement, of being trusted, of sharing deep and dark moments with another.  And, most of all, the opportunity to offer so much to another person.  That's been my way of life for so many years.  I treassure it.  I will miss it."