CEU Committee Co-Chair Sandra Schueling is the subject of this month’s column. She has been both a member of EB-CAMFT and a Board member for the past year. You will recognize her as one of the smiling faces at the Friday and Saturday CEU workshop registration tables; she is the helpful woman who sets up the coffee, makes the announcements, and introduces the speakers, as well as facilitates and collects evaluations at the workshop’s end.

Between events, Sandra also helps recruit speakers, reviews evaluations, manages the committee’s budget, and promotes the workshops. What does she get in exchange for all this hard work? “I have met so many interesting people,” Sandra explains. “ I have gotten leads on possible jobs, run into old coworkers, and the workshops themselves have contributed to my professional expertise.”

A 2001 graduate of JFK University’s somatic psychology program, Sandra spent ten years in the world of business and computers prior to returning to graduate school. “I found out how important it is to love, or at least really like, the work that I do. I realized that I need to get personal satisfaction from my work; I want to do work that I respect and also make a difference in people’s lives.” Sandra is currently making that difference in people’s lives at the Regional Center of the East Bay, where she works as a Case Manager with children who have developmental disabilities, such as cerebral palsy, down syndrome, autism or other diagnosis that may delay development. “I work with approximately 70 families, who I meet with yearly for home visits, assessments and goal setting,” says Sandra. Throughout the year she serves as a sounding board, advocates in the schools for educational services, connects families to community resources, and helps those families “stay sane among the chaos.”

Her caseload is diverse both socio-economically and ethnically. “I’ve really enjoyed working with this population and this age range, and I hope to incorporate working with special needs families in my future practice.”

Describing her therapeutic orientation as eclectic, Sandra explains that “I am influenced by humanistic approaches, Winicott, self psychology, eastern philosophy, Hakomi and movement approaches. I really appreciated many of my JFK professors, especially Rob Fisher, Doug Morehead and Marsha Hiller.”

Sandra credits many of these professors, as well as other professionals in the field, as offering her good advice, the most important being “Take care of yourself. Maintain balance in your life. Find ways to keep grounded; care about your work and remember to enjoy!” Heeding that advice has led Sandra to pursue a variety of activities for relaxation and self-care: “I listen to music, dance, hike in the hills or near the ocean. I travel whenever possible, read, exercise, look at art, watch movies, laugh, garden and hang out with friends.”

Sandra hopes to complete her internship hours in the next year and a half. Once licensed, her goals are to combine a future private practice with agency work. Her biggest professional challenge right now is “jumping through the bureaucratic hoops, finding internships that pay, and collecting my BBS hours.” Other than this daunting task, Sandra states, “The rest is great – I love this work. It is challenging, exciting and keeps me learning.”