Leaving Casa Cares for Rome Hotel- June 3, 2016

Paul Krieg at Casa Cares

At the beginning of this trip Paul told us that we were doing exactly what we expect our clients to do in counseling. We are asking our clients to pack up all of their important stuff and leave behind all of the unwanted baggage. We are asking our clients to take the risk of moving forward even if they're uncertain of what's ahead of them. Traveling abroad has taught me to be comfortable with bumps and bruises that traveling and life has to offer. On this trip we have learned more than a book can tell us about counseling in Italy. We had the opportunity to see how art is intertwined with everyday living. We learned how to understand Italian culture in the here and now. As quickly as we learned all of these things, traveling home was fast approaching. It's time to say goodbye to our Italian friends.



The Coliseum in Rome, Italy

The majority of our day was packing and riding on the bus. After arriving at the hotel, many students rode the train/bus into Rome to see the fountains, churches, and coliseum. Rome was fast-paced and busy like small city. There was a ton of construction being done and the city was crowded. It was a nice end to this years counseling abroad trip.

2016 "Counselor's View of Italy" Faculty & Participants

Mindy Eastling

Pisa and Lucca June 2, 2016

Our last day of traveling was to Pisa and Lucca. I may be speaking for myself, but I think we all were a bit sad knowing that it was our last day trip and our time in Italy was almost over. It was also a bit of a bummer because it was supposed to rain heavily all day. 

First, we had a long bus ride to Pisa. Not only were there were a TON of people the moment we stepped off the bus, but it was pouring rain. We herded ourselves into the baptistery to try to dry off and that was a pretty cool place to escape the rain! We learned that the baptistery had some amazing acoustics and we had the opportunity to listen to them “test” the acoustics, which is something they do every hour. Then we made our way into the Cathedral. The body of St. Ranieri, the patron saint of Pisa was encapsulated in one of the wings of the Cathedral and it might sound odd to say that it was beautiful. The entire Cathedral was strikingly beautiful. It is just amazing how much detail went into every part of that Cathedral. The ceilings, floors, walls were all works of art. After we made our way through the Cathedral, we braved the rain again and went out to help hold up the tower. There were so many creative photos being taken, it was fun to watch people try to get the correct angle. After everyone took their photos with the tower, we walked through the vendors and made our way back to the bus.

 

We had a bit of a drive to get to Lucca and it rained the whole time. I was particularly excited about Lucca because I heard we could ride bikes on the wall that surrounds the city. Unfortunately, the rain required us to find a nice restaurant to spend a couple of hours. We walked around for a little bit searching for the best place to eat and we came to what seemed to be an alleyway that led to a courtyard. We found three nice restaurants there to choose from. Our group split up and three of us ended up at a restaurant that opened only 10 days prior. We were so excited! We had a wonderful meal and drank some fabulous wine. We made friends with the owner and he introduced us to the chef, an American from San Francisco. We learned about his culinary training and he told us about his grandmother who shared her fudge recipe with him that was enjoyed in his family for 80 years. It was delicious! The rain stopped while we finished our meal and we had a little bit of time to explore Lucca. We found some gelato and enjoyed the charming little town for about 45 minutes before we had to leave for the bus. We saw many of the faculty members enjoying spritzes in various pubs and joined them for one before we had to leave.

After a long bus ride home, we had our last dinner at Casa Cares and had one final meeting with Paul to debrief our experiences. We all had a chance to talk about what impacted us while we were together at Casa Cares. Many of us became emotional as we spoke about how our experiences  at Casa Cares and in Italy changed us. I think we were trying to soak up as much as we could. After our debrief, we played games in the basement with some of the volunteers at Casa Cares to celebrate our final night in the villa. Once we finished our games, we all stayed up late packing and planning future trips. I think we all made great connections in Italy. And needless to say, I think we will all  remember our time at Casa Cares very fondly.

Until next time Casa Cares,

Emily

Art Journaling and Cultural Connections - June 1, 2016

Today we spent the morning in presentations and the afternoon in Florence! Dr. Jayne Miller began the day with a presentation on using art to improve mindfulness and decrease stress. She spoke about her journey toward becoming a counselor and how stressful it was for her. She gave us some cute little books we can color in or take notes on, whatever we want, because that's what art is all about. There are no rules and nobody ever has to see it. She gave ideas how to use these art journaling strategies with clients to reach them on a different level. She showed us some of her work and work that her clients have done. It was a very nice presentation and many people really enjoyed it. 

The second presentation was from Dr. Robinson, Dr. Duncan, Crystal and Simone, who facilitated a cultural scavenger hunt where we divided into small groups and moved around the room to find people who have had certain cultural experiences (like who has been followed around in a store, who knows a folk dance, who can say hello in 4 or more languages, who has been to a Native American ceremony, who can name 4 or more types of cultural bread, who can name each term within LGBTQIA, who knows sign language... etc.). Then we processed each of the cultural experiences and people who have had them were able to talk about them a little bit. It was an interesting and energizing experience for all who participated. 

After lunch we had a free afternoon. A few people went into the small town of Reggello, others stayed back at the Villa to pack, and about half the group went into Florence. It rained on and off, which was perfectly reflective of our mood - sad to be leaving this amazing place. We sent some postcards, grabbed more lunch on the second floor of the mercato centrale (http://www.mercatocentrale.it/en/), ate gelato, bought souvenirs, and enjoyed the beautiful sights of Florence once last time before we left Italy. 

Statue of David, Community Center for Bipolar, and Dinner with UAB- May 31, 2016

This morning we hopped aboard the train and went to Firenze again. This time our main goal was to go to the art museum to see the original statue of David. This statue used to be outside but has since been brought inside and restored to its original condition. Apparently the hand fell off trying to bring this big statue into the building. The statue of David is the centerpiece of its own room within the museum. To the left of this picture is a walkway that takes you to a room where you can look at molds that have black dots on them to show art students how to make the body look proportioned. This place inspired us to tap into our artistic sides and incorporate more creative hobbies back home.

After the museum we shopped for last minute souvenirs since this was our last day in Firenze. The markets in Florence are full of leather goods. You can buy purses, backpacks, belts, shoes, jewelry, and many more things for family and friends back home. Bartering skills are useful in this market because I heard of one member getting 400 Euros of purses for 125 Euros. She saved big money on purses that day.








Counselor at the Community Center

Wall Art Drawn by Patients

Then we headed over to a community center for bipolar patients in Florence Italy. This center was much different than the United States. Although it was setup the same in structure by offering both group and individual therapy, it incorporated a lot of the Italian philosophy of treatment. The psychiatrist emphasizes stabilizing patient with medication for bipolar but a large part of this program is setup to educate clients how to live with the disorder. Because art is such a huge part of the Italian culture the program is designed to encourage clients to express themselves through art. We also had an opportunity to hear from clients that were treated both in the U.S. and in Italy. They felt that the treatment in the states focused too much on medication management than how to manage life with the disorder.

GSU and University of Holy Cross



University of Alabama in Birmingham

The Governors State University group ate with the University of Alabama in Birmingham group for dinner. This was a nice time to sit down with our fellow colleagues and talk about our experiences. After dinner we strolled the streets to experience the nightlife that the city had to offer. We wrapped the night up by sitting on a rooftop bar to watch the spectacular view of the city.

Mindy Eastling

Montepulciano and Pienza May 30, 2016

Today we traveled to Montepulciano and Pienza. Most people on the trip had never been to either town so there was a bit more excitement amongst everyone. We started the day with a bus ride to Montepulciano. We visited a “simple” church that really was anything but simple. It was gorgeous. After visiting the church, we met Roberta at the top of the hill in Montepulciano and had a lovely tour of the town. Montepulciano had, by far, the most spectacular view I have ever seen. I felt like I could stare at that view of Tuscany forever. It was one of those views that you know pictures will never do any justice, so you just try your best to take mental snapshots so you remember it forever. That sight still leaves me speechless. The beauty was so distracting that I honestly don’t remember much from the tour. 

One memorable experience from Montepulciano was the massive steak a group of us shared. We asked Roberta for another restaurant recommendation and it truly did not disappoint. Osteria Acquacheta was a charming little place with long tables and paper placemats. Ordering and enjoying that steak was such a unique experience! It was the largest piece of meat I had ever seen in my life. It was prepared very simply with just salt and pepper and served rare. Our group had a wonderful meal together and then we were off to do some shopping! In addition to steaks, Montepulciano is also known for its leather. So, we obviously had to buy some hand stitched leather sandals to remember this town by. After we all spent our money, we made our way back down the hill to meet the rest of the group for the bus ride to Pienza. 

Stephanie gets complete photo credit for the group shots.

After a quick bus ride, we were in Pienza. Again, it was just so gorgeous! We had a lot of free time in Pienza to just roam around, which I loved. It almost makes you feel like your live there. Pienza was filled with cute little boutiques that were a bit pricey. One memorable shop had a leather craftsman making belts, purses, bracelets, notebook covers, etc. right there in front of you! One final memory of our wanderings in Pienza was when we saw an Australian cooking show being filmed. While watching the producer and host talk with a local shop owner about cheese in Italy, I learned that Pienza is known for its Pecorino. After watching the filming of that show for a bit, our little group walked around for a bit longer and then headed back to the bus to make it home to Casa Cares. It was sad to leave these gorgeous towns. It was one of those days that I wish we could have stayed longer to soak it all in.
 

Ciao,

Emily

Counseling American Students in Italy - May 29, 2016

Posted by Dr. Becky Michel 

This morning two counseling students, who are also pastors, officiated an optional interdenominational church service in the newly renovated chapel next to casa cares. We sung, worshiped, and expressed our gratitude for the experience we have had together in Italy.

After the service, we had an interesting and entertaining presentation from Amy Klien. Amy is the Assistant Director of Health and Wellness from Syracuse University. She also teaches Cross-Cultural Psychology in Florence, Italy. Amy was born in the U.S. and visited Italy during her undergraduate program. She has been here ever since. We spent the morning learning about her love of Italy (and Italian men). 

Amy is masters-level trained counselor, and works with study abroad students at Syracuse University. Amy explained when these students study abroad, they bring their mental health challenges along with them. She receives the health and psychological reports for all students who have given permission, and just like in the U.S., these students experience a wide range of mental and physical health issues. She counsels over 100 students each semester with various issues, including intimate relationships (15%), anxiety (32%), peer relationships (11%), alcohol-related (10%) cultural adjustment (6%), sexual harassment or assault (4%), depression (2%), and other issues. At the beginning of their study abroad experience, she leads a safety and security meeting for students, but she thinks the information goes in one year and out another.

She shared some differences she has noticed between Americans and Italians. The U.S. students seem to come with a sense of entitlement and many of them drink too much when they come to Italy. While it is common to drink a glass of wine with a meal, drinking outside of the meal is uncommon. When Italians see Americans who are intoxicated they cannot comprehend why they are making a fool of themselves. Italians strive to make the best impression of their selves – which Amy described as Bella figura. There are also differences in terms of the view of ADHD.  She said many physicians in Italy do not believe in prescribing medication for ADHD. Although Amy warns all students with ADHD to bring a full prescription to Italy with them, some students run out. If that happens, it is impossible to get medicine for these students because it cannot be mailed or prescribed within the country.

It was clear that Amy loves her work. She also said that international counseling is ripe – she may be the only assistant director of health and wellness in Italy. She suggested that others who are interested in working abroad to connect with an American university and advocate for them to create a wellness or counseling position. Many of these positions are outsourced and there are lots of opportunities for growth within the international counseling word. Amy encouraged us to prepare, get an education, and allow life to happen. But overall to create a life with someone who really loves you for who you are. Because, as counselors and helpers, “we owe it to ourselves to have a solid foundation and a great life.” 

In the afternoon, we had several options to spend our time. Many students walked to Vallombrosa and attended mass at a Monastery. Others spent time with local Italians who were hosting a food and music festival at Casa Cares. It was a day of rejuvenation and preparation for the rest of the trip ahead. 

Greve, Chianti and San Gimignano- Saturday, May 28, 2016

The Winery in Greve

Traveling through Tuscany

Today we voyaged out to Greve. The views along the roadside were stunning during our bus ride from Casa Cares. There were olive trees galore in the fields. The curves roads lead us to a small town named Greve where we walked through a huge outdoor market. This is where we bought everything from clothes, jewelry, fresh produce, and street foods. I picked up a pearl necklace for 5 Euros. They passed the scratch test so I am sure they are one step up from Mardis Gras beads. Greve also has a wine tasting store where you can try all the local flavors from the Tuscany region. Although it was 11 in the morning, we stopped there to find our favorite local flavors and buy some wine for the evenings at Casa Cares.



Governors  State University in Italy 

Then we got back in the bus and headed to San Gimignano. This is where I enjoyed my first Italian pizza. The fist one was a disaster and word on the street was that good pizzas don't exist in Italy. This pizza tasted amazing! Dr. Michel ordered bruschetta fantasy for an appetizer and that was a cross cultural experience to say the least. It came with three pieces of thinly sliced bruschetta bread. One had the traditional tomatoes. The other had a mix of cooked vegetables and the last one had a black bean hummus look to it. After eating the mystery bruschetta we found out it was spleen smeared on top of the bread. That's right, spleen; an organ meat. We laughed as the waiter tried to describe what we were eating by swiping the side of her abdomen with her finger. Needless to say, two vegetarians broke their diet this afternoon by eating smeared spleen on their bruschetta.


After lunch people strolled the streets of San Gimignano and went to the torture museums, shopping, and ate more gelato. There was also a tower that some students climbed to the top of. This was a short stop but was a nice way of getting acquainted with all that Tuscany has to offer.




Eating Pizza in San Gimignano with our new friend Lisa from New Orleans

Mindy Eastling

Counseling in Italy and mask making - May 27, 2016

Today we had a full day of workshops. We first heard Dr. Bacchini talk about counseling in Italy. Then we had another opportunity to learn from Paola Salvioni, an American counselor working in Italy. She spoke with us about the Italian culture and being a counselor in Italy. Then after lunch, we learned from Dr. Michel who spoke about identifying and utilize strengths. 

Dr. Bacchini told us that there was no licensing in Italy for counselors. This is primarily due to the bad relationship between psychologists and counselors. It might be difficult to explain briefly in this blog entry, but only psychologists and medical doctors perform psychotherapy. Counselors only work with those who are “sad” or who are experiencing adjustment issues or grief. People with these types of presenting problems used to go to psychologists but there is a significant stigma about seeing a psychologist; only crazy people see psychologists. So it is less stigmatizing to see a counselor in Italy, but the profession is not recognized by the state. There is a pattern of the Italian government not recognizing professions in Italy and from what I gather, it is very problematic for Italians to trust anything that has to do with their government and that bleeds into distrust between professions. In fact, psychology wasn’t even recognized in Italy until the 1980s. So now that Italian counselors are fighting for their professional identities, psychologists are not happy because counselors are stealing their clients away from them. 

Dr. Bacchini also told us about his training and I found that very interesting. In the past, you only needed a High School diploma to be a counselor in Italy. Now, Italy adopted training and practice standards from the British Association of Counseling and Psychotherapy. Italian counselor education programs now require students to complete 450 hours of classes, 450 hours of internship, and 50 hours of personal counseling. They require students to have their own counseling. I know there is debate about requiring counseling for counselor education students, but I personally think it is a fantastic idea. Another notable thing Dr. Bacchini told us about was Psychosynthesis, a counseling approach that was created in Italy by Roberto Assagioli. He was a student of Freud and Jung and created his approach by focusing on human development and the importance of being fully present with clients. He recommended the  book What We May Be by Piero Ferrucci to learn more. 

Us with Dr. Bacchini

Paola Salvioni, the American counselor working in Italy came back to speak to us about what it is like to be an American working within the Italian culture. She said women are treated very differently in Italy…it is a very patriarchal country. Another important thing she said is counselors are not able to live on counseling alone, they often have one or two other jobs. If they manage to get a caseload of 5 clients they’ve made it big! Paola also described the cultural differences between counseling in the U.S. and Italy as it relates to prevention work. Italians do not believe in fixing what isn’t broken. This often leads to stressful crisis situations. (Side note example, a road collapsed in front of the Ponte Vecchio in Florence. This is a perfect example of not doing prevention work. The pipes were likely to be deteriorating but only when something goes wrong do they make repairs. You can read more about that here.)

Dr. Michel spoke with the group about identifying what we are naturally good at and where our areas of growth are. She taught us about how our talents are innate and automatic and our strengths are developed over time. Building our strengths is a discovery process where we create and take ownership of our skills. If we maximize, own, and celebrate our skills we are able to tap into and share ourselves as our most valuable resource. 

Our last workshop today was mask making with Vito Albanese! We were so lucky to have an opportunity to work with an incredible artist. He was such a great teacher. Scott and Crystal were the lucky volunteers who had the chance to make their own masks. They went through the process step-by-step and it was so fun to see how each mask comes together. I loved it when Vito said that the imperfections are what make each mask unique. He said he never tries to make the masks perfect. The whole process from start to finish really requires a lot of time and patience. Vito was just so peaceful about it saying, “this is a very simple job.” I just love that mentality. Take a simple job, put everything you have into it, practice patience and take care to go through each step and you have a beautiful, finished product. I think I love it here. 

 

Emily

P.S. I guess man-buns really are a thing!

Vito melting wax to add his seal to my mask