The new Leadership Handbook is in the hands of the ADF Publishing department and I am told that all but the last three chapters are laid out and ready. Now, I'm focusing on a few other projects that I am hoping to wrap up or hand over to others before January. These include:
  • The Druid Scouts program for our Druid youths 
  • The Distinctive Faith Group program for Military Druid groups
  • The Eastern Gate study program
  • The ADF Fundraising Plan
  • The ADF Risk Management Plan
I hope to wrap up at least four of the projects above by the end of the year and hand over at least one, possibly two of them by Beltaine.

Craig and I are looking at some major changes in our lives, one of those being adoption. Which any person with children will tell you is a big change in and of itself.

Another major change may include a move if we find the right property for our retreat center. We have been looking in the Placerville area but are open to other locations.

Other changes are looming as well, some of which we anticpate will be easy to adjust to and others may not be quite so easy to adjust to.

Keep us in your thoughts as we continue down our path.

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So now that the third circle of the Clergy program is done and the New GOH has been submitted I am focusing on the house and getting my life more organized.Today I went through every article of clothing in the house for the second time and got rid of all the things we really haven't worn in the last year. I put the festival clothes in a large bin to sort later, the winter clothes in another bin and the donation clothes in a VERY big box.

While I went through the clothes I asked myself:
  • Will I actually use it/need it again?
  • What is the worst thing that will happen if I get rid of it?
  • Is it a duplicate of another item I already own?
  • When was the last time I even looked at this article of clothing?
  • When is the last time I wore this article of clothing?
  • Do I love it? Kind of like it?
  • Do people complement me when I am wearing it?
I will be going through it all a third time later tonight but in the meantime we managed to donate about 20% of our clothes. I need to donate about 50% to be satisfied with our progress.

Next it is time to organize the craft room. Hopefully having the new storage shed installed next month will help with organizing things a bit more.

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Post Title. 11/15/2010
 
I am rounding the corner on the third circle of the Clergy Program. I have two more courses to be approved and then I can be elevated to Senior Priest!

This has been such a rewarding experience for me. I've been a Neopagan Priest since 2001 but nothing I've done before fully prepared me for the work I've been doing as an ADF Priest.

I am enjoying my work with my local Grove and with the members of my region. I am also very happy with the work I have been doing with the Mother Grove of ADF and am looking forward to rolling out some of the projects we have been working on.
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Patience 04/09/2009
 

So, now that I have completed my MS in Psychology I am eager to begin 2 year my internship to get my license as a Marriage and Family Therapist. So far I have been met with a lot of dead ends.

Every position I have been offered has been a volunteer position or one that will not provide my supervised hours in my field. While money is somewhat of a concern, I am more concerned about getting my license so I can actually counsel ADF members and their families without concern for their privacy.

Right now if someone comes to me for counseling I have to tell them upfront that their communication with me may not be privileged under CA law because ADF does not have a tradition of penitential communication. Penitential communication means, “a communication made in confidence, in the presence of no third person so far as the penitent is aware, to a member of the clergy who, in the course of the discipline or practice of the clergy member's church, denomination, or organization, is authorized or accustomed to hear those communications and, under the discipline or tenets of his or her church, denomination, or organization, has a duty to keep those communications secret (California Evidence Code 1032)."

Since ADF doesn't have a practice of hearing these types of communications, communications between ADF member and Priest are not privileged. Communications made in front of a third party, such as a domestic partner are also not privileged even if that person is related to you. So marriage and family counseling is only protected if the priest is also a licensed marriage and family therapist, psychologist, or psychiatrist.

This is the real reason why I got the MS in Psychology in the first place. So I could help the Pagan community by developing quality pastoral counseling programs for its ministry. I guess I'm on my way, but I have some time to go yet. Another 2 years as an intern and I could actually pull this off.

The next step after this is to get an accredited pastoral counseling program for Pagan ministers off the ground or, if someone else has done so by then, join them and help them keep it going.

If I finish my internship and discover there are no accredited programs for Pagans yet, then I hope to start my Pagan seminary/retreat center or join an existing one that has similar goals. I've already developed a program, modeled after existing programs, that I believe will earn accreditation easily, provided I can find qualified professors to teach the program.

In the meantime I will be volunteering as a counselor at our local Vet Center while working part time for the county as a veterans service representative.  If/when a part-time or full-time paid position opens up at the Vet Center I'll probably be the first on their list. I'll continue to bide my time until then, because working with veterans is obviously also very fulfilling to me. I am a disabled veteran myself and have been working in veterans services for about six years now.

So wish me luck on this new path. I feel that this is something I was really called to do, so hopefully I will be pointed in the right direction soon.

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