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Moving Forward with Humility and Gratitude

12/21/2021

By Robert Stuckey, LCSW, LCAS, CCI-S , SouthLight Clinical Director

I entered the field of clinical social work over six years ago. I was wide-eyed, open-hearted and ready to change lives. However, I had no idea about the quality and character of the changes that would also happen within me. 

 As I reflect on these changes, I move forward with humility and gratitude for the lessons I’ve learned.  

When I entered the field of mental health and substance use, I never anticipated how the lessons of coping, resilience, pain, beauty and heart would be so deeply taught to me.

When I entered the field of mental health and substance use, I never anticipated how the lessons of coping, resilience, pain, beauty and heart would be so deeply taught to me.  When my client Sam* entered my office I just knew that I could be a part of something special. In my hubris, I quickly went into clinical mode and started using my skills to “fix the problem.”  

Fortunately for me, Sam leaned in and graciously taught me to listen. I started to think about something Carl Rogers once said: we often listen but rarely do we actually hear.”   

Over the months I shared with Sam, I slowly learned to hear, and this is what I heard:  

  1. People are not broken; often they just need to hear their own voice.  
  2. Rarely do answers come from others but rather from the space within and between others.   
  3. Most importantly, he taught me that help comes when you yourself are willing to join the invitation to walk alongside another in suffering.

I have been gifted by the pain of others because in their pain I see myself and others more clearly.

At SouthLight, I have been invited into  this  journey. I have been gifted by the pain of others because in their pain I see myself and others more clearly. I become more aware of my own ways of preventing the healing in others. The beauty of this act of noticing is that I have moments, though brief they may be, to show up in new, and at times frightening, yet meaningful ways.   

This season I invite you to join me in noticing. To see the invitation to live differently in relation to your world and the world around you.  

This season I invite you to join me in noticing. To see the invitation to live differently in relation to your world and the world around you.  

Of course, I would love for you to be a part of SouthLight’s recovery community, but more meaningfully, to pause and notice the sweet spaces between each moment on your life right now right here!  Find your space, open up, share and be shared with.  

As part of SouthLight’s recovery community, we invite you to:

Remember, the present is now, not later, and not in your past. In this moment do what matters most and notice the ways in which others and you (your whole self) can experience the full buffet that life has to offer! 

*Personal details changed to protect client confidentiality 

About Robert:

Robert is a father, husband, son, brother and lifelong learner. As a LCSW LCAS and certified clinical intern supervisor, he serves as the Clinical Director for SouthLight Healthcare. Having worked in hospital services, outpatient and intensive outpatient services. Robert’s professional passion lies in creating a dynamic community of caring and compassionate professionals. Robert’s clinical bias are rooted in the contextual behavioral sciences, relation frame theory and the process-oriented approach of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.