My Life - Born and raised in New Jersey, I am still here after 41 years!Ê There have been many momentous occasions during the course of my life, but the most recent is when I returned to college at age 40 and took 40 college credits during the course of one year!Ê Go to this site for some fun facts about NJ. My Family - Married for twenty years to Jim, I have two wonderful teenage daughters, Dawn & Diana, and a standard poodle named Candace.Ê We affectionately call her "Candy."Ê While Dawn is looking forward to being a college freshman this fall, Diana is looking forward to the completion of her freshman year in highschool this summer!Ê Visit www.doolittles.com for a semblance of Candy.
My Interests - Focusing much of my time on family, coursework, and p-t employment; interests outside of these realms have been put on a much slower track.Ê Although I do walk on alternating days at the D & R Canal and go the Jersey shore in the summer, interests like learning to play the piano or taking voice lessons are being neglected.Ê One day I hope to have the time for them.Ê To think I once took adult tap for 4 years and adult jazz for 2 years when my daughters were taking dance lessons!Ê View the D & R Canal atÊwww.princetonol.com.
My Goals - Enrolled in the Master of Arts in Counseling Services program at Rider University (the Community Counseling option), my anticipated graduation date is the summer of 2004.Ê Upon graduation, I plan to secure employment as a counselor in a clinic or in an established private practice in order to gain the experience that is required for licensure.Ê Once licensed, I would like to open up my own private practice.ÊIn addition to my graduate coursework, my undergraduate courses in accounting (Associate degree) and psychology (Bachelor degree) provide a strong background in order to do this successfully.ÊSee this page about the Master of Arts program.
My eQuest - Participating in an Independent Research Project under the supervision of faculty member, Dr. John Suler, I utilized on-line resources for personal growth.ÊAlthough I explored many on-line avenues of personal growth, I focused on Al-Anon, a support group for family and friends of alcoholics.Ê
What The Project Meant To MeThis project meant a great deal to me because I was able to explore different avenues of personal growth that I had not previously considered.Ê Dr. Suler was able to direct my on-line search towards applications that would benefit me.Ê Although I had previously participated in a live Al-Anon group, participation in an on-line Al-Anon group was a new experience for me.ÊTry a quiz atÊ www.al-anon.alateen.org to see if you would benefit from Al-Anon membership.
What I Liked and Disliked About ItAs I alluded to above, participating in an on-line Al-Anon group was one aspect of the project that I especially liked.Ê I selected my on-line Al-Anon group atÊ www.ola-is.org.ÊThe particular group that I joined was an e-mail group.Ê I joined a live Al-Anon group as well and integrated the two groups by sharing my on-line experiences with my live group and vice versa.ÊThe component of the project that I liked the least was writing my final report (24 pages)!
What I Learned About Myself I learned that by putting my experiences in writing, they became more meaningful to me and I gained more insight from them. Sending e-mails to my on-line Al-Anon group gave me the opportunity to do this in a way that is somewhat different than making a journal entry because I have to consider the audience as I am writing.Ê I also learned that I felt somewhat indulgent as I participated in this on-line research because I normally do not have the time to "surf the internet."Ê This project provided me the opportunity to do so!Ê Coming full circle to New Jersey, visit the NJ Al-Anon website atÊ www.nj-al-anon.org.