Another day at Casa Cares

Yesterday was a day to stay at Casa Cares.  Breakfast was French toast that I added a touch of honey to.  After breakfast, we had a guest speaker, Dr. Bacchini (pronounced like Bakini).  He discussed the difference between Italian counselors and American counselors.  Basically, Italy is at the beginning of the counseling movement.  Currently psychologists are the only outlet but Italians correlate psychologists with psychopathology.  Counseling, Dr. Bacchini explained, is instead about empowerment, a jump start for regular people who have some sort of breakdown in their life.  In Italy, anyone with a high school degree can “counsel” others.  Counseling is not a recognized profession, but improvements are coming little by little.  One interesting thing Dr Bacchini shared was the issue he finds with most clients stuggling with is culture shock due to immigration.  The influx of immigrants is new for Italy and has led to societal growth, insecurity, and a search for personal orientation. 

After lunch, Dr Christensen did a three hour seminar about play therapy.  She discussed the history, techniques, and her experiences as a play therapist.  It was very interesting to watch videos of actual play therapy sessions.

Dinner was soup with some sort of spinach, cheese, and bread meal.  I am not sure what the technical name is, but it sure was good.  After dinner, we had a briefing about today’s destination, Florence.  I am so excited…The David…a train ride…and more gelato I’m sure!