Thank you so much for sharing! My daughter was born legally blind and is a high school senior transitioning to college with dreams of becoming a therapist. We both enjoy and get so much out of your videos!
Being able to work remotely is the best thing that ever happened for blind people. Most of all, we don't have to worry about how we're going to get back and forth to work. We also don't have to be concerned with people thatt may have issues with our blindness. It just eliminated that all together. I'm super happy for you that this job is working out for you and you seem to be enjoying it. And, that's great. I wish you all the success in the world. Good luck to you.
Oh Em Gee Kayla, love, love, love this! You are working in your dream job in your chosen profession. I worked as a counselor for many years but was accompanying my husband to his dental conference when I encountered another dentist who saw my white cane and thought I was a blind dentist. I explained that, in fact, I had a degree in counseling and I was a counselor, not a dentist. She then stepped back and asked “how can you be a counselor if you can’t see?“ She actually believed that I was practicing dentistry without vision but could not imagine how someone could be a counselor without eyesight. As you were describing the frustrations of not being able to access exerts and notes on the computer, hi recognized that you are really, really focusing in on the client. You are able to give that person your undivided attention and that truly is a remarkable skill. How many clinicians can sit and talk face to face with the patient without staring at a computer screen or breaking that face to face my contact? I really am so happy for you and really enjoyed hearing about your job, broken down into all of its aspects. Thanks for going into such detail and sharing it with us. Stay healthy and happy! Love, Beverly
Came across this video as a 26 year old grad student in clinical psychology from Denmark. I have experienced that meta-cognitive therapy makes a lot of sense for visually impaired people, I’ve worked with, and as another person with LCA,, I’m both excited and a little tense about the future of this field and me doing it on a day to day basis. Perhaps, the remote option could work for me as well, but I still believe that there is something special and important about being within the same room as one’s client. Nice to hear that it works for you so well, but maybe you will also give the offline option a chance in the new year.
Thank you very much for this video. My son, who also has RP, is pursuing a Master degree in clinical mental health counseling. While ge and I have discussed the idea that counseling is a "blind friendly" profession, it was so helpful to hear from someone who is successfully working in this chosen field. Keep up the good work !
I’m a blind counseling associate myself and this is very interesting. I would love to essentially provide therapy to other individuals who are blind or visually themselves
Cayla, Your UA-cam videos have taught me that blindness is a spectrum, which I didn’t know previously. And I had never heard of retinitis pigmentosa. Thank you for educating us through your videos. 😊
Hi this is sunita from INDIA I DID MY MASTERS IN PSYCHOLOGY IN THE YEAR 2000 I AM PRACTICEING SINS THEN SAME EXPERIENCE AND MORE . HOW CAN I GET IN TOUCH WITH YOU TO EXCHANGE EXPERIENCE I AM SO HAPPY TO KNOW THERE ARE PEOPLE LIKE ME IN THIS PROFESION I WAS THE FIRST BLIND PERSON TO BECOME PSYCHOLOGIST IN INDIA
I really appreciated your detailed story of your first 6 months of employment. I know you get this a lot, but you’ve inspired me, a blind, content creator, to think of getting a job, that is remote, working with people. Not therapy, because I don’t have the education, but doing other consulting or education. You are incredibly strong, empathic and supportive, to the community. Thank you!
Thank you so much for this video! My wife is in school to become a therapist and is going blind so your videos really mean a lot. Video suggestion: just any more tips you have for doing telehealth therapy while blind. You had some great tips, just wondering if you have anymore. Thank you so so much
I loved this video so much!!! I have my bachelors degree in teaching and I’m currently working in the education field. However, I have been deeply considering a shift into clinical mental health counseling. It is refreshing to hear your experience with this and hope that you will make more videos about your experience as a blind therapist. Thank you again so much for this video. I would love to connect off the app to pick your brain if you are willing.
Glad to hear about your update on your job Cayla. I think it’s great hearing you explain how you’ve been making adjustments to make the job more accessible for you. I’m also glad to hear that you’ve only had one bad instance of someone not wanting your services because you’re blind. I think this video could be a good way to introduce someone who might be interested in getting into this career field, so it’s great that you put this video out.
I’m not sure if you were still reading the comments from this video from several years ago, but I’m glad you were thoughtful enough to record and post your thoughts and your ways of working with your inability to see in your career. I had to leave my job due to some physical disabilities after my daughter was born, and then I suffered to retinal detachments and glaucoma surgeries, hence I am now vision impaired, and I am considering going back into practice as a licensed social worker. However, my license expired during the time of my disability thinking of studying to retake that exam feels somewhat overwhelming. I know if I break it down I may be able to do it one step at a time but my thoughts and went to what about recordkeeping and what about taking notes and what about this or that so it was nice to hear you answera lot of my fears and concerns in this video. It would be great to touch base if that were an option. Hope everything’s going well for you Kimberly.
Hi! I definitely understand it Feeling overwhelming to reinstate your license. I actually just a couple of months ago Got my LCSW. Studying for the exam was stressful but absolutely doable. And I did it all while my daughter was a newborn. You can definitely do it! I studied with the Don Apgar book that I had on the Kindle app so I used voiceover to read it. And then I watched a lot of savvy social worker UA-cam videos.
Hello Kayla this was a great video it showed me someone who is blind how I can use my other senses to hear the client speaking I was wondering what kind of style or techniques do you use with your clients? I really enjoyed this video it was very inspiring I am pursuing a career in therapy as well and I’m also blind.
I use a lot of person centered therapy, just letting them talk through what’s going on in their life and validating their emotions. I also use a lot of cognitive behavioral therapy
I completely get the non visual cues, I’m not a therapist. However I’ve ran local support groups and was a mentor for years. So I can understand from that standpoint. I am a certified peer support specialist as well as recovery support specialist What’s the most you love about your job.
I feel like it’s a kind of basic and cheesy answer but I really just love helping people. I’m curious what your experience has been running groups? That’s something that I’ve always felt anxious about trying to do with no vision
@@CaylawithaC I’ve always loved the rewarding feeling of helping people as well. So not a cheesy answer to me. I am DeafBlind so when I did the groups in person I always could sense easily a persons behavior easily. When they were lying, when they tried to manipulate and when they preferred not to stay in treatment. I always made sure they had a professional they worked with or had a team. I made it clear I wasn’t a replacement I ran eating disorders, trauma and depression/anxiety groups as well. So with so many factors involved I constantly had to be aware of each Individual. I miss doing it, with restrictions of COVID, no reliable transportation plus many people think I have an angend cause I care. I had to stop. It’s disheartening to hear the loss of hope in so many people.
Hi how did you run trauma anxiety depression and eating disorder groups? Also how did you know the clients were manipulating you and how did you know that they did not want to be in treatment? how did you sense there behavior?
@@teresaguerrero2117 I’ve studied peoples behavior for years. And everyone has a way of doing things. Especially when it comes to their mental health and addictions. I ran them each bi weekly. I also communicated with their team or therapist if there was cause for concern. You get to each person. They weren’t my clients since I’m not a licensed professional. I was just an added support for them. Allot of times they were honest with not wanting treatment or just fed up with recovery. The whole point of my groups was a safe space for them to vent and be themselves. Without judgement I had planned on doing a zoom version of my support group but many people prefer in person.
I'm trying to understand. I know that tunnel vision means loss of peripheral vision so you don't see things in your periphery, but what does someone with tunnel vision see when they keep their head straight and turn their eyes to the left or right? Does the tunnel still stay in the center, or does it mean that when you turn your eyes you turn into darkness? I guess I'm trying to understand the term central vision. Can you help me understand? I know someone who has a relative with tunnel vision, but I don't want to make her feel uncomfortable by my question- I'm sure she gets enough questions already. I was born blind in one eye due to birth trauma.
I can’t speak for everyone because everyone’s vision is different, but for me when I turn my eyes to the right or the left there’s just nothing there, I would have to turn my head to look to the sides
thanks for your videos , can you point me in the direction of what to study to become a therapist like you i recently lost most of my vision thanks to diabetes. but i think this can be a good job for me .
@@wiamhadraoui9480 You're welcome! I was really excited when I discovered this series. I think he will keep making more of these videos in 2023 too. :)
Hey Cayla! Love your videos. Can you tell me about who provide jaws for you in the workplace? I am worried about having to put that financial responsibility on my employer so I opted to learn a free screen reader instead but it is not as robust.Thanks again!
I actually use my own computer for my job and I already had Jaws. If you look at the yearly subscription of jaws I think it’s only $100 a year which seems a lot more cost-effective than buying it out right
Hi Cayla, Thank you for sharing your lived experiences and perspectives. Really great stuff! I sent a message via Twitter as well. We are working on story and content for an educational website focused on vision-loss and would love to connect with you to see if there may be an opportunity to partner with you.
That’s a good question. I would say really just treat them like any other client but make sure you are verbal. Act like you would on a regular phone call with someone where you know that they can’t see you
Taylor everything will be fine no you know I'm just because you're visually impaired or have fun with a mission doesn't mean that one your class is gone from me but you know what cuz I don't think that that's very nice that's just right but the other than that. I have question my friend she has a relationship issues I wonder if you respond to me on Twitter
Thank you so much for sharing! My daughter was born legally blind and is a high school senior transitioning to college with dreams of becoming a therapist. We both enjoy and get so much out of your videos!
I love to hear that! ❤️
Being able to work remotely is the best thing that ever happened for blind people. Most of all, we don't have to worry about how we're going to get back and forth to work. We also don't have to be concerned with people thatt may have issues with our blindness. It just eliminated that all together. I'm super happy for you that this job is working out for you and you seem to be enjoying it. And, that's great. I wish you all the success in the world. Good luck to you.
I'm blind and would like a blind therapist! Super happy for you and thank you for showing up in the world.
Oh Em Gee Kayla, love, love, love this! You are working in your dream job in your chosen profession. I worked as a counselor for many years but was accompanying my husband to his dental conference when I encountered another dentist who saw my white cane and thought I was a blind dentist. I explained that, in fact, I had a degree in counseling and I was a counselor, not a dentist. She then stepped back and asked “how can you be a counselor if you can’t see?“ She actually believed that I was practicing dentistry without vision but could not imagine how someone could be a counselor without eyesight. As you were describing the frustrations of not being able to access exerts and notes on the computer, hi recognized that you are really, really focusing in on the client. You are able to give that person your undivided attention and that truly is a remarkable skill. How many clinicians can sit and talk face to face with the patient without staring at a computer screen or breaking that face to face my contact? I really am so happy for you and really enjoyed hearing about your job, broken down into all of its aspects. Thanks for going into such detail and sharing it with us. Stay healthy and happy! Love, Beverly
Thank you so much Beverly! And wow, what a story. That made me laugh
Thanks for posting an update as always and this is a pun you continue to make all of us blind people look good :-) thank you so much you’re the best
It is so awesome that you shared this information, thank you. You are genuinely honest, caring , compassionate and I wish you much success!
Thank you so much!
Came across this video as a 26 year old grad student in clinical psychology from Denmark. I have experienced that meta-cognitive therapy makes a lot of sense for visually impaired people, I’ve worked with, and as another person with LCA,, I’m both excited and a little tense about the future of this field and me doing it on a day to day basis. Perhaps, the remote option could work for me as well, but I still believe that there is something special and important about being within the same room as one’s client. Nice to hear that it works for you so well, but maybe you will also give the offline option a chance in the new year.
Thank you very much for this video. My son, who also has RP, is pursuing a Master degree in clinical mental health counseling. While ge and I have discussed the idea that counseling is a "blind friendly" profession, it was so helpful to hear from someone who is successfully working in this chosen field. Keep up the good work !
I’m a blind counseling associate myself and this is very interesting. I would love to essentially provide therapy to other individuals who are blind or visually themselves
That's awesome you're having a great experience at your new job!! I just started my job about a month ago working with the blind community.
Cayla,
Your UA-cam videos have taught me that blindness is a spectrum, which I didn’t know previously. And I had never heard of retinitis pigmentosa. Thank you for educating us through your videos. 😊
Hi this is sunita from INDIA I DID MY MASTERS IN PSYCHOLOGY IN THE YEAR 2000 I AM PRACTICEING SINS THEN SAME EXPERIENCE AND MORE . HOW CAN I GET IN TOUCH WITH YOU TO EXCHANGE EXPERIENCE I AM SO HAPPY TO KNOW THERE ARE PEOPLE LIKE ME IN THIS PROFESION I WAS THE FIRST BLIND PERSON TO BECOME PSYCHOLOGIST IN INDIA
I really appreciated your detailed story of your first 6 months of employment. I know you get this a lot, but you’ve inspired me, a blind, content creator, to think of getting a job, that is remote, working with people. Not therapy, because I don’t have the education, but doing other consulting or education. You are incredibly strong, empathic and supportive, to the community. Thank you!
Thank you so much for this video! My wife is in school to become a therapist and is going blind so your videos really mean a lot. Video suggestion: just any more tips you have for doing telehealth therapy while blind. You had some great tips, just wondering if you have anymore. Thank you so so much
I loved this video so much!!! I have my bachelors degree in teaching and I’m currently working in the education field. However, I have been deeply considering a shift into clinical mental health counseling. It is refreshing to hear your experience with this and hope that you will make more videos about your experience as a blind therapist. Thank you again so much for this video. I would love to connect off the app to pick your brain if you are willing.
Sure! You can message me on Twitter @its_caylawithaC
Glad to hear about your update on your job Cayla. I think it’s great hearing you explain how you’ve been making adjustments to make the job more accessible for you. I’m also glad to hear that you’ve only had one bad instance of someone not wanting your services because you’re blind. I think this video could be a good way to introduce someone who might be interested in getting into this career field, so it’s great that you put this video out.
Thanks Juan. It’s always good to hear from you
I’m not sure if you were still reading the comments from this video from several years ago, but I’m glad you were thoughtful enough to record and post your thoughts and your ways of working with your inability to see in your career. I had to leave my job due to some physical disabilities after my daughter was born, and then I suffered to retinal detachments and glaucoma surgeries, hence I am now vision impaired, and I am considering going back into practice as a licensed social worker. However, my license expired during the time of my disability thinking of studying to retake that exam feels somewhat overwhelming. I know if I break it down I may be able to do it one step at a time but my thoughts and went to what about recordkeeping and what about taking notes and what about this or that so it was nice to hear you answera lot of my fears and concerns in this video. It would be great to touch base if that were an option. Hope everything’s going well for you Kimberly.
Hi! I definitely understand it Feeling overwhelming to reinstate your license. I actually just a couple of months ago Got my LCSW. Studying for the exam was stressful but absolutely doable. And I did it all while my daughter was a newborn. You can definitely do it! I studied with the Don Apgar book that I had on the Kindle app so I used voiceover to read it. And then I watched a lot of savvy social worker UA-cam videos.
I'm a blind massage therapist 😌
I love your videos! Congrats on the job!! Glad you're enjoying being a therapist!
You’re an inspiration to special-needs people
Hi, I was discouraged from counseling because of my disability, BUT I saw your video, and I am hopeful that I can persue counseling. 👏
Definitely go for it! I had a several people try to discourage me from pursuing that field but I am thriving in it
Hello Kayla this was a great video it showed me someone who is blind how I can use my other senses to hear the client speaking I was wondering what kind of style or techniques do you use with your clients? I really enjoyed this video it was very inspiring I am pursuing a career in therapy as well and I’m also blind.
I use a lot of person centered therapy, just letting them talk through what’s going on in their life and validating their emotions. I also use a lot of cognitive behavioral therapy
That sounds like my dream job too! Congrats
I completely get the non visual cues, I’m not a therapist. However I’ve ran local support groups and was a mentor for years. So I can understand from that standpoint. I am a certified peer support specialist as well as recovery support specialist
What’s the most you love about your job.
I feel like it’s a kind of basic and cheesy answer but I really just love helping people. I’m curious what your experience has been running groups? That’s something that I’ve always felt anxious about trying to do with no vision
@@CaylawithaC I’ve always loved the rewarding feeling of helping people as well. So not a cheesy answer to me.
I am DeafBlind so when I did the groups in person I always could sense easily a persons behavior easily. When they were lying, when they tried to manipulate and when they preferred not to stay in treatment.
I always made sure they had a professional they worked with or had a team. I made it clear I wasn’t a replacement
I ran eating disorders, trauma and depression/anxiety groups as well. So with so many factors involved I constantly had to be aware of each Individual.
I miss doing it, with restrictions of COVID, no reliable transportation plus many people think I have an angend cause I care. I had to stop.
It’s disheartening to hear the loss of hope in so many people.
Hi how did you run trauma anxiety depression and eating disorder groups? Also how did you know the clients were manipulating you and how did you know that they did not want to be in treatment? how did you sense there behavior?
@@teresaguerrero2117 I’ve studied peoples behavior for years. And everyone has a way of doing things. Especially when it comes to their mental health and addictions.
I ran them each bi weekly. I also communicated with their team or therapist if there was cause for concern.
You get to each person. They weren’t my clients since I’m not a licensed professional. I was just an added support for them.
Allot of times they were honest with not wanting treatment or just fed up with recovery. The whole point of my groups was a safe space for them to vent and be themselves. Without judgement
I had planned on doing a zoom version of my support group but many people prefer in person.
YES!!!!
Hi Cayla I am first time visit your channel ❤️
Awesome
Actually I am blind person
And I am Indian ❤️❤️💕
I'm trying to understand. I know that tunnel vision means loss of peripheral vision so you don't see things in your periphery, but what does someone with tunnel vision see when they keep their head straight and turn their eyes to the left or right? Does the tunnel still stay in the center, or does it mean that when you turn your eyes you turn into darkness? I guess I'm trying to understand the term central vision. Can you help me understand? I know someone who has a relative with tunnel vision, but I don't want to make her feel uncomfortable by my question- I'm sure she gets enough questions already. I was born blind in one eye due to birth trauma.
I can’t speak for everyone because everyone’s vision is different, but for me when I turn my eyes to the right or the left there’s just nothing there, I would have to turn my head to look to the sides
Great video
thanks for your videos , can you point me in the direction of what to study to become a therapist like you i recently lost most of my vision thanks to diabetes. but i think this can be a good job for me .
I did a master of social work program. There is also an option to do a masters in professional counseling to get an LPC
Cayla,what is your job discription as a therapist?
Please for you what is the jobs that a visually impaired can do ?
ua-cam.com/play/PLThdr7uPwVs1bJJQIACROzMKpGqwBesv9.html
@@ramblingmillennial1560 Thank you so much
@@wiamhadraoui9480 You're welcome! I was really excited when I discovered this series. I think he will keep making more of these videos in 2023 too. :)
@@ramblingmillennial1560 It was really helpful and I hope he woes .
Hey Cayla! Love your videos. Can you tell me about who provide jaws for you in the workplace? I am worried about having to put that financial responsibility on my employer so I opted to learn a free screen reader instead but it is not as robust.Thanks again!
I actually use my own computer for my job and I already had Jaws. If you look at the yearly subscription of jaws I think it’s only $100 a year which seems a lot more cost-effective than buying it out right
Are you available to hire for consulting?
my baby suffering with LCA please what to do are seen anything?
Hi Cayla, Thank you for sharing your lived experiences and perspectives. Really great stuff! I sent a message via Twitter as well. We are working on story and content for an educational website focused on vision-loss and would love to connect with you to see if there may be an opportunity to partner with you.
Do you have any recommendations on working with a blind client via telehealth?
That’s a good question. I would say really just treat them like any other client but make sure you are verbal. Act like you would on a regular phone call with someone where you know that they can’t see you
Taylor everything will be fine no you know I'm just because you're visually impaired or have fun with a mission doesn't mean that one your class is gone from me but you know what cuz I don't think that that's very nice that's just right but the other than that. I have question my friend she has a relationship issues I wonder if you respond to me on Twitter