My name is Richie Anderson, I’m 41 years old and currently enrolled in the Professional Counseling graduate program at Amridge University. My wife and I have been married for 20 years, we have a 16-year-old daughter and a 14-year-old son. I started thinking about going into counseling while I was serving in the United States Air Force. When I enlisted the plan was to complete one six-year contract to gain some stability for my then-young family, but when my wife and I learned I could retire at the age of 46, we decided to make it a 20-year career. As my career progressed, I set the goal for myself to achieve the rank of at least Master Sergeant (E-7) and apply to become a First Sergeant. A First Sergeant’s job is to support and be the voice of the enlisted personnel to the commander. This wanting to take care of people eventually led me to consider counseling as a career after I retired. The 20-year career plan didn’t pan out for me, I left active duty at the end of my six-year enlistment and joined the Air Force Reserve to start a career in youth ministry. I had already begun working toward a Bachelor of Science in Bible/Ministry at Amridge University while on active duty and completed it while serving in youth ministry and in the Reserve. I exhausted my Post 9/11 GI Bill benefit after the Summer 2023 semester. I have four semesters left, which led me to find the Steven Penn Bryan scholarship. I’m on track to begin my internship in the Spring 2024 semester and complete coursework after the Fall semester. Since working in ministry, I moved on to work as a mental health case manager at Centerstone of Tennessee and am currently still employed at Centerstone as a crisis care consultant, supporting people in crisis for Centerstone’s crisis services as well as Lifeline (988) and NFL Lifeline. I plan to integrate soul and spirit into my work by having a Christ-informed mindset, not Christian counseling outright, but by letting Jesus’ example of love and compassion guide me in how I work with people to help them heal and move forward. My experience in the military has led me to be very interested in EMDR as a treatment for trauma, that will integrate mind and body. However, I was recently introduced to Somatic Experiencing this semester in the Counseling for Abusive Relationship course, and am very interested in learning more. I plan to use Reality Therapy to bring all these pieces together.