Hi, my name is Larry Quicksall, and I want to share a little bit about my story. From the age of five I knew I wanted to be a teacher. It didn't matter who was around me, it seemed I was always teaching people things that I had learned.
Fast forward to age 22 and I was ready to teach professionally. I had completed my bachelors degree and student teaching, and I was ready to find a high school where I could teach psychology and speech communications. Unfortunately, in 1987 there were few if any jobs for teaching those subjects. To say the least, I was very frustrated!
It was then I took a "temporary" job at our community mental health center going to schools teaching students about drug abuse prevention. It was a great job and a fun time, and to took me on an alternate path for teaching.
Fast forward again through a Masters degree and 30+ years in the social work field, and I am able to look at a career of helping thousands of people overcome various issues that were negatively controlling their lives. It has been amazing! As I look back I've helped teens develop the skills and confidence to avoid substance abuse, helped those with severe mental illness regain better understanding and control of their symptoms and lead productive and satisfying lives in the community, helped couples restore broken marriages and families restore strained relationships, helped those facing terminal illness find peace and comfort in their final weeks, and for the past 10 years helping veteran effectively cope with the traumas they experienced in war and combat. And, I did manage to fulfill my dream of classroom teaching as a member of the adjunct faculty at our local community college for 11 years!
In addition to helping others, I have learned a lot myself. When facing new challenges I had to learn or develop new approaches when my old ones didn't work. I had to learn from other professionals and disciplines to address complex problems from multiple points of view. I could never give up, because to do so would limit another person's chance to have a more successful and satisfying life.
However, individual therapy has it's limits, and the biggest limit is that there is only so much of me to go around. I wanted to help more people with what I have learned. I wanted to make getting help more affordable. And I wanted to be able to reach people anywhere, not just in my own town. I not only needed to think outside of the box, but I needed to get outside the box of my therapy office and help people where they actually live!
