<img aria-beschreibungby = "caption-attachment-25316" data-attachment-id = "25316" data-permalink = "https://ct.counseling.org/2021/07/counselors-as-agents-of-change / bernadine_craft_2 / "data-orig-file =" https://ct.counseling.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Bernadine_Craft_2.jpg "data-orig-size =" 800,1000 "data-comments- open = "1" data-image-meta = "{" aperture ":" 5.6 "," credit ":" "," camera ":" Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XSi "," caption ":" "," created_timestamp " : "1267695072", "copyright": "", "focal_length": "25", "iso": "200", "shutter_speed": "0.125", "title": "", "orientation": "1" } "data-image-title =" Bernadine_Craft_2 "data-image-description ="
Photo of Bernadine Craft while she was lawmaker in Wyoming, wearing a business suit and smiling straight into the camera.
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Bernadine Craft was the only female senator in Wyoming during her tenure. Photo courtesy of Bernadine Craft.
Counselors speak for the least, the lost and the lonely, says Bernadine Craft, a member of the American Counseling Association. In her opinion, this advocacy should go beyond office and classroom walls.
Craft has worn many professional “hats” including former school counselors, licensed professional counselors, volunteer lobbyists, former Wyoming state lawmakers, and ordained episcopal priests, and she reflects on her innate passion for advocacy and the path to policymaking that goes with . began their participation in the ACA governance.
A consultant takes the stage
Craft's path as a lawyer began on the stage, so to speak. “I started majoring in piano, but I found that they didn't eat that well,” she jokes. So she switched her bachelor's degree to language and theater with the intention of maintaining her teaching qualification and further graduation.
A chance conversation with the director of one of the plays in which Craft was staged put her on the path to becoming a consultant. Knowing that Craft was considering her master’s degree, the director asked her about her field of study.
"I have no idea," Craft told him. And he replied, “I think you should study psychology. I think you'd be a damn good advisor – you interact so well with people. ”
Although she was fascinated by psychology at the time, she wanted to work in a school. The director of Craft suggested that she take a few classes to see if she liked it. The more Craft thought about it, the more she liked the idea. She loved talking to people – and listening – so she took some psychology classes and eventually loved it. Craft did her Masters in Educational Psychology and became a school counselor.
Response
While serving as a school counselor, Craft became active in the ACA at the regional level as Chair of the Western Region and President of the Wyoming Counseling Association, where she found her passion for advocacy in seeking counseling licenses. She also served on the Governing Council as President of the Association of Humanistic Counseling. Craft credits her training in language and theater, as well as her experience on her high school debate team, for giving her the confidence to advertise so passionately.
"I wasn't afraid to speak in front of others," she says.
Craft decided to continue her education with a doctorate in professional psychology. She originally wanted to become a trainer as a consultant, but a serious illness prevented her from starting this career path. Instead, she kept her private practice and began volunteering on educational issues. In 2004, Craft became the executive director of the Sweetwater Board of Cooperative Educational Services, an educational cooperative formed between Western Wyoming Community College and Sweetwater County School Districts 1 and 2 to provide educational services not otherwise available to parishioners .
Working for Wyoming
In 2006, in what Craft describes as "out of the blue," a former schoolmate reached out to her to fill an upcoming vacancy in the Wyoming legislature.
"I reacted almost exactly the way I would have replied if someone had said they wanted me to walk down the street naked," says Craft. Although she had always been interested in current issues and advocated issues that were important to her, it had never occurred to her to run for political office. Craft's friends and colleagues urged her to run because they saw something special in her. It took her a long time to make up her mind, but in the end Craft realized that if she didn't, she would spend the rest of her life wondering how it would have been.
"I have chosen to be the voice of the voiceless," she says. "Large lobby groups can make their voices heard because they have the money."
Craft was particularly passionate about women's rights and the protection of children and animals. During her tenure in the Wyoming House of Representatives (in 2006) and later as the only woman in the Wyoming Senate (from 2013 to 2017), Craft helped sponsor bills, such as the Wyoming Safe Homes Act of 2011, that would help people with sexual or intimate violence, to break their leases without penalty. She also worked to protect survivors of intimate violence and helped turn strangulation into a crime in Wyoming.
Counselors as natural advocates
Craft ran as a Democrat, but in her ten years as legislator was able to reach agreements with her colleagues on both sides of the aisle. She believes that consultants are uniquely qualified to build consensus.
"Consultants are particularly good at listening, [and] seeing both sides of problems," she emphasizes. They are also good at going beyond binary thinking, or as Craft puts it, "not falling into the pit of black and white ism."
"I wish more advisors would consider an elected office," says Craft. People go to counseling because they care about people and want to improve their lives in every possible way, so she asks: "Who could do better for the 'average citizen' than a counselor?"
“Admittedly, not everyone feels comfortable running for office,” she admits. "Not everyone feels comfortable getting up and talking, but I bet you think it's good to identify who it is."
Advisors can get involved politically in other ways. Craft notes that everything she achieved was done with the help of an "army" of people sending e-mails, telephoning, knocking on doors, and coordinating mailings.
The legislature also needs people who do research, she says. Craft and a colleague who was a professor of women's studies worked together on trafficking legislation, a broad and complex subject, she says. The colleague's helpers were invaluable when it came to background research, recalls Craft.
"If you are interested and really want to be a lawyer on some level, don't let anything stop you," she urges. “What can you do in your hometown? I think you can find a niche at any level that you are comfortable with, be it local, state, or national. ”
Craft notes that often people think that if they can't make a big and bubbly effort, they can't do anything at all. But there are so many things that counselors can do to keep the problems moving. Just two hours a week researching or contacting the legislature can make a big difference, she says.
“Don't say: 'I don't have time; [I] have no money, ”advises Craft. “Don't do the big things. Do what you can, at the level that you can. "
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Photo of Bernadine Craft with a view of a statue in front of the Capitol in Wyoming
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Craft is pictured in the Wyoming Capitol at the feet of another Wyoming pioneer, Esther Hobart Morris, the first Woman who has served as a judge in the modern world, photo courtesy of Bernadine Craft.
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On March 11, Bernadine Craft was a keynote speaker for Mapping a Courageous Leadership Journey, a professional development webinar co-funded by the ACA and She Should Run.
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Laurie Meyers is a senior writer at Counseling Today. Contact them at [email protected]
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Opinions and statements in articles appearing on CT Online should not be construed as the opinions of the editors or guidelines of the American Counseling Association.
