Psychologist Jim A. has been a presence at Walk-In Counseling Center since 1972, when he first volunteered as a counselor. These days might see him during an in-person clinic, leading the team of volunteer counselors who provide Walk-In’s free counseling services every weekday.
The story of Jim’s path to psychology and to Walk-In is marked by major changes in plans, driven sometimes by chance events. He shared his story during a recent interview.
Growing up in Wisconsin in a Catholic family, Jim aspired to become a priest. After being a camp counselor and an Eagle Scout, Jim knew he wanted to make a difference in the world. He entered the seminary at age 16.
Interested in social justice, he visited a learning center on the west side of Chicago during his studies. “We did civil rights activities, including civil rights marches. I saw the National Guard lining the streets. We had stuff thrown at us. It was a real education for me. There was a lot of craziness, a lot of fear, and a lot of courage, too.”
He happened to meet a young woman whom he wanted to date, and he realized he would need to leave the seminary. He left in 1968 at age 25.
Soon after that, facing the Vietnam War draft, he applied to the draft board for conscientious objector status. “My charter witness was a priest who was an ex-Marine. But they wouldn’t let him speak, and they didn’t approve my request.” .
Jim found himself drawn to the issue of mental illness and to its social justice aspects. He entered graduate school in psychology at the University of Minnesota, where he conducted psychology research using film and movie cameras as tools. “Film is a powerful medium,” he says. His interest in film endured throughout his career.
Jim has worked in a variety of settings, including a hospital psychology day treatment program, in private practice, at a homeless shelter, and in addiction recovery. He also has taught courses to graduate students.
He returned to Walk-In in the late 1980s and has been there in different roles ever since. “My experience at Walk-In was really formative and empowering in many ways,” he recalls. It is gratifying that Walk-In addresses the “Achilles heel in mental health care, which is that someone needing mental health care can’t quickly talk to someone when they need to,” he says.
About a decade ago, Jim’s interest in movie cameras and psychology developed into an idea for a computer-based learning program. While earlier research with cameras in psychology was intended to help people correct their own maladaptive behaviors, Jim says, that turned out to be ineffective. The program Jim and his partners created has a different purpose: It helps people better understand their conversation partner’s emotional reactions to what they say.
Using this tool, each individual watches a recording of the pair interacting. During separate sessions with each partner, the subjects stop the video to report when they felt an emotion, or felt relaxed or tense. After the separate playbacks, each person then learns what the other had reported.
“This gets into how we process face-to-face reactions and emotions. We ask people how they are feeling as they watch the video, and we find out how they appear to be feeling, to the other person,” he says. This method sheds light on how people believe they are being perceived – for example, the way people driving on the freeway try to read whether other drivers know they are there.
At Walk-In, Jim has been able to apply psychological theory in a way that makes a difference in people’s lives. He enjoys the work of helping counselors be aware of how they interact with clients. “You are slowing things down, and you are being scrutinized by the client, who is forming a first impression,” Jim says. “If the client seems upset, or is intimidating, or is very confused, the team and I are there to help.”
One client Jim remembers well first came to Walk-In deeply depressed and in a suicidal state. “This was fostered by deeply oppressive thinking patterns and anxiety, as well as a non-nurturing home life,” Jim recalls. The man was seen multiple times by a Walk-In graduate intern, who was able to help the client make major progress against his depression. “His change in outlook was remarkable. He got to the point where he could help other people deal with mental illness,” Jim says.
“The magic of Walk-In is in these person-to-person interactions,” Jim says. “The client comes on their own terms. When they come to Walk-In, that is a demonstration of conviction. It’s a miracle that they came in. The challenge for the counselor is to figure out what is going on with them. I find myself telling counselors that the best way to prepare for a session is to take a deep breath to relax. You are about to be emotionally impacted by someone.”