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Judith Acosta, LISW

"Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies, Who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s."

It was my first year “on the job” as a social worker. I was on the front lines in NY with adolescent addicts and prostitutes just learning how to conduct an interview when one winter night, one of the clients came running into my office, “The boss said you gotta come now!”
I trotted out after him, worried that I had done something wrong or made a parent upset, but instead of going to the director’s office, he ran outside. There were fire trucks and police cars all over the parking lot. The client pointed to the roof, about three stories up. “Up there!”
A young man, obviously out of his mind on some substance, was pacing back and forth on the ledge, waving a needle he said was full of strychnine. The police and fire wouldn’t go near him because they were afraid he’d either jump or use the needle on them.
My director came over to me: “Get him down from there. Ain’t that what you do?”
There was no time for discussion. I walked up to the face of the building, looked up and got the kid’s attention. My mouth was dry and my hands were shaking.
But, like a gift from God came the voice of one beloved teacher, Harold Robbins. “Don’t forget that people who come to you are in pain. Always find out what hurts.”
 So, I asked him, “Can you tell me what hurts?”
And he started talking. He talked till he forgot about the police and they were able to grab him safely.
Since then it’s been 25 years of crisis counseling, trauma work, alternative healing for anxiety disorders, depression and grief. I’ve learned all sorts of techniques—EMDR, Somatic Experiencing, Ericksonian Psychotherapy, NLP. I’ve become a classical homeopath. The tool bag has grown substantially from that first year. I’ve given seminars on Verbal First Aid™ and trauma treatment all over the country. I’ve taught other therapists about working with animals in session. But it was that one line, that one sentiment, that acknowledgment of suffering and mystery that has been the cornerstone of my work and the beginning of my patients’ relief: What hurts? When we can find out what hurts, we can begin to find out what heals.

“You don't have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body.”
~C.S. Lewis

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