I’m Dana Moss. I’m a licensed professional counselor in Illinois (note: this is a provisional, post-graduate license, meaning I still have to work under supervision, and I am not able to practice independently). I graduated with a master’s in clinical mental health counseling in spring of 2023. I also have a certification in alcohol and drug counseling.

I created this blog because I read, and I find it hard to separate the part of my brain that reads and enjoys reading from the part of my brain that is a counselor (spoiler: it’s all in the same brain). I like to read a variety of fiction and nonfiction books, depending on my mood and situation. I want to provide a space for my thoughts to form as I read and finish these books, and I think others might be interested to hear how a counselor reads these books.

A lot of this idea started once I realized how different my reading has become since I became a counselor. Reading Twilight as a 20-year-old in undergrad was a wildly different experience from reading Twilight as a counselor. Even putting just basic brain development aside, my experience as a professional in the mental health field tends to put a different lens on just about everything I see, including the books I read. As much as a lot of healthcare corporations and universities will preach the importance of “work-life balance” and “self-care,” most of us in these fields know that a career that changes the way you see the world cannot just be hung up on the hook when you come home. It changes how you perceive everything around you.

So I suppose this blog is the amalgamation of me trying to integrate my identity and grapple with the fact that who I am is a counselor, but I am also lots of other things, too (this is a sentence structure stolen from John Green, whom I adore, and whom I will reference pretty often) (and if you’re a John Green hater I’m sorry).

I hope you can appreciate that while I believe I’m fairly intelligent overall, I am also, simultaneously, stupid and dumb. As such, I will be forgetful, resentful, uninformed about certain things, wrong about certain things, and I will change my mind. I have chosen to accept these things as part of being a human being, and I hope you can too (if you can’t accept them for me, perhaps you can accept them for yourself).

DISCLAIMER:

The Counselor Reads and its author, Dana Moss, provide this blog for informational and entertainment purposes only. Dana Moss does not provide any clinical, medical, or professional advice on this blog. This blog is not intended to provide any mental health advice or to substitute for mental health care in any way, shape, or form. Anything said should NOT be taken as a replacement for medical/clinical/professional advice, diagnosis, or medical intervention. All opinions, views, and responses expressed on this blog are those of Dana Moss and her alone and do not reflect the values, beliefs, or opinions of her workplace. These expressions do NOT constitute therapy, treatment, diagnosis, consultation, supervision, guidance, instruction, assessment, or clinical advice, and do not create a client-counselor relationship. The only relationship you have with Dana Moss is that of a educational and informational nature. Dana Moss does not diagnose or treat those mentioned in this blog, nor does she inform others how to diagnose/treat other people. If you have any questions or concerns about your medical and/or mental health needs, contact your primary care provider, medical provider, psychiatric provider, or therapist. If you are in immediate danger of hurting yourself or others, call 911.