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By: Gregg Kleiner<\/strong><\/p>\n For 12 years, Lindsay Dec worked as a licensed massage therapist. She noticed that many of her The program\u2019s location was also perfect, since Dec was already living in Bend, Oregon, where o help people, to foster connections with others, and my mom always \u201cTherapy dogs are great in nursing homes, and they can help kids who struggle with reading,\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By: Gregg Kleiner For 12 years, Lindsay Dec worked as a licensed massage therapist. She noticed that many of her clients would talk during the\u00a0massage \u2014 telling her stories about their lives and describing challenges they were facing, from fears to family issues. \u201cPeople… Continue reading
\nclients would talk during the\u00a0massage \u2014 telling her stories about their lives and describing
\nchallenges they were facing, from fears to family issues.
\n\u201cPeople seemed to be looking to me for help or advice,\u201d Dec says.
\nBecause she didn\u2019t feel qualified to do much more than listen, Dec started looking for a new
\ncareer that would give her the skills and credentials to help people in a new way \u2014 one that
\ncould bridge the mind-body connection. During her search, she stumbled across the Master of
\nCounseling program at OSU-Cascades.
\n\u201cWhen I found that, I just knew,\u201d she says. \u201cI wanted to continue to help others, so this was
\nperfect.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nshe\u2019d moved in 2010. The program\u2019s part-time option allowed her to continue her massage
\npractice while pursuing a master\u2019s degree.
\nShe credits her parents with influencing her overall career path.
\n\u201cThey always taught us t<\/p>\n
\nemphasized the golden rule,\u201d Dec says.
\nIn 2014, she earned her master\u2019s in clinical mental health counseling and now works as a
\ncounselor at Bend Counseling and Biofeedback Inc.
\n\u201cThe best part of the program was \u2014 and still is \u2014 the faculty,\u201d Dec says. \u201cThey are just
\namazing \u2014 the adjunct faculty, too. There is great breadth of experience and a range of
\nstrengths. I felt very well-supported, and I\u2019m still in contact with some of the faculty.\u201d
\nWhile in the program, Dec completed three different internships \u2014 one at the Warm Springs
\nIndian Reservation, one at a Bend relief nursery for vulnerable children and one at the
\ncounseling office where she now works. She also earned a certificate in Interpersonal
\nNeurobiology from Portland State University and completed HeartMath Biofeedback training
\nduring her graduate program.
\n\u201cIt was a little insane,\u201d she says of all she did while working on her master\u2019s.
\nNow that her formal training is complete, Dec still stays busy. She serves on the OSU-Cascades\u2019
\nCounseling Program Advisory Board and is raising a puppy named PJ to be a certified therapy
\ndog.<\/p>\n
\nsays Dec, who brings PJ to the office with her. \u201cMy clients love her and say PJ is
\ngoing to make a great therapy dog.\u201d
\nFor Dec, OSU-Cascades was the right location with the right faculty and the right focus. And it\u2019s
\nclear she loves her new career.<\/p>\n