title: Commentary on Becoming a Daughter: Trauma is a powerful teacher.
abstract: Personal life crises profoundly impact genetic counselor practice. In this commentary, themes from Matloff's (in press) article, Becoming a Daughter are highlighted and expanded upon. These themes include: personal impact of a life crisis, and professional impact vis a vis empathy countertransference, self-disclosure, nondirectiveness, and self-confidence. Strategies that help genetic counselors manage personal life crises within their clinical practice and also promote their professional development are emphasized, including normalization of life crises, self-reflection, boundary-setting, and use of peer supervision and consultation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Educational Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA. veach001@umn.edu
authors.forename: Patricia McCarthy
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Veach
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D005817:Genetic Counseling; D006801:Humans; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009679:Nuclear Family