Clinic Director:  Lourdes Patricia Corado Aguilar

Clinica Viktor Frankl, Universidad Francisco Marroquin

Guatemala City, Guatemala

THIS was my first APTC meeting.  It started with all the support from the group on the listserv, with constant info on plenty of options about how to go from Miami Airport to Mayfair Hotel. 

Thursday afternoon, at the welcome meeting, people that I’d never seen before approached to me looking on my tag to find out where I was from and starting a chat as if we were old friends who found each other after many years of distance. Is this reincarnation or something like that?  Because I felt very familiar with all of them.  Some of them shared personal experiences dealing with the empty nest at home, "remodeling" themselves instead of the kitchen, another celebrating finding a Guatemalan because of his personal attachment to a gorgeous land where he and his wife found a new love, his son, who is now 10 yrs old; other newbies wanting to know what this was all about.  It was easy to identify "the seniors," the founders of APTC, Rob, Eric, Erica, who were open and helpful in making me and all the new directors feel we were in the gang.... or in the family.... I don't know the best way to describe this new relationship for us.

Then two days of feeling that all these people do understand what I live in my everyday work.  I don't need to explain much to find that they get to the point about my (and our) struggles:  dealing with chairman, budget, remodeling, Titanium, research, students, accreditation processes, outcome...the strange sensation of being understood and having people who are in the same place, with the same concerns and challenges!!  Suddenly, just as in a therapy group, I felt identification, universality, hope, attachment as we started to make connections with each other.  I'm not alone!! It's the best feeling to have after being director for 4 yrs.  I could never imagine that that experience was going to be multiplied by 65!! Amazing!!

What else could I do more than share what my country represents for me as director?  Opening the gap to an international training experience for doctoral students, where themes like diversity, acculturation, learning a new language will be valuable challenges for interested students.

Lourdes Patricia Corado Aguilar

 with APTC in Coconut Grove