Sol Mogerman - the Story of Jude

The true story, session by session, of a how a woman finds strength to overcome devastating loss and disability through her relationship with a rehabilitation counselor. The second part of the book discusses the ideas, attitudes and skills that the author engaged with Jude in their successful process of rehabilitation counseling.

While quietly mourning her husband on the very street corner where he was killed in a motorcycle accident, Jude was run down by an impaired driver who left her with a serious brain injury. As a result she lost the care of her children, legal autonomy, important aspects of her health, and sense of self. She was so angry that life had heaped these insults upon the indisputable fact of her rapidly advancing Huntington’s disease that she vehemently rejected offers of professional help – until she met Sol Mogerman, a counselor hired by her insurance company.

The first part of this book gives a session by session account of the counseling journey that led to Jude’s forgiveness of a world that injured her and acceptance of her place in it as bearer and example of unconditional love. The second part puts forth the ideas, attitudes and skills that Sol engaged with Jude in their successful process of rehabilitation counseling.

The Story of Jude
Foreward xv
Origins xix
Preface 3
introduction 5
Orientation 8
Part1 : The Story of Jude
Sessions One through Sixty-Two (final) 11 - 111
Afterword 112

Part II : AGuide to Rehabilitation Counselling introduction 117
Chapter 1 The Structure and Nature of Teamwork118
Chapter 2 Colleagues of Physical Relationships 122
Chapter 3 Colleagues of Social Relationships 127
Chapter 4 Family 137
Chapter 5 Colleagues of Spiritual Relationships 142
Chapter 6 The Attitudes of a Counselor 145
Chapter 7 Dangers of the Profession 148
Chapter 8 The Building of Rapport 151
Chapter 9 Counseling Skills 153
Chapter 10 The Counseling Environment 160
Chapter 11 Care of the Counselor 163
Chapter 12 Hopes and Dreams165

References 166
Index 171

From the preface:

The exchange of energy between Jude Banks and myself over a year and a half of counseling therapy, where she was the client and I the counselor, produced results that noticeably changed the quality of her life for the better. Jude overcame seemingly insurmountable loss and bitterness to triumph in the end as a clear and emotionally healthy person.

Colleagues and people who knew Jude before and after her therapy asked me how I did it. This was an inquiry that I dared not directly answer, as the question of how I or the tools of my profession actually do anything that produces observable results is extremely complicated and obscured by the chemistry of human relationship. I believe one answer to the above question might be found on the interpretive side of the border between observable fact and creative inference. Therefore I have chosen to respond by writing my answer in the form of a story of our time together.”

From Session One:

Jude took one look at me through winky eyes, gave an open stump-toothed smile, and proclaimed "Angel Santa Claus!" Then she threw her arms around my neck, pulled me closer, tried to kiss me on the mouth, and playfully tugged at my beard with tobacco stained fingers. I felt like a lifesaver in her storm. It took some doing to unwind her arms and reclaim my personal space. After she settled down, Paul drove off and left us alone for our first session, which lasted for an hour and a half.”

From the Introduction to Part II

Rehabilitation: from the Latin re + habere, which translates to “back” + “have” or to “have back”.

As you can see from the story you have just read, your job as a rehabilitation counselor is to help your client “have back” an image of himself or herself as a whole and healthy person. This is a complex and subtle process that relies, in part, on intelligent, artful, and professional utilization of counseling attitudes and skills. PART II is written to help you better understand how these attitudes and skills were focused and practiced in the story of Jude’s rehabilitation and provides guidance that is applicable to all counseling situations.”

From Part II “The Structure and Nature of Teamwork”

Restoring a self-image inevitably varies from client to client for each injury, or combination of injuries, creates a unique response in an individual. Due to the fact that human beings have physical, social, familial, and spiritual relationships, rehabilitation must take place in a climate of cooperation with members of a multi-faceted team that is qualified to help a client come back to healthy function in all these worlds.”

The Story of Jude is the book on rehabilitation counseling Carl Rogers would have written had he gained the depth of understanding Sol has acquired from the experience of his own head injury... In keeping with the spirit of rehabilitation counseling, the book is highly accessible and practical. The writing is clear, direct, and virtually jargon-free – no mean feat for a book on counseling.”,

Allan Wade Ph.D.

This book is a landmark in the field of rehabilitation counseling. Mogerman’s unpretentious style and ease of presentation brings to life a complex subject in a manner that is at once comprehensive, demystifying and inspiring.

Richard Routledge M.A.

“Rehabilitation counseling is a specialized field of work and Sol Mogerman has become a specialist in healing the “broken hearts” of brain-injured clients. The Story of Jude conveys the deep emotional distress and grieving experienced by a woman struggling to find the Self she lost as a result of a brain injury. For a year and a half, Sol met with Jude and the first part of this book gives the reader an unusual detailed session by session account of their counseling journey towards the healing of Jude’s broken heart. As he did in his first book, Objects in the Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear, Sol reminds us that the most devastating result of traum and disability it its negative effect on self-image and that consequently any meaningful therapy (of rehabilitation) needs to address the loss and restoration of self-image. This is one reason why this book is relevant to all counselors, it brings therapy back to its very essence of healing what is broken within the context of a human relationship. Sol writes, “In my understanding, counseling is not running through a predetermined course of therapy, designed to solve their problems, but about the living relationship between the counselor and client.

“The second part of the book puts forth the ideas, attitudes and skills that Sol engaged with Jude in their successful process of rehabilitation counseling.

“I found this book so refreshing because it did not focus on specific techniques or on doing things right. I loved how spontaneous Sol was with Jude and I laughed at some of his ‘off-the-wall interventions.’ It reminded me of how ‘magical’ the therapist-client relationship can be when the intention to be fully present is manifested in the words and attitudes of the therapist. This book is a quick and easy read that will leave a long lasting impact on the reader. I recommend it!”

INSIGHTS (News for Clinical Cousellors of British Colombia),
British Columbia Association of Clinical Counsellors,
Winter 2005. Volume 16, Number 3.

I just finished reading "The Story of Jude (A Guide to Rehabilitation Counseling)". I was truly touched by the honesty and directness of the story and message. It is one of those things that is a necessary reminder one often needs to realign oneself to the essense of what psychotherapy is about. I also appreciated the guidance given in regards to the team structure of rehabilitation counseling, some aspects of which I have neglected,

"I know something about adopting an accepting (non-judgemental) attitude toward one's patient while he/she is undergoing counseling or therapy. But your intertactions with Jude surpassed, in my opinion, even the highest levels of acceptance by a therapist.

“The second section of your book, which addresses important issues, is chock full of sensible, clear and succinct advice. This book can be useful as an excellent reference not just for beginners but also for experienced supervisors."

Yehuda Ben-Yishay, Ph.D.
Professor of Clinical Rehabilitation Medicine
Director, Brain Injury Day Treatment Program
Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine
NYU Medical Center, New York