Joshua Rohrsen

I started at Family Service Association of Greater Elgin Area as a means to complete my internship hours for my undergraduate in Psychology.

I work with children mentoring them with a strong emphasis on meeting their mental health goals.

I enjoy seeing the long term growth of a client. For example, when I first started with FSA I had a client who had real issues maintaining his personal hygiene. Through some creative intervention and a lot of help from the client’s parents, the client was able to eventually set a schedule with his phone and progressed to the point where my client would be leaving for our meeting with matching clothes and combed hair.

I love being able to make a positive influence on not just the kids, but their parents as well. Because I see most of my client’s parents frequently I find myself being able to model different skills in front of the parents. I often am able to work with the parents in an attempt to incorporate interventions on a daily basis (not just when I meet with a client).

My work career has been most strongly influenced by the author Stephen R. Covey. My observations of many different leadership models have motivated me with a strong desire to help people. More than helping people I desire to help train those in a leadership capacity to lead more effectively. His book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People became the framework I used to evaluate many different concepts within my remaining time at Judson. Furthermore, while I love working with the children here at Family Service Association, I have seen many parents who have earned a special place in my heart because they simply do not have the special skillset required to help their children. Nothing excites me more than to see parents who observe my interactions with their son and answer the question, “what part of the solution am I?”

“The closer we view ourselves as linked to the animal world, the more difficult it becomes to hold a distinct dignity which has traditionally given to human life. Without adequate respect for human life moral absolutes must disintegrate.” Erwin Lutzer

I would love the opportunity to meet Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I find his confidence of faith in spite of imprisonment in a Nazi concentration camp to be inspiring.

People would be surprised if they knew I have a real talent for growing plants. In addition to my other house plants, I currently maintain an orchid collection which contains over 40 plants.

I would love to have ant man’s power to shrink in size. There has been countless times where I have commented how nice it would be if I were a fly on the wall and just watch how various decisions are reached. I often wonder if it would prove foul play or confirm the integrity of various business and public leaders.

My favorite food has to be beef jerky. I love the taste of well-seasoned smoked meat. Elburn meat market’s Beir sticks also fall into this category.

The food I get the most reaction about consuming is the untreated lake water of Lake Superior’s chain of lakes. I was going into my freshman year of high school and went on a trip through the chain of lakes. The water is so clean that we just drank the water straight from the lake.

The most interesting place I have visited has to be inner city Chicago on a mission trip through Christ Community Church. Never have I even considered so many people in need so close to where we live. This changed my paradigm of our community and how I perceive the various needs of a diverse population. Of this trip, the trip to boystown late at night has to be the most heartbreaking. This area has one of the densest areas of male prostitution in the country. For me the real kicker was listening to the downward spiral of individuals in need who would solicit themselves because they were laid off from work and needed to pay bills to the shame of their actions. This would lead to them using drugs to cope with the shame, leading to chemical dependency and a new financial need to support the chemical dependency.