Paul Swiatek,lmsw
1580 Elmwood Avenue
Rochester, NY 14620
ph: 585-353-4119
paulswia
When I completed my Social Work degree as an undergraduate at Nazareth College in 1982 I wasn't sure what I wanted to be when I grew up. Two years before that, my college advisor, an English Professor who smoked a pipe and wore a tweed sport coat, smugly encouraged me to consider a career in finance. He obviously did not see the value in the helping professions, nor in the arts, and I still wonder why he would say such a thing to a young person. Thankfully, I knew enough about who I was, and did not abandoned the call to follow my own path in my own way. I had made a conscious decision to not involve myself in pushing, shoving and running frantically down the highway of life as if it was some kind of race to be won. I agree with Mary Catherine Bateson in her assessment that we need to improvise a life, and move with the people and events that appear before us on our journey. What comes out in the end is a collective result of the consequence of our choices. Saying "yes" or "no" during the common events of our everyday lives results in something greater than the sum of our decisions, something greater than what we ever could have intended to compose.
I got my first job with St.Louis Church in 1982 as their youth minister, and I found I was well suited for leading the youth group there. We created a community of families and teens that cared about each other. Some of the kids that I got to know and love back then, now have teenagers of their own. I hope their children can have the feeling of acceptance and belonging that we nurtured over those four magical years.
When I completed my graduate studies at Syracuse University in 1987, I knew that I wanted to work with family systems, and I knew that I needed to find a good supervisor who could help me think like a family therapist so that I could behave like a family therapist. Mark Head and Sybil Baldwin were my masterful teachers in the craft of working with family systems over my ten years at Park Ridge Chemical Dependency.
It was there I also began developing my skills as a teacher and public speaker, doing lectures all the time, and working with Barb Sheperd, my fellow trainer/ therapist teaching a 24 clock hour counselor training seminar entitled Individual Counseling Skills. We taught that class annually for almost fifteen years!
I find now that I have not so much grown up as much as I have grown into a rewarding vocational path as a therapist, teacher and artist. These three areas have morphed together into a unique combination, as one set of skills compliments the other in a natural improvisation. I now have managed a private practice for fifteen years, and I look forward to seeing how the next fifteen will work out. I am pleased that I did not listen to my pipe smoking mentor as I have been greatly rewarded by my work with individuals and family systems on their improvised journies to find peace, happiness and fulfillment in their lives.
Listed below are some of my life experiences as a person, therapist, teacher and artist.
Born 1960: The youngest of four children from first generation Polish American immigrants who grew up in Buffalo, New York and moved to Rochester in that year.
1964: Lost my seven year old brother to cancer. Perhaps my first steps towards a vocation as a therapist.
1974: Finished eighth grade from St. Annes Catholic elementary school. Started playing the 5 string banjo, guitar, and helped my sister build a mountain dulcimer.
1978: Completed high school at McQuaid Jesuit. Lost my dad to heart disease my senior year. Finished playing Junior hockey for the Rochester Monarchs after two winning championship seasons. Played music for college money with Mike Reeves and Jim Pacala up to 5 nights a week and painted houses during the day.
1982: Graduated from Nazareth College with a Bachlers degree in Social Work. Played lots of banjo and guitar during the summers.
1984: Youth minister with St. Louis Church in Pittsford New York.
1986: Married my wife Wendy. Took a train to Vancouver and bicycled from there to San Francisco for our honeymoon. How did we do that?
1987: Masters degree from Syracuse University School of Social Work.
1987-1990: Primary treatment therapist on the adolescent inpatient unit working with teens and families at Park Ridge Chemical Dependency. Mark Head supervisor.
1992: Completed my first recording project of original music entitled Pilgrims Journey.
1990-1997: Working on the Adult Outpatient unit specializing in family treatment and co-dependency groups. Sybil Baldwin supervisor.
1997-Present: Therapist in private practice working with groups, families, couples and individuals.
2008: Group facilitator for CURE, families dealing with childhood cancer.
2009-2011: Grief and Loss Family Group facilitator for A Caring Place.
1997-Present: Teach guitar, five string banjo, mountain dulcimer, mountain dulcimer construction and multi track recording.
2006: Arts in Education project with Canandaigua Schools 4th grade class creating a CD of kid created music called Jesse Hawley's Dream. 2nd Place award from the History Channel.
2007: Arts in Education in Canandaigua Schools 4th grade project building mountain dulcimers and combining this with the Math curriculum.
2003-Present:Adjunct professor at Monroe Community College who has taught Drugs Behavior and Society, Death and Dying, and Stress Management.
2010-Present: Adjunct professor at Nazareth College Masters Program in Social Work, teaching Family Systems Practice and Families of Addiction.
2012: Created a stress management film entitled The Miracle Train of Life. Released September 29, 2012. http://youtu.be/XFLBLeH2WVo Presently working on a book of essays from the film script.
2012: Exploring the process of how individuals recover from the experience of Rejection. Workshop and individual sessions are available.
"Why should we use all our creative power...? Because there is nothing that makes people so generous, joyful, lively, bold and compassionate, so indifferent to fighting and the accumulation of objects and money.
-Brenda Ueland
I hope I can use up what creative powers I have been given in the service of nurturing a sense of worth in those who have been shamed by neglect, abuse or devaluation. If I can illuminate a sense of wholeness in someone who has been fragmented, or inspire power in someone who feels they have none, then I will have fulfilled my purpose in this life.
My mission is to create goods and services that promote worth, wholeness and creative power in individuals, families and communities.
Copyright 2012 Paul Swiatek. All rights reserved.
Paul Swiatek,lmsw
1580 Elmwood Avenue
Rochester, NY 14620
ph: 585-353-4119
paulswia