Time flies – in May 2024 I have been part of the Willingness Team for 3 years, and looking back, it has been a journey full of inspiration, support and above all personal and professional growth.
As I prepared to graduate from the MA in Transcultural Counselling at the University of Malta in 2020, people often told me finding a job in Malta would be tough as a foreigner not fluent in Maltese. Returning to my home country, Germany, wasn’t an option, so I chose to make it work. A fellow student told me about the Willingness Team so I emailed my CV.
I remember the excitement before and during the initial interview and the meetings that followed, and I thought to myself “This is the environment I want to work in: professional and well-organized”.
When my first client came in for the initial session on the 14th of May 2021, I was nervous. The second client started their counselling journey with me on the 26th of May 2021 and since then there have been many more.
Whilst seeing clients with all different kinds of issues and challenging life situations, I realized early on that I wished to focus on mental health and sexuality so I joined the Sex Clinic Team.
Becoming the best professional version of myself
Throughout my time with Willingness, I have felt motivated to become the best professional version of myself. The flexibility and professional support offered to me knows no limits so it was no problem when I decided to leave Malta in March 2022 to move to Portugal – I started seeing my clients online mainly except for face-to-face sessions whenever visiting Malta. There has been no change in feeling a strong connectedness and belonging with the team.
I had already started offering counselling sessions for couples in June 2021, several couples became my clients until I got the chance to further deepen my knowledge during a “Working with Couples” Masterclass offered by the Willingness Team in February 2023. If it was not for being part of the Willingness Team, I might have never started couple counselling which became my favourite over the years whilst I genuinely enjoy the work I do with all the individual clients I am seeing, too.
A new challenge I faced in August 2022 was seeing German-speaking clients – and every now and then I still struggle to switch to my mother tongue in between sessions with English-speaking clients. As Morgan Freeman would say, “Challenge yourself – it’s the only path which leads to growth”.
I see personal growth, in myself since joining the Willingness Team, and in my clients who embark on their counselling journeys with me and inspire me to have trust in the process, session by session. It has been rewarding to see my clients challenge themselves, break unhealthy patterns, develop new goals in life and work towards achieving these.
We, the professionals of the Willingness Team with our different backgrounds, come together regularly for team supervision, case reviews, and problem-solving, to get the best possible outcome for our clients. We care about each other as much as we care about our clients. Based on sharing experiences and giving each other feedback within our multi-disciplinary team, there is continuous professional development.
CPD Workshops at Willingness
I have recently started working with survivors of childhood sexual abuse and was equipped with valuable insights and knowledge during a “Working with Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse” workshop organized by the Willingness Team with Dr. Christiane Sanderson.
I am proud to be part of the Willingness Team, grateful for the ongoing support, inspiration and motivation, and excited for where this journey will take me as a professional in the future.
Franziska Richter is a transcultural counsellor with the Willingness Team, offering counselling sessions to individuals and couples. She is particularly interested in sexuality, relationship issues, trauma and general mental health.