Psychologically Speaking
By the time you wind up in one of Jose Camacho’s counseling sessions, chances are you’re already in a fair bit of trouble. Luckily for you, however, spending some time with the coordinator of Zona Seca’s domestic violence counseling program may be your last, best chance to get back on track. Remarkably, in the 10 years he has been facilitating both Spanish and English speaking court-ordered counseling sessions at Zona Seca, the 49-year-old Mexico native figures he has had no more than 15 patients sent back to him for the same situation or crime-a number that becomes even more impressive when you consider he averages about 100 clients a month. With a marked humbleness, Camacho summed up his work by saying simply, “My objective is to keep families together and to give them the opportunity to work… It is just something I love to do.”
A trained psychologist from the University of Mexico, Camacho and his wife-who is a practicing general medicine physician-moved to the Santa Barbara area in 1984. The father of three struggled at first to find work in his field, taking jobs in restaurants and working as a certified nurse assistant at Goleta Valley Hospital and Cottage Hospital before eventually landing at Zona Seca. After four years of running Spanish-speaking group and individual counseling sessions, Camacho-who credits his first-hand understanding of the concept of machismo as being instrumental in his success-was promoted to coordinator status. His approach focuses heavily on communication techniques and, most importantly, self-esteem issues. After all, as Camacho explained it, “If you want to love your family, you need to love yourself first.”