Section 1: Professional Development Plan
For most of my life I have been motivated to help people so when I made the decision to continue my education at Walden University, I knew that I was ready for the journey. I am currently seeking a master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and I am expected to graduate in the winter of 2025. This paper was written on June 30th, 2023, with the intent of further understanding my motivations for seeking this degree as well as visualizing the type of counselor I want to be in the future. Throughout this paper, I also discuss what is expected of me throughout my degree program, counseling career, and overall professional development.
Counselor Identity Statement As a counselor, I hope to help
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This means that I can use a variety of strategies to retain and understand information. From this questionnaire, I also learned that my strongest learning categories were kinesthetics and visuals. To continue supporting my success as a student, I plan to combine kinesthetic and visual learning strategies with the resources that Walden provides. Walden’s Academic Skills Center provides a variety of resources that promote the success of Walden students (Walden University, 2023). Resources in the academic skills center such as peer mentors and success strategies can help me to strengthen my learning style as well as help me enhance my academic and professional skills overall. Walden’s Writing Center offers many different resources that can be used to help enhance students’ writing skills as well as their understanding of APA style and academic integrity (Walden University, 2023). I plan to use the writing center throughout my time at Walden to help me become a better academic writer who has a deep understanding of APA style. Walden’s Writing Center offers students a Plagiarism Prevention Checklist that I plan to use on all my assignments so that I’m upholding my academic …show more content…
According to Walden University’s School of Counseling (2023), students that are suited for the counseling profession must demonstrate these dispositions consistently. During my training and education to become a professional counselor I plan to engage with my professors and apply the feedback that they give me so that I can better develop the skills that I need to be able to demonstrate professional dispositions. I also plan to gain more knowledge that will help me to understand how my biases may affect others, how I can be attentive to others’ feelings and experiences, and how I can engage in self-reflection so that I can effectively apply any feedback that I
A counselors own professional identity is not as easy to define as it differs slightly from person to person. Having a professional identity as a counselor professional means belonging to a community of similarly trained and likeminded professionals, respecting the history of the profession of clinical mental health counseling that has been documented since 1976 and contributing to the future of the profession (Miller & Otis, 2021). Likeminded in this case meaning sharing a similar set of motives, ethical principles and perspective on mental health (Burns
Mental health professionals face multiple stressors while counseling clients in crisis (McCann, Beddoe, McCormick, Huggard, Kedge, Adamson, & Huggard, 2013). Choosing a model of crisis counseling congruent with a counselor’s therapeutic style promotes resiliency and a foundation for a strong therapeutic relationship when delivering trauma focused treatment to clients. Additionally, counseling professionals experience compassion fatigue, burnout, and vicarious trauma when failing to address difficult thoughts and emotions in relation to a client’s trauma (Warren, Morgan, Blue Morris, & Mood Morris, 2010). Furthermore, mental health professionals developing and implementing a realistic self-care plan, aids in preventing compassion fatigue and vicarious trauma to promote overall counselor wellness (Warren et al., 2010).
Roles and Responsibility Field Interview Assignment Rakeem Spearman North Carolina Central University 2023 Spring Author Note [Include any grant/funding information and a complete correspondence address.] Introduction School counselors play a significant role in supporting individuals through various challenges and helping them achieve their personal and academic goals. Their roles and responsibilities are diverse, ranging from providing emotional support and guidance to facilitating academic and career development. They work in a wide range of settings, such as schools, universities, mental health clinics, private practices, and community centers. Counseling orientation varies based on
A little over two years ago, I started working as a Community Support Individual for Pathways Transition Programs LLC. My primary responsibility is to teach children various coping skills to manage their behavior, I have determined that I want to be able to address the emotions behind the behaviors. My desire is to be able to help the children I work with come to terms with their past histories so they can move on in their lives towards adoption and other positive outcomes. Sometimes, the children are still going through issues such as, on-going traumas, the lost of a parent due to death or incarceration, etc and I would like to develop the skill set to be able to address these issues. I see pursuing my degree through Argosy University as being the next step to take in order to develop a competency in counseling.
Coaching is closely related to counseling and the Center for Credentialing ind Education (CCE), is an affiliate of National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC), now offers a coaching certification for counselors, for the reason that coaching is a growing field that provides an avenue for using skills and knowledge obtained in an accredited clinical mental health counseling setting. Speaking about a counseling setting, a letter from the director at Temple University John DiMino influences their employee
I was fortunate enough to receive professional help and support from a counselor who helped me cope with my emotions, develop coping skills, and regain my confidence and self-esteem. Through this process, I realized the importance and value of mental health counseling and how it can make a positive difference in people’s lives. I decided to pursue a bachelor’s degree in psychology from XYZ University, where I learned about the theoretical and empirical foundations of human behavior, cognition, emotion, and personality. I also gained practical skills in conducting research, analyzing data, and writing reports. I participated in several extracurricular activities that enhanced my interpersonal and communication skills, such as volunteering at a local mental health center, joining the peer counseling club, and attending workshops and seminars on various topics related to mental
My educational goal to pursue a Masters in Clinical Mental Health Counseling with a specialization in Trauma and Crisis Counseling is a result of my personal life experiences and my admiration for those who work in this field, dedicated to helping those who may feel dragged down by toxic cycles and heavy memories, like myself once did, to create a life filled with meaning. As a Sociology major in my undergraduate career, I’ve always been interested in other people and why they operate the way that they do. It wasn’t long after earning my bachelors that I came to the belief that my past experiences and mental health journey could become my superpower to help others, and that if I wish for society to collectively feel better, then the focus on
A personal philosophy of counselling Introduction My personal odyssey into the realm of counselling has been quite the reluctant adventure. The perilous journey from childhood to adulthood was difficult to navigate given the cognitive map that had been handed down. My father was a functioning alcoholic who was both physically and verbally abusive. My mother was a martyr prone to mood swings and suicidal thoughts.
Why are you interested in your chosen field and program? If only I could pinpoint when my passion for counselling fully exhibited itself. Truthfully, I began counselling those around me from as young as I can remember, except I was unaware of what I was doing. I countlessly found myself in a position where friends, family and even strangers felt safe confiding in me, and I felt comfort in knowing that in the midst of what seemed like others' chaos, I could help provide somebody else peace.
Like other professions in the mental health field and helping professions, counseling typically attracts those who are imbued with a need to help others, to make a difference in others’ lives, the community around them and sometimes even the world. There are many facets to a counselor and to counseling, some of which take on personal attributes such as personality, the values and beliefs held by counselors, and what they perceive their role in the counseling profession to be. Other facets involve ethical considerations in therapy, the importance of the profession, the value and process of change, important counseling practices and the value of necessary self-care a counselor ought to engage in. The role of a counselor is to act as a conduit to change and wellbeing in a client.
From the ideas and techniques that Mrs. Perez used, I realized how these interviews could be helpful if utilized and applied in the proper way. To me, this assignment was the best and it helped me further my development and growth as a future mental health counselor. The most interesting and educative aspect of this interview was how Mrs. Perez applied most of the counseling techniques, such motivational stage that we have been taught in class. Aspects such as paraphrasing the words of your clients, tone, and facial expressions are critical in a counseling session and students always overlook these techniques. The way Mrs. Perez employed according to her explanation was excellent and her ideas justified the importance of such points in any counseling session.
This essay explains how to develop learning, teaching and assessment strategies to support the student to achieve a successful outcome. Cassidy & Kreitne (2009) defines learning styles as a range of contested and competing theories that account for variations in a person 's’ education. There are three main learning styles, the visual learners, auditory and kinesthetic learners. Visual learners mainly learn through seeing. They exhibit visual skills that are demonstrated in writing, reading, painting, sketching, manipulating images, fixing, interpreting visual images, have a good sense of direction and also create visual analogies and metaphors.
When I decided to train to become a professional school counselor, I knew I had a long road ahead. I am trained to be a teacher, a special education teacher to be specific, and though I will be able to use much of my past experience as a classroom teacher in my school counseling practice, I am aware that I will also need to see my students in a new way, a more holistic way. I will need to focus not only on what works in the classroom, but what works in order to motivate and support the students with whom I meet. It is essential for me to determine what will drive me, inspire me to be the best school counselor for both my school and students, therefore, I must determine my professional philosophy of education and school counseling and develop my beliefs, vision and mission statements.
Not being able to cope with certain situations in my life, turned to many problems and made it hard to live, happily. After receiving therapy with a certified psychologist for almost nine years, my outlook on life has completely transformed. I have learned how to confront my emotions in a healthy way and how to have a positive attitude towards my day, regardless of the trials that life throws at me. I have been able to develop a character that others have called selfless, caring, and determined to help others. The influence of a psychologist 's help has exponentially heightened my interest in aiding people in dealing with difficult situations and inspired me to pursue a degree in
Over the past one and half month, the class of PDE 502 (Counselling and Career Education) has taught me some major lessons for life in dealing with the clients in response to their emotional needs. The role of a counsellor is not unlike that of a friend where by it is nurtured by being in each other’s company, talking over everyday issues and sharing feelings. However, what sets a counsellor apart is their experience and the ability to apply counselling theories and techniques to assist people in gaining awareness, insight and explore ways of solving their own issues.