While taking the Self Directed Search I thought about my interests, my past and my experiences. I thought it was interesting how my interests have changed over the years. I remember my dreams of owning a daycare over top of a clothing store where I showcased my designs. Oh, how things have changed. My love for people and my desire to help people in need has stayed with me through all my life journey. When I settled on being a school counselor it wasn’t an easy decision. I struggled with how I would best support people and children in need. I can honestly say I am still evolving into my destiny. I am a strong believer in one’s purpose and I believe that my purpose is driven by my gifts and talents.
As a child I thought the most important job
…show more content…
I see how these aspect fit into my overall goal which is to start a non-profit community agency. I have to use all three skills to be successful. When going over the fields of study that may interest me, I did not agree with the list given. The list shows a form of history as the first 5 options. Counseling was number 6 on the list. I don’t enjoy history so that is why I disagree with that list. The list of leisure was quite entertaining. This list was more accurate than the field of study list. When looking though the summary I wonder if the order the potential careers were listed made a difference in how the career was scored. If I was a career counselor for myself I would suggest resources that talk about nonprofit work and the ground work that goes into building an effective program for the community. I would explore different avenues to accomplish the work my client has set out to do; which is help children and families. I may focus on her work as a school counselor and how she can get the most out of that career. I would discuss training she would like to attend and what areas she would like to be strong in for her work in the community as well as in the school
I am the product of divorced parents, poverty stricken environments, and a blended family, but I refuse to let that dictate the outcome of my life. At the age of ten, I had to assume the role of a fatherly figure to my three siblings, so I missed out on the typical childhood most would have had. I grew up in neighborhoods where gangs and criminal acts of violence were a pervasive occurrence, but I resiliently did not allow the peer pressures of others to force me to conform to their way of life. By the age of 15, I received my worker 's permit, and that allowed me the ability to help my mother financially in the absence of my father’s income. I worked the maximum amount of hours I could while balancing my academics and extracurricular school activities. I was a scholar athlete and triathlete in high school, and although I continuously faced much adversity, I still managed to be accepted to the University of California State, Bakersfield after I graduated from high school in 2005. Sadly, after
I find occupational therapy to pique my drive to teach people valuable life skills as well as learn from those people and their experiences. Being an occupational therapist would allow me to have one-on-one interactions with patients and establish meaningful relationships over the course of time. It would also give me the dutiful privilege and responsibility of instilling confidence in others and helping them realize their full potential in self-suffiency. All of my personal experiences, challenges, educational backgrounds, and professional interactions have guided me toward pursuing my goals of gaining experience working in all populations, enabling patients to thrive in their daily lifestyle, and spread public awareness of what OT has
Social support was defined by Berger (1992) as the resources that are provided by other persons. This broad concept of social support was organized or operationalized into three categories by Barrera (1986): (a) social embeddedness (the connection to significant others); (b) perceived social support (access to social support resources and appraisal of that support); and (c) enacted support (actions that others perform when they render assistance to a focal person). In the gay community, many of these supports have been either in the categories of social embeddedness or perceived social support. Barrera (1986) also found a positive relationship between social support and stress: When gay men are isolated socially and emotionally from the mainstream of society they often develop, enhance, or utilize social support resources
If college counseling is to help students with college and this counseling would be better to
As an undergraduate, at Western Michigan University, my studies were in psychology. Having previously worked with both children in schools and elders in nursing homes, I wanted to expand my resume when I chose my field work. I was able to complete my hours at Gryphon Place in Kalamazoo. This is a conflict and crisis center where I specialized in crisis intervention and suicide prevention. This experience gave me a feeling of accomplishment and pride in knowing that I was not only helping others but also saving lives. After working at Gryphon Place my career outlook changed drastically. Originally I just wanted to work with kids and I
There are many reasons why I would love to become a social worker. However, it is sort of difficult to pinch point how or why I became attracted to this specific profession. Nevertheless, most of the particles in my body argue that it would have to stem back to experiences I have encountered growing up. I would like to begin by saying that graduating high school I was unsure where I was going or where I would end up. My mother who always had high expectations for me persuaded me to at least attempt pursing a college education. I then decided to enroll Guttman Community College @ CUNY, where I was appointed a Student Success Advocate (S.S.A). My S.S.A saw something in me that I had yet to figure out. He pushed me to want more for myself both in my academic and personal life. Every time I was ready to give up he was there to remind me that I was capable of succeeding.
As I began to read Davis and Meier's (2011) The Elements of Counseling, I was immediately intrigued by the title of Chapter Five, “Counselor, Know Thyself”. In the title, I made intuitive connections with many important concepts imbedded in Philosophy. As an example, In Plato’s Phaedrus (2003), the master protagonist, Socrates, explains to Phaedrus that he has no time to explain trivial things, “…and the reason, my friend, is this: I am not yet able as the Delphic inscription has it, to know myself; so it seems to me ridiculous, when I do not yet know that, to investigate irrelevant things.” As I reflect on the handout Competencies in Professional Counseling and Related Human
There are mental health stigmas everywhere. They pressure us into hiding our disorders and flaws so that no one sees them. Mental health is usually brushed under the rug in public schools, or any schools in general. Mental illnesses are very serious but they’re also an uncomfortable subject, which is why most schools don’t include them in their curriculum. I personally think that schools should talk about them more so children and adolescents don’t feel ashamed of how their brains work.
I want to pursue a career in social work because I want to help people who are suffering from mental illness and who are underserviced when it comes to getting help for mental illnesses. By working with a distressed person to become better, not only will I be able to enhance their life, but also the community will transform into a more positive place. I view transformation as a ripple effect, where changing the situation for one person eventually causes a change in the majority. This is especially true when it comes to mental illness and the stigma that surrounds it. I have been highly involved in mental health work on my college campus since my sophomore year. I am one of the founding members of our Active Minds chapter, and have held the
There is this saying, “Everything happens for a reason” and I believe certain things do. I believe that everything I have gone through my life has been preparing me for the beginning of a great career. This world can be a scary place, but there is also beauty in this world with lots of opportunities, and people who want to help make a difference. I want to be one of those people who inspire others to do better, to guide them and to teach them to not give up. If it was not for my counselors and mentors I would not be where I am at today. I was able to accomplish one of my goals of being the first in my family to graduate with my Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from CSULA. I want to further my education to better myself, and help others along the way.
What is one of the largest problems with families in the United States? One of the problems that has been growing for years now is divorce. In the United States, about forty to fifty percent of people, who get married, get divorces in their lifetime (Kazdin, 2000). When families choose to get a divorce, they are effecting everyone around them. If children are involve, the impact could be even worse. There are ways to help families to not get a divorce but not all divorces can be overturned. One of these marriage saving strategies is marriage counseling and pre-marriage counseling.
As a young girl in West Africa, Liberia, seeing oppression and living through poverty developed my love for interventions and social services. My years of acclimating to American culture have enabled me to engage in my education and earn responsible positions such as a resident assistant (RA), and president of the University of Pittsburgh at Titusville’s Black Student Union organization. To effectively sustain my positions, I became accustom to wearing many hats on any given day and setting boundaries. These skills have helped me to prepare myself as a future social worker by allowing me to aide people outside the traditional consulting and medical settings while accepting the limits of what can be accomplished during a specified period
What is a social work? “Social work is a profession which promotes social change and problem solving in human relationships and the empowerment and liberation of people to enhance wellbeing. Utilizing theories of human behaviour and social systems, social work intervenes at the point where people interact with their environments. Principles of human rights and social justice are fundamental to social work”. (Understanding Social work, Neil Thompson, 2005, page 13, 2nd Edition). Social workers convey their enthusiasm and sense of duty regarding fill in as they help construct more grounded groups, families, and people. Amid the meeting procedure, I was set up to talk about contextual investigations in which extreme choices need to be made and
In order to be an effective counselor, one must remember to keep the client(s) in mind. The goal is to assist the client(s) in living the best life possible for that particular person or persons. With that being said, one cannot forget that they have their own set of morals, values, ideas, and the like. Social workers have to keep in mind that there will be cases that are complex and a favorable outcome may not be possible. In the instance that I am confronted with an issue that conflicts with my religious beliefs, I plan on assisting the client as much as possible by adhering the National Association of Social Work Code of Ethics, NASW standards for the Practice of Clinical Social Work, and discussing my concerns with my supervisor while
One aspect I found striking was the role of advice giving in counseling. Prior to this class, I knew that counselors did not typically give opinions or advice to lead a client in a certain direction. What I did not know was the entire reasoning behind this. A counselor might avoid giving advice so that a client learns to make his/her own decisions, does not become dependent on the counselor, and to ensure that a client will not later blame the counselor if the counselor’s advice did not turn out well. In this context, I have a better appreciation and understanding of why therapists refrain from telling the client what to do.