More handpicked essays just for you.
Career aspirations relating to professional counseling
Easy on career path for family counseling
Career aspirations relating to professional counseling
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
American Counseling Association (ACA) Membership The American Counseling Association is the largest professional counselor association in the world and serves over 56,000 helpers by providing resources and tools to utilize for best practices in the counseling field (ACA, n.d.). As an ACA member, professional counselors have access to professional journals, webinars, forums and other mediums that can strengthen and enhance helping skills and best practices. It would be of great advantage for both graduate students training in a counseling field, as well as professional counselors working in their field to take advantage of the being a member of the ACA. There two fairly simple options of obtaining membership to the ACA. By visiting the official …show more content…
Both students and working professional counselors can chose to be insured their partnership with the Health Providers Service Organization (HPSO), which is the world’s largest provider of liability insurance (ACA, n.d.). New professional counselor members can purchase their liability insurance at a 50% discount, while student members who are enrolled in a counseling masters program receive complimentary liability insurance through their student membership.
Specialty Areas Within ACA
There are 20 speciality divisions within the ACA, which allow for counselors to gain professional development opportunities, networking, and resources to enhance professional interest and practice (Remely & Herlihy, 2016). Therefore, being a part of a speciality division allows for individuals to maximize their potential as a professional helper by utilizing tools and resources that meet the diverse needs we face in the counseling professional. For example, since I am enrolled in a Masters in School Counseling degree and am an aspiring school counselor, it would be a great benefit for me to join the American School Counseling Association (ASCA) along with my ACA
“Counseling has not established a single entity containing its accreditation, credentialing, and membership organizations”. (Mascari & Webber, 2013). In the institutions, “counselor educators with a different education background, other than counseling, contributes confusion” (Mascari & Webber, 2013). CACREP has been striving to establish a unified counseling profession by “creating common standards accepted by the profession and influenced by the degrees and license of the faculty” (Mascari & Webber, 2013). Through CACREP accredited programs, CACREP is assisting in clearing counselor identity through its process of preparation program accreditation. (Mascari & Webber, 2013).
ASCA. (2005). The ASCA national model: A framework for school counseling programs (Second ed.). Alexandria, VA: American School Counselor Association.
In this paper, it will be explored the meaning behind the ASCA national model, its importance, and how it will shape the counselors to be. As a counselor in training, it was understood the ASCA national model is a guideline for professional school counselors to be more productive and sufficient in the workplace. Therefore, as a trainee it is vital to grasp and implement these four components: foundation, management system, delivery system, and accountability.
PPACA or ACA for acronyms, PPACA represent Patient Protection Affordable Care Act finalized with impact of the law to Affordable Care Act. For once, both acronyms did not reflect a word for health or a word for healthcare. How then ACA becomes the law for healthcare coverage. Well to gain the support of the senate, ACA is presented to the people, as an individual benefit for equal health provision for equal coverage is the mandate for healthcare insurance as pledge to close the disparity of the type of health service receive by the poor. According to Glenn Kessler, (2011), for fact checker for ACA quoted the president pledge that “if you like your insurance, you can keep it” for cost
The ACA code of ethics “reflects the counseling profession’s understanding of changes in the role of the professional or changes in the society counselors serve” (Ponton & Duba, 2009, p. 119). The ACA code of ethics discusses many things counselors need to keep in mind when counseling an individual or a group. Some topics addressed are informed consent, confidentiality, and group work (ACA code of ethics, 2006, pp. 236-238). All three of these topics are all issues counselors will encounter in counseling a group or an individual.
Professional identity is the result of a developmental process that facilitates individuals to reach an understanding of their profession in conjunction with their own self-concept, enabling them to articulate their role, philosophy, and approach to others within and outside of their chosen. As counselors engage in this individually unique growth process, it is hoped that the counseling profession as a whole will be strengthened as its practitioners and educators reach a heightened sense of purpose and a synergistic collective identity, an identity which is still developing within the profession. The term collective identity refers to having shared goals, resources, and aspirations for the profession. In order for individuals to build a personal relationship with their chosen occupation, it is important for a clear foundation to be established. To build this foundation, a professional philosophy must be constructed which clarifies and distinguishes one’s profession from other similar vocations; in this instance, other mental health fields. In counseling, this foundation is thought to be created by establishing clear professional expectations through licensure, streamlined educational programming, professional organizations, and ethical standards that build on an underlying professional philosophy. This article will review current literature and research on professional identity in the counseling field. This review will then be presented in relation to the external evaluation of success within counseling and counselor education and how this evaluation is influenced and internally understood through one’s gender role beliefs and associated societal expectations.
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an international organization of individuals who have struggled with drinking at some point in their lives. The main purpose of AA is to maintain our sobriety and help other alcoholics achieve recovery. The organization offers meetings in all cities and members can attend multiple meetings if they want to. They also provide different schedules and easily accessible meeting places that can be reached by public transportations. For instance, the AA meeting I attended was located in midtown Manhattan. It took place at the St. Mary the Virgin Church and started at 12:30 PM and ended at 01:30 PM. I have observed that some members attended the meeting during their lunch break. There are two types of meeting; open and closed. Closed meetings are only for members, but open meetings allow families and other community people to attend to see how AA helps people stay sober.
The counselor accomplishes the above by expressing empathy, developing discrepancies, going along with resistance and supporting self-efficacy. Moreover, the counselor guides the client toward a solution that will lead to permanent posi...
I cannot recall a more rewarding experience than helping facilitate a child’s education while enabling parent participation alike. These experiences have drawn me to my current position as an Educational Assistant where I am constantly interacting and establishing relationships with students, learning about their goals and aspirations. It is that same desire to empower our future students that has steered me towards a career as a school counselor. By enrolling in the Masters in counseling program, I aspire to develop methods and experience to become an effective, experienced, and adaptable school counselor that promotes self-awareness, allowing students to realize their full potential and impetus them towards a promising future. I want to learn skills that facilitate personal and career development, ensuring that our students grow accomplishing their goals and ambitions.
During the past three years of college, my interest in counseling has been affirmed through a variety of experiences. One important experience that influenced my decision to pursue a career as a school counselor was my involvement in my community service sorority, Chi Delta Alpha. Through Chi Delta Alpha, I volunteered on several occasions, among them I babysat children to provide parents with a night off; I was responsible for a group of elementary students as they experienced college classes and I painted a caboose for a local playground. A theme that has remained constant throughout all my different experiences is that making a difference in a person’s life is a rewarding experience, and I know that I desire a career that enables me to support high school students as they face difficult situations.
Sometimes individuals consider becoming counselors after overcoming some major life challenge such as addiction or a history of bad relationships. Perhaps an individual has encountered a particularly effective counselor or therapist and has a desire to follow in those footsteps. Others may have had a bad experience with counseling and concluded that it can be done better. People do not think of this work so much as a job, or even as a career. More typically, a constellation of life experiences that demand explanation and a sense that others seek one out for assistance and emotional sustenance become driving forces leading one toward the counseling profession” (An invitation to). .
High school counselors advise students on an assortment of topics. Counselors help from advising students about colleges and requirements to helping students deal with social, behavioral and personal problems. School counselors do not always interact with students individually; they will also work with small groups of students or even an entire class, depending on the topic. According to the American School Counselor Association (ASCA), high school is a time for students to transition into adulthood and the work of work, begin separating from their parents, and exploring and defining their independence. They need guidance in making concrete and compounded decisions. This is where school counselors come in to help these students guide them with information.
American School Counselor Association. (2012). The ASCA National Model: A Framework for School Counseling Programs, Third Edition. Alexandria, VA: Author.
The ACA provides counselors from different setting with webminars, journals, and also conferences which are provided to educate the counseling field.
Modeling and following ethical decisions are extremely difficult. School counselors, face the dilemma in providing accurate and professional service to students while being ethical and professional. School counselors must be aware, and must be knowledgeable of ethical codes of conduct, and standards at work. American Counseling Association [ACA] (2014), (Remley & Herlihy) states in page 407, that counselors have to be knowledgeable of ACA Code of ethics, and they must abide by their regulations (Code C.1). To make an ethical decision, school counselors need to understand the ethical codes provided by ACA. In order for school counselors not to fall under the category of being unethical, counselors need to create a network