Personal Narrative: A Career In Counseling Psychology

Introduction

The career path I’m most interested in is counseling psychology, specifically mental health counseling. My interest in counseling began my freshmen year of high school when I had to do a project on what I wanted my future career to be. At the time, I had no idea what I wanted to do and a family friend suggested I look into music therapy. That sparked my interest in going into the psychology field and once I thought about how much of an impact I could make in people’s lives by doing counseling, I’ve never wanted to do anything else.

Overview

In order to become a counselor, according to counselor-license.com, I’ll need to get my master’s degree, have at least two years of work experience in the field, and take an exam to obtain

my counseling license. Usually within master’s programs, students do clinical hours or internships in order to obtain most, if not all, of the hours needed to take the exam to obtain their license. You can also chose a specific track within counseling, such as addictions, mental health, or adolescent.
With a bachelor’s degree in psychology, you can do many jobs, such as a case manager, career counselor, or social worker. With a master’s degree in psychology you can do things such as counseling, psychotherapy, educational psychology, or research. With a PhD in psychology, you can do most things you could do with a master’s, just at a higher level, or you can become a physiatrist which allows you to be able to prescribe medicine.
Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, Values and professional characteristics
Going into counseling, there is a specific set of knowledge, skills, and abilities one needs to possess to be successful in the field. You need a wide array of general psychology knowledge, as well as knowledge of different counseling techniques, psychological disorders, and how to properly diagnose them. According to lesley.edu, some vital skills counselors need are empathy, self-reflection, listening skills, authenticity, and flexibility. I believe this field is a good fit for me based on my self-assessments because I am both a thinker and a relator, which I believe is key to becoming a successful counselor. One professional characteristic I would like to develop for my field is better phone etiquette. I am the type person who still gets a little nervous about calling people on the phone, but that is something that most fields require you to do at times, so I would like to improve on that.
Majoring in psychology as an undergraduate is a great way to prepare for this field.

Studying psychology helps you become a better critical thinker, which I believe helps improve all the skills needed to become a counselor. While studying psychology at IUPUI, I also have the opportunity to complete sections of the RISE challenge, such as undergraduate research and internships in my field. In the interview I conducted with Brittney Clark, she discussed how doing extracurricular activities, volunteer work, and internships in psychology not only help prepare you more for your career, but also make you stand out more on graduate school

applications.
Graduate School
In order to become a counselor, I at least need to obtain my master’s degree in counseling or clinical psychology. According to counselingpsychology.org, you can become a counseling psychologist with both a masters or a PhD, but if you want to focus more on research, more severe mental disorders, or have a wider job selection potential, than a PhD would be the route to go. Since I want to focus more on counseling and less on research, and since I don’t want to go through the amount of time it would take to get a PhD, I’m planning on pursing a master’s degree.
Graduate programs in psychology look for much more than just a high GPA. When I talked to Brittney Clark in my interview, she discussed how things like extracurricular activities, volunteer work, and internships help set you apart when you apply to graduate school. Graduate programs also want students who are motivated, professional, and hard workers, which they can evaluate based on your personal statement and recommendation letters.
Working with your Bachelor’s Degree
Although to become a counselor like I plan to do you need your master’s degree, there is a plethora of jobs you can go into when you get your bachelor’s in psychology. According to careerprofiles.info, the majority of students who graduate with a bachelors in psychology go into human or social services jobs. Some of these jobs include, but aren’t limited to, career counselor, case manager, probation office, and rehabilitation specialist.
Employers are looking for more than just a degree, although relevant course experience can give you a leg up when trying to utilize a psychology bachelor’s degree. I looked at several jobs that could be done with a psychology degree on a job website and the majority of them wanted to see some sort of experience in the field, such as research or an internship. These jobs were also looking for people who are organized, flexible with scheduling, and excellent communicators, both written and orally.
Integrative Plan of Action
One critical course I would like to incorporate into my plan is the introduction to counseling course. This class will begin to educate me on all the knowledge I need in order to be a counselor and really start setting me on the path I plan to continue on in graduate school. Likewise, I plan on taking the practicum in clinical psychology for my capstone in order to start getting some experience doing what it is I want to as a career. I plan to develop my personal network by going to career fairs next year and networking with professionals in my field. I also am interviewing for the LHSI internship program and will hopefully be paired with a mentor for that. If not, I plan on doing research at IUPUI and connecting with a staff member here.
One critical experience I need to have is an internship, which I will hopefully have this coming year through LHSI. If I don’t get chosen, I’m going to continue to search for other internships in my field so I can begin to learn what it’s really like going into the psychology field. I would also like to job shadow so I could meet with a counselor and see what a counseling session is like. One area of weakness is that I’m not a very outgoing person. So, when it comes to things like interviewing for internships or marketing myself at job fairs, it’s difficult for me to be outgoing and talk to people. I plan to develop this skill by going to more job fairs and to keep practicing talking to professional people.
An ideal timeline for all these experiences to happen is that next year (my junior year), I have an internship position and to go to at least one job fair.

Then, by the summer, the goal is to have somebody set up for me to job shadow. In the fall of my senior year, I will begin applying to graduate programs and will continue to attend job fairs. The biggest challenge I can foresee with this career is experiencing burnout. In my interview with Brittney Clark, one of her biggest pieces of advice is to practice good self-care and coping strategies and to try and not bring your work home with you since it is such an emotionally demanding job, which may be a struggle for me at first. I plan on overcoming this challenge by setting up a time weekly to take care of myself, whatever that might

entail.