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. The reason why I choose Counseling was because of my family. I have two brothers who have struggled with drugs and alcohol, parents who have health issues, such as dealing with depression, anxiety, stress, and so much …show more content…
more. As a child I remember feeling confused and sad because I could not see my parents, or brothers and sister. I didn’t understand what was going on. I was only seven when I was put in a temporary foster home with my little brother because of domestic violence. As I look back at my life I realize that my family and I have gone through many struggles, and still are to this day. But it has made me a stronger person. I overcame these struggles and I am able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. No family is perfect and everyone has their issues. I want to help people realize that “through every dark night, there is a brighter day”. Things can improve, things can get better, you can reach your goals, and you can be whatever you want to be in life. I recently started working at an elementary school for LAUSD. My first position was a substitute office technician at 59th street elementary school. It was my first job in a school. Then I transferred to Eagle Rock High school as a substitute as well. Now I am currently a permanent employee for Independence Elementary school. I have always had Counseling as one of my options for my graduate degree, but I started to seriously consider Counseling when I was at Eagle Rock High School. Since I was new to the district I would ask a lot of questions. I met two counselors at the high school, one specifically who went to CSULA and received her master’s in counseling. As I started to talk to her about the program, I was more and more interested. I observed her on several occasions, and all I could do was envision myself in her position. I guess it took me that long to realize what path to follow with my education because I was scared to apply to graduate school, but one of the Principals told me that there are “no excuses, if you want something, just do it, and if you fail to get it, try again”. Every day she would tell me “No excuses”, and that is when I decided that this program is what I want to pursue. I want to become a counselor/therapist to help students who are struggling in their schooling or at home. One of my personal characteristics that has made me effective in helping and working with people is that I am a good listener.
It is very important to listen and pay attention because as a Counselor you do not want to miss out on any important information that can help determine the root of the problem. I also find that being a good listener is one of my strengths as well as being compassionate, open-minded, and sympathetic. I overcame many personal hardships in my life, and because of those hardships I am a stronger person, with a positive outlook on life that can help make a difference in someone. One of my personal characteristics that I feel that I need to improve on is that I become too emotionally involved because I care about those I will work with. I want to be able to do my job without my emotions getting in the way. The best way to do that is to learn strategies and techniques to help me improve. I am willing to learn and work hard to make sure I become a qualified professional for this
field. Education is very important to me. As I got older and wiser I realized that I cannot take education for granted. The reason I choose my Bachelor’s degree in Sociology with a minor in Rehabilitation Services is because I was interested in learning how people from different cultures and backgrounds cope with different matters in life, what factors affect people to make bad choices, how to help those with mental health issues, and disabilities. Every day is a new opportunity to learn something new and I want to learn, do research, and find ways in which we can help our diverse communities. What interested me the most about this specific program is that I will be able to receive a PPS, CWA credential plus MFT and Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC) all in one. This is the perfect program because it gives me a chance to expand my options within the field and help students and families. Also I like the fact that is small cohort program which will make it easier to learn and build relationships with one another. My overall goal is to be Doctor Janet Barocio (Ph.D.) to be able to open up my own practice to help those who cannot afford counseling, therapy, and other resources within the community. I believe that this is the best program for me and that it will help me achieve me goals and be successful in any path I take. I want to make sure that people get the resources and help they need. I want to get involved with the community and make sure that everyone gets the education they deserve, and get as many students on the right track to pursue higher education. Also, with the knowledge and resources that I gain from this program, I want to be able to create a charity or foundation to help those who are homeless within our communities, who are struggling because of their disabilities, mental illness, family issues or drugs. I want to help as much as I can, and as many people from different backgrounds, and cultures. Having a strong support system around me helped me overcome my personal hardships, and I want to provide a strong support system to those who need it. I want to help people achieve their goals, and live out their dreams. I am looking forward to being a part of this cohort. Having the opportunity to continue a higher education at CSULA for the Counseling program will be an accomplishment and an honor to achieve.
Listening is a vital and important part of communication. While speaking clearly and concisely is imperative, true listening is central to speaking with mindfulness and in the case of the counselor, this mindfulness has the possibility of leading clients to their own solutions to life’s tough circumstances. In his book, Petersen (2007) breaks down the communication cycle so that we can be aware of how we react when people share their emotions with us, and how to effectively communicate by listening and speaking in turn to build strong and supportive relationships, whether they are personal or professional.
A counselor should always keep their thoughts to themselves and remain open-minded about the situation. The only time a counselor should share their thoughts is if it helps the client with their situation that they are dealing with. “Counselors must practice only within the boundaries of their competence (Standard C.2.a.), and, if they “determine an inability to be of professional assistance to clients” (Standard A.11.b.), they should facilitate a referral to another provider. (Kocet, M. M., & Herlihy, B. J. (2014). Addressing Value-Based Conflicts Within the Counseling Relationship: A Decision-Making Model. Journal Of Counseling & Development, 92(2), 180-186 7p. doi: 10.1002/j.1556-6676.2014.00146.x).” Keeping your thoughts to yourself is
Throughout high school and during my undergraduate studies, education was never a top priority for me. Only during the past two years, in the "real world", have I realized the importance of education. I look back at those years and wish I had done more and realized all the potential I had in my hands and not wasted so much time. During my undergraduate career my social activities consumed my life. My friends were not motivated to do well in school so I followed their lead. My grades were low, and I did not even care. After I graduated in 1997 with a Psychology B.A. and lost touch with my old friends and old ways, I have realized that I should have spent more time doing some soul searching and thinking what it was that I wanted to do with my life. I liked Psychology but what I really wanted to do was work with children more closely. I had spent my junior and senior years involved in internships at Head Start and at a High School in a Program for teenaged mothers. I loved my work there. At Head Start I was a Teacher Aid for the pre-school, teaching the children to read, numbers etc. And at the High School I counseled the teenaged mothers, took care of their kids while they went to school and after the school day I tutored them with their homework. After being out of school for a while, I started to miss that. The feeling that I was teaching something those kids, the feeling that I was making a difference. I was determined to find a job in education, with my background in Psychology, how hard could it be? I found work at a residential school for runaways and abused teenaged females. It was great! I was ready to go, I was going to change the world and change those girls lives. What I didn't realize is that will alone does not make me a teacher and that I needed training, a lot of training. I made a lot of mistakes in that job. I got discouraged and decided to forget about working with children, forget teaching and do something else that paid more. So, I got a job as a Secretary, I did that for about two years. Teaching, working with children was always on my mind.
Values, Morals, and Beliefs are components that play a role in an individual’s self-identity. The establishment of these components shape human nature, behavior, and the development of an individual’s purpose. The basis of these fundamentals has contributed to my desire to become a counselor. This paper will discuss my views of human nature, factors of behavior changes, goals of therapy, the roles of a therapist, and the counseling approaches that I chose to incorporate in a practice.
Chapters two, five and six focused mainly on the helping relationship and the core values, empathy, and probing and summarizing as helpful skills. These three chapters seemed to flow into each other nicely.
I should already have this quality and it is of great value to have counseling to realize what you deeply are missing, to believe in yourself and think of what a person needs to change to better themselves. I feel now that I’m on the right track to making sure that I’m the best person that I can be. The more and more that I figure out that I have the capability to succeed with killing myself, it is a great feeling. The more and more that I think of my friend and her quote, “counseling is a way to get rid of evil” and I felt that getting rid of this evil was getting rid of some of the baggage that I have. I think about what my friend said each day.
I’ve led an extremely busy life, especially in high school. When I graduated high school, I was on the fast track for success. A four-year college was in my immediate future. I was driven, focused, and prepared... or so I thought. Two months after I enrolled at Rider University, I found myself extremely dissatisfied. In retrospect, I’ve come to terms that I was and still am struggling with mental health issues. It didn’t affect me the same way that it did in high school because I was able to busy myself out of feeling things, but once I was faced with a significant transition in life, I was terribly out of my element. It took leaving home and being on my own to truly experience my mental illness. During the spring semester of my freshman year,
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
These specific skills include the ability to write documentation: assessments, progress notes, and discharges summaries, as well as demonstrating active listening skills, positive regard, and being respectful. The ability to exchange ideas with others, and the ability to listen respectfully to other’s perspectives, enable counselors to effectively collaborate with coworkers, and provide competent care for clients. It also helps to handle stressful situations at work, solve conflicts before they escalate, and minimize the occurrence of traps of misunderstanding at work.
The counseling session began with the introductions where I introduced myself as the counselor and later introduced my client. This stage is important in any counseling session since it is the time of exploration and focusing according to Gerard Egan as quoted by Wright (1998) in his essay on couselling skills. It is in this session that I was able to establish rapport and trust with my client in order to come up with a working and fruitful relationship with him. During this stage I made use of skills like questioning, where I would pose a question directly to my client, sometimes I would choose to just listen to what the client wanted to speak out while in some instances I would be forced to paraphrase the question if I felt the client did not understand the question I had asked previously. There were also other times when I would reflect through silence. During such a period, I got time to study the client and the information he had given. This being a difficult area, since some clients may not be able to volunteer information to you as the counselor, I decided to assure the client of confidentiality of any information he was willing to share with me with a few exceptions which I also told him about. Being open to him about the only times the information may not be confidential was part of my building rapport and establishing trust with him. I therefore, decided to ask the client what information he wanted to share with me and lucky enough he was ready to speak to me about different issues that he was going through.
The importance of perceptiveness is emphasised by Egan, because it is one of the core dimensions of listening skills in the counselling process. Feeling empathy for others is not helpful if the helper’s perceptions are not accurate. The kind of perceptiveness needed to be a good helper comes from basic intelligence, social intelligence, experience, reflecting on experience, developing wisdom, and, more immediately, tuning in to clients, listening carefully to what they have to say, and thoughtfully and objectively processing what they say. Perceptiveness is part of social–emotional maturity. (Egan,
Listening skills is a skill which are mandatory for every counselor to be able to provide effective counseling to their client. Listening has no specific definition but often people tend to get confused between listening and hearing. When we hear we only perceive sounds but when we listen, our hearing is accompanied by a deliberate and purposeful act of mind. In short, listening means to get meaning from what is heard. Some of the reasons why listening is important is:
Counseling is providing emotional support and empathy to an individual in pressured circumstance. I am not very competent in this skills at all. I have recently decided that I am incredibly inept at developing close personal relationships. I am sometimes amazed that I have the friends that I do. It is not that I am not friendly and personal, it’s that it is hard for me to be vulnerable and emotionally available to those around me. Those in need are not looking for an answer to their problem, at least not right away and that is my natural
When I finished my Master at GCU I encouraged my children to get their college degrees. I was the first out of 13 children to graduate college and I was the first in my family to receive my Master’s. In May of 2016 my son will be the first male in my whole family to have a college degree and my daughter will be the first of all her female cousins to have a college degree. I am proud of the steps I took that lead my family and I am on a successful path. I was motivated because I did not give up ,I wanted too, because at times it seemed so impossible ,but God told me that I can do it and I knew I had it in me. I felt anxiety, denial, intellectualization and regression; all are a type of humanistic approaches that deals with human feeling and reactions. But , I didn’t give up ,and now I have two more generations in my immediate family that will have degrees ,just because I did not give up on my
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.