An Interview With A Counselor Essay

On a bright and crisp morning of March 25, 2015, I interviewed Joni Roche and learned what a typical day was like for this Professional Counselor. Mrs. Roche has owned her own practice for nearly eighteen years and has truly loved every single part of it. Mrs. Roche has received a Master of the Arts degree and is a Licensed Profession Counselor and a Nationally Credited Counselor. During my interview with Mrs. Roche, I truly learned so many things from different counseling techniques, what it is like to have a private practice and the good and bad things counseling comes with that people do not necessarily speak about.

When attempting to identify as a professional counselor, it is important to understand the basic elements of counseling as it pertains to individual specializations. The wellness model and the key philosophies of the counseling profession: wellness, resilience and prevention are examined. The ability to articulate the roles and characteristics to understand how they relate to the different professional roles is

It is strongly encouraged that counselors in training experience personal counseling. It is considered a growth experience for future counselors. Equally important, it is an opportunity for the counselor in training to seek help for any personal concerns/issues. I chose to seek counseling at East Carolina University’s Center for Counseling and Student Development. After attending at least five personal counseling sessions, I have gain useful insight about the counseling process from a counselor in training and a client’s point of view. When I made my first appointment I was really nervous about how I would feel knowing that attendance was a part of an assignment; however, I remained open minded and decided to take advantage of this opportunity and discuss real life issues.

I would talk to Stephanie and ask her whether her parents are aware of what is going on. If she has not told them anything about it, then I would schedule a meeting with her parents and let them know what is going on. It is very important for the parents to know what their child is going through, because they can help them through such situations. As stated in the textbook, “self-esteem is related to” one’s “overall school experience, both academically and socially” (108). Therefore, a school counselor may also have to get involved in this. I would tell Stephanie to stay away from Alison and her friends because their friendship is not worth it.

When preparing for any new career education is the first step, speaking to those who have firsthand experience is of the utmost importance for deeper understanding in my chosen profession. Amanda’s insights during our interview proved invaluable, particularly for a new counseling

There are numerous factors that contribute to the development of a counselor’s professional identity. The identity of a professional counselor may present numerous differences based on the specialization of counseling, as well as, overall identity factors that remain the same across the entire counseling spectrum. The paper examines key philosophies of the counseling profession which include: wellness, resilience, and prevention and how these philosophies impact the counseling profession. Next it will discuss the characteristics of an effective professional counselor in two different professional roles and two professional counseling associations. Further, it will look at state licensure and certification requirements and professional development. Lastly, focus will be put on the rise of technology in the modern society and how it plays a role in the counseling profession.

It would be of value to develop research that questioned both counselors and clients about the core skills they deem essential in a therapeutic relationship. The value that could be obtained from clients would allow professionals to understand what the client sees as most beneficial. Although as a profession we use certain skills, are these skills what the client needs or wants and do they equate them as beneficial. A larger scale research study needs to be conducted to get a clear focus of how counselor educators operationalize core competencies and how students need to demonstrate these skills at an acceptable basic level to be considered competent to practice. Also longitudinal studies of counselors 1-5 years after graduation could garner information on what skills they have found essential. Although Schaefle, et. al (2005) conducted a longitudinal study on skill retention, the students were still enrolled in school during that time completing the graduate counseling program. There is research that says counselor when faced with real world issues forget there theoretical approaches and revert to using instincts (Argyris & Schon, 1974). The identification of specific criteria for the

Becoming a professional counselor, requires a willingness from the incumbent to embark on a lifelong journey of self-discovery, reflection, practice, and investigation into the art and science of human behavior. The practitioner must constantly reflect upon his or her own cultural background, past and present experiences, family history, as well as predispositions and perceptions about the world and all its inhabitants.

But as everything else evolves counseling will be another subject that will grow as well. The future of anything might be anyone’s guess. Authors Kaplan, Tarvydas, and Gladding have come up with a new approach to a new way of addressing how to advance counseling in the future. Those authors have come up the 20/20: A Vision for the Future of Counseling that addressed how professionals would move forward in the arena of counseling. This new idea of this vision from the authors would encompass seven different subjects: strengthening identity, presenting ourselves as one profession, improving public perception/recognition and advocating for professional issues, creating licensure portability, expanding and promoting the research base of professional counseling, focusing on students and prospective students, and promoting client welfare and advocacy (Kaplan et al., 2014). The goal of this new age thinking is to provide the framework for the principles of unifying and strengthening the counseling vocations (Kaplan et al, 2014). The first three subjects will focus on unifying and promoting professional counseling, and will come up with a clear and concise definition of what the counseling profession should develop as a clear definition of counseling for the public to understand (Kaplan et al.,

As I am motivated to complete my Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology, I have a vision for the calling God has placed in my heart. Believing that I am called to serve others, there are several goals that I plan to achieve with my higher education in counseling psychology. While I complete the graduate program from Trinity Christian College at the end of July of 2017, I plan to pass the National Counselor Examination (NCE) exam in October of 2017 for licensure and certification in the State of Illinois. As a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), I intend to utilize my education in business and accounting experience along with my counseling internship experience to open up a private practice based on counseling, prevention and awareness

Since the inception of the counseling profession, scholars, practicing counselors, and counseling students often wrestle with the difficulties of creating a professional identity among the human service occupation. There is a direct conflict between the roles of a professional counselor as it overlaps with that of other clinicians and the apparent lack of research that directly defines and identifies the unique position of a counselor. It is important both to the profession as a whole and to each individual counselor to discover and develop a sense of professional identity; the implications of which that will become beneficial clients as well (Hanna & Bemak, 1997).

Participants for this study were those who attended an annual counseling conference in Columbus, Ohio. A sample size of 70 captured individuals who either held licensure as a counselor or was a counselor-in-training across the state of Ohio. Of the 70 participants, 29 were licensed professional counselors, 23 were school counselors, 16 were counseling students and two individuals did not report their status.

Professional counseling is different from other counseling and psychology related fields. The desire of social work is to help the destitute. Psychology wants to understand the nature of a person. Psychiatry deals with medical interventions. Professional counseling which officially grew out of the vocational counseling movement of the twentieth century (Neukrug, 2014) tends to focus on development, prevention and wellness (Mellin, Hunt, & Nichols, 2011). It is this focus on development, prevention and wellness that brings challenge to the role and identity of the professional counselor at times, but also gives the professional counselor direction, especially in the area of specialization (Mellin, Hunt, & Nichols, 2011).

After having successful academic achievements and abundant professional experience in Korea, I moved to the US in 2013, and I chose to be a counselor since I finally realized that counselor best fits me in terms of my personality, aptitude and capability. My interests in counseling actually date back to my years after college, when I began to listen to the issues and struggles of my friends and share my thoughts. Many people said to me “Why don’t you do this professionally? I think it really suits you.” Now I have no doubt that I came to the world to be a counselor, which eventually will help me contribute to making the world a better

What makes a counselor great? When they continue building upon the foundation they initially established and continue to grow in their career. For this assignment I chose to write about my experience as a high school therapy group leader in central Minnesota, my attendance at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in St. Louis, Missouri, and about my observations of a group lead by a non-licensed individual at an at-risk girls group home in central Minnesota. The assignment gave me a wide range of view of what ideals I prefer group leaders to have and what I do not want to do as a group leader.