Coun 500 Personal Identity Paper

The purpose of this paper is to review my professional identity as a Marriage and Family Therapist and to reflect on my developing beliefs within my selection of the counseling profession. My professional identity is beginning to be developed throughout my education with Liberty University. I will address the Marriage and Family Therapist professional counselor role and how this position differs from social workers, clinical psychologists, and professional counselors. By reviewing the differences in counseling positions, I will be able to express the differences from my previous experiences with pastoral counseling, and outline what my

McMinn (2011) believed that the integration of psychology, theology and spirituality is tricky, for Christian counselors, because other therapists are focused on a change in mental health (symptom reduction, ego strength, etc.), whereas, the Christian counselor is concerned with spiritual growth and transformation (p. 39). This is the view that sets the tone for the rest of the book. In order to make the book easy to follow, McMinn (2011) began with a discussion about Religion in the Counseling Office where he clarifies the need for training, the importance of the spiritual life of the counselor, the role of spiritual disciplines, and God’s role in the counseling process (Chapter 1).

I was first drawn to (psychology/counseling) after a close friend of mine attempted suicide during our senior year of high school leaving him with permanent brain damage. I had no idea he was experiencing those feelings to begin with, and thus I began to educate myself on how to identify signs of depression and how to provide help. Later the same year, I lost my primary guardian, my grandmother, very suddenly and unexpectedly. I then began to notice my own developing depression and thus entered counseling where I became aware of just how powerful the therapeutic relationship is. I also witnessed second-hand the capabilities of this relationship through a close friend of mine in college who successfully recovered from major depression and anorexia nervosa. All of these events lead me to take an introductory psychology course upon beginning college and to ultimately choose to pursue a psychology degree.

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.

The authors in this research address the importance competency in preparing counselors-in-training. Young, Cashwell, Wiggins-Frame, and Belaire (2002) suggest that counselor’s educators are much unprepared to incorporate spirituality competencies to counselors-in-training. The article also supports counselor educators are unprepared in applying spirituality in their curriculum. They lack the requirement set by CACREP standards, as well as their colleagues are even less prepared (Young et al.,

I have always known that I wanted to help people and this the reason I choose Mental Health Counseling as my major. After the classes I have taken at Long Island University (LIU), I have come to the realization that my passion lies in working with families. This is the reason I would like to change my major to Marriage and Family Therapy.

Psychology has grabbed my attention ever then. The career helped me realize that there are people out there in the world that need a push to go on about their day. Helping someone in need of care may seem like a lot of work in other people’s eyes, but for me,

Summary and Response 1-Professionalism, Ethics, and Value-Based Conflicts in Counseling: An Introduction to the Special Section A) Summary of Article This article talks about how important the code of ethics is for professionals, specifically the values and expectations of the ACA code of ethics. It discusses how there are personal values versus professional values that must be followed as a counselor. It explains how counselors should not impose their own beliefs onto a client directly or indirectly. It goes into great detail about how conflicts and dilemmas can arise if these are not aligned.

This book provides answers to many questions mainly, who will we be as Christian counselors (McMinn, 2012, p. 43). McMinn stressed the importance to understand the many aspects that Christian counseling encompass. McMinn provides helpful information throughout the reading that serves as a guideline for Christian counselors to integrate various disciplines such as psychology, theology, and spirituality successfully into counseling.

As a professional counselor, it is my goal to help others through the difficult times in their lives. I am looking forward to a long and highly productive career as a family counselor and helping individuals with a wide variety of issues. It is my goal to help my clients to realize their fullest potential and find happiness within their own lives and for them to be able to develop healthy relationships in all aspects of their lives.

Counseling is an occupation that is suited to the needs of the client, problem situation, and the uniqueness of each individual. Within the personal counseling values, beliefs, and culture are elements integrated into the process either from the counselor or the client. The personality of the effective counselor should be founded on the understanding of a rational system that may be appropriate to fits the thinking, feeling, personality, identity, etc. of the clients. Belief systems direct our actions, decisions, perspectives that may lead to inappropriate or impaired counseling.

I have known that I want to be a psychologist ever since I went to a counselor after my parents got divorced in second grade. The idea of getting to know random people’s secrets intrigued me. As I kept going to therapy sessions I experienced a type of healing that was very new to me. I told my counselor how I felt about something, and if it made me feel negatively she would give me the tools to be able to properly deal with those feelings.

When it comes to counseling, whether Christian or secular, it is important that the therapist is client focused. Client-centered therapy was developed in the 1930s by the American psychologist Carl Rogers. (Gale, 2001) Rogers’s form of therapy steered away from the detached role the therapist played that was “common to psychoanalysis and other forms of treatment.” (Gale, 2001) Instead, Rogers viewed those seeking counseling as clients rather than patients, in order to “show them as equals.” (Gale, 2001) As Christian counselors, it is our job to provide the best care for our clients so they can go on to live happy and healthy lives. Not only are we there to help them with the problems they are facing, but to provide soul care with Christ as

Counseling is the occupation that I would love to have by the time I graduate college. Growing up, my mom was a guidance counselor so that is really what started my interest. In high school, I was very close with my counselor and that made me even more interested in counseling. I shadowed my high school counselor a few times to see what it was like. After shadowing him I decided I really did not like or want to work in a school setting. Getting to college, I still liked counseling, but I wasn't really sure where I wanted to go and who I wanted to work with. After taking a few different types of counseling and therapy classes I took a introduction of couple and family counseling class here at the University of Iowa I found my passion.

The two psychologist’s careers that interest me were developmental and counseling. Developmental psychologists look at how and why humans change over a lifetime. They break development into three parts: cognitive, psychological, and social. Cognitive involves your perception, reasoning, and language skills. Psychological sees the psychical operation of the brain with what we really say and do. Social finds out how do you mature and do your surroundings have an effect on your socialization. I always wanted to know why certain situations in your childhood effects your adulthood in a negative or positive way.