My Goal As A Licensed Counselor

Counseling is a tool that is widely used by many people. Merriam Webster’s Learner’s Dictionary defines counseling as advice and support that is given to people to help them deal with problems, and make important decisions. This paper examines the career of a Licensed Professional Counselor, the education requirements, certification and licensure levels or requirements, salary, and the future of this profession.

This essay will address in subsections the reason why I am seeking a specialization in a license track counseling program. I t will address how I will do my best to obtain experience through volunteer work. I will discuss in detail part of my life experience as well as my interpersonal skills that made an impact on my decision to become a Mental Health Counselor. In addition, I will also explain in details the license requirement that I will need to practice in the state of Florida. This is the state where I want to practice.

It is important for counselors to serve as advocates for their clients and the counseling profession. Advocacy seeks to remove obstacles and barriers that can inhibit the client's growth, development and access to resources. The goal is to enhance the clients sense of personal power and cultivate and promote environmental change. I believe it's imperative to advocate for the counseling profession itself. Counselors can advocate for the profession by contributing to the development of a strong professional identity, lobbying for professional recognition, such as mental heath parity, and displaying professional accountability and pride. By engaging in professional advocacy, we can help ensure that counselors are seen as competent, credible service providers. It

According to the Journal of Development, counseling was defined as being different in accordance with social work and psychology due to counseling being focused primarily on personal growth, wellness, and empowerment. Social and psychologist work comes more from a medical background that focus more on pathology. In which counselors deals with the wellness component of counseling. As I look in our society today, I would not have been able to decipher each specialist. My son’s counselor who has a social worker degree, does a lot for the children in a counseling setting. I use to think that social workers just deal with a lot of paperwork, but now they have a more open job description. However, I am interested to learn

When thinking about the field of clinical counseling, I was at first hesitant because I did not want spend time in school for so long. School had always been more of a challenge for me and I was not as confident in going to the next level. once I graduated with my undergraduate degree I applied to Capella. Upon getting accepted and speaking with my enrollment counselor I found goals that where measurable to me. I first let my counselor that I know that I wanted to be done in a two-year time span. With this plan I will be taking two classes a quarter and set to finish in the year 2018.

While the profession of counseling is a little over 100 years old it is only recently that it has come into its own in terms of parity and respect among other professionals, legislators and the public. Licensure is now available in every state lending a more unified approach and feel to the profession. There is however continued inroads to be made in unifying the counseling profession as a whole. This can be done only when the common interest of the counseling

A mental health counselor’s role is unlike other roles in other counseling specializations. A mental health counselor will include a broader approach, than other counseling specializations, when treating clients (Smith & Robinson, 1995). Mental health counseling can occur in various settings, which include community centers and agencies, hospitals, and in private practices (Erford, 2014). Mental health counselors also focus on developmental, preventive, educational, as well as the traditional aspects of care for clients. Essentially, their role and function will be to assist the client with restoring their wellness and balance. The processes and approaches are holistic, interdisciplinary and multifaceted in nature. The client is viewed as a person who exists within familial, societal, and cultural contexts while also being an “emotional, physical, social, vocational, and spiritual being” (Pistole & Roberts, 2002, p.10).

Effective Clinical Mental Health Counselors develop and apply certain characteristics and behaviors with clients. Clients make the decision to receive services, creating an opportunity for counseling relationships to begin (Sheperis, D. S., & Ellis, C. M. (2014). Professional counselors bring their training, experiences, understanding and personalities into the process. While counseling takes place in stages of gathering information, application of theory to generate relevant goals, treatment, assessment, and termination. Clients and counselor develop a powerful relationship to facilitate changes in their life (Sheperis, D. S., & Ellis, C. M. (2014).

The counseling process in general can vary due to the problems brought forth by you, the client. Within my limits of a Licensed Professional Counselor, I will use different approaches within counseling sessions to help you deal with the issues you may bring to the session, this can include, but not limited to: cognitive-behavioral, solution-focused, systemic/family development or psycho-educational. It is not expected that issue(s) you bring to a session will be resolved in one session. Change can be easy and occur quickly or it can be a slower process. Counseling will require active engagement within the session and work outside of the session, sometimes including homework. I will often ask for your feedback and satisfactions with your sessions, which requires openness and honesty.

Broadly defined, counseling is a process that facilitates and supports change. In the early stages of development, counseling was intended to help individuals of all ages make meaningful life choices to find direction and fulfillment in what they did. Today, counseling professionals continue to help clients avoid making bad life choices while promoting growth, wellness, development, change, and remediation of mental health disorders. Counseling services are available for individuals, couples, groups and families across varied cultural backgrounds and through the life span. To understand the counseling profession now, emerging counseling professionals first need to understand the history of the counseling process and the various changes it has undergone.

Is there anything unique regarding your family dynamic that you would like to share with admission counselors?

i am so excited to have an opportunity to begin again. After many, many years being out of school I am full of various emotional reservations and to some point Skepticism of future outcomes However, I am not crippled by these emotions but are looking forward to gaining new skills and knowlege that will allow me to accomplished my goal to become a Professional Counselor. Any goal is attainalbe but it is its process that makes the goal more

Counseling is an important field today because it's very important to have the recognition of our health and well-being. Many people don’t put much of attention in their well-being because they

It is quite remarkable to see the skills I have learnt put into action with individuals I encounter in my every day dealings. By implementing the basic counselling skills learnt, it has aided me in being a better person and also laid the foundations for my future career. Many skills were used in a variety of situations in the past quarter of a year, however, only a brief description of a few will be discussed below. It is simpler to learn a core skill from a textbook however it is more complex to apply that skill in practise; every individual is different and so are each of their issues. It is important as a student to familiarise ourselves with the key skills needed to become a successful skilled helper. In the beginning we are taught

Clear definitions also help to prevent conflict due to misunderstanding. Many clients come into therapy with the same expectations with which they walk into the physician’s office: they relay their problems, and the expert will prescribe a fix to make the pain disappear. While anything is possible through the power of the Spirit, as the American Counseling Association (2017) defines counseling as, “…a professional relationship that empowers diverse individuals, families, and groups to accomplish mental health, wellness, education, and career goals” (paragraph 2). The power in counseling is in the process of relationship building that empowers clients to process and grow out of their