My Transition To Counselor

I have been at my site for about seven almost eight weeks now and I cannot believe we are already half way done with the semester. It has been a great journey thus far and I hope to learn more in the second half of my journey. Since this is my half way point I want to mention that everything seems to be so much more comfortable, but not necessarily easier yet. I think being a good counselor takes many years and much more reflection on a daily basis. I also feel like I am learning new things every day as a trainee and that I am working on what it really means to be a counselor each day. Finding my identity as a counselor is a big part of this process and I feel as though it is always changing and transforming into a better self each day. I like

As the week progressed and friendships formed between everyone, I realized the importance of the camp to all that were involved. To the counselors it was a learning experience, as well as a time to appreciate all that we would usually take for granted; to the campers it was a time to learn and make new friends, and for most of them, it would also serve as their only form of a summer vacation. So although we were all exhausted by the end of the week, we had a great time.

My drive to help others stems from my time volunteering with the service organization, Rotary, and their leadership program, Camp RYLA. When I attended this camp as a high schooler, I learned invaluable lessons of self-confidence and connecting with others, traits seldom found in a high school environment. My experience at this program inspired me to return as a counselor, where I have been helping foster the growth of today’s youth for the past four years.

I continued to work with youth in my next job at the Anasazi Foundation in Mesa, Arizona, where I held a position as a counselor for a wilderness rehabilitation program. This position was a favorite because I was able to spend a great

Counseling is defined as ”the use of therapeutic strategies to help clients address personal concerns and mental health issues” (Nystul, 2016). Pursuing counseling as a career involves many years of formal study and certification or licensure. After receiving licensure to practice as a professional counselors it is a requirement to maintain involvement and certification in certain associations in order to hold your license. These association often require further education and/or professional practice in order to maintain membership in these associations. It is quite obvious that counseling requires a large amount of commitment and passion in order to pursue it as a career and maintain a title as a counselor. I have conducted an interview with a professional counselor in order to further understand the experience of being a counselor. The interview that I conducted explores the requirements of maintaining and receiving a counselling career, the experience of being a counselor, and what characteristics or skills a professional may have. The Individual who agreed to the interview was a counselor by the name of Susie Facio. Susie Facio, through this interview, will be giving us a look at what influenced her to become a counselor, what her work entails on a day to day basis, and what qualities and skills she has acquired in order to become a successful counselor.

Last summer I volunteered to be a camp counselor at a camp in Blowing Rock, North Carolina called Camp Sonshine. This camp is different from others in that they bring children ages 5 to 18 from inner city Memphis, Tennessee to the Appalachian Mountains. This

It was during my senior year of college that I decided I wanted to become a school counselor. Up until my senior year in college at Penn State I did not know where I wanted to take my career but I knew I wanted to work in a school setting and I knew that I wanted to work with kids. When it came time to choose an internship site for my last semester, I chose an alternative school called Buxmont Academy in Bethlehem where I would be shadowing two of their school counselors as well as engaging with the students themselves. I got to work with these children on a more personal level, gaining an understanding of their emotions, experiences, and difficulties, as most of these children came from broken homes, and drug and alcohol related settings. I am interested in becoming a school counselor because I want to help. When I become a counselor I want to make a difference in a child’s life whether that be by simply giving them support that they might not have in their lives or helping them make changes to better themselves and their futures. A counselor has such an important role in helping to shape young children and that is something that I want to be a part of.

This summer I was given the amazing opportunity to be a camp counselor. At first, I was hesitant because I wanted to spend my summer having fun. I thought about it a lot and soon realized that the opportunity was a dream come true. I had always wanted to have a group of little girls who loved me and thought I was the coolest person ever. My summer was absolutely perfect. Three things that made my summer perfect were my kids, my job, and my memories.

,and the huts were absolutely terrible.Usually the camp was at a food shortage and the soldiers

Each person is unique with different gifts, abilities, and struggles. Counselors are committed to walk with individuals on their journeys to growth and healing without judgement.

Camp life for Gruenewald and the others in the interment camps in California was hot, with bad food, and absolutely no privacy. Their showers were in one

As I go down this road which is considered my life. I have realized that I have chosen the path of the person that I am today. My life up to this point was not an easy road and still has bumps in my future. In my past I have faced physical and emotional child abuse from my parents, death of my younger brother at a young age, my house burning down making my family homeless, Department of Family Services placing my brother and sisters into foster homes, and me becoming homeless again while trying finish high school. All of this led to me to joining the Army to realize there were different options in life. Learning from the past hardships is what led me to want to help others figure out to show they also can overcome hardships and that their past does not have to dictate their future. Throughout this paper I am going to take you through my journey by leading you through the concept of counseling as a professional identity, key characteristics of a counselor, duties and functions of the different areas I could pursue as a counselor, then the four career paths I would pursue, followed by the top two career paths I would enjoy, and top two professional settings that I would like to work.

Transitioning from my comfortable sixty degree waterside house to a one hundred degree tent was challenging. I had to live independently, collaborate with others from different states, and work past my heat tolerance. The isolated enclosement known as my campsite was dirty, cramped, and reeked from the stench of porta-potties baking in the southern sun. Limited showers made everyone all the more uncomfortable around each other. I wake, aching from sleeping on the ground,

“We were housed in small barracks for about 20 people. There was my sister, two brothers, my parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, nieces, and nephews, but we were lucky to be together. There was no such thing as privacy in the camp. We had to create dividers with sheets and “mattress” with hay. There were army metal beds with springs, no dressers, no curtains on the windows, and some didn’t even have a ceiling. There were no stalls for the restroom; they were just places back to back. But we all tried our best to make a living out the conditions we were given. - Eleanor Tsukamoto, daughter

My eighth year at HoneyRock Camp was also my first as a counselor. I had gone as a camper for six years and a voluntary staff assistant the year before, but the experience of being a counselor was unlike anything I had ever done, and the opportunity to give back was invaluable. I wondered if I would have any ‘counselor moments’; ‘misplacing’ a camper, losing my temper, or other “human moments”.