Personal Narrative: A Career As A Counselor

I am Kristen Perkins. I have two children, Savannah, and Dakota. I am a single Mother,I work full time, and I am going to school full time. This is going to be a challenging, yet rewarding time for me. Once I get into a routine, and get my time management down pat I have full confidence in myself that I will do just fine. My program of study is in the Human Services field. In my field of study I intend upon being a substance abuse counselor. Being able to help others has always been a passion of mine. This past December my Husband passed away from overdosing on drugs. It was then that I realized what I was meant to do with my life. I could not save him, but I hope that the skills that I will learn in these next two years will prepare me to

I am interested in completing my practicum at Trinity Counseling Center, located in Anaheim, California. I am interested in completing my practicum at Trinity Counseling Center because I have personally received counseling and therapy at Trinity Counseling Center. I began to receive counseling services at Trinity in July of 2014 when I was going through a very difficult time in my life. Before I went to Trinity Counseling Center and began counseling sessions at Trinity, I received counseling services at another Christian counseling center. However, the counselor at this first Christian counseling center abandoned me. He gave me a list of local Christian counseling centers and then he abandoned me. After a few months of feeling very confused and hurt due to abandonment by my first counselor, I was able to begin receiving counseling services at Trinity Counseling

As an aspiring occupational therapist, my essential goal is to provide services and opportunities to impaired individuals, specifically in under-developed communities, that may not have the proper resources and guidance. What made me want to dedicate my life to assisting individuals is from observing my grandmother take care of my great-grandmother until she passed away. While trying to maintain her own health, my grandmother helped her mother with tasks such as feeding, changing, and more all by herself. Watching her struggle with no support made me wish I could make life simpler for her. Also, I wished my great-grandmother had the utilities to help her interact with my family without dilemmas. Considering my great-grandmother and my future

I have a Masters of Arts in counseling from Maryville University and bachelors of arts from Governors State University. Due to working with youth outreach programs, in mentoring capacities, within hospital and treatment setting, within residential settings, and within higher education I am trained to work with individual and couples of varying abilities. I also have extensive knowledge and sensitivity in working with people with trauma survivors, anxiety and depression, adolescents and families, sexual and gender minorities (BDSM and LGBTQ), and monogamous and polyamorous couples. I have experience working with clients in art therapy, DBT therapy, and in groups.

I have had several school counselors during my K-12 years, but a school counselor that has made a difference during my years at Osage High School is my high school counselor, Mrs. Dohlman. Mrs. Dohlman has been exceedingly helpful in my efforts to determine what college I want to attend and what I want to major in. She has provided countless resources for me to select which college would be suitable. She has also offered me helpful advice. She has sent emails about where to find information regarding colleges and even had college representatives come to our high school to discuss information about their college. It has been extremely helpful being able to ask representatives from colleges questions one on one about their college. She has even

I have accomplished lots of things in my lifetime. I have accomplished getting a job and getting my license to go to that job. I have accomplished working two jobs one is being a machinist and a referee.

I have been working for the Alameda county social services since 01/1994 as an eligibility technician (ET) I, II and III and I was promoted to the employment counselor (EC) in 09/1998. As the employment counselor, I have got a lot of experience by working in different units such as Orientation, Assessment, Case management and Community Base Organization programs (CBO). With my responsibilities to assist individuals to become self-sufficient, I have been using The California Welfare Information system (Cal WIN) to issue support services for their activities such as attending schools, looking for jobs and going to work. At the current time, working in the case management unit, each month I have been using the system to issue electronic benefit

Throughout my life I have experienced many trials and tribulations, this has all influenced me and made me who I am it has made me a better person. I am interested in obtaining a degree in psychology that way I am able to become a substance abuse councilor. In high school I had a passion for baseball, scouts had watched me play and were interested in having me play for them on a college level. After graduating high school I had the chance to attend college through baseball but during that time in my life I had stirred from the path I should have been on. I was too caught up in being young a reckless teenager, I was caught up in partying. I was in a situation a point of throwing caution to the wind, a point as to where I did not think about what was

As I began this counseling journey and foot into another community college, I did not have any expectations as I wanted to gain and learn as much as possible. I knew that I had to come into this process with an open mind and heart to gain as much insight as possible. Just as when I had least expected, I walked into the unknown of what will come through the door. I came across a student that seemed normal and nothing out of the ordinary. However, Marc opened up in the first session that he was diagnosed with autism which I was surprised. I have not yet worked with any individual with any disabilities and it definitely opened up my eyes. These past couple of sessions with Marc pushed me to go out of my comfort zone and feel more comfortable in

In high school, I could never have imagined I would be pursuing a career as a school counselor. My grandmother and mother both held jobs in the education field and I had always envisioned myself as a lawyer or professor. I did not want to fall into, what I at the time considered, the stereotype of the female teacher. I wished to go into a traditionally male dominated field and live out my inner feminist dreams of shattering the glass ceiling. However, more importantly, I harbored a deep desire to help others. One of the reasons for this is that my brother is autistic and growing up, I saw how he struggled in school and in interacting with his peers. Originally, I wanted to become a disability advocate lawyer. In college, I struggled

head had crowned and the doctor looked down at me and asked me a shocking question. “Kodi,

There was a point in my life where I had no idea what was I going to do with my life. In July 2014 I landed a job at Garland Independent School District at the Enrollment Center Clinic, as a translator for the social worker. That was also the day that I found my spark in life. I wanted to become a clinical social worker and serve my community. My biggest aspiration is to be able to attend the University of North Texas and get my masters as a clinical social worker. I would be a great candidate for this university because I am committed and highly driven.

Counselor contacted Mr. McLaurin today for a counseling session. Mr. McLaurin states that he has been doing well. He informed me that he was having difficulty with the new sounds that he is hearing while wearing his hearing aids. We discussed that re-training the brain when it comes to new sounds is a mind condition. Counselor discussed some things that could help ease the process such as making a visual contact with the new sound so the brain has both the sound and visual cue as to what it is. We discussed speech signals and the need to identify what the sound is. I reminded Mr. McLaurin that while hearing is occurring whether he pay attention or not, listening takes effort. I informed him that it will take time and to continue to be patient.

I have always wanted to be the person others look to when they feel scared or vulnerable. In return for that trust, I have put enormous effort into helping people who seek me out identify their best options for the future. Not until I encountered life in all its confusing, brutal truth, however, did I realize I wanted to occupy that advisor’s role as a professional. My aim in applying to Northwestern is to become a licensed professional counselor in my home state of Wisconsin so that I can help young people tackle everyday problems, learn life skills, and ultimately, be the best people they can be. Ultimately, my goal is to complete a doctorate in counseling psychology, from University of Wisconsin-Madison in particular, after completion of my master’s degree while gaining vital work experience in my field and to use my expertise to train other aspiring professionals in my field.

Do you believe that your role as a therapist will end at the end of the day or will it be present in your personal life also?