Personal Narrative: Counselor In Training

As I await the therapist in the waiting room, my mind is racing, heart pounding, and palms sweating. I’ve been waiting for three years to meet with him, but of course, Dr. Johnson was completely booked until now. Each night I have been taunted with an atrocious dream and ready for the affliction to cease. Finally, he appears in the doorway and calls my name. Instantaneously, I stand up and shuffle behind the therapist to the cubicle.

Growing up a young camper, I looked up to the camp counselors so much. How they had all the words to the songs memorized, how they had their own secret hangout and how they had so much independence separate from the rest of the campers. I was beyond excited when it was finally my turn to train so I could prove to the leaders I had what it takes to with hold this new found trust and responsibility. By the end of the week when I was bridged into a camp counselor, I had no idea what I

4-H Camp—the place that changed my life. At the age of nine, I would have never dreamed I would have the amount of friends I do today. In the same way, I did not think that I would have this much self-esteem and confidence. Furthermore, since Camp has impacted my life so much, I decided to become a counselor and teach the new campers the same ideas that I

I believe the benefits of a camp program are to campers and staff are that they can make new friends and gain more self-esteem. I believe especially young campers should have a really high self-esteem and by going to camp

When I became a camp counselor at age fourteen, I never thought of it as anything more than a job. Sure, it was a fun job, but still just a job. Now almost three years later, I realize that I could not have been more wrong. Camp gives me a chance to show my true identity, and has shown me some of my own talents that I never knew I had. It is the one place where I can be myself, and not hide a single part of who I truly am.

A wise person recognizes the face of necessity. It is important to identify with a specific goal in life, especially a career goal. When one considers the field of psychology it is important to acknowledge the various possibilities that are available to an individual who wants to pursue a career in this field. A psychologists are those who study the “cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behaviors by observing, interpreting, and recording how people relate to one another and their environment”(Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2016). The field of psychology constitutes a number of subfields. However, I will discuss this subfield of my interests, why I chose it, and what I found most interesting about the field of psychology.

Today I had my first therapy session with lady Macbeth as I listened to her problems and concerns and observed her behavior I noticed that she couldn’t sit still. As well I noticed her frequent mentions of gaining control and power over situations and others. On my next session with her, I hope we can dig little deeper into the reason’s behind her fascination with power.

This semester, we launched with a very strong two-day professional development. While we discussed many, many things during our time together, one of my favorite analogies was thinking of school through the lens of a football team. Given that this is the week of the super bowl (and my Dirtybirds are going to win!) it makes perfect sense to circle back to that analogy.

During the initial phase of the treatment, the therapist should be curious about the client’s experiences and also focusing on hearing their story to gain a full understanding of not only the problem, but the client’s point of view, hence making the client the expert. This also helps the therapist avoid any assumptions throughout their sessions. The therapist would also acknowledge some of the feelings that were expressed; such as frustration. She would look for clues of hope between the couple and what they would like to be different in the future. Once Bill and Leslie defines the problem, the next focus is on goal setting and finding solutions based on the clues presented. One of these clues is when Bill states that their problem is

I was in eighth grader when I decided to go to camp. A christian camp in Oregon. A couple of my friends and their friends were going for their second or third time to the camp. I didn’t know that many people and wasn’t sure if I was going to go. Throughout mostly seventh and eighth grade,I was pretty shy. I went to a pretty small school where I was comfortable with all my classmates except when I didn’t know someone that well I wasn’t myself. I wasn’t as outgoing as i’d like to be. Although deciding to go to camp took some convincing from my friends, it was worth it.

I am starting out in the Initial Stage of my training program, for the week beginning 9/7/15 and ending 9/13/15, I participated in 5 days of physical activity. As stated in my goals, I ran .5 miles, on Monday, Tuesday, Saturday, and Sunday averaging 10 minutes per half mile. I sprint 20m for the last bit of my run to increase my bpm for 2 minutes, reaching the high intensity zone .On Thursday and Sunday, I conquered Bikram and Restorative hot yoga. To incorporate strength training, on Tuesday and Thursday, I combined a kettle ball, dumbbells, squats, wall sit, push-ups and abdominal repetitions. I included a warm-up and cool-down every day of exercise. I meditated 2 minutes all seven days, to improve my mood and focus. On Thursday, Saturday,

It is 10:30 am and I have not yet started my day. I shall stop watching movies on YouTube, it takes up too much of my time. I cannot reduce my sleeping hours (7 to 9 hours) to offset time spent on watching movies.

I caught up with my friends, worked on service projects, made crafts, and enjoyed the beauty of nature. To me, camp has always like a refresh button in my life, It lets me put my overloaded schedule on hold for a while. It is my breath of fresh air in a world I sometimes felt I was suffocating in. But when the topic of repelling came up among my eager friends, that feeling diminished. I kept telling myself that I didn’t have to if I didn’t want to, but there was still a trace of doubt.

CIT summer is something I’ve always looked forward to in my time at camp. It is a summer where you’re still in a cabin with your friends, but you don’t have the full duties of being in charge of a cabin. This a great learning experience for anyone who wants to be a counsellor, because it is extremely difficult to jump right into a job without doing the training. I feel being a CIT is similar, but also very different from being a camper. You have new responsibilities, for example land duty, covering cabins, working at activities, and possibly taking out a canoe trip, which is something I feel I’m ready to do. I have grown up a lot since I’ve started coming to camp, and I’m mature enough now to recognize that. I hated canoe trip so much when I was a Trailblazer and Pioneer, but after going on my first long trip, 13 day, I think it is crazy that I used to dislike it so much. As a CIT and someday a counsellor, I feel it is my obligation to change the minds of so many campers that dislike canoe trip, just like my staff did on 13

English 101 was a challenging course. A constant stream of reading and writing lead to a demanding yet rewarding semester. The variety of texts read and written about provided a plethora of life lessons and demonstrations of values. Now at the end of the course I find myself a better student and writer. The texts themselves were not influential to my growth as a critical reader or college student. Rather, it was my own analysis of the texts that allowed me to consider other perspectives on technology use in the classroom and the importance of revision when it comes to school work.