Personal Statement : Self Care

The philosophy that underlies the counseling profession is unique among mental health professionals. According to Remley & Herlihy (2014), the philosophy is made up of four components. First, counselor 's view mental health challenges through a positive, wellness-oriented lens. The primary goal of the wellness model is for the client to achieve the highest degree of mental health possible. Psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers follow the medical model of mental health. The goal of these clinicians is to cure the client’s illness, which differs drastically from counselor’s view of clients.

Wellness is the health of a person as a whole. It encompasses the person’s physical, as well as mental and emotional health. Over time, therapist came to the realization that clients needed to be well in every aspect of their lives in order to be healthy ("Wellness in Mental

As the standards of the counseling profession are continuously being shaped, I desire to play a role in the educating

Now that I have explained why I am interested the Capella, I will explain how my personality, beliefs, values, thoughts, and experiences influence the way I look at the world in conjunction with my role as a future professional counselor. In general, I receive satisfaction from helping others fix their own problems. As I help others, I observe various outlooks on problems and solutions that I would not have noticed alone. I think that fits with the Wellness Model, which states, “the counselor assesses client’s current functioning in several areas and helps determine which factors are interfering with the individual reaching his/her potential.” I look at my

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.

As mentioned previously, the focus of self-care within the field of counseling is imperative. The counselor must adhere to proper self-care in order to lead a successful career. Norcross (2000) explains that there are several self-care strategies that the counselor must follow, however, the strategies may vary from counselor to counselor. A few of the most universal strategies are as

Wellness is a vital aspect to the counseling profession. Lawson and Myers (2011) indicate that counselors are more susceptible to mental and emotional disorders than others within the population. Therefore, it is imperative for counselors to understand wellness and build strategies for resilience. Furthermore, wellness is the healthy balance of a person’s mind, body, and spirit. For counselors to be effective within the profession it is important for them to understand the need for wellness (Wolf, Thompson, Thompson, & Smith-Adcock, 2014). An inability to manage both personal and work life can cause burnout and affect the counselor’s wellbeing and the clients they serve (Lee, Cho, Kissinger, & Ogle, 2010). Research depicts that well counselors are more likely to promote wellness, while impaired counselors are likely to harm their clients (Lawson & Myers, 2011). Counselor educators and students are learning the importance of self-care to help maintain mental, physical, and spiritual health. Self-care is the strategy that an individual uses for relief, which include extracurricular activities that are relaxing and fun to that individual. Self-care includes healthy activities that can include sewing, gardening, exercising, and many other

The profession of counseling has a rich and bold history, evolving through the years from varied disciplines and birthing diverse specialties and branches along the way. Often referred to as the youngest of the counseling specialties is clinical mental health counseling. Despite physical health’s grasp on the nation, mental health has been a major focus at various times throughout history and continues to become an ever growing concern for people in general. As people come to better understand mental health issues and the demand for services grows, it is important to look at how clinical mental health counseling, and the counseling profession in general, has developed over time and how it has advanced to meet the needs of those seeking services.

Self care is essential to the nursing profession because it is a reflection on the quality of health care nurses provide to their patients, it portrays an image to the patients on what’s necessary towards healthy living and can help nurses battle with stress and personal health. Self care can be expressed as taking care of ones self’s health and overall wellbeing. This can be shown through eating healthy, exercising daily, getting enough sleep and completing weekly activities to reduce stress. Improving your overall health can benefit nurses from overworking themselves and help minimize the affects certain stressors can have on them. By doing so, the overall atmosphere in the workplace and the quality of healthcare provided to the patients will be greatly improved.

There are two specific empirically supported wellness models which influence the field of counseling and counselors’ work with clients: the so-called Wheel of Wellness as well as the model of the Indivisible Self (as cited in Myers & Sweeney, 2008, p. 483). The goal of a counselor’s work with clients is to help the latter achieve a state of optimal wellbeing which consists of an equilibrium between physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health (Myers & Sweeney,

When attempting to identify as a professional counselor, it is important to understand the basic elements of counseling as it pertains to individual specializations. The wellness model and the key philosophies of the counseling profession: wellness, resilience and prevention are examined. The ability to articulate the roles and characteristics to understand how they relate to the different professional roles is

Working as a therapist can be exhausting, but yet, rewarding at the same time. As a therapist we deal with daily encounters of other people’s lives, issues, problems etc. Taking multiple cases of providing therapeutic interventions has an effect on the human body and the psyche. The wear and tear over time begins to haunt us without recognizing how neglectful we can be towards ourselves because our focus is for the sake of other people’s sanity. The profession is hard, and can be detrimental to professionals who do not take care of themselves. Self-care is an important aspect when working as a therapist. Our health, mental health, spiritual values, etc. should matter just as the client’s health, mental health and spiritual values matters

Counseling is a relatively young profession when compared to other mental health professions. In my brief personal and professional experience with the field, I have come to define counseling as a process of engagement between two people, both of whom are bound to change through a collaborative process that involves both the therapist and the client in co-constructing solutions to concerns.

My calling to nursing started when my father got diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2015. I watched him suffering through radiation and chemotherapy, but what got him through those hard times was the help of some great loving and caring nurses. As I became more involved in taking care of him, my passion for nursing had greatly increased. Now, for nine years, I have maintained a commitment to caring for others in the field of Nursing. Being a registered nurse (RN), I have taken care of one patient at a time, which I have been involved in the amelioration of lives, and have only been left wanting to give and do more. Pursuing a master of science in nursing (MSN) is more than just a logical or natural progression for my career. It is a life choice, one that is backed by highly refined clinical judgments and in-depth exposure to an array of set-ups, and levels of care. In this personal statement, I will deeper highlight an explanation of my career goals, the reasons for my choice of Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) specialization, and lastly the reason for pursuing an advanced degree in nursing.

an obligation. Self-care means balancing a concern for others with a concern for one’s own well-being...”