Summary: Personal Philosophy Of Counseling

The American Counseling Association website defines professional counseling as “a professional relationship that empowers diverse individuals, families, and groups to accomplish mental health, wellness, education, and career goals.” As the counseling profession has grown and the demand has increased over the years there has been some confusion of what the difference is between counseling and psychotherapy. Sharf (2012) reports, often times

I believe counseling is a collaborative partnership between client and counselor. Furthermore, this collaborative partnership is built from trust and acceptance of both client and counselor. I hope in conjunction with clients to understand the issues and concerns so to help them tap into their wisdom, creativity, and strengths to meet their current challenges. I believe in a comprehensive perspective through which clients can better comprehend themselves in the framework that our thinking about events can lead to emotional and behavioral upset. Moreover, counselors are to provide a safe environment for clients to explore their challenges and identify ways to move differently in overcoming these challenges.

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.

Earning a Master’s in Guidance and Counseling would be the ideal next step to fulfill my goals becoming a youth counselor. The program offered at The College of New Rochelle is a perfect match or my career and educational aspirations. I hope to refine my knowledge counseling therapies and techniques, learn more about disorders and associated symptoms, develop effective interviewing skills, and sharpen my ability to work as a professional in youth counseling.

This paper explores my counseling theory. It looks at the way I view human nature and the development of personality through the lens of an elementary school counselor. This paper looks at the development of psychopathology and the goals of therapy using fundamental cognitive behavioral theory (CBT) and techniques used in CBT and person centered therapy (PCT). Researched is used to advocate for my use of child center play therapy (CCPT) along with taking a look at reality therapy (RT) for use with the older elementary students . I conclude with a look at spiritual influences on my future counseling career. Throughout the paper I reference the American School Counselors Association (ASCA) and its national model to help tie in the theories and practices with the guidelines of being a school counselor.

My personal philosophy of life and my philosophy of counseling has been deeply affected by my life experiences as a young child and also as an adult. I am fortunate that my life has been a good life and I consider myself to be fortunate to have to have good parents and many loving family members. I do not recall having any events in my childhood that I would consider to be abusive or neglectful on the part of my family, and for that I consider myself to be lucky. I know several people who were abused as a child and it seems to have impacted them in many aspects of their lives even into adulthood.

Patience and acceptance is important to my personal philosophy because I believe counseling beings and ends with both. A goal I have is to enter into a client’s experience with them so I can be there with them every step of the way. Going through this journey will help the client explore their own thoughts and feelings. I entered into the field of counseling because I have compassion and a desire to help people reach and understand their full potential. As a counselor in training, I desire to help clients identify their own problems and concerns along with demonstrating a genuine compassion for the endeavors that they may face.

Thank you for your essay. I agree with your statement identifying the root of the issue the client is facing is the first step to making the counseling session successful. Reviewing the biological, psychological and social aspect of a individual will help to determine the best treatment plan for the client. I also agree with your statement about the disease of the spirit. It is very possible that one starts abusing drugs on their journey to find an outlet that will alleviate the pain they experienced. I agree that abusing drugs is a form of idolatry. Many times our voids lead us into idolatry. Many people who seek fulfillment through their addictions is crying out for love, not realizing that God is love. God is the definition and

There are a number of historical theories in counseling, which have been used to assist clients during the counseling process. This week’s readings provided quite a few concepts from counseling theories which emerged around the mid-to-late twentieth century. These concepts come from the Adlerian therapy, reality therapy, and person-centered therapy. Within these therapies there were a few concepts that were valuable and interesting to me. Many coincided with my views on the reasons for people’s behavior and human nature. These concepts are also meaningful to me for various reasons. Each of these psychological concepts might be useful when having a counseling relationship with a client in a variety of ways. Counseling theories can help a counselor properly assist someone, which may be more effective, rather than the counselor doing whatever they feel is right at the time of the counseling session (Roy-Day, 2015).

In the beginning of the semester, I thought that I was not going to be able to go through with this program because I felt that I was not prepared to be in the clinic. The thought of being recorded made me feel very uncomfortable and nervous. I cannot believe how fast this semester went and how much information we learned. This semester was one of the most challenging, overwhelming, and nerve wrecking semesters that I have ever experienced. After a couple of practice sessions with my peers, it helped me feel a lot more relaxed and comfortable being recorded. As of right now, I feel very comfortable being in the clinic with my co-therapist and my client.

Of the 6 therapeutic approaches, Cognitive-Behavioral (CB) best fits my current style. I have always had an interest on the ideas of thoughts and feelings, even before deciding to pursue counseling. When I found out there was an approach to counseling that focus the relationship between thoughts and feeling I immediately grew fond of it. In agreement with CB, I believe thoughts and feelings can influence behaviors. I feel that one of my biggest counseling skills is my ability to be supportive and explore cognitive distortions. One of the assumptions of CB is that CB is most effective when the professional establish an environment that is warm, supportive, collaborative (Capuzzi & Stauffer, 2012).

In addition, I believe everyone should seek individual counseling at least one time throughout their lives. As human beings, we have imperfections and most individuals goes through a phrase of needing assisting with jobs, relationships, educational advice, grieving a loss, and mental and emotional health issues. For instance, about five years ago, I lost someone that was very special to me due to gun violence in Jersey City. This special someone was my loving 12 year old brother. My family and I went to counseling for approximately six months to help us learn coping skills to help with the lost. After, counseling it took me almost a year to finally express my hurt and pain to other people besides my therapist. I had a good experience when

¬When considering what my own personal philosophy of counseling would be, it was eye opening to consider who I was a person and how much I have grown. The self analysis was new to me because I never thought about how I do that on a day to day basis. Reviewing the questions I found that a lot of my focus surrounded family, my significant other, and close friends. Constantly living in a diverse population and having that as my surrounding also made its mark in my answers. I also noted that both past and present influences, but primarily the present, play a large role in my own perspective. By following the prompt, I was made to understand that my thought process makes me think of what is occurring in the present and how I can alter these

Many counseling professions have been cultivated out of a gap in traditional subjects. Psychology is a great example of how a subject can develop into multiple branches like sociology or philosophy or counseling. Counseling in particular is a relatively new branch compared to the other social sciences and had a complex history on its path to becoming a respectable career. Despite its humble beginnings, individuals still benefit from counseling. Counseling specifications allow a multi-team approach which increases the offerings to clients and promotes the client on the road to wellness. Combining multidisciplinary professions together in a team can foster an even better result for a client, allowing the gaps in disciplines to be covered. This paper will review the history and roles of the counseling profession and describe ways to collaborate in a multi-disciplinary team.

To be honest, before my first counseling session I thought that counseling would be easier that what it was; nonetheless, I learned very quickly otherwise. I believed that because I am an educator and encounter similar situations that may require particular skills such as encouraging, empathy, questioning and observation that I was going to have an advantage over acquiring and applying the rest of the skills needed for a complete counseling session. Hence, I went into the first session with an authoritative and even judgmental attitude towards my client; which I now regret. At the moment I intertwined my teacher and counselor personas and I should not have done this. If I had been the astute and objective counselor, I would have had appreciated every second of the first session to build rapport and trust. Instead, I lectured the student about the school rules and how to avoid getting in trouble. Therefore, I ended up spending some of session two reconstructing what should have been done to properly serve the client and focus on the main concern without imposing my wishes or prejudicial thoughts into the matter. Simple interviewing based on open and closed questioning with a bit of self-disclosure allowed me the opportunity to understand my client from their perspective, where and why her problem stemmed from, and to formulate a few possible solutions that I wished for her to arrive to with my