Thoughts On the Journey
Counseling is a profession that touches people’s lives (do
not forget this). As such, the training
to become a counselor demands a high degree of characteristics unique to those
on this academic and experiential journey.
Discipline is a given. You must
be disciplined in your approach to academic coursework, in your relentless
pursuit to gather information about yourself and others, and in the compassion
you hold for the same. Do not take
shortcuts in your training. Your
competence as a therapist is proportional to the effort you put forth in the
pursuit of this position. Read the
material assigned and more. Although
you may not initially understand or accept the relevance of certain assignments
or readings, they will find a place within you. Do not spend excessive amounts of time complaining about exams,
readings, or assignments. Remember,
this is graduate school and you will be challenged. Just as you will find certain opposition with some assignments,
you can safely expect to experience the same emotions with client
concerns. The question is “what will
you do with this challenge?” (Again,
there is a transferable relevancy of all facets of your academic training to
your work as a licensed therapist - whether it is in the community or school
system). I encourage you to accept the
challenge and jump in with “both feet!”
Challenge yourself and others.
Use your classroom experiences to push the envelope with ideas! Experience confrontation of thought (this
will help you as a therapist). Below
are additional “thoughts for the journey.”
I will continually update this as insights occur and my journey
continues!
Papers are naturally a part of graduate school
assignments. There are typically three
types of papers - conceptual, research, and self-reflective. Conceptual papers provide thought on how a
construct (such as a theory) can be used differently (for instance with a
unique population). Research papers,
however, attempt to validate or refute either a conceptual piece or existing
research (quantitative research). Or, one may decide to conduct in depth
interviews with a small number of persons to note any common themes that may
emerge (qualitative research).
Self-reflective papers are potentially just as difficult to develop, in
their own right. Critical
self-reflection is something we will eventually ask of our clients so it is
important to experience the process ourselves.
I truly believe that the better we know ourselves, and are honest about
that knowledge, the more effective we become in both our personal and
professional life.
American Psychological Association Publication Manual (4th
edition) - the guideline for writing papers in APA format. This is the format required by the counseling
profession, the School of Education and Allied Professions at The University of
Dayton, and more specifically, The Department of Counselor Education and Human
Services at UD. Some may consider that
writing APA is simply being picky and unnecessary for their future work as a
therapist. Not so. Besides the obvious requirements, journals
in the counseling profession require submissions to be in APA format. “Well,” you might say, “I never plan to
submit anything for publication, so why bother?” You may be right, however, you will know how should you
ever choose to submit. Also, (and here
comes a soapbox argument) I view a counseling master’s as a professional
degree, and truly believe that you will all develop wonderful insights about
this profession – insights that could benefit your colleagues in addition to
clients. And, the two ways we share
ideas in this profession, on an extended basis, is to either publish or present
(at conferences) our thoughts and/or findings.
This is a way we question and advance the helping professions. A final note about APA format; it too
requires discipline and scrutiny of detail – clearly a requirement for our work
as practitioners!
As many of you know, or may have heard, I am very
passionate about professional organizations and their relevancy to our
individual and collective growth as persons and professionals. Professional
organization membership keeps you connected to cutting edge information in the
profession and society. In addition,
membership reflects your commitment to continual development. You cease to
become a stagnant practitioner. You are
knowledgeable to your clients, your colleagues, and the field of counseling. The mental health profession also needs a
constant source of advocacy on many levels.
Through organization membership, you are unified with the profession and
its directions. You are a voice that
matters, believe me you can make a difference. Membership provides conferences,
newsletters and/or journals, and networking opportunities to name a few
benefits.
Professional organization membership also provides you
the opportunity to obtain liability insurance for the work you do as a
practitioner – you will all need this.
Furthermore, to give you an idea on the relevancy of membership to
future employment, many of my colleagues (in key leadership and administrative
positions throughout the state) will not even consider someone who is not a
member of appropriate professional organizations. Again, this reflects a commitment! So, as Past President of the Ohio Counseling Association, I
encourage you to join the American Counseling Association and the Ohio
Counseling Association. For those of
you on the school counseling track you should also join the American School
Counseling Association and the Ohio School Counseling Association.
The following under
construction:
On Carving a Niche
Theory
Population
Client Problems
On Self-Care