It is a privilege to interview veteran therapists who are exiting the counseling arena after a long career in the profession. I was honored to shadow Lea Keylon, a seasoned counselor, who on the eve of retirement set aside time for a student interview. The enlightening interview opened my understanding to the importance of proper diagnostic coding for insurance reimbursements, the financial struggles of private practice, and the poignant effect of forensic counseling on therapist (L. Keylon, personal communication, March 26, 2010). Lea was eager to share her counseling accounts; however, the excitement of retirement planning could be seen in her demeanor. Private practice requires self-discipline, constant research for legislative changes, peer support and consultation, time management, tenacity, and patience. The encounter with Lea impressed the importance to surround myself with colleagues that are enthusiastic about learning and continuing education opportunities, to hire assistance for time-consuming administrative task, and adequately assess a proper caseload that will sustain my counseling practice and without avoid counselor burn out (L. Keylon, personal communication, March 26, 2010).
A Day in the Life of a Mental Health Counselor
I spent the day with Lea Keylon, sole owner of Keylon Counseling & Consulting in Arlington Washington (L. Keylon, personal communication, March 26, 2010). Lea is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) performing mental health and forensic counseling services (L. Keylon, personal communication, March 26, 2010). Over a thirty five year period, Lea worked in a variety of settings e.g., Echo Glen Children's Center (a juvenile offender detention center); Triage Supervisor for Snoho...
... middle of paper ...
...urance provider. The scenario reinforced the urgency to seek reputable agency training with seasoned supervisors who provide good training in diagnosis codes.
The small town setting of Lea's private practice heightened my desire to have a business in a large city. Although, the small town is very charming, the probability of seeing clients outside of the counseling setting is too great for my comfort zone. I enjoyed the candid interview with Lea. The understanding and prudence shared was well worth office visit.
References
Counseling Washington State. (2010). Counseling Washington State. Retrieved May 9, 2010, from http://www.counselingseattle.com/#Counselor
Washington State Department of Health. (2010). Washington State Department of Health. Retrieved May 16, 2010, from http://www.doh.wa.gov/hsqa/professions/mentalhealth/
Wendel, Peter Counselors in Recovery find answers to ethical dilemmas. Counseling Today. May 1997: 28 pars Online: Available http://www.conseling.org/ctonline/archives/recovery.htm
A common struggle for counselors can sometimes be to find the right balance between “the demands or managed mental health requirements and obligations to clients” (Braun & Cox, 2005, p.426). Often times counselors may be t...
Ms. Avent is passionate about her work. She has a son who struggles with co-occurring mental health and substance abuse disorder. This son was once committed to DYRS. Ms. Avent has held many positions over the years, ranging from being a metropolitan police officer, attorney and director of a workers compensation and safety program. She holds a Bachelor of Criminal Justice Degree from American University, Juris Doctorate Degree from Antioch School of Law and a Master’s in Business Administration from Strayer University. Gail is also a graduate of the Georgetown University Leadership Academy. Gail received an award of 2016 Women of Excellence in Ward 7. Finally, Ms. Avent is often called upon by the Substance Abuse Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) as a subject matter expert to discuss topics such as Peer Support Workforce Development to being a presenter at the 2017 State Youth Treatment (SYT) Grantee Meeting presentation titled “Family Experience – Parent of a Youth
One theme of the book that stands out is the counselor as a person and a professional. It is impossible to completely separate one’s personal and professional lives. Each person brings to the table certain characteristics of themselves and this could include such things as values, personality traits and experiences. A great point that Corey, Corey, and Callahan (2010) make is to seek personal therapy. Talking with colleagues or a therapist will keep counselors on their toes and allow them to work out any issues that may arise. This could also prevent counselors from getting into a bad situation. Another good point made in this book was counter transference. Therapists are going to have an opinion and some reactions are going to show through. It is not easy to hide one’s emotions, but a good therapist will keep the objective in sight and keep moving forward. After all, the help counselors are providing is for the client.
The paper will summarize the roles and responsibilities of a behavioral health counselor and provide current models of wellness and resiliency. Behavioral health counselors must be able to function in a face-paced primary care environment.
“Nugent and Jones (2009) defined professional identity as how training and personal characteristics are applied in the professional setting. It was theorized that there was a need for development of a strong professional identity among counselor trainees, because professional identity confusion resulted in several negative consequences when these counselors entered the community workforce (Pistole & Roberts, 2002)”. Counselors play an important role in today’s society. Counseling has evolved through the years into the specialized workforce it is today.
I was really nervous about doing this first practice recording. While I knew how I wanted to start the conversation, I was stressed out about the unknown that comes along with these sessions. I am constantly listening to my friends talk, but how I had to respond for the counseling session was very different than what I am typically used to. I usually give my friends my opinions and advice on how I would handle the situation. It was hard for me to just sit back and let my classmate talk. I wanted to respond to many of her statements, but I had to take a step back and really just listen. In these types of counseling sessions my thoughts and opinions are not important. Rather, the focus should only be on the person you are counseling.
Sometimes individuals consider becoming counselors after overcoming some major life challenge such as addiction or a history of bad relationships. Perhaps an individual has encountered a particularly effective counselor or therapist and has a desire to follow in those footsteps. Others may have had a bad experience with counseling and concluded that it can be done better. People do not think of this work so much as a job, or even as a career. More typically, a constellation of life experiences that demand explanation and a sense that others seek one out for assistance and emotional sustenance become driving forces leading one toward the counseling profession” (An invitation to). .
My specialization is to work as a therapist in a prison setting and provide social change to them and society. This all started to interest me is when I reflect on what I had learned through my own struggle in life. It then got me thinking about working with clients who have been misdiagnosed. With that said I see a career as a counselor in mental health can be both challenging and stimulating. I hope to continue to work in an area where I can provide counseling and have a positive impact on those I serve and contribute relevant experience and educational background to a challenging counseling position. The reason I choose this is because it fits my personal goal to help those who have struggled in making choices such as myself because either the lack of support through social or family influence. As a professional is to assist those in the prison setting find acceptance and closure to why they have done what they have done while conducting counseling sessions with prison inmates. Due to societies thoughts most of the inmates have had too little discipline or too much, they come fro...
The authors go in to detail on how personal histories can have a negative impact on the work of therapist; however, some painful or traumatic events can help therapist be better therapist (Timm & Blow, 1999). Timm and Blow (1999) further discussed how therapist that are not aware of their issues can set their self-up for negative consequences and put one at risk for ethical violations (Timm & Blow,1999). The authors promote the self of the therapy work to help therapist avoid unethical situations. Self-of-the-therapist work is beneficial for all therapist to grow and helps keep one’s issue aware (Timm &
In this paper, the readers will learn that I, Chantiara Johnson, played the role of a therapist. My friend, who is a college Sophomore played the role of client. I will use the techniques that I learned during the first three weeks of this course; these techniques will help me conduct the interview with my client. Throughout this interview, I will mock and reflect a therapy session of a client who is facing the feeling of loneliness and the feeling of not being enough.
The counselor accomplishes the above by expressing empathy, developing discrepancies, going along with resistance and supporting self-efficacy. Moreover, the counselor guides the client toward a solution that will lead to permanent posi...
Values, Morals, and Beliefs are components that play a role in an individual’s self-identity. The establishment of these components shape human nature, behavior, and the development of an individual’s purpose. The basis of these fundamentals has contributed to my desire to become a counselor. This paper will discuss my views of human nature, factors of behavior changes, goals of therapy, the roles of a therapist, and the counseling approaches that I chose to incorporate in a practice.
I found this research to be very helpful because I learned more about Mental Health Counselors. I’m satisfied with the information I gained from this research and it makes it that much more exciting to continue to work towards my goal. I used US News and World Report for my research and I found it to be very credible because of its history of publishing news, opinion, consumer advice, rankings, and analysis. It is also well-known for its colleges and university rankings.
HS 43 Term Paper 4 Core functions of a Substance Abuse Counselor By Roslyn Smith Introduction This paper will discuss the following 4 Core Functions of a Counselor: Case Management, Client Education, Crisis Intervention, Referral and their primary purposes. Discussion Case Management According to IC & RC, Case Management is defined as, “activities intended to bring services, agencies, resources, or people together within a planned framework of action toward the achievement of established goals.