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...
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...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/
While her therapist helps her with her father, the therapist unintentionally improves her relationship with her husband. At Southeastern Louisiana University’s common read, Smith explains, “I think I was able to meet him [her husband] because I cleared up a lot of silly stuff through therapy” (Smith). This confirmation allows the reader to receive a higher understanding of the effect therapy impacted Tracy K. Smith.
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
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
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.
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). .
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.
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...
Training to be a therapist or counselor is stressful and involves significant shifts in identity, self-knowledge and confidence. Most of these changes appear to be linked to starting work with clients (Edwards & Patterson, 2012). The practicum or clinical experience portion of a therapist or counselor’s training is arguably the most important part of the program. It is also one of the most stressful and overwhelming times in a therapist trainee’s academic career. Trainees’ clinical internships involve multiple challenges; developing competence with clients is only one challenge that beginning practicum students face. They also must begin to navigate their new practicum environment, develop new working relationships with supervisors and peers, continue expanding knowledge of models and theories, as well as tackle the influence of personal issues and life challenges as they begin to understand that everything in their lives ultimately influences their therapy with clients (Edwards & Patterson, 2012; Folkes-Skinner, Elliott & Wheeler, 2010).
Continued reflection on the assessment of one’s counseling practice is an essential part of not only the practicum experience by any level of counseling
The professional track I wish to pursue is in clinical mental health counseling. In regards to Hays (2013) text, the 12 standards related to competencies for interviews and assessment procedures, tools, and selection are results to treatment planning/interventions, communication of results, use of assessments to apply the proper effective treatments, adhering to the ethical codes of assessments, and providing appropriate training for further education (Hays, 2013, p. 46).
In middle school, given the limited choice in electives, I signed up for a class titled "Counselor's Aide." Come to find out, the class was actually a tutoring program, where we would be assigned to a class of children that needed volunteers at Rainbow Ridge Elementary. My first year in the class, 7th grade, I was assigned to a kindergarten teacher, and for the next ten months I spent an hour every day reading to the class in groups, or helping with math and vocabulary one-on-one. It was perhaps the most rewarding thing I had ever done: seeing at the conclusion of the year handwritten thank you cards from the kids that I had helped teach how to read and write, especially considering how many of them only spoke Spanish on the first day of class
The counseling session began with the introductions where I introduced myself as the counselor and later introduced my client. This stage is important in any counseling session since it is the time of exploration and focusing according to Gerard Egan as quoted by Wright (1998) in his essay on couselling skills. It is in this session that I was able to establish rapport and trust with my client in order to come up with a working and fruitful relationship with him. During this stage I made use of skills like questioning, where I would pose a question directly to my client, sometimes I would choose to just listen to what the client wanted to speak out while in some instances I would be forced to paraphrase the question if I felt the client did not understand the question I had asked previously. There were also other times when I would reflect through silence. During such a period, I got time to study the client and the information he had given. This being a difficult area, since some clients may not be able to volunteer information to you as the counselor, I decided to assure the client of confidentiality of any information he was willing to share with me with a few exceptions which I also told him about. Being open to him about the only times the information may not be confidential was part of my building rapport and establishing trust with him. I therefore, decided to ask the client what information he wanted to share with me and lucky enough he was ready to speak to me about different issues that he was going through.
A mental health counselor develops a professional relationship that empowers diverse individuals, families and groups to accomplish mental health and career goals. Helping others to accomplish their goals and listening to various stories of hardship have always played a part in my life. Stories of others have helped me get through rough times, and so did my own personal stories do the same for others. My story may help save a life tomorrow. It is a rewarding career path that one may enjoy which requires excellent communication skills and a commit between each other.
Professional ethical conduct is essential to the success of any client, whether it is in individual counseling or in a group setting. Professional psychologists, therapists, counselors, social workers or others in the field of human service or help have the duly responsibility to continuously become aware of their professional responsibilities, and manage their practice based on areas of ability. This paper will research ethics within groups and individual counseling, and compare their similarities and their differences.