What inspired me to pursue a career in counseling stems from past negative actions I participated in as a young adult. After living a life on the edge, engaging in risky behaviors which turned me into someone who was easy to despise. Fortunately, this eventually caused me to seek treatment to address challenges in my own life. This led me to begin working with other people who are afflicted with addiction problems through a twelve step program. This is what first sparked my interest in being helpful and of service to others. Not wanting to be limited to just working with people with addictions or court ordered for alcohol classes because they got a DUI. When I made the decision to pursue a career change and go into counseling instead of just
I know as I further my education in the counseling field my philosophy of counseling will change. For myself, I feel that I am still young and learning about myself and my surroundings. In my eyes to be suitable to help others I need to continue to grow as a person myself both professionally and mentally. I want to be able to move forward and develop new distinctions and aspects to my philosophy of counseling as time goes on. I hope to continue my growth in understanding of what it means to be a good therapist or counselor by using good theories and techniques to help future clients.
Hmmm………What shall I tell you about me? You, the person who will decide my fate, my fate as to whether I would go to CU-Boulder, go live in Colorado, go snowboarding in the mountains, meet lots of interesting people, and have the most wonderful experience…I better make myself sound worthy. First off, I want you to know that I'm an unparalleled individual, whose outlook on life is of total optimism. Through out my 18 years, I've become freinds with people from all walks of life. I've learned to empathize with just about every one of them, gaining the greatest understanding in a variety of remarkable characters. One of my favorite, a homeless lady who's called Polly, tells the most incredible stories of love and the many men she has encountered in her 54 years of life. She lives under a bridge and panhandles for a living, yet she appears so happy and dandy, and she can put a smile on my face any day. She's the kind of person who makes me appreciate all the little things people like myself normally take for granted. I come from a family in which the parents struggled starting fresh at 30 years old in a new world, America. They came here in refuge from a country whose leader had forsaken his people, leaving them in a four year long nightmare in which over two million people were done to death. That country is Cambodia. The parents came to America, after having survived such evil and cruelty, not knowing a word of English, yet they persevered with desire of better lives for their two daughters.
I have wanted to be a counselor since my freshmen year of high school and in the counseling field there are many specialties that I can focus on. I am fairly certain that I want to specialize in helping people with substance abuse and their families. I have always focused my studies, interests, and work on things that will help me in this field and I have a lot of qualities that help to enhance me in my eventual career. There are difficulties when I get to practice also like what people perceive as correct counseling style, challenges with my gender and race, and finally creating my own counseling style and plans.
I haven’t always known that I wanted to be a therapist, but I have always known that I have wanted to help people. I have always had a hand in helping others. I understand my passion and calling to help individuals in a certain way. I have had personal experiences that push me towards the role of a therapist. There have been people close to me in life that have needed help, but didn’t know how to receive help or couldn’t figure it out. Their lives and mine have been deeply affected by their mental state and choices. This deep seated personal experiences have guided my life choices, from my own employment choices to my education. My educational involvement, life experiences, work related experiences, personal characteristics, and goals have set the groundwork for becoming a therapist.
My decision in taking this course ultimately sprung from my desire to further my education of psychology as it relates to the Financial Planning Profession. I’ve been working in the field for roughly five years which is relatively short when compared to that of my peers. However, it didn’t take long for me to realize that that Financial Planners, while well equipped to give sound financial advice, are not often given proper training in dealing with the complex emotional aspects of their client relationships. Through years of study and the recent
Ms. Sandy, Ms. Sandy, a familiar sound I hear everyday from students rushing past me in the hallways. From as far back as I can remember, I have wanted to become a school counselor. I can vividly remember sitting in my counselor’s office chatting her ear off about any and everything. Flash forward I am now that same counselors listing and comforting students.
Following the decision to further pursue my professional and scholarly vision, I started researching programs that would be a good match given my strong belief that healing happens only in the context of relationship. As a graduate of Eastern University, this doctoral program was at the top of my list from the beginning given the rigorous training I received in my master’s program. Although I have been researching other institutions, I continued to return to Eastern’s website because I find this institution unique in addressing the issues that are close to my heart. The attention Eastern gives to issues of faith makes the program incredibly appealing.
My passion for school counseling began almost two years ago. While attending Widener University for my undergraduate career, I was place in a field placement at Widener Partnership Charter School during my fall semester of junior year. While there I was one of six who were implementing the EarthForce Curriculum to sixth grade students. Since there were six undergraduate students designated to this class of about twenty, our professor decided to split the class up and we would each have our own individual groups to work with. I was so thrilled and excited to have my own miniature class, however my professor had something else in mind for me. My mentor came to me asking if I minded working one-on-one with a student who had multiple behavioral issues and could not participate in
This has inspired me in many ways,one of them would my choice of career. I pursue being a psychologist
For me, it didn’t click that I can turn these characteristics and skills into a career that I would enjoy until I started meeting regularly with my High School Counselor, Mrs. Corbin. I met with Mrs. Corbin once a day for about an hour in order to receive my community service hours that were required for graduation. Much like me, she has a passion for helping others and she carried me through my entire senior year. She would show my how to fill out college applications, help determine which college was the best fit for me, we spoke a lot about what major I should consider, and give me advice or just listen to what was going on in my life. She really inspired me to be on this path that I am today because I want to give others the help, love, and support she gave me. She recognized my desire to help others and “people person” skills and would always say “You’ll miss your calling in life if you don’t become some sort of counsellor”. That phrase always
My interest persisted and grew as I began to see how my efforts had the ability to improve the lives of people around me. I first noticed this on a personal level as friends would come to me for advice or for me to listen to their struggles and provide comfort. No matter how mundane, horrific, unique, or common the story was, I listened to them in a genuine and non-judgmental manner. I truly enjoyed hearing people’s stories and providing comfort and advice when needed. These moments helped me realize the power of simply being there for someone, and it increased my interest of pursuing a career where I can support those who need it most. I want to become a social worker so I can provide direction to those who may not be able to get it from other sources, just like I have done for various people throughout my life.
As part of the process of establishing what areas of counselling I would like to work in on completion of my undergraduate degree, I researched various organizations, including schools, family counseling organizations and other mental health agencies. I have been drawn to counseling for some time as I enjoy helping and listening to others. I like the idea of working with families, children or women in a counseling capacity.
The career that I had in mind when I first began college was one in counseling psychology. Luckily, this career was one matched closely to my interests and personality type. Although I’ve begun considering other career avenues, I still chose to research this specific career in depth.
I see psychology as a complicated jigsaw of human behaviour, thought and emotion. My desire is to collect the thousands of pieces and create them into a map to follow to understanding psychology. The subject is newly established with many ground breaking discoveries; this excites me and makes me curious to find out more. The diversity of the topic leaves so many unanswered questions about the complexity of the human mind and its functions, especially those affecting behaviour. Psychology is academically challenging however it also inspires me to want to learn more about the nature and outcomes of certain behaviour and how these behaviours interact and under what conditions they arise. I have a particular interest in understanding mental illness- growing up with a grandparent with severe depression and psychosis, has exposed me to how fragile such a complex organ can be from a young age. I aspire to use findings within the subject to improve outcomes and make a difference to the lives of people who suffer from issues that arise from mental conditions. A younger sibling has recently been diagnosed with dyslexia and struggles with pronunciation of certain words; this has sparked my interest in how the brain develops and language acquisition in children. I often help him with this homework which has left me with many questions of why children learn and process information at different rates; how can one child find something so trivial
Being an undergraduate psychology major at Mississippi State University has paved a way for me to potentially serve my community in the way that desire to; after much thought and consideration, I have decided that applying for the PhD program in clinical psychology at Mississippi State University is the best route for me to take in order to make the difference I aspire to make in the lives of others. I would like to specialize in children's clinical psychology, specifically abnormal child psychology, so that I may one day help children who suffer from sociopathological and psychopathological disorders, personality and mood disorders, depression, and anxiety. I would also like to conduct an abundance of research in hopes that I can make some