The Importance Of Counseling

My undergraduate degree was not in the field of psychology, sociology, and/or human services, and so I initially had limited knowledge of the history of the discipline of Counseling and the various theoretical foundations. Within this specific area of counseling, I have learned most about the counseling process, how it works (or doesn’t) and I have had ample opportunity to learn what comes most naturally to me in the counseling process, and what are opportunities for growth. Through classroom learning and practice, I have had the opportunity to use a variety of counseling skills such as listening, re-framing, restatements, and challenges. Through assessments and clinical practice, I have learned that I am leaning towards the theoretical foundations

My work with prospective college students provides lots of opportunities to engage with questions. My initial feedback received from peers was that I had a warm, and friendly demeanor that made it easy for people to open up a talk and that I had a very calming voice. Yet additional feedback indicated that I appeared to be holding back, that I didn’t completely bring all of myself, that I was very professional and perhaps I relied on questions too often (as opposed to other counseling skills). I was encouraged to make more of my questions into statements and pull some of my own thoughts, feelings, and emotions when sitting across from the client, which I continue to find reluctance within myself. Early on in the group counseling process, I decided to take some risks about trusting my feelings in the group counseling sessions and having the courage to speak aloud some of my assumptions. My risk taking, for the most part, appeared to be well received by my peers and colleagues, which was good validation for me that I was on the right

In order to increase competency in this area, I plan to continue learning and studying the various intervention strategies to provide mental health resources, especially on a college campus. I also hope to take advantage of any intervention resources available to me (e.g. QPR training, bystander training, etc). While my practicum experience provided an opportunity to work to experience group counseling, I would like more experience facilitating a group counseling