As a counselor it is important that I continue to grow. I shared with my field supervising counselor that although I have completed the requirements for my master’s counseling degree, I still didn’t know it all. My counselor laughed and said you know how you had to grow and develop professionally as a teacher; now you have to go through the same processes as a counselor to grow and develop. This made sense to me. I want to continue to stay current and up to date on the information that I will need as a counselor. I will have to continue my growth on a personal level because there won’t always be professional developments for me to go to and depend on.
Personally I will continue to grow and work to becoming a better and better counselor. I cannot be afraid to talk to other more seasoned counselors and listen to their words. I have to always consider what is ethical and legal and work within my scope. I want to empower and help others work toward solutions that will benefit them in their life. I think my awareness of others will help me become a more caring and compassionate person toward people and I will try to understand positions that people are in that I am not familiar with myself.
I agree that counselors always need to consider the ethical aspects, legal facets, and their own range of expertise. One of my supervisors told me a short story, in which she was a new school counselor during the time. She had encountered a student, who was facing a difficult family situation, and decided to have the entire family come in for a group meeting. Even though she had the best intentions for conducting the group meeting, it didn’t go as well as she originally thought. Now, she realizes that the situation was out of her range of training and scope of expertise.
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