Some personal strengths that are important in the field of counseling is a good sense of self, unconditional positive regard, congruence, supportiveness, hopeful, warmth, empathy, and acceptance. These are important parts of establishing the client's best growth and development. These traits are also needed in order to be an effective counselor. These characteristics also contribute to a collaborative therapeutic relationship with the patient and the counselor. This, in turn, facilitates changes that the client needs to make.
Some personal opportunities that exist for growth are residencies, internships, and practicums. Personally, I should improve on patience and attending to what the client is saying. Attending is important in counseling because communicating to the client that you are attending to their story through nonverbal and verbal acknowledgment. The counseling field aligns with my personal philosophy because I believe that anyone who is suffering mentally deserves someone warm, compassionate, understanding, and empathetic to help them. As stated on page 36 of "Introduction to Professional Counseling", by Consoli et al (2008), "Personal values (for professional counselors) included autonomy, independence, personal responsibility, interdependence, coping ability, flexibility, self-esteem, self-expression, acceptance of conflict and ambiguity, demonstration of self-control, and construction of purpose and meaning in life." I definitely think that I possess these personal values. My choice to enter the counseling field is based on my desire to help people suffering mentally. I know that I can help people with my personal strengths such as compassion, warmth, and understanding. I believe because I am a listener and an understanding person, that these characteristics would be an asset to me in the counseling profession. I also have volunteered as a crisis counselor before. I also have experienced things like suicide, depression, and domestic abuse in the past.
On page 32, "Introduction to Professional Counseling" says, "In mid-to-late 1990s, there was an increasing technological sophistication that has led to instant communication by phone, by document transmission using fax machines, and via the Internet to anywhere in the world. Personal communication devices such as cell phones made it possible to contact a person wherever he or she was. Extensions of these changes for the professional counselor were the provision of services by phone and over the Internet. This is only the beginning of this trend, as these technological advances continue to drive the worldwide dissemination of information and innovations in the delivery of counseling services. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA, 1996) was enacted as a direct result of technological changes. HIPAA was enacted to promote "administrative simplification" in the administration of healthcare benefits by establishing national standards for the electronic transmission of health information, for the use and disclosure of personally identifiable health information, and for the security of information. What HIPAA did, in reality, was revolutionize the manner in which electronic records are maintained or transmitted, by requiring any healthcare entity to inform clients of this law and to have proof that they have done this." Personally, I think all of this is great, as I believe a person should be able to have the access to be helped in any way. I worked for the Crisis Text Line, an online crisis company where mentally suffering texters would text into us about what they were going through. I believe this sort of counseling helped/helps a lot of people. I also believe people should have privacy and the proof that they have this confidentiality. Patients should feel safe and secure and should be able to trust whoever is treating them.
