Develop Essential Professional Skills and Understand Ethical Principles
Counselor Identity Reflective Research Paper - Write a seven to nine-page APA formatted reflection and ethical analysis of your beginning development and orientation needs as a counselor.
• Using the www(dot)counseling(dot)org, www(dot)cacrep(dot)org, www(dot)nbcc(dot)org, www(dot)aservic(dot)org and other on-line counseling data bases via the Xavier Library, select at least three (and no more than six) readings on the topic of Counselor Identity. Based on that background and your reasons for pursuing a career in counseling, complete your Counselor Identity paper using the following content guidelines:
1. For the first and introductory portion of the paper address areas of professional strength and those of needed growth that you expect to impact you throughout your career as a counselor. Your evaluation of your own competence ought to be grounded in the areas and themes addressed in your selected readings. Students are encouraged to be open in their self-disclosures with confidence in the confidential nature of this exercise. I am interested in your level of self-awareness, objective insight, and planned strategy for your own professional and personal development.
2. The second and main portion of the paper will focus on possible ethical struggles for you as you mature into a professional counselor. This more scholarly section should include at least three (3) ethical issues and an in-depth scholarly exploration through the use of current (2005 – 2020) peer-reviewed research journals and supplemental published scholarly materials. A minimum of five (5) peer-reviewed professional sources shall be used in the development of this section. Students will select an ethical code that they have a need to better understanding for personal and professional growth and outline a brief action plan to develop greater competence specific to the code consideration. The professor is interested in providing you with an opportunity to slow down and think about what this process of becoming a counselor is all about and your intent to grow.
Students shall provide an appropriately formatted title page and reference page. The total length of 7-9 pages includes the required APA pages in the correct 6th edition format and order.
Overall Format of Paper (APA format): 5 points
Quality of Self Reflection and Ego Integration: 5 points
Appropriate Selection of Codes, Literature and Application: 5 points
Organization, Grammatical Structure, and Linear Flow of Paper: 5 points
Counseling Identity Paper
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Course Number and Name
Instructor’s Name
Due Date
Counseling Identity Paper
Counselors work with diverse populations with diverse needs. As a counselor, it is important to develop essential professional skills and understand ethical principles within the profession. Here, I explore my professional goals and ethical implications in counseling.
Professional Strengths
One area of professional strength I would expect to impact my career as a counselor is having a genuine interest in others. American Counseling Association (2021) states that counselors need to support and accept a client regardless of what the person says or does. I knew that I wanted to become a counselor to help people and support them overcome their challenges. When I was younger, we had a young family member who was struggling with issues of drug abuse. The struggles I saw this person go through increased my resolve to work with children and adolescents. Children and adolescents often have emotional and behavioral problems. I have the warmth and unconditional interest in helping young people because I believe that with a bit of guidance and support, they can overcome such challenges (Drab, n.d.). When working with a client, I believe that I should not pass judgement or use coercion, but rather show interest in their needs.
The other professional strength I believe will impact my career as a counselor is self-awareness. It is essential for counselors to be self-aware of one’s strengths and weaknesses (Wilkinson, 2011). Self-awareness helps overcome weaknesses such as biases that can hinder sound therapeutic relationships. For example, despite the fact that I disagree with teenagers using drugs, when I encounter such a client, I do not allow my biases to interfere with the intervention. I learned the importance of understanding my weaknesses to change what may interfere with counseling while building on my skills to be a better counselor. Self-awareness allows me to view issues affecting me and the client in an objective way (Wilkinson, 2011). I ensure that I am not influenced by personal feelings or opinions when interacting with clients.
I also have a strength when it comes to listening. As a professional counselor, active listening is a vital skill to help recognize and understand client needs (Drab, n.d.). Counselors need to concentrate on what the client is saying, ask the right questions, paraphrasing appropriately, and summarizing to engage with the client (Drab, n.d.). For instance, while working with children and adolescents, I have realized that listening should be prioritized. Sometimes children may have a message they want to pass across and may not use the right words. Paraphrasing or summarizing appropriately ensures that their needs can be identified. I always want to ensure that I listen so that I can arm myself with the right knowledge when guiding and supporting clients. The process requires a counselor to pay attention to the client and the surroundings.
The other professional strength I have is critical thinking. Critical thinking is the ability to analyze and address issues that emerge in counseling practice (Drab, n.d.). A counselor with critical thinking abilities analyzes issues based on facts, evidence, and data to make informed conclusions (Drab, n.d.). I have developed critical thinking because I believe in using evidence-based practices in counseling. An example is when developing interventions for children and adolescences. I often go back to available evidence for guidance. Currently, I read a lot of peer-reviewed journals, books, and articles that provide factual information. I compare the data to help come up with a clear understanding about an issue. I also collaborate and learn from colleagues, which has developed my critical thinking skills (CACREP, 2021). Such critical thinking skills are helpful in problem-solving within the counseling profession.
Areas Needing growth
Despite my professional strengths, I have some areas that need growth. One area I need to improve on is organization. Counseling is a busy profession with many responsibilities such as managing multiple clients, documentation, billing, and collaboration (Drab, n.d.). In this way, organizational capability is essential to effectively manage clients and the professional practice. I have had difficulties in organizing myself, including time management even in my studies. The challenge comes when I have to complete many things within a short time. However, I have been working on this weakness by learning from books and online resources how to improve my organization skills (Nbcc, 2021). I have learned the importance of writing things down, planning ahead, and making a schedule to avoid procrastination, and decluttering (Drab, n.d.). I feel I am on the right path because I have noticed changes and improved schedule over the past few months.
The other professional area I need to grow is rapport building skills. While I believe in listening and working closely with clients, I have always worried about not having the ability to build appropriate rapport. Building rapport requires the ability to build mutual connection and transfer of information between the counselor and client (Drab, n.d.). As a counselor in training, I feel anxiety and fear that I may not be doing the right things. For instance, I worry that I may not connect with a child or a teen because I do not have the experience veteran counselors have. The anxiety often makes me feel tense when I think I have to talk with a client and successfully work through the session. To address the problem, I have been talking to colleagues and peers to gain more insight. I have understood that I need to prepare ahead of time, calm down, be attentive, ask open-ended questions, treat every patient with respect, and incorporate empathy (Wilkinson, 2011). I have also taken time to learn more about these skills and being more aware when I feel uneasy.
Ethical Issues
One ethical issue in counseling is confidentiality. Donner et al. (2008) note that counselors can ensure confidentiality by ensuring client information including intake forms, notes, and contact information remains private. The information should be stored where it cannot be accessed by anyone without authorization. Additionally, the therapist cannot share client information with any other party (Donner et al., 2008). Additionally, when using technologies such as computers, smartphones, voicemail, and electronic mail, counselors have to be careful not to break confidentiality. Measures should be taken such as asking client permission before contacting them through email. However, as a counselor, I also need to know the limits of confidentiality. Darby and Weinstock (2018) claim that there are instances confidentialit...