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The counselor who offers mental health services to clients should develop personal and professional attributes that enhance their ability to carry out their roles and responsibilities according to their career requirements. Personal and professional development is crucial when preparing and planning a career (Coleman et al., 2016). A counselor should be career-oriented to ensure this development aims to provide quality mental health services to the clients. The mental health counselor should align their personal and professional development to their profession, roles, and responsibilities to improve their quality of life.
Personal and professional development helps the mental health counselor become better in their profession by boosting their abilities, knowledge, experience, and skills. It is also a sign of commitment to enhancing growth professionally in their career o increase their services (Homrich & Henderson, 2018). Personal development involves self-reflection and awareness to enhance a counselor’s identity to effectively and efficiently carry out their responsibilities and role in counseling. A client can ethically and legally practice within the practice rules to provide quality services to clients (Lloyd-Hazlett & Foster, 2017). Self-reflection involves being aware of various personal concerns, which will help improve awareness in counselor activities to enhance the quality of services provided.
Self-assessment regarding counseling areas such as advocacy, skills level, knowledge, and education and intervention is crucial to align with the profession to enhance competence in cultural, ethical, legal, and personal growth (Homrich & Henderson, 2018).
Rate of my current skills
Application of relationship and core condition- scale 8
Interview process and assessment skills- scale 9
Theoretical orientation and its application – scale 9
For my ability to apply relationship and core condition in the counseling practice, I rate my skills at eight because creating a good working relationship with clients encourages them to open up and be responsive, which improves the quality of services they receive (Byrne & Ost, 2016).
My interview process and assessment skills are a nine because I can ask relevant questions which help me as a counselor to understand the client’s beliefs, culture, and needs to make sure my services fulfill their needs.
I rated my theoretical orientation and its application at scale nine because I effectively use the knowledge and skills I acquired in my education to provide quality services (Heled & Davidovich, 2019). Also, apply evidence-based information and research to ensure the clients get the best services and gain the necessary ability to survive in the community and improve their lives.
Identify the steps you can take to enhance your skill level at least two points higher before fieldwork.
They are reaching out to professional networks, attending professionally related events, and collaboration (Moss et al., 2014).
The first step is to reach out to other counselors and professional networks to gain knowledge, expand professional skills, earn more credit and, learn new things from the system. Collaborating with others encourages me as a counselor to identify my skill gaps and learn from others how to fulfill the professional gaps through improvement (Lloyd-Hazlett & Foster, 2017). Therefore networking and collaboration improves interpersonal skills and management abilities adequate in mental health counseling
Investing in continuous education (Lloyd-Hazlett & Foster, 2017)
As a professional counselor dealing with mental health issues, continuous education is essential to acquire and apply relevantly, evidence-based, and recent information in different cases. There is a saying that says practice makes perfect; therefore, learning and Appling new knowledge into practice will improve the quality of services provided to enhance the quality of life for the clients Homrich & Henderson, 2018). Continuous education involves utilizing the online material and classes to gain more knowledge and abilities, improving practice skills.
Plan for maintaining and enhancing your ethical, legal, and cultural competence now and as a professional counselor.
We are maintaining and enhancing ethical competence.
They are practicing within their power and limits by fulfilling ling the state requirements for licensing.
Social and behavioral conduct in professional practice (Lloyd-Hazlett & Foster, 2017).
The ethical foundation of counseling by deciding without neglecting virtues and the rules.
We are maintaining and enhancing legal competence.
Should be a legal citizen of a state to be licensed and work in the state as a counselor (Ratts et al., 2016).
Increasing competence and knowledge to be able to account for their roles and responsibilities.
We maintain professionalism in outselling through behaviors and follow the profession’s rules and regulations (Lloyd-Hazlett & Foster, 2017).
I am not harming the client.
We are maintaining and enhancing cultural competence.
The state requires cultural competency in the different backgrounds of communities within the state to be licensed to work as counselors.
Ground practice within a clear understanding of social diversities, movements, and beliefs shapes the community (Coleman et al., 2016).
I am also familiarizing myself with diverse cultures and backgrounds of the setting of practice.
I am not discriminating against clients from different cultures as my own as a counselor.
The counselor can engage in self-evaluation, self-exploration, self-motivation, and critical thinking when providing clients’ services to make sure they are within the counseling profession’s ethical standards.
Legal standards of practice involve justice for every client by treating each individual fairly to ensure they get the best and quality services. The counselor should not harm the clients physically or psychologically during the process but should be committed to helping and making life better (Heled & Davidovich, 2019).
As a counselor, cultural competence is crucial in practice to understand and respect culture for different clients. A culturally competent counselor clearly understands their own culture and other cultures to operate within the rigid culture rules. When a cultural difference exists in counseling, the counselor-client relationship is affected, which affects the role and responsibility of a counselor. Culture is more than just ethnicity and race but includes beliefs and norms of the client and social setting of practice.
Outline your current involvement in a counselor association
As a mental health professional, I have participated in events and volunteering in the community provided by counselor associations, which have increased my interaction culture and knowledge about the mentally ill people and their needs. Therefore, I have professionally developed strategies that will help meet the clients’ needs in the community setting. According to Heled & Davidovich (2019), the profession has supported my systems by creating policies that guide my practice within these strategies to achieve my goal. Also, networking with others in the professional association has increased my knowledge, problem-solving, and competence skills by applying what the association members put forward to improve the counseling practice.
To enhance service to the association, I will contribute to policy creation to make sure I represent my clients (Byrne & Ost, 2016). Also, conduct evidence-based research to provide relevant and adequate information that the association can extract and make sure others can access the information to deliver quality services.
Current areas of advocacy as part of your professional development
Advocacy involves intervening on behalf of the vulnerable population.
Advocacy in counseling consists of collaborating with relevant professionals
Consists of influencing the professional policies to present the weak (Coleman et al., 2016).
Advocacy also involves ethical and legal actions to promote professionalism.
Advocacy in mental health is crucial because it is a common issue facing the community; therefore, advocacy is essential. Advocacy involves intervening on behalf of the vulnerable population to ensure the challenges they face while seeking counseling are reduced to gain the required skills and ability for better living.
Advocacy in counseling involves collaborating with relevant sectors, such as healthcare professionals, to provide quality therapeutic and medical care services. Engaging other professionals and working as teams produce the best solution to solve the client’s issues.
It also involves influencing the professional policies to present the vulnerable mentally ill population in the society and support them though expressing their issues on their behalf to make sure their rights are heard (Coleman et al., 2016).
Advocacy also involves ethical and legal actions to promote professionalism by removing barriers to enable counselors to provide clients with quality services. Advocacy ensures diversity, equality, and accessibility to outselling services for the vulnerable people in the community setting to ensure they get the services they need. Additionally, legal justice provides no harm to the client’s experience when getting counseling services.
Describe the role supervision and consultation play in ongoing personal and professional competence
Case conceptualization.
Supervision and consultation help the counselor understand a different and broad array of cases and problems from various clients (Vetere & Stratton, 2016).
Countertransference.
Supervision and consultation play a crucial role in countertransference, which affects the development of personal and professional competences (Byrne & Ost, 2016). Issues such as the need for permission from an authority, emotional reaction to the counselor such as dislike, personal relationship with clients, and culture, affect development personally and professionally. Countertransference, such as different beliefs, affects personal and professional competence (Moss et al., 2014).
Unfinished business.
Unresolved personal issues and conflicts in counseling practice affect the quality of services provided to clients (Moss et al., 2014). Supervision and consultation deal with unfinished tasks that have not been tended to by offering training to enhance practical completion tasks.
Supervision and consultation in counseling are integral to getting the required skills, knowledge, and experience to counsel the community’s mentally ill population. Supervision improves the quality of services the counselor provides to the patient, improves the counselor’s performance and professionalism, impacts, and maintains ethical, legal, and cultural standards in practice (Ratts et al., 2016). On the other hand, consultation involves working with other professionals in the same field to enhance roles and responsibilities through research, teamwork, evidence-based information, and collaboration to provide others’ best services.
References
Byrne, J. S., & Ost, A. R. (2016). Personal counseling factors among counseling trainees: Results from a nationwide survey. Vistas Online.
Coleman, C., Martensen, C., Scott, R., & Indelicato, N. A. (2016). Unpacking self-care: The connection between mindfulness, self-compassion, and self-care for counselors. Counseling & Wellness: A Professional Counseling Journal, 5.
Heled, E., & Davidovich, N. (2019). The Impact of Academic, Personal, and Professional Attributes on School Counselors’ Occupational Identity in Israel. International Journal of Educational Methodology, 5(4), 513-523.
Homrich, A. M., & Henderson, K. L. (2018). Gatekeeping in the mental health professions. American Counseling Association.
Lloyd-Hazlett, J., & Foster, V. A. (2017). Student counselors’ moral, intellectual, and professional, ethical identity development. Counseling and Values, 62(1), 90–105.
Moss, J. M., Gibson, D. M., & Dollarhide, C. T. (2014). Professional identity development: A grounded theory of transformational tasks of counselors. Journal of Counseling and Development, 92(1), 3–12.
Ratts, M. J., Singh, A. A., Nassar‐McMillan, S., Butler, S. K., & McCullough, J. R. (2016). Multicultural and social justice counseling competencies: Guidelines for the counseling profession. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 44(1), 28-48.
Vetere, A., & Stratton, P. (Eds.). (2016). Interacting selves: Systemic solutions for personal and professional development in counseling and psychotherapy. Routledge.