Caption: Reading at Coffee Shop URL: https://pixabay.com/en/book-caffeine-coffee-drink-indoors-1869617/
The purpose of this blog is to create a forum for students to take a moment to selah, or pause and reflect on the 505 readings and discuss musings with the class. The current textbook reading for the Clinical Mental Health Counseling Class: Counseling Techniques and the Helping Relationship (CMHC 505) is the subject matter of discussion. The required textbooks for the course include Elements of Counseling by Meir (2011) and Learning the Art of Helping By Young (2017).
One of the things that resonated with me from the Young book was that as Young introduced the learning process for learning counseling skills, he used my favorite metaphor and described it as a journey that takes many years and requires constant growth and knowledge. Interestingly, the class blog was named "The Journey of Becoming" in a previous semester before we began using the Young text. I appreciate this metaphor, because growing and becoming as a counselor is indeed a journey and lifelong process, and we are not asking our clients to do something we are not doing. In our field, continuing education units are mandatory. As we embark on this long expedition, there is much to learn, many ways to grow, and it is an exciting opportunity. Supervision is a process designed to facilitate learning as well and starts with practicum and continues through the two year residency. Hosford and Barmann (1983) in an article on social learning theory and supervision describe the supervision process as follows, "a teaching learning situation or an educational process" (p. 51). There are many reasons a counselor should continue learning and growing, for more information on this topic please see my blog on the ACA website: https://www.counseling.org/news/aca-blogs/aca-member-blogs/aca-member-blogs/2013/06/10/three-reasons-counselors-should-never-stop-learning. I look forward to reading your reflections!
References
Hosford, R. E. & Barmann, B. (1983). A social learning approach to counselor supervision. The Counseling Psychologist. 11(1), 51-59.
Dr. Knight,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your blog about the counselor's need for continual education on the ACA website. I agree that learning is a constant companion on the counselor's journey. It is our duty to be informed at our practice, and we, as professional helpers, must take personal responsibility for our education. Young (2009) states that we must move away from the "mug and jug" (p. 14) mentality of just having a teacher pour knowledge into us (the student), and begin to take responsibility for our own learning and training needs. I think when I take an honest assessment of self and identify my personal skill deficits, this empowers me to pursue specify learning along my journey that will help me become an effective helper.
Reference
Young, M. E., (2009). Learning the art of helping (4th ed). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.