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Final Project Part 2: Philosophy of Counseling AssignmentDawn WhiteLamar UniversityFinal Project Part 2:Philosophy of Counseling AssignmentOverviewThis assignment is designed to help you clarify and identify your values as a counselor-in-training. Your philosophy of counseling should reflect an understanding of student presenting problems, developmental issues, and your own conceptualization of the counseling process. You should also read, review and listen to course lectures; review supplemental materials; and use the rubrics as guides to help you complete the assignment. This assignment will count toward your final grade and is worth 100 points.***You will have the opportunity to revise your philosophy of counseling in your final course.DirectionsReflect on your personal values, understanding of the counseling profession, learning resources from this course, and the various roles of professional school counselors. As you consider each of these elements, begin to construct a personal philosophy of school counseling. Your first attempt at a philosophy will likely be an awkward process and may require several revisions throughout the course. As you construct your philosophy, remember to consider that is should fit with emerging trends in school counseling and education.Reviewing the ASCA National Model may help you determine qualities of an effective counseling program that support your philosophy.Because your philosophy should be contemporary, use your course learning resources to strengthen the foundational principles of your philosophy. Be sure to include APA citations for any resources used. Your philosophy will evolve as you learn more about yourself and more about the counseling profession. It will be important to keep notes about insights you develop over this course, the remainder of your graduate program, and your development as a professional school counselor. As a final consideration, it is important that your philosophy of counseling be inclusive and wide-reaching. In your reflection, discuss how your philosophy of counselingand personal counseling mission statement will encompass students with complex problems, disabilities, mental, and emotional disorders. Remember that ALL students could benefit from the services of a professional school counselor.Address the following elements in your philosophy:What is your view of human nature?How do people change?Do you see the counselor as an expert or collaborator?What would counseling look like (e.g., brief, long-term, active, passive)?How would you incorporate client resources into the counseling process?Who sets goals for counseling?Due by the end of week 5.Human NatureIn my opinion, humans have a conscious that is driven by their desires. Pleasure drives humans to make decisions based on what is more appealing. These can form as temptations and attribute to evil actions/bad decisions. When decisions are chosen based on the better good, it manifests itself in truth and kindness. I believe we are all capable of good and bad. How an individual chooses to act based on their desires will result in the outcome.I also believe human nature is affected by the environment we are placed in. I think humans depend on the accessibility of resources that help to provide a successful framework. When the resources are not available, people have a harder time trying to reach their goals, which makes the education support system extremely important. The attitude also plays a role in whether success can be attained. ChangeChange is a scary concept for most people. As humans go through the process of living their daily lives, they become comfortable with their environment and circumstances. Many people view change as to much work. “Transformational change takes an enormous amount of work” (Orakwue, 2008). I believe change is driven by a person’s own independent need or desire to be different. People do not change because another individual wants or asks them to change. People tend to change more based out of their necessity to do so. Sometimes people ‘want’ to be different and see that they need to make changes to their lives but ultimately because it is difficult to do, it is not prioritized. Then when a person can see that they are at a place where they have no other choices, they decide to finally implement the changes to be different. With those ideas of change, it leads me to believe that many peoples change is based upon the self-determination theory. People have an external ‘perceived locus of causality’ (PCOS) that allows them to see how other environmental factors can coerce one’s actions. With varying degrees of PLOC’s, how individuals view these factors can chose to adjust or change. Individuals with an internal PLOC will tend to be more self-determined tend to change based upon viewing their own behavior, choices and values. People with external PLOC tend to be more controlled by an outside force. These type of PLOC are also connected with intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation. As a result, I believe a school counselor’s role to assisting people will be adjusted according to how they are motivated to change. For the individuals motivated internally, counselors can help the students to see the importance of a situation and provide how reaching goals will be positive or beneficial to them. Extrinsically motivated people will respond better to change by addressing what outside factors are present causing negative change and placing more positive forces that can be influential to the individual. “Understanding students’ academic goals to learn and develop competence may be advanced by scrutinizing the reasons why they partake in the learning process” (Ciani, Sheldon, Hilpert& Easter, 2011). Expert or Collaborator?The counselor has to play many roles to provide the best services to the program. Merriam Webster defines an expert as “one with the special skill or knowledge representing mastery of a particular subject”. Because of how the school system is ever-changing, counselors will never have a one hundred percent mastery at one time. I believe this is also due to the variable of the students, not one person is alike so a counselor will always be combining prior knowledge and current knowledge to best fit their client. As the counseling profession develops, counselors need to stay on top of the newest data available to them to use and apply to their school programs and clients. However, the school counselor needs to be competent, self-reflective, continuously engaged in professional development and implementing data driven practices to meet the students’ needs in academic, personal/social and college/career needs off all students. Collaboration is imperative to allow the school counselor to gain a better understanding of the needs of the students and solutions to help make the student successful. Through the collaboration, school counselors will strengthen “relationships among schools, families and communities”(Erford, 2015, pg. 80)“School counselors, as membersof a functional team can…with their principals, lead other cross-functional teams that serve to focus on school and community resources, on meeting student needs in both academic and nonacademic areas, and in developing personal learning plans (as cited in Dahir, Burnham, Stone & Cobb, 2010). Collaboration will strengthen the outcome when counselors involve all resources to provide what students need to be successful. Also noted by Dahir et al., it is possible with collaboration to provide a more effective delivery of services, achievement of schools improvement goals and ultimately an improvement in student achievement. Vision of CounselingSchool counselor who create a comprehensive program to lead to student success will be heavily focused on being an active participant in the school including relationships that go beyond just the student client. These relationships with students provide students with a guide to help them excel through the school system to become productive citizens of society. Counseling students will typically not extend beyond their time in the school. Time spent with the student is solely based upon the student’s needs, as then counselor then will develop interventions that are evidence and information based. “If, during the course of counseling, it becomes apparent that the student’s problems are more serious and chronic, requiring long-term problem psychotherapy, then the professional school counselor will want to refer him or her to mental health counselors or other helping professionals within the school or community” (ASCA, 2012). By the school counselor asking questions related to the vision, goals, analysis, objective and exploration of interventions the counselor can provide a deliberate plan for the client. After the implementation process the counselor can measure the progress and decide whether this issue has been resolved or improved. As the time spent may vary from client to client, it is important to utilize the resources available to add additional support and knowledge. “Professional counselors will be active creators and definers of system changes and not passive respondents or victims of environmental circumstance” (Sears, 2002, pg. 161). Counselors need to be an influential figure in students’ academic careers to allow them to be guided in the right direction as well as advocating for student’s rights. Counselors in schools, by design, fight for the benefit of the student, especially regarding students with special needs. By maintaining an active role in the school, the students with special needs can be identified and served appropriately with attention given to their developmental academic, career, and personal/social needs. For counselors to become active agents for education and social justice, they need to view themselves as becoming an educator and develop education programs to serve all students. Becoming a leader and a team member in schools is transforming the role of the school counselor and allowing the schools to provide a better educational framework. A transformed professional school counselor will also be active in advocating change to maintain a culturally competent school. The only way to achieve a school that is culturally competent is for the counselor to be respectful of human diversity and to be a leader to remove oppressive barriers. Actively counselor’s need to explore their views of culture and biases and allow themselves to be open to understanding the diversity of cultures they serve (Erford, 2015). Students with complex problems are also targets that need direct intervention. By becoming a leader, advocate and social change agent counselors can turn the vision of “at-risk” into “at-promise” and provide students to experience academic achievement. Incorporation of ResourcesIncorporation of resources into the counseling process will allow for increased success of the intervention. Charlesworth and Jackson state that using Solution-Focused Belief Counseling (SFBF) has shown great promise and allows counselors to provide effective counseling to students in less time (as cited by Erford, 2015, pg. 289). As guidance is provided to students, using their teachers to help provide insight into issues will be beneficial to creating an intervention that is more tailored to the student. Since students see their teacher’s every day, teachers have great insight into the student’s actions and even relationships with others. Teachers also hear more information from hearing students talking and having conversations with other teachers. Another important resource for student’s success in involving their family. The family will always know more about the students’ lives and have a completely different view of the student’s personality or problems. Parent’s also need to be provided information to help their child at home to alleviate some of the issues that are in school, as well as being informed about problems that may have stemmed at home. In some cases, parents need support that a school counselor cannot provide. Utilizing community resources for those circumstances will allow the parent/family better access which in turn will provide the child with a better framework and support system. Keeping the student supported and focused through involvement will increase the student’s success.Goals for CounselingGoals for counseling in schools are guided by the national, state, district and local school. The goals for the school will be based upon the context presented by the national, state, district, school however, after analyzing and interpreting data though systemic assessments, the counselor can create specific goals. The school counselor should build these measureable goals into the schools mission and allow for measurement of student access, attainment and achievement. Once a counselor is informed of an specific counseling need, the counselor has the responsibility of deciding what it the best way to address the need. School counselor can guide the student or students by many avenues including, individual counseling, group counseling, and guidance programs. When a interventions is chosen, the counselor can set goals to be met through using informal or formal assessment. “The purpose of assessment are to gain a better understanding of the child’s needs and to establish goals for meeting those needs” (Erford, 2015, pg. 285). PhilosophyI believe that all students are deserving and in need of a supportive, dependable education within the school system, which will allow them to become successful, productive citizens. As a school counselor I will provide a data driven, systematic and systemic, comprehensive program following the American School Counseling Association that will address the student’s academic, career and personal/social needs. I believe in empowering the students to provide them with the skills necessary to think critically and solve problems. Furthermore, I will strive to be an advocate to students who face oppressive barriers because of their race, disabilities and/or disorders they may have. I will serve the students based upon decision best tailored to their developmental framework.Involvement of parents, families, staff member, and community members are essential to creating a well rounded program. I will strive to work together with the necessary individuals to engage my students in the I commit myself to continue to further my education in practices that will best serve my students and to continue my learning for life. In addition, I will hold myself to high standards, including the legal and ethical standards set forth by ACA code of ethics and ASCA Ethical Standards for the best interest of my client.ReferencesAmerican School Counseling Association. (2012). ASCA National model: A framework for school counseling programs (3rd ed.). Alexandria, VA: Author.Ciani,K.D., Sheldon, K. M., Hilpert, J.C., & Easter, M.A. (2011). Antecedents and trajectories of achievement goals: A self-determination theory perspective. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 81(2), 223-243. doi:10.1348/000709910X517399Dahir, C. A., Burnham, J.J., Stone, C.B., & Cobb, N. (2010). Principals as Partners: Counselors as Collaborators. NAASPBulletin, 94(4), 286-305. doi:10.1177/012636511399899Erford, B. T. (2015). Transforming The School Counseling Profession (4thed.).? Loyola University, MD: Pearson Education, Inc.Orakweu, S. (2008). How Do Most People Encounter Change? New African, (470), 68-69.Sears, S. J. (2002). Transforming School Counseling a Special Issue of Theory Into Practice.Hoboken: Routledge. ................
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