week 14 reflection of counseling

I have really learned from doing this practicum class.  Even though I did not want to go to an elementary school, it was enlightening to see what school counselors do at different levels.  It did make me realize and appreciate that I am at the high school level.  This experience made me appreciate and break out of the rut you sometimes get into.  As a high school counselor, you get so busy just putting out fires all day and completing paper work, you forget to simply reflect on your counseling.  You get so busy doing your job sometimes, you forget to make sure you are doing the most important job you have which is counseling the students effectively!

week 14

One of the benefits to being a counselor is you can apply what you have learned to your personal life.  My mom just lost one of her best friends.  I told her about what we had done to grief counsel at school when we lost 2 students.  We had a big role of paper and everyone wrote their thoughts about the deceased on it.  Mom did this with her friends and this seemed to really help with their grief.  I, also, am able to deal with conflict well in my personal life because I usually talk things out.  There is not much monetary benefits of being a counselor but definitely many mental health ones!

Post for November 6th week 12

My post this week does not have much to do with school counseling but I just wanted to share a story I watched on HBO over the weekend.  HBO had a special about people who had died in Iraq.  In the special, their families read the letters from them before they died.  In one of the letters, a female soldier told her mom that "to be loved and to love where the best things about life.  She thanked her mom for showing her both of these things."  I just thought this was an awesome idea and very true!