Practicum Research Paper

Reflective Paper 2 I just started my practicum at a local high school. From my observation of how my site supervisor completed her work duties, I found that my supervisor was good at active listening and empathic understanding. She also told me the importance of listening and empathy in my future work. Therefore, I anticipate that active listening and empathy is the skill that I will use most frequently at my practicum site. Listening plays an essential role throughout the whole counseling process. Without adequate listening skills, I might not be able to take in the useful information and get to know the situation that my client faces; without adequate understanding skills, I might fail to be empathic attuned with the students and build a good therapeutic rapport. As far as I am concerned, listening and understanding are the foundation of each counseling session. …show more content…
As I am new to the field of school counseling, I need to learn more before I start my work. Observing my supervisor is a good way for me to pick up new skills. For example, I can learn how to ask the students questions, how to organize my language properly and how to respond to the students’ expressions. Especially, as an international student, I am not very familiar with the local culture. Observing provides me a chance to know more about local culture and to learn how to interact with students properly. Additionally, counseling sessions require observing as well. In some situations, the non-verbal behavior and minimal verbal expressions can reflect the clients’ thoughts and moods that they may not be aware of. Therefore, as a counselor, I need to pay attention the clients’ non-verbal behavior and some minimal verbal expression to explore more of the clients’ true