Reflective Essay On Becoming An Effective Counselor

It is challenging to know what to include in this assignment. The magnitude of things that have happened over the course of my studies – I could go on and on. I never doubted my ability to be a counselor, so that was with me throughout my time at Antioch. My confidence came from previous work I had done, from who I am as a person, and my lived experiences. There is no doubt that my education has improved my ability to be an effective counselor, but my own suffering and resiliency has played a significant role in my ability to connect with clients. There are some things that cannot be taught by school or practicum or internship. I started the program thinking academia was a place for people with more privilege than I have, and I still feel …show more content…
It feels unjust in countless ways; it actually is painful for me. I am going to give it a try and hope I can do it without getting too angry. I spoke up during my internship – it was not received well by upper management. However, marginalized and underserved populations are the people I want to work with. These are people I have been working with for over a decade. How do I work with the people I want to work with and not have my soul crushed by a corrupt system? Sometimes I think I should be in public …show more content…
Truly. It has been a gift and honor to have my clients trust me and be vulnerable with me. I had the privilege to watch them grow and challenge themselves. It is an incredibly intimate profession, and connecting to the humanity of each client impacted me. It is a loss for me and for my clients, but we all can sit with that. I do not have judgment toward myself for having feelings of loss. I spent over a year with the majority of my clients – several I worked with weekly. They are important to me, and it does not feel like a natural break in relationship. My clients have been sharing their gratitude, but I am grateful for them as well. I learned a lot from them. Plus, they allowed me into their lives. That is not something that I take lightly. Furthermore, I had a diverse caseload. I worked with clients out of prison, a client who does not speak English, a transgender client, a client with a developmental disability, clients from different races and cultural backgrounds. Also, one of my clients was a sex offender – I had no idea how much I would enjoy working with that