My experience considering becoming a counselor/therapist began over 11 years ago during my undergraduate study. I took a basic Psych 101 class and found in a sea of lecture halls, this course stood out. At that point, I went on to make Psychology my minor. As an undergrad, I was having a hard time discerning between doing the research versus becoming a therapist. They seemed intertwined for me and the former stuck.
Upon graduating, I took my interest into the area of advising. I began working at Kaplan University in the Academic Advising department. …show more content…
In what ways has your life history and personal experience contributed to your desire to become a counselor/therapist? Have you engaged in your own personal counseling/therapy? If so, do you see this as an important component of becoming an effective counselor/therapist?
My family history is the single greatest contributor to what led me to the path of wanting to become a therapist. From a young age, I was adultized although it’s only been in recent years I’ve been able to identify that. When my parents divorced when I was two after a very tumultuous relationship, I found myself taking on adult roles. I often took care of my younger brother after the divorce and the cause of fights were explained at an earlier age then I could have truly processed them. My mom eventually remarried and the relationship between my father and step-father was tense at best. I found myself being inserted into arguments between all parties. As I got older, that tension also grew between my step-father and I. Fights started escalating and around this was the first time I saw a therapist. I don’t remember a lot about it except thinking I would get medicine. He told me to start exercising. Thus began a relationship with therapy full of misguided expectations on my end and finding fulfillment …show more content…
I lost my brother when I was 22 and soon after my father became suicidal. After that, I began taking on the role of the parent and could feel the pressure. I started seeing a therapist again. I was angry, lonely and wanted to barrel through issues with my head down. My therapist was the first to give me perspective on the boundaries being crossed and the co-dependent nature of some of the relationships I had within my family. I was starting to use the language of a counselor to work through ideas. Before I went, I thought I would work through things and be “fixed”. All better. Instead, it dredged up more and it felt worse before I felt better. Expectations versus reality. After that, I returned to therapy throughout the years when either I would go through something major or start to feel some of the issues I had learned about coming to surface in an unhealthy