On Being a Mental Health Counselor
4 Philosophical Assumptions
I love being a counselor for many reasons. I get to meet new people, connect with others, participate in fun activities, and walk beside others on their wellness journey.
I’m also a change agent.
My badge is the pride I get from my work.
Or maybe it’s the many pins I get from conferences?
Seriously…lots of pins.
Counselors foster change by helping clients gain insight into the purpose of their behavior and how they cope, function, and participate within their community, work, and family.
Once insight is gained, then change can begin to happen.
I’m also an Expressive Arts Therapist — By integrating the arts into counseling, clients gain access to their inner resources for:
healing,
clarity,
insight, and
creativity.
Here’s an article I wrote about adding art to your practice.
I’ve learned that problems people have are natural and normal.
Why didn’t someone tell me this earlier….like in my teen years, perhaps?
Are we ever really done working on ourselves?
The answer is NO. The maintenance of our mental health occurs over a lifespan.
That sounds exhausting!
According to the American Counseling Association (ACA), counseling is:
“a professional relationship that empowers diverse individuals, families, and groups to accomplish mental health, wellness, education, and career goals.”
Let’s break this down. As a counselor, I’m supposed to help others accomplish the following goals:
1. Mental Health
2. Wellness
3. Education
4. Career
It seems like a lot to take on for one person!
I hope I can meet these expectations.
I know I can meet these expectations!
Let’s explore how this happens.
Four Philosophical Assumptions
Four Philosophical Assumptions that serve as the foundation of the counseling profession.
1) Counselors believe in a wellness orientation to mental health.
2) Counselors believe in the developmental orientation to mental health.
3) Counselors are skilled in prevention and intervention strategies.
4) Counselors empower their clients.
1. Wellness Model
Counselors use a non-pathological and holistic approach, focusing on people’s strengths and resources.
I’m not saying that the medical model and a pathology lens are not necessary; however, sometimes all people need is:
• To be heard.
• To be seen.
• To know they belong.
Counselors believe that wellness occurs on a continuum throughout one’s life. This continuum has two spectrums that describe one’s overall functioning.
One end of the spectrum includes being not well and on the opposite side is optimum wellness.
My favorite question to ask a client is, “On a scale of 1–10, where would you rate your wellness?” A client chooses a score between 1 and 10.
I then say, “How do you think you can score 1–2 points higher?”
This technique is a solution-focused approach to counseling that uses people’s strengths to solve their problems.
The task is to determine what challenges hinder people from meeting their maximum wellness potential.
Challenges we encounter in life prepare us to meet the tasks of life. These tasks include:
Work
Relationships
Self
Intimacy
Spirituality
The next step is to explore which area someone may need help in to reach a greater state of wellness.
I often ask which area they want to focus on in our work together.
Download the worksheet worksheet to measure your wellness.
Counselors understand people’s challenges and use the wellness model to help them reach their potential.
2. Developmental Perspective
People change and grow — we learn valuable life lessons that bring out our strengths, help us grow, and prepare us to meet challenges in the next stage of life.
Exploring these strengths helps to give clients the encouragement they need to live life fully.
Counselors understand human development across the lifespan. I wrote about the lessons learned in our youth in this article: Moving with Purpose.
For example, brain development research has helped me understand my adolescent clients.
Did you know that the pre-frontal cortex — the part of the brain that controls rational thought — doesn’t fully develop until about age 25?
Well…that explains a lot!
3. Prevention and Intervention
Counselors like to see people before their problems get TOO BIG and start interfering with their wellness.
Some services include suicide prevention, social skills, conflict resolution, consultation, and mental health wellness programs.
Psycho-education also aids in the prevention of personal and emotional problems.
Education helps others become autonomous and empowers them to solve their problems independently.
This educational perspective allows counselors to help all people, not just those with challenges hindering wellness.
From an educational perspective, counselors help with vocation, life skills, addiction education, parent education, etc.
4. Empowerment
The fourth philosophical assumption is the goal of empowering others to resolve their problems independently.
When others are empowered, they learn how to make healthy choices and become self-aware and responsible for their decisions.
When counselors fail to see clients through a wellness lens and only focus on pathology, they also fail to empower their clients.
Counselors must be able to actively advocate for underrepresented people and develop, coordinate, and initiate support systems to improve the conditions that foster wellness.
Conclusion
Wellness is a state of satisfaction with one’s life and a feeling of purpose and belonging.
I’m an agent of change.
I empower others.
I’m ready to report for duty!
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