Throughout this semester I have learned an incredible amount of information about myself and my studies. The following is a personal identity reflection that will discuss specific elements of personal and professional growth. I will explore my beliefs, experiences, and learned knowledge by answering a variety of questions about the professions of counseling and art therapy.
From a young age, I had a love and passion for art and creating. I thought about being an artist when I grew up, but I knew I wanted more. I wanted to help people and work with others. The author learned about art therapy while in high school. The combination between psychology and art was something that intrigued and excited me. When searching for colleges, Ursuline College was one that provided Art Therapy as well as Counseling and Art Therapy as a dual master’s program. From that point on, I was determined to apply, get accepted, and become a counselor and art therapist.
Time management, stress, and lack of motivation were three of the biggest challenges I faced throughout the first semester of my graduate degree. While adjusting to the demands of the graduate degree program in Counseling and Art Therapy, I struggled to manage time. Starting a master’s school as well as working two jobs created a challenge of making time for school work and balance a social life. Time management is something I did not accomplish this semester, I set time to accomplish the work I needed to do, but it was always the Saturday before, which did not provide enough time to do my best work. Preparation for the next semester is a goal and is necessary to accomplish and provide the best work I can. Another challenge was stress. Throughout the semester, there were moment of stress and doubt about being able to complete this semester and do a good job. Overall, I have a good support system and was able to get out of those tough moments. Seeing the bigger picture and believing in myself throughout grad school is important. Tough and stressful moments will happen, and it is okay but, knowing to avoid the negative and focus on the positive is a better way to move forward. The third challenge was the lack of motivation I had, which lead to procrastination. As the semester went on, I struggled to keep motivation up and started procrastinating more and more. It felt as if I was experiencing burnout and saw myself falling behind on reading and preparing for papers. While these were my biggest challenges, they all also provided me with growth as well as things to improve upon in the future.
A counselor is someone who helps and guides clients through life issues and situations, mainly by verbal communication. A certified art therapist uses art for the clients. Art therapy can be a different way to communicate and a way for the client to express themselves. As an art therapist and counselor, I will provide artistic, creative, and interesting services where clients can explore inner emotions and conflicts through conversation or non-verbally through art. Being able to practice both as a licensed counseler and certified art therapist provides so much flexibility and opportunity to work with many populations in a variety of ways. The main goal for both art therapy and counseling is to help people and that is the most important part. When I am a licensed counselor and certified art therapist I hope to work with a variety of populations. Specifically, working with a population like Alzheimer’s where communication can be an issue and is where art therapy can be truly beneficial.
Advocacy, multicultural considerations, and competency are three important aspects a licensed professional counselor and certified art therapist do during sessions. One important activity that I believe a counselor must do is to implement advocacy throughout the counseling relationship. Code A.7.a state, I as the counselor will address potential barriers that hinder the client’s growth and development. Throughout this semester I have learned more about advocacy and have a stronger understanding as to why is it so important for my clients. Personally, before this semester I had not felt a responsibility to do the extra things that I now realize are required to do my part for my clients and my field. To be an advocate is empowering and hard, but necessary. Another important aspect counselors and art therapists must do, is staying aware of multicultural considerations. Code B.1.a state, being always aware and sensitive to cultural meanings a client might possess about confidentiality and privacy is essential. This is something I will learn more about throughout school and I am excited to improve upon my multicultural understanding and sensitivity. Lastly, a counselor or art therapist need to be competent. Code C.2.a state, counselors may only practice within the boundaries of one’s education, training, credentials, and experience. One cannot practice as a counselor or art therapist unless they are qualified but being qualified does not specifically mean one should work with certain populations. Being competent in the population you are working with is essential and a way to avoid doing harm to clients. Clients require counselors that are educated and trained in the specific area of counseling and art therapy.
Based upon my beliefs, experiences, learned knowledge the three most important aspects licensed professional counselors and certified art therapist do not do in sessions are imposing one’s personal beliefs, discriminate, and have sexual or romantic relationships with clients. Code A.4.b state, counselors are to be aware of personal beliefs and not impose them onto their clients. Counselors and art therapist are allowed to have their own ideas and beliefs but within the counseling relationship those beliefs need to be neutral. Values in one’s life are important and separating those from a client/counselor relationship can be difficult and I am not sure how this will affect me professionally. I hope that with training and education I will better balance the relationship between my own values and me as a professional counselor. Code A.5.a state, counselors are not to have sexual or romantic relationships with current clients. This may seem like a no-brainer, but obviously, this code has been created because it has happened and does happen. Being a counselor, one is in a position of power and should not abuse that power in any way. Clients are often vulnerable and come for help and to abuse that can only cause more harm to the client. We are to avoid harm and sexual or romantic relationships are only going to complicate and harm the client. Lastly, a counselor is not to discriminate against clients, students, employees, or supervisees. Discrimination is a disgusting act where one does not work with someone based on culture, race, spirituality, gender, or many other things that should not and are not reasons to not work with clients. I want to be as open as I can to clients, I may be rejected, and I will have to deal with that when it comes but I will not reject someone's service that I am capable of offering.
Three of my strength, which will serve me in my role as a licensed professional counselor and a certified art therapist are my passion, flexibility, and sense of humor. I have a genuine passion and interest in people. I am excited to be in the position as a counselor to my clients and start those important relationships. I know that I will be a dedicated therapist and will work hard for my clients. I hope my passion for art therapy and counseling shines through to the clients I have. Another strength is my capability to be flexible. While some struggle to change course easily, my flexibility can provide the client with the best experience. I want to be sure what I am doing in the session is beneficial for the client. If it is not, I am easily able to roll with the punches and change course. I want to work with my clients and being able to change things up when needed is something I am interested in and have experience doing within other jobs. While my sense of humor needs to be placed in appropriate times, I feel like my ability to lighten the mood and get people more comfortable is a strength. I strongly believe that my humor can be a tool throughout counseling or art therapy. While I will be a counselor and art therapist, I want to also relieve some of the pressure a client might feel from the client/ counselor relationship.
One barrier for me might be ignorance, specifically with multicultural competency. I grew up in a small town that was predominantly white middle class. As I have grown, I have understood things from my personal viewpoint which has been privileged and I know I have a lot to learn about individuals’ cultures and what other viewpoints are. With time I will gain a better understanding of how to be thoughtful when with others from different cultures and hope to become more culturally sensitive. Another personal barrier I might face in my role is getting stuck on details. While as a counselor and art therapist I will need to record notes and I need to be sure I do not get caught up in the small details. We have learned, extraneous information is not required within our notes and as a detailed orientated person, I will have to limit myself. I believe this will be resolved as I go through the program and practice the skill. Being concise and direct in my notes while not getting too focused on recording every little detail is a goal for me in the future. One last personal barrier would be my habit of perfectionism. In my personal life, I have the tendency to want things to go the way I anticipated. While this rarely happens, when I do have control of things, I tend to insist it be ‘perfect.’ While I hope it does not, this may bleed into my counseling relationships. I will not have control of things in my life the same goes for my clients as well. I think I can resolve this issue by relinquishing some control in my own life. Letting go of ‘perfect’ and allowing myself to breathe will help not need control in other parts of my life, like my professional.
I believe working with clients with mental illness would be the least challenging population to provide counseling and art therapy too. I have some experience, not with counseling or art therapy, but with volunteering and working with the mentally ill of multiple ages. I am interested in the variety of people and diagnoses I could work with and find the experiences I have had, interesting and exciting. I have learned a lot about boundaries and how to set up activities to best serve the populations through my experiences. While it would not be easy and will have its challenges, I believe clients with mental illnesses is a population I would provide great service too and will continue to learn more. I know mental health is a population I can do great work within. While I enjoy this population, I will not limit myself and take every opportunity I get to work with any population I can. Getting experience is the best way to see if that population will work.
I think one population I might struggle with and will be the most difficult to work with are those with Alzheimer’s disease or geriatrics. My grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and it is hard to personally deal with. I struggle to come to terms with it and when I think about working with this population, my personal emotions are directly tied to it. While the disease is one reason this population would be hard to work with, it would also be hard to work with people so close to death and dealing with the passing of clients. I am a very empathetic person and loss is something I also struggle with. I would struggle to not get overly emotional and attached. One way I am currently working past this struggle is getting a job in a nursing home and working with geriatrics. While learning and getting experience with this population I hope to gain a better understanding of the population and the struggles that come with it. Being around people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease might help with the emotional attachment I have with the disease. Experience with this population will provide growth personally and professionally.
I mentioned before I grew up in a predominantly white community and am privileged, so I might hold cultural bias or prejudice to people who grew up in a nonprivileged community. I do not always see or understand my privilege so when issues may arise that ignorance could affect how I approach clients. One big topic in news recently are police brutality particularly toward black communities. I did not even realize my privilege when hearing these stories and it was not until later, I realized it was not as simple as I believed. Originally, I am ashamed to have thought individuals should just not commit crimes and this would prevent police brutality. That was ignorant to believe, and we have a societal issue that is taking place not just crime causing this brutality. I have little knowledge about the black community but now realize they are faced with a lot more challenges than I realize because of my privilege. The danger with bias and prejudice is that it could happen without the persons awareness. I did not even realize or understand that my belief the crime could be the sole cause for brutality was problematic, as well as believing brutality is okay in any situation. Education and experience are two things that need to take place to help terminate these biases. I need to become more aware of my own prejudice and biases and learn more about those challenges other cultures and communities may face. After becoming more educated I would want to use my privilege to advocate for these issues.
Counselors and art therapist may be seen as role models in the community even when they are “off the clock”. I believe keeping boundaries, keeping a level head, and keeping professional dress code are behaviors that therapist should continue even when out in the community and have their “civilian hats” on. One thing discussed this semester was boundaries, while out in public you may come across clients, but it is important to let the client decide either to keep the relationship private or share. The client has the power outside of sessions, so clients do not have to acknowledge the counselor in the outside world. Another thing I believe counselor must do in public is keep a level head. To stay calm and collected in situations that others may overreact to. An example of this may best be explained by traffic. Traffic happens and cannot be controlled. One might believe getting angry and upset in the car is private but as a counselor, you never know who is in the car next to you and who is watching. Staying calm with situations outside of work can be difficult but is important because you never know who is around and who could be affected by it. Lastly, having appropriate attire in the community is also important. Similar to keeping a level head and having appropriate reactions to situations outside of work, having appropriate attire is also something important. You never know who you may run into in the public, taking a quick trip into the store wearing revealing clothing could be very embarrassing if you run into a client or even a co-worker. Being perfect is unrealistic but acting as if you may run into clients or coworkers will prevent any embarrassment and unprofessionalism.
After this first semester, I have realized I need to develop a self-care plan. Currently, I have none in place and my personal self-care has been lacking, which could be why my motivation, by the end of the semester was so limited. If I create a realistic plan now it will be more likely I can follow through and improve upon it as I become a professional. While constantly working with other people and working for other people, I need to be at my best to provide the best care. My care is important because if I am not taking care of myself, my ability to help others will diminish and I can cause more harm than help. My first goals are to develop a regular sleep routine and aim for a healthier diet. Currently, my sleeping and eating are sporadic and unplanned. By planning my meals out a day before and scheduling a bedtime to be 10 pm, it will help me stay healthier and have enough energy to get through work and school. I would also like to implement a goal of researching something that I am interested in and reading one time a week and also give myself time to relax within the week. I believe that these goals will help me prevent professional burnout and help me provide the best service I can for my client and for myself.
Conclusion
This semester has provided a lot of knowledge and growth and I am excited for the future to learn even more about myself and my field. This paper explored my personal and professional beliefs about the fields of counseling and art therapy.
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