Counselor Identity Paper 500 PDF

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FORMING A PROFESSIONAL COUNSELOR’S IDENTITY

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Forming a Professional Counselor’s Identity Cara Soto Liberty University

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Abstract In this paper we will look at the growth of identity in a counselor that is both personal and professional. The two are tied together to create a comprehensive and stable counselor who helps their client (Thompson, 2017) and is also an advocate for their profession. Many believe that the development of self-identity is a process and growth that will continue throughout the counselor’s life and career. Professional advocacy is a must in the counseling profession due to the ambiguity of the role of counselor. There is a lot of confusion by the general public and some professions as to what a counselor is and what all the acronyms after their name stand for. Here are some of the acronyms, American Counseling Association (ACA) Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC). There are 20 plus different divisions in the ACA and all of them have an acronym. Do all these unite/divide, help or hinder the goal of a professional counselor? As one counselor put it, “do our clients really care about the alphabet soup that is after our name (Sheperis, 2019)? How can the counselor contribute to the development of his or her professional identity? They can become advocates for standardization of licensure. Depending on the age, life situations, number of classes taken, time in practicum placement and many other factors determines how the counselor can see themselves as related to advocacy (Lile, 2017). Congruency in the counseling profession can be obtained through standardized academics and state testing. Educating each counselor about their identity is essential to forming grassroot movements (Spurgeon, 2012) that will move in a positive direction to reach the state legislature and create new laws that make the portability and congruency of a counselor’s license recognized from one state to the next. It will also give more recognition in the medical field so that counseling can be recognized as a science and also be a care provider that insurances will recognize. Spurgeon, in his paper, outlines a plan to have standardized accreditation for each graduate program through the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) (2012). Schools that are seeking or have this accreditation will benefit the student in the long term even though it is not a mandatory accreditation to receive licensure. Each of the papers and podcasts referenced will give a look into what creates a professional counseling identity. Keywords: Counselor Identity, Professional Counselor Identity

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Summary The professional counselor has two fields of identity to grow in. First, you have the individual as a counselor who is discovering their identity as a counselor which facilitates the formation of a professional counselor’s identity Auxier, Hughes, and Kline (2003). As stated by Thompson in the pod cast, A Thoughtful Counselor, she noted that identity is a personal journey to understand yourself. Thompson said she thought that she was going to learn about others during her graduate studies, instead she has learned the most about herself. Thompson says you must know yourself to have the stability for your clients (2019). The growth process is on a continuum that will last a lifetime. The second identity that needs to be established is the counselor’s professional identity. To achieve this the student must be educated through classes as well as school related activities (Rose, 2019), and as another student put it, “it’s our responsibility to educate ourselves” (Thompson, 2019). The counseling profession needs a coherent vocabulary and standardized education. There is a lot of ambiguity as in what to call ourselves, what defines our profession, what is standard in terms of language, values, and education in the profession of counseling. As Carl Sheperis says, “we are still trying to establish ourselves as a science” (2017). In understanding the professional identity of an evolving counselor, it was interesting to discover that as a student begins graduate studies there are factors that contribute to the forming of the professional identity. The counselor-in-training will have many factors in their forming of professional identity. As Lile says in his paper, age plays a big part in in development of professional identity. He also states that with the more classes or longer placement in practicum the stronger the professional identity grew. Furthermore, he also found that students are more likely to be focused on tasks and skills of professional practice while in training rather than

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assimilation of the beliefs and values of the profession (2017). Hence, it is about the maturity of the student, as they progress in their studies of counseling, they will absorb the professions beliefs and values. It is important for the student to understand that this profession is still in the organizational phase. Triphanny says that she believes that the education of the students about professional identity must start in the classroom and course work. She also says that it’s critical that we counselors know who we are because the general public and world does not know who counselors are. She believes that each counselor is a representative of the counseling profession, so we need to know who and what we are (2019). In 2005 representatives from 19 divisions came together in what was called 20/20. They set out to define what counseling is. They came up with seven unifying principles. These principles have now been indorsed by the ACA (Granello, Mark). There is still a struggle with uniting all states to have the same requirements for licensure. Not having a standard accreditation among universities and states, creates portability problem. Graduate Counseling curriculums and requirements are different in each state and even vary from university to university, this also creates issues. There is no national standard. To help with this dilemma in 1981, the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES) formally established educational standards and accreditation called CACREP (Spurgeon, 2012). However, this accreditation is not mandatory to receive licensure in most states. As Spurgeon points out in his paper, the Department of Defense (DOD) did a study to see if counselors were qualified to counsel without supervision by a physician. The DOD found that there was no uniform accreditation among universities. After further review it was determined that only graduates from a CACREP accredited mental health counseling program would be allowed to

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work independently (2012). Hopefully this new expectation from the DOD will encourage schools to seek accreditation from CACREP and for states to have a standardized test. In his paper Spurgeon outlined a plan to get universities to obtain accreditation through CACREP. He suggests that advocacy must be a grassroots movement, “Because licensure is established at the state level but often reflective of national standards and trends, this kind of advocacy work is best accomplished through grassroot efforts in each state” (Spurgeon, 2012). This means that it starts with the individual counselor and this is why professional identity is so important to teach counselors. In conclusion, the counseling profession needs to become more cohesive through accreditation and state licensing requirement and testing. One major way that this can happen is with the individual counselor embracing their identity and advocating for the change. Having these standards in place will make the curriculum in schools more streamline, unite the counselors in vocabulary and profession, create easier portability and most important enhance the counselors work in helping those in need. Reaction This was a very informative lesson on Counselor Identity. My initial reaction to all this information was that I was unaware at how ambiguous the counseling profession is. I had looked into Marriage and Family Counseling right out of college but was encouraged to pursue an MSW. My advisors and even college professors told me it would make more sense to get an MSW, they gave me all the pros of an MSW and all the cons of a counseling degree. I was super confused. I wish I would have had this course in my undergrad because I think I could have made a more informed decision. I now see how important it is to be aware of the idea that we are creating a professional identity.

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Furthermore, I feel it can be daunting to go into a profession that is not an established science. However, I find it even more compelling. The word advocacy sparks an excitement in me. To be a part of something that is forming and knowing that the work I do will leave a legacy not only in academia but also impact the people we will counsel that will open opportunities for the betterment of all involved. I really enjoyed the paper by Spurgeon. The way he outlined the steps to advocacy was easy to understand and I believe easier to implement. My favorite podcast was Developing a Professional Identity – A Reflection with Robyn Trippany Simmons, Meagan Thompson, and Hayley Rose. I thought Trippany had very good insights and correlations. Describing how we need to pick a team, the visual and way she used this analogy made it easier to see this side of advocacy. I like how all three of the guests on the show highlighted counseling with a strength-based wellness model (2019). Furthermore, I wanted to see if Liberty was accredited by CACREP. I watched videos about Liberty University, and they mentioned that it was not CACREP accredited. But after further research on their website I found that they are accredited. I’m super happy because it just reaffirms that this is the place that God wants me, and He led me here without me even knowing what all the letters of accreditation stood for. Being educated about the field and all the divisions has helped my understanding. In conclusion, I finish this with more questions than answers. My questions are, “why should it take a university course to breakdown and explain the role and qualifications of a counselor? Do we gain more benefits from being divided then united? How are we going to educate the public? How can I benefit the field with my knowledge? And where and how do I

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advocate?”. I hope that as I grow in my professional counselor’s identity that I will be able to answer these questions.

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References Auxier, C. R., Hughes, F. R., & Kline, W. B. (2003). Identity development in counselors-intraining. Counselor Education and Supervision, 43(1). Lawson, G., Trepal, H.C, Lee, R. W., Kress, V. E. (2017). Advocating for educational standards in counselor licensure laws. Counselor Education and Supervision, 56, 162-176. Lile, J. J. (2017). Forming a professional counselor identity: The Impact of identity processing style. The Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision, 9(2), doi:10.7729/92.1163 Shook, M. (Producer). (2017, February 8). What Makes a Counselor a Counselor? Professional Identity and Other Musings with Carl Sheperis [Audio Podcast]. The Thoughtful Counselor. Retrieved from http://wp.me/p7R6fn-8u Shook, M. (Producer). (2019, August 6). EP137: What On Earth Shall We Call Ourselves? Challenging the NCC/LPC/LMHC Acronym Soup with Donna Sheperis [Audio Podcast]. The Thoughtful Counselor. Retrieved from https://thethoughtfulcounselor.com/? p=227330. Shook, M. (Producer). (2019, September 24). EP143: Developing a Professional Identity – A Reflection with Robyn Trippany Simmons, Meagan Thompson, and Hayley Rose [Audio Podcast]. The Thoughtful Counselor. Retrieved from https://thethoughtfulcounselor.com/?p=227416. Spurgeon, S. (2012). Counselor identity: A national imperative. Journal of Professional Counseling, Practice, Theory, and Research, 39, 3-16....