Running head: REFLECTION OF STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES 1

Reflection of Strengths and Weaknesses

Samantha Carter

Caldwell University

Objectives I feel are my Strengths:

1. Assist clients with academic, career, and personal development issues

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2. Actively participate as a member of professional teams/organizations

What have you learned in this area?

When assisting students in academic, career, and personal development I have

learned that all students are in situations unique to that student. Although in a high school

setting the four years students are within the high school, their academic and career

exploration are scheduled according to where they are in their high school years,

realistically lives can never be planned this way. What I have learned is that although

these paths are set out for students, close to no students follow these paths. Students

create their own way and many times it makes it difficult for these students to conform to

the functions of high school. Through my experience I am able to treat each student as a

unique individual without comparing to where they should or could be, I truly meet the

students where they are.

Actively participating, as a member of a professional team is something I have

learned over my internships experiences. At first working within a high school counseling

department I was not aware of how political the setting could be and learning how to

maneuver myself through all the dynamics was difficult. However, as time went on I

became very good at making positive connections and being a constructive member to

the professional teams within the department and school. I believe that my awareness of

myelf and others are what helped me to excel within this area. Also, in addition to my

awareness, my professionalism and sensitivity aided in my personal development.

What learning experiences were particularly meaningful?

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The experience of the counseling department meetings was the most beneficial

learning experiences. Here is where I was able to learn the workings of the department as

well as understand the job requirements of the counselors. Also, during these meetings I

was able to see the expectations that were placed on the counselors, and how sometimes

the expectations varied from counselors to counselor. The issues that the counselors

brought to the meetings and the way these issues unfolded during the meeting were

interesting and extremely beneficial towards my ability to help students and also be part

of a professional team.

What of the competencies, experiences, and skills relative to this objective do you

consider most valuable?

I feel the mostly valuable skill is to be a constructive valuable member to a

professional team. I believe this to be most valuable because in the profession of school

counseling you will continuously have to be apart of a professional team and

understanding how to be a positive and active member is essential. Without this skill I

believe that I would not be able to maintain a counseling position within a school setting.

In what setting have you used and do you plan to use this objective?

I plan to use the objective of assisting clients with academic, career, and personal

development issues in all areas of counseling. Although this objective is relative within a

school setting, I feel that assisting clients with career and personal development is

relevant to clients of all ages. My goal in the future is to have my own private practice

and gaining the skill of helping students through their personal and career concerns can
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be translated to clients I may see in a private practice setting. Career concerns firsts

appears to students in high school when they are all asked the question, what do you

aspire to be? However, people are continently changing their passions and career path

throughout their lives, to find purpose and meaning in what they do, and I feel I have

gained the basic techniques and skills to allow me to help those with these concerns.

Objectives I feel are my Weaknesses:

1. Develop and facilitate counseling groups

2. Select, administer, and interpret assessment tools

What have you learned in this area?

The reason I feel that that areas of developing and facilitating counseling groups

and select, administer, and interpreting assessment tools are my weaknesses is because I

did not gain much of an experience during my internship and practicum within these

areas. I was unable to run a group within my internship sites due to conflicts within the

school and I feel I would have gained I beneficial experience if I were to facilitate a

group within the high school setting. Although I did not have the chance to run a

coordinated group, I did gain some experience of group counseling because there were

multiple times where I counseled small groups of students for various reasons.

I did have some experience with assessment tools; most of the experience was

with administering and interpreting. Alongside my supervisor, we administered

assessment tools for students for various reasons such as career assessments. Once these

assessments were administered my supervisor took some time with me in interpreting

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results. I was not able to choose the assessments I wanted to administer, which I feel

would be a good learning experience, to be able to see an area of need and assess.

What additional information do you need to increase your competence in this area?

In the future additional information I would need is how to target areas of need

within a school population and then learn the process of choosing appropriate

assessments for these needs. As a school counselor it is important to understand the needs

of the student population and assessment is important in understand and helping the

students and their environment. Information I would need to receive if I were to run my

own group are ways to appropriately reach out to students who I feel would best fit a

group. I have found that all schools run very differently and before conducting a group

the process needs to be ironed out according to the way the school functions. In the future

if I choose to run a group, I will look to my colleagues for guidance in the best way to

start the process.

Briefly outline a plan to achieve you desired competency level

I want to achieve a high level of competency in my future work as a counselor. In order

to achieve such a level there are many things I will need to do to prepare myself to

achieve the desired competency within my work. I will need to:

Continue learning and expanding my knowledge in the counseling field

Remain open minded and open to new experiences outside my comfort zone
Immerse myself in new experiences daily to learn and grow as a counselor
Engage in continuous self-awareness and self-reflection
Become culturally competent and sensitive to diverse populations
Employ self-care
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