Week 2 discussion

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 Collapse Subdiscussion Dr. James Geckler Dr. James Geckler ( He/Him ) Mar 4, 2024Mar 4 at 6:42am Self-Care Part 1: Burnout Prevention This week is all about self-care, which begins with self-awareness and self-reflection. Lack of consistent, effective self-care leads to higher levels of stress, increased burnout, and reduction in ‘showing up’ for our clients. Many of you spoke about the experiences of others being drawn to you to share their concerns. No doubt you found this activity energizing in some way, and, after the conversation ended, you felt a bit drained. Now imagine yourself engaging in these types of conversations with more intentionality, not just listening, but actively listening, reflective listening, cognitively being aware of your presence in the space and awareness of the client’s presence in the space, choosing skills and interventions intentionally to address the client’s issues that align with your theoretical orientation as a counselor. Imagine doing this with 6 clients (or more) a day for 5 days a week. Imagine writing clinical notes on each of these clients providing an overview of the session, what your assessments are of each client, and developing a plan for the next session. It is very draining. This is not meant to scare you away from the profession, but instead, to provide context to the work we do and why self-care is so important. Not all clients will be acutely distressed every day, and many times we may be providing our clients with coping skills, checking in on their progress, and helping them to address barriers to that progress. I tend to believe that we, in the mental health profession, experience ‘superhero syndrome’ where we try to take on the weight of the world (at most) and the weight (and responsibility?) of our clients’ concerns (at least) on a day-to-day basis. Part of managing this is recognizing and reminding ourselves of our role, the “why” of becoming a counselor. Some of it revolves around setting boundaries and not having such unrealistic expectations on ourselves, but instead finding ways to empower ourselves. This is the hard part of self-care. The other part of this is identifying good self-care skills that help us to find a way to have an outlet for the emotional and cognitive weight we carry as we hold space for our clients. There is no ‘one size fits all’ self-care method. Some may need time to themselves to reflect and rejuvenate, some may need to engage with others in a fun, social, non-clinical capacity to let off steam or talk about anything other than stressors. Some engage in hiking, sports, or other exercise routines, while others may meditate, pray, journal, cook, or create. Some may even escape for

a while in a book, comic book, television series or movie, video games, or music. Dr. Pooja Lakshmin, psychiatrist who focuses on women’s health, published a book recently titled “Real Self-Care". I just started this book and am finding how she approaches self-care from both a personal and a systems perspective. She highlights the reality that systems, expectations, and roles create barriers to self-care, and that these systems tend to “toss” meditation or yoga to people as self-care. For many, it is self-care, but, if a person returns to a broken system, it won’t work. She outlines four main pillars of self- care: boundary setting, self-compassion, centering one’s values, and empowerment. I’ll speak on these throughout the week in my daily posts. Self-care helps us rinse out the weight of our job, fill up our cups to connect with our family and friends, and prepare us to serve our clients the next day. In a world where we talk about prevention and intervention, self-care is one of the best ways to engage in our own intervention and prevention of burnout. ReplyReply to Comment o Collapse Subdiscussion Tiffany Sharfner Tiffany Sharfner Mar 14, 2024Mar 14 at 11:43pm My scores for the VIA Character Strengths Survey (2017) suggests that my highest strength is creativity, perspective, kindness, a love of learning, and being able to assess and judge situations based on evidence and fairly, all of which I don't disagree with, and align with my neurotype, education and experiences. Additionally, I think all will aid me well, and contribute to developing and honing skills needed for the profession. For example, I have the ability to see things from many, if not all parties perspectives, and while this doesn't always serve me well on a personal level (empathy is hard for some when it doesn’t come with compliance), professionally, this is an asset as I am often going to be met with different clients with different perspectives and experiences that have shaped them into who they are and potentially why they are seeking counseling. I offer individual and family consultation services from a neuro-affirming and communication, collaborative, and autonomous perspective and I often get

feedback such as “you are able to voice what I feel or am thinking”, or “you make sense of what’s in my mind”. My creativity also lends to flexibility when interacting with clients as it allows me to follow their lead and adjust my interventions accordingly. In my work teaching my tiny learners, I go into class with several different lessons, paper for the parents and documentation purposes (homeschoolers), but expect to do nothing of what I had planned. In my first Learning with LEGO class I had to hope that we would sit there, semi-quietly, and build these great creations as we built rapport, make it seem like I had full management of the class, and otherwise, just a quiet sit down activity. I thought with the Legos, it would be a great sensory activity that no one could resist, I front-loaded my son I front-loaded everybody and as soon as class started none of that happened. I began to get a tiny bit dysregulated because I worried what the parents would think, but reminded myself thats why they were there, because I don’t follow the norm. I was able to immediately tap into my creativity and adjust what I was doing. So we ended up making Lego spiders, I pulled out some painters tape that I carry with me everywhere for occasion, such as this, and we made habitats, bugs, and flies for the spider to catch and eat, and then we imitated flies by running around and trying not to get caught by the spider. We counted spider legs, worked on science, engineering, and more. It was an enjoyable day and actually three students signed up because of the way I was able to effectively handle the situation. Moreover, the tiny learners thought it was the best day ever! I also expected my weaknesses to be that of self-regulation and perseverance (VIA Institute on Character, 2017). This aligns wholeheartedly with my autistic and ADHD traits and issues with executive dysfunction and time blindness. However, I was a bit surprised that teamwork was a notable weakness. On one hand, I prefer to work alone and be left to my own devices. I do not mind a group setting, but (and I am not creating a self-fulfilling prophecy), I am usually the one left with the majority of the responsibility. Yet, according to the VIA Institute on Character (2017), this is expressed as being loyal to and doing equal parts work. By their definition, this is completely the opposite of me. Wow, yes I don't prefer to work in a team and it may just be residual trauma, but I am extremely loyal to a group or responsibility and I most certainly do my share, if not the majority of the work.

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I do believe all of my strengths will lend to my ability to be an effective counselor. My capacity to empathize, think logically, and assess the situation can all aid in helping the client do the same working through their own issues. Additionally, while my weakness are something I do need to actively work on, its helpful to stay vigilant. Moreover, as a professional counselor, it is essential I maintain a professionalism, discipline and other dispositions and knowing my strengths and weaknesses allows for self-reflection, awareness, growth, and professional integrity (Walden, 2023). References VIA Institute on Character. (2017). VIA Survey of Character Strengths. Retrieved from https://www.viacharacter.org/www/Character-Strengths- Survey Walden University, LLC. (2023). Walden University School of Counseling key professional dispositions [Infographic]. Walden University Canvas. https://instructure.waldenu.edu ReplyReply to Comment  Collapse Subdiscussion Dr. James Geckler Dr. James Geckler ( He/Him ) Mar 5, 2024Mar 5 at 6:31am Self-Care Part 2: Self-Reflection: The Foundation for Good Self-Care I've had conversations with many students regarding self-care. Our ACA Code of Ethics lists self-care as imperative to performing our counseling duties in an ethical manner (see American Counselors Association [ACA] Code of Ethics Section C1 Knowledge and Compliance with Standards and C2 Professional Competence) (ACA, 2014). Helping professions talk a great deal about self-care, and ‘self-care’ has almost become a buzzword in everyday society, yet

most people are not exactly sure what it is or how to do it. As with any manner of personal growth, professional growth, and behavior change, it begins with self-reflection, spending time examining ourselves in multiple dimensions. Our profession is based on the idea of ‘wellness’, defined as “the state of being in good health, especially as an actively pursued goal” (Oxford Languages, n.d.). Our wellness comes from an examination of all dimensions of who we are as individuals and the domains in our lives that relate to the world (social, physical, occupational, mental, creative, and spiritual). An online search for “dimensions of wellness” will show a range of 6 dimensions through 26 (and possibly more). Rather than overwhelm you with a search like that, I’ve provided a VISTA that was published in 2017 that discusses creative counselor self-care (Thomas & Morris, 2017). I encourage you to review this as you embark on developing your self-care plan. References: American Counseling Association. (2014). 2014 ACA code of ethics. https://www.counseling.org/docs/default-source/default- document-library/2014-code-of-ethics-finaladdress.pdf Links to an external site. Oxford Languages. (n.d.). Wellness . In Oxford Languages https://languages.oup.com/google-dictionary-en/. Links to an external site. Retrieved on December 7, 2022. Thomas, D.A. & Morris, M. H. (2017). Creative Counselor Self- Care. VISTAS Online. https://www.counseling.org/docs/default- source/vistas/creative-counselor-self-care.pdf? sfvrsn=ccc24a2c_4 Links to an external site. Remember, for this week: By Day 3 Based on your VIA survey results, post an analysis and explain the strengths that will help you thrive as a counselor. Discuss any results that you found surprising, as well as results that you were expecting. Read your colleagues’ postings. By Day 6 Respond to at least two of your colleagues’ posts. Note what similarities and differences you observe in your assessment results.

Discuss how these strengths might complement each other in a professional counseling setting. Return to this Discussion to read the responses to your initial posting. Note what you have learned and/or any insights that you have gained because of your colleagues’ comments. ReplyReply to Comment o Collapse Subdiscussion Erika Pernell Erika Pernell Mar 5, 2024Mar 5 at 2:43pm My assessment said that I am very honest. I wasn’t surprised by this fact. I believe in being open and honest with people. What I have noticed with people seek therapy is that their “bs meter” is on high alert so they often have a 6th sense about people and can pick up on when they are full of it, so it’s best to just be honest with people. My other top characteristics were love, kindness, humor and spirituality. My middle strengths were creativity, gratitude, fairness, perseverance and hope. I also wasn’t surprised by this either, what did surprise me were my lesser strengths which were prudence and self regulation, while these are true I lack patience but not with people mostly with myself and I am very emotions based and I tend to operate out of my emotions I am working on this lessor strength I was just shocked that a survey picked up on that, but then again I was honest while taking it. ReplyReply to Comment  Collapse Subdiscussion Amanda Rachel Tenney Amanda Rachel Tenney Mar 9, 2024Mar 9 at 12:41am Hi, Erika. I am so glad you value honesty as much as you do. I agree that those seeking therapy seek honesty and their "bs meter" is on high alert. My meter is always on alert with people, not only when they are dishonest with me, but also when they are dishonest with themselves. I am glad we also both share the characteristics of creativity, kindness, and spirituality. I am big on self-reflection and often have therapeutic

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soundtracks and/or crystals at my sisposal when doing my self-therapy. ReplyReply to Comment o Collapse Subdiscussion Shala Velasquez- Tapia Shala Velasquez- Tapia Mar 6, 2024Mar 6 at 7:40pm My assessment stated judgment was my strongest strength. I was not surprised by this result as I always attempt to make educated decisions. I've had to learn to examine and listen to all sides before making decisions, plus trust my own experience based on my jobs. My other top strengths were social intelligence, prudence, honesty, and leadership. My middle strengths were kindness, love, humor, fairness, hope, perspective, teamwork, creativity, love of learning, perseverance, curiosity, self-regulation, gratitude, humility, and bravery. I expected some of these to be my top strengths rather than my middle ones. My lesser attributes were not surprising, and I have identified those as well. ReplyReply to Comment  Collapse Subdiscussion Shala Velasquez- Tapia Shala Velasquez- Tapia Mar 6, 2024Mar 6 at 7:55pm I can use these strengths to thrive as a counselor to create treatment for my clients. My judgment, prudence, honesty, and social intelligence can provide me with the ability to use the client's environment and past to create a plan, provide coping skills, or track their process. ReplyReply to Comment  Collapse Subdiscussion Dr. James Geckler Dr. James Geckler ( He/Him ) Mar 7, 2024Mar 7 at 9:10am Thank you for your discussion post, Shala,

Judgment is an important strength to have as a counselor. We make clinical judgments based on information clients share with us in ever session, often at multiple points during a session. The other strengths you identified are helpful for collaboration, managing our own reactions, and helping us be client centered throughout the counseling process. ReplyReply to Comment  Collapse Subdiscussion Amanda Rachel Tenney Amanda Rachel Tenney Mar 9, 2024Mar 9 at 12:47am Judgment is my highest strength as well. I reflect deeply on all sides of any given situation and topic in order to make educated decisions. We also share the characteristic of prudence. Both strengths play an important role in supporting therapy clients. ReplyReply to Comment  Collapse Subdiscussion Ronnisha Jeffrey Ronnisha Jeffrey Mar 5, 2024Mar 5 at 11:38pm Good Night Everyone, The VIA Survey of Character Strengths told me my top strengths are honesty; speaking the truth, but more broadly, presenting oneself in and genuine way acting in and sincere way being without pretense, and taking responsibility for one's feelings and actions. I wasn't surprised by honesty being my top strength, I know honesty can get a lot of people in trouble, and some people think that honesty is a bad thing, and today society not that many people are very honest about how they feel, or towards telling people the truth. honesty usually gets people in trouble, but in many ways, I think honesty is a positive thing even if it might hurt the ones who are around you or people who are close to you it's better to be honest and dishonest. and the professional world as being a counselor for

mental health our clients come to us for honest advice instead of dishonesty by being honest, we tell them how their mentality affecting them how it's affecting their family, and how they can make it better the more you are with your client the better you have with that specific client. By being honest, you will be able to have more knowledge and bring more knowledge to your profession, and have more people and clients come to you because of your honesty.

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