Personal Counseling Presentation

8 Compromise is often key in landing that first c o u n s e i r n f l o r

11 Ethics Update: Protecting the confidenCiaiity of the deceased

1^ Mindfulness-based practices bave surprising results for students

16 Long-running column charts changes in the student experience

18 Candidates for ACA office share their views on ihe issues

20 National specialty certifications can be r;ifeer enhancers

ACA 2007 Convention & Exposition Detroit. Michigan March 21 • 25

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I From tiie Presiiient o Executive Director's Messa. 12 Finding Your Way 31 Counseling Career Corner 34 Behind the Book

Private Practice in Counseling Dignity, Development & Diversity

42 Student Focus Washington Update ACA Journal Spotlight Classifieds

What I've leamed along the way Seven ACA leaders offer words of wisdom to those embarking on their counseling careers

COMPILED BY ANGELA KENNEDY

Counseling Today asked several American Counseling Association leaders what advice they would share with new pro- fessicwials and graduate students. Here's what they had to say.

Jane Goodman ACA Foundation chair; professor emerita of counsel- ing at Oakland University

As a new counselor starting out, what was the hardest lesson you had to learn?

Like so nfiany "helpers," I wanted to fix things and make people feel better. Allowing

clients to struggle and suffer was really a challenge. There was always the desire to reassure, suggest a solution or comfort. I do believe that these desires are sometimes OK, but the trick was to recognize whose needs I was meeting — mine or theirs.

Whai was the best piece of advice you received a.s a student- or new professional?

Trust the process, trust yourself, trust your clients.

What advice would you like to share with students or new pro- fessionals today?

First, the advice I received: Trust the process, trust yourself.

trust your clients. Second, leam as much as you can always and as long as you live. Third, ask for help and support when you need it; self-sufficiency is not a sign of strength! Fourth, take care of yourself so you will have the energy and strength to help others take care of themselves.

Patricia Arredondo Immediate past president of ACA; dean of student affairs and professor. Division of Psychology in Education at Arizona State University

As a new counselor starting out. what was the hardest lesson you had to leam?

Continued on page 32

Know when to say 'no' and let go Advice on how counselors can achieve better BY ANGELA KENNEDY and vicarious trauma can happen

to you, too! Many recent graduates are

eager to pui school behind them

balance between their personal, professional lives

Warning all new professionals: Compassion fatigue, burnout

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and begin focusing on their careers as professional coun- selors. But a desire to achieve and prove yourself can lead to trouble if you don't take the time to care for yourself just as you care for your clients.

Linda Leech, president of the Counseling Association for Hu- manistic Education and Devel- opment and program director of rehabilitation counseling at the University of South Carolina, says counselors can have it all — both a successful career and a healthy lifestyle — if they take a holistic approach to life

and wellness. "One piece of lit- erature that has become vwy familiar in our profession is the Wheel of Wellness. developed by Thomas Sweeney and J. Melvin Witmer," she says. "It talks about aspects of life that are important in having a healthy, well-balanced life- style." Leech simplifies the Adierian-based model into five areas that demand the most attention:

Spiritual health Whether it's through religion,

faith or just going to that "happy

place," counselors need to find a comforting center within. "It's about going to someplace inside yourself that allows you to know that ifs ail going to be OK," Leech says. "It's letting go of things over which you have control and embracing the fact that there are some things you never can control — and being OK with that."

Continued on page 22

Balance Continued from page 1

Meaninfiful activities Many adults define them-

selves by what they do for a liv- ing. Finding meaning and pur- pose in a career is important. However, to achieve balance, counselors should seek fulfill- ment and achievement outside the office as well.

"Meaningful activities can be a lot of things, and one of those definitions can be play," Leech says. "It's recognizing from the outset that your play life and your work life are both reinforc- ing to you."

Sam Gladding, a past presi- dent of the American Counsel- ing Association and a counselor educator at Wjike Forest Uni- versity, agrees that counselors need to find pleasure both at work and MI home. "All work and no play gets you nowhere fast," he says. "You have to take time for yourself and do some- thing different and something you love besides counseling. It's also important to plan things with your family or your partner that are different from work and create memories that you can draw from later."

Both counselors strongly ad- vise new professionals to take time for activities that allow them to escape and recharge. "Do something where you

don't have to give anything to anybody, but the environment and activity gives to you," Leech advises. "The less inten- tional and structured that we have to be in those times the better it is. Art, exercise and sports arc so beneficial to the way we think because those activities have different types of structure and allow us to make decisions in the minute. We have to be able to find a time, place and activities that will allow us to step complete- ly into a different environment. We have to be able to have places and activities that are simply just for us."

Physical health Counselors are aware that

they need to take care of their own mental health in prepara- tion for helping others, but being physically fit p!ays a vital role as well. Whether it's skip- ping breakfast to fit in another client or staying up late to finish paperwork, sometimes the phys- ical aspect of counselor well- ness can be overlooked or delayed.

"You have to focus on what is going to make your body run better," Leech says in explana- tion. "It's having the awareness of your body, mind and emo-

The original Wheel of Wellness model, created by John M. Witmer, Thomas J. Sweeney and Jane

E. Myers, depicted five life tasks — spirituality, self-regulation, work, friendship and love — in a

wheel with interrelated and interconnected spokes. Following early research, a new model (reprint-

ed here with permission; copyright 1988) was expanded and redefined with V components that

interact with contextual and global forces to affect holistic well-being. Most recently, the authors

have developed a further evidence-based model, the Indivisible Self Model of Wellness. Additional

information about both the Wheel of Wellness and Indivisible Self Model can be found in the ACA

publication Counseling for Wellness: Theory, Research and Practice, edited by Sweeney and Myers.

o u

The impact of being a counselor Like any profession, being a counselor has its pros and cons, and the career can

botli positively and negatively affect a counselor's persona! life. Sam Gladding, a past president of the American Counseling Association, suggests ways for new pro- fessionals to accentuate the positive and overcome the not-so-positive.

Positive factors: • Appreciation and gratitude. "Having seen the worst, you are grateful for your

own life that much more," Gladding says.

• Inci-cased understanding of self

• Expanded worldvicw and sense of connectedness

• Deeper understanding of your family of origin. "You realize more deeply how your family of origin influenced you and still impacts you," he says.

• More sensitivity lo time, people and purpose

• Addeil attention to priorities. "You realize that there aif some goals worth pur- suing more than others." lie says. •"You have seen pain (and) you w;mt to strive more for the meaningful."

• A world of new friends and networks

Negative factors: • Toxic emotional residue or taking home the psychologically toxic words,

thoughts or stories from clients. "It's the negative emotions and thoughts that we get from clients that build up. If we don't seek some release, they begin to have a negative impact on us," he says.

• Resurfacing of unfinished business • Additional stress

• Burnout

Ways to reduce the negative impact: • Associate with healthy people

• Work with committed colleagues and oi-ganizations • Use stress-reduction techniques • Engage in self-monitoring

• Examine and clarify counseling roles, expectations and beliefs • Obtain personal counseiing/supervision • Set aside time for self

• . Maintain an attitude of detached concern when working with clients • Modify environmental stressors • Retain a positive attitude

'With counseling, you have to be mindful of what you arc doing, thinking and saying," Gladding says. "Stiiying balanced and mentally healthy is a job in and of itself that requires energy, focus and cultivation. It's like growing something — plants, animals or yourself. You have to be mindful of what you are doing and what you are feeding it."

— Angela Kennedy

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