Blog #14

            The article for this week hit right on time for me because it touched on some things that are very salient in my life right now. Or at least in my life as it pertains towards trying to become a counselor. The first aspect of needs for professional development is definitely hitting a button with me. As I’m sure many of you know the Pennsylvania School Counselor Association’s (PSCA) annual meeting is actually this week. Between PSCA and LSCA those are the main two opportunities we have for professional development that is created, taught, and employed by counselors. Other facets of professional development are usually done by educators and just so happen to overlap with our field. So I’ve found I’ve been very upset with the lack of cohesion I’ve witnessed from the PSCA over this semester. Although the group is very large and covers all 24 Intermediate Units, all school districts, etc it seems that communication within the group is struggling. Now, I can say that as a student member who isn’t fully aware of how hard it is to be a practicing counselor, a chair for PSCA, and more in my life but it feels very disjointed and almost as if membership is more a title to wear rather than providing thorough opportunities for professional development and networking. Although Lancaster County School Counselor Association has been much more connected in my opinion they haven’t really offered many professional development opportunities. Again, I understand the fact that the overwhelming majority of counselors are bogged down with excess things to do but it just feels like there would be more annual trainings actually conducted by counseling organizations given the ever changing ethical standards, practices, and laws governing counseling. I even feel this way because of how hard it has been getting in to shadow a 3^rd and 4^th counselor for my second 60 hours of my Pre-Practicum. That’s needed for my professional development but this time around I’m finding that lots of counselors are stating they don’t have much time for a shadow right now. With all this lack of time, and this lack of counselor facilitated professional development opportunities I wonder how the profession will look going forward.

            The other concept that was addressed by the article was domains that were addressed and developed primarily at which level. Research for my Research Paper, Evidenced-Based Practice, and Comprehensive School Competency Project all corroborated what the text said; The Personal-Social domain is more of a focus at the elementary level where as the Career domain is more of a focus at the secondary level. The Classroom Guidance and Small Group Facilitation aspects and being able to address the Personal-Social domain is the primary reason why, although I plan on getting dual certified, I shifted my focus from the Secondary Domain to the Primary Domain. As the article showed Secondary counselors don’t view this as important and I feel this is the primary method towards developing strong and positive individuals that will be good people and foster other good people. However, I also believe that, after the last couple of weeks with articles, group presentations, and conversations about Middle School that that too might be a viable option for me as it covers both domains and therefore gives me a chance to utilize my skills from both dynamics.

            Finally, the last thing I want to comment on is that I disagreed with some of the findings from the article personally. But again, I’m merely a student and not an actual counselor so perhaps when I actually get a placement my stance will change. Maybe it’s because of my personal history but I felt Diversity Issues, Advocacy for AP Placement, and the like should be placed on equal footing with the other aspects because I felt that they are intertwined into the other aspects and if you don’t feel strongly about them you’re going to miss a rather large portion of your student population’s problems and individual counseling and the like won’t work. I also disagreed with the emphasis on individual counseling as I am all about attempting to be preventative. That isn’t to say I don’t believe in individual counseling but rather I feel that most efforts should be made to being preventative and then you can focus on the students that failed to respond properly to the preventative acts via individual counseling.

            Either way it was a very good article and a good way to finish our required readings for the semester.

Dahir, C., Burnham, J. & Stone, C. (2009). Listen to the Voices: School Counselors and

Comprehensive School Counseling Programs. Professional School Counseling