Professional Development Needs for Counselors

In reading this weeks journal article, I was not surprised at the limited amount of professional developments available for school counselors, but it is something worth discussing. Without professional developments, it makes the ideas of collaboration not just between colleges but also between districts and states more difficult. It will be important for school counselors (with or without the mandate) to have access to professional developments to further enhance our experiences and the experiences that we provide to others. “Awareness and understanding is power and motivates school counselors' desire to align beliefs with behaviors for the benefit of improving student achievement and school success” (Stone & Dahir, 2006). What a powerful statement. This mentality should be at the crux of all school based counseling and interventions. 

 

During my time at Millersville we had professional developments for the graduate assistants and other professional staff members about once a month. The student staff of resident assistants combined with the graduate assistants had professional trainings twice a semester. In contrast with the studies I have read about the amount school counselors receive, it appears I've had more professional development opportunities while being in a less important spot. This seems to be amiss as the role of a school counselor (as we all know) is incredibly important, and opportunities for us as counselors to hone our skills or collaborate with fellow counselors is of the utmost importance. I guess I just do not follow the logic, school boards meet more frequently than we as counselors have opportunities to develop ourselves further as professional members of the school climate. 

 

The take away message from this article, as well as from this class is that there are many aspects to our job that may not be “dead give away's” that they are very important. Thus our role as counselors must incorporate a piece where we educate others in understanding the significant importance of things like, professional developments, and mental health awareness and education (Gestalt, Rogers, Ellis etc)  to not only increase the positive nature that counseling can have on an individual client, but ideally to increase peer relationships so that there is a more positive experience to be had by all in the school. Unfortunately, if I've learned anything, it is that there is just a lot of educating to be done. This will only be accomplished when incorporating sensitivity and understanding. No two person's experiences will be the same and with that we must be willing to meet others where they are and still provide assistance and support. 

Dahir, C., Burnham, J., and Stone, C. (2009). Listen to the voices: school counselors and comprehensive school counseling programs. Professional School Counseling, 12(3), 182-192.