Personal and Proffessional Development

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Moreover, as I discussed this with my peers and lecturer further questions emerged. I was astounded by those questions and began to think more critically about the complex notion of personal development. I believe that sometimes we know the cause of something, however, the reasons justifying it are deeper and harder to face, and hence one could argue that causes reflect the real issues behind every problem. BACP personal qualities require one to have integrity to commit to be honest and straight forward (BACP 2010). I shared with my peers that I was afraid of whom I will become and the lecturer challenged me by asking me; why I was afraid of whom would become? The reality was because I was scared to fail. I agree with Megginson (2003) who argued the need for working with other people to change the inner views of oneself; looking out for the views of others will always offer us with a different perspective on how we see things.

In order to overcome the issue of procrastination, a task was set to seek out all my lecturers and ask them what I need to do for my assignments, so I can start them. According to the BACP values, they expect from counsellors to practice “enhancing the quality of professional knowledge and its application” (BACP 2013), suggesting that I must learn to work with different people who have diverse approaches, experiences and expertise. In order to be an effective counsellor, I will need to adopt difference and diversity values in my practice. I need to have relevant knowledge and be willing to do the wide research so I can better cater for the clients need to be understood and feel supported. For example, when counselling a client with a different faith, it is vital to have basic knowledge of their religion so I can understand where they are coming from. McLeod and McLeod (2014) reinforced similar views that the counsellor as a person is the instrument of key influence in the therapy session. Building a common ground with people who are different from me is an important skill to obtain because the society we live in today is diverse and it involves working with people with different genders, religions, races, ages and ethnic backgrounds. It is vital to overcome Procrastination so it does not hinder me from gaining more knowledge by participating in lectures, because if I don’t develop area it will make me ignorant and stagnant.

For this purpose, I have started to create a list of things that I go over at the end of the week. The following thing on the list are things such the reading that I need to do and notes that I need to make.

Self-esteem

To begin with, in one of the seminars a student began a discussion about how a client would perceive her, if she had on weave, also if the client would see her as a genuine counsellor. As other students replied that people wear weave for several of reasons such as people suffering from cancer, some lose their hair and to feel confident they wear weave. Another student said that it make life easier because styling hair can take a long time. In both of these scenarios, I can relate to because my mum has cancer and she has lost her hair and wears wigs. On the other hand, my sister puts on fake hair because sometimes she cannot be bothered to do her hair. But as I reflected more on this, someone asked if discussion was purely about weaves or was it dealing with an underlying issue of insecurity and low self-esteem? I contributed that if someone goes into a session with a client and they have low self-esteem that can radiate and be noticeable to the client. This has a negative effect because if a counsellor does not believe in their own ability, it will be hard to help the client. In addition, with low self-esteem it is challenging to be able to fulfil your potential in any area of your life (Nutley, 2011).

As a result of this a peer approached me and said why I was seating alone? I was seating in the corner, just isolating myself while other were mingling and talking to each other while waiting for the teacher. As she introduced me to her husband and she said that last week’s topic in lecture, we spoke about not talking to other people, so I should just have a chat with him. He told me that by isolating myself, I indicated that you have low self-esteem. This incident confirmed how other people can help to explore links that can provide opportunities for someone to see themselves from a different angel (Etherington, 2004). I was shocked by his remarks and upon reflection I realised that I hardly socialise with many people. I am someone that has kept myself to myself and do not really engage with others in all my environments such as, at work, home and I do not really go out with friends. According to the author self – concept is built on the idea and how one feels and perceives themselves (Stewart, 2005). The author suggests that way that I view and feel about my-self will create high or low self-esteem. In addition, the way I have been viewing myself as someone who do not really know what to say or not in the mood to interact with others, hence I do not engage in conversation.

As a CBT student I have learned to challenge my own thoughts and to work on my cognitive process by creating challenges for myself, such as to engage in conversation and most importantly change the way I see myself. I have written an affirmation that I read to myself every morning. I am smart, I am well-spoken, I am great at interacting and engaging with people, I have much to contribute in a conversation, I am valuable and important, I am confident, optimistic, friendly, and it is easy for people to talk to me. I am full of love, peace and joy. I matter; good things are happening in my life and I have a godly and positive affect on people around me. I believe this daily practice of addressing and changing negative beliefs and self-talk to positive self-talk, can have a profound effect that create a change in the circumstance of someone’s life (Thompson, 2003).

During one of the sessions a lady told us a story of how her child was excluded from school because she walked away from the principle and the reason was that her child did not want to break down in front of the principle. The incident was about perfume which got confiscated from the child and the mother went to a meeting and spoke with the principle. The perfume was meant to be collected on Friday but a week later the principle did not allow the mother to collect it. The main theme of the discussion addressed the concept power and how we would react to it. Other people spoke about how they were brought up and have no problem with being told what to do because of their African culture and upbringing whereas others did not like being told what to do.

I began to think about how I respond to