Survey of Research in Human Development for Professional Counselors

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Key Concepts of Another Specialization

Mental health counselors and school psychologists would be the emotional and cognitive help, where the social workers would be the physical help with homes, clothes, bills, etc. All of these specialists need to be aware of the family and home situation to all be effective in treatment and guidance. Mental health counselors would be the specialization that might work well in collaboration with school counseling. The school counselor is the one that usually recognizes the behavior or other problems, and the mental health counselor is the one to treat the person.

Collaboration and Communication

If a counselor can utilize resiliency, prevention, and wellness models they can better understand what influences one’s behavior. The counseling profession of health and wellness was adopted in 1989, and it had the goal of promoting a quality of life through physical, social intellectual, emotional, environmental, and spiritual development (Myers & Sweeney, 2008).If the counselors use the Wellness Wheel it will help ensure that all of those who are engaged in the treatment or guidance, they are on the same page. They could find a way to share documents, confidentially, to keep them as updated as possible.

Ashley and Counseling

Ashley, a 12 year old girl is struggling with the feeling of depression. She has recently dealt with her mother remarrying and is having trouble adjusting to her new family. As a school counselor, it would be their job to help Ashley understand and coop properly with the situation. It would also be beneficial to refer her to a mental health counselor. A school counselor and mental health counselor are close in roles, but separate in responsibilities. The mental health counselor will help Ashley understand her feelings of depression, learn to cope with her feelings, and help her put her mother’s new marriage in a new perspective. If the school counselor and the mental health counselor were to work together it would be crucial for the two to keep accurate communication between the two, and even the student and others involved. This means that Ashley’s grades, attendance, behavior, treatments, etc., are all shared in a confidential way. One way would to share a document (GoogleDocs for example) so they can have notes and comments shared amongst one another. They can keep updated tabs immediately and keep her treatment in the right direction. Having a weekly check in meeting with Ashley would be beneficial, along with a weekly therapy session with the mental health counselor, and even scheduling a meeting with the family.

Conclusion

In conclusion, counseling specialists can all lean on one another for help with their treating of others, and it is important that each profession realizes that. With the case of Ashley a school counselor can reach out to a mental health counselor to help treat her. If a profession doesn't understand the other specialities then it can impact the health of others because the counselor does not know which specialist to reach out to. The history of counseling isn't very lengthy, but it is key to understanding the future and much more. The three philosophies; wellness, resilience, and prevention all play important roles in the counseling profession.

References

Capella University. "The History and Development of Counseling: Timeline". Retrieved on 15 November 2016. Retrieved from: https://media.capella.edu/CourseMedia/COUN5004/ CounselingTimeline/media.asp

Conyne, R. K., ProQuest Ebooks, & Ebrary. (2015). Counseling for wellness and prevention: Helping people become empowered in systems and settings (Third;3rd; ed.). New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. doi:10.4324/9781315813844

Lenahan, Sue. November 2016. Interview with School Counselor.

Myers, J. E., & Sweeney, T. J. (2008). Wellness counseling: The evidence base for practice. Journal of Counseling and Development : JCD, 86(4), 482-493. Retrieved from: http:// search.proquest.com.library.capella.edu/docview/219029297?accountid=27965