Mental Illness: A Career In Professional Counseling

Becoming a licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor is not as easy as people may think. Every state has a different process to become a licenses counselor. This paper discusses the difference between prices, hours to even credits. I will be comparing the state of Florida and New York. There are certain process that are the same yet many different. As a student going to school for Clinical Mental Health Counseling you would think every state would be the same.

The opportunity of talking to a Professional Mental Health Counselor was very informative on October 19, 2015, I had a chance to meet K.W. she is a License Professional Counselor in Mental Health that holds her (LCPC) for the last ten (10) years. Ms. K.W. also holds her Therapist license in the arena of counseling for the last past six (6) years were her services of care is Mental Health, and Addiction Counseling were her population is men and women that struggles with addiction problems and mental health that is called co-occurring disorder in an outpatient setting.

The choices we make early in life have an enormous impact on our future. I have always known that I wanted to directly impact people’s lives and my personal experiences have set me on the school-counseling path. In the future, I would love to influence another generation of students to soar for their dreams.

Counseling is a tool that is widely used by many people. Merriam Webster’s Learner’s Dictionary defines counseling as advice and support that is given to people to help them deal with problems, and make important decisions. This paper examines the career of a Licensed Professional Counselor, the education requirements, certification and licensure levels or requirements, salary, and the future of this profession.

Often times choosing a career path that is compatible with a persons personality may not be as easy as one might believe it to be. On the other hand, once a person is fortunate to figuer out excaly what career path fit’s their personality, finding the job that best suits there finacial expectations usually becomes less of an mental strain. There are countless careers for all of us to choose from and if you enjoy’s helping those in need you may want to look into becoming a mental health counselor or a clinical social worker. However if you aren’t inerested in being too hands on with individuals in need there are two other careers that one may be interested in, which is Clinical management or Medical and Health management. These four professions are similar but different.

As a mental health counselor in training, I look forward to continuing the process of being aware of my own beliefs and biases. I also recognize that I am human and anticipate some life issues presented by clients will present challenges that I encounter.

Select and describe one issue of interest. Describe advocacy processes needed to address institutional and social barriers that impede access, equity, and success for clients. Identify public policies on the local, state, and national levels that affect the quality and accessibility of mental health services.

Mental Health Counselor is the career I have decided to go for. It took me forever and a lot of thinking to decide exactly what I want to do with my life. I have dealt with depression, anxiety, self harming all within myself. I also dealt with watching my father abuse alcohol, and getting cancer and passing. My daughter is ADHD, ODD and suffers with anxiety. I also work in a group home taking care of mentally challenged people. Altogether I've dealt with a lot and I think experiencing everything I have, would make me understand and be a good mental health counselor.

As I go down this road which is considered my life. I have realized that I have chosen the path of the person that I am today. My life up to this point was not an easy road and still has bumps in my future. In my past I have faced physical and emotional child abuse from my parents, death of my younger brother at a young age, my house burning down making my family homeless, Department of Family Services placing my brother and sisters into foster homes, and me becoming homeless again while trying finish high school. All of this led to me to joining the Army to realize there were different options in life. Learning from the past hardships is what led me to want to help others figure out to show they also can overcome hardships and that their past does not have to dictate their future. Throughout this paper I am going to take you through my journey by leading you through the concept of counseling as a professional identity, key characteristics of a counselor, duties and functions of the different areas I could pursue as a counselor, then the four career paths I would pursue, followed by the top two career paths I would enjoy, and top two professional settings that I would like to work.

In this career cluster assignment, I chose to look into Therapeutic Services. Therapeutic Services are careers that focus mainly on changing the health status of a patient over time (“CNFC.org”, 2001). I chose to compare three careers that fall under these services, which are Speech Language Pathology, Registered Nursing, and Massage Therapy. Although they all fall under the same cluster they differ in their own unique ways. These differences include education, income, skills, and requirements.

Ever wanted to know how the brain worked on someone who was mentally ill? Become a Psychiatric Aide! A student who researched the nature of a job, it's working conditions, employment facts, the education and training requirements, along with the future job potential and earnings will be wiser and more knowledgeable when determining a career path. Becoming a Psychiatric aide is an interesting career path because you get to help people with a mental disease make their life fulfilling and productive and you get to have the satisfaction of knowing you’re helping someone and making them better (Study). First of all, a psychiatric aide “Assist mentally impaired or emotionally disturbed patients, working under direction of nursing and medical staff.

By the end of World War II, various non-medical, behavioral and cognitive approaches to psychotherapy surfaced, the growth of some being the impact of the Community Mental Health Centers Act of 1963 (Pistole, 2002). The Fund provided "funding for the development of community-based mental health care programs with interdisciplinary teams (Weikel & Palmo, 1989 as qtd in Pistole). This stimulated the growth of masters-level mental health enrollments and careers. Many of the enrollees were trained in colleges of education and secured employment under different professional and paraprofessional titles in community settings, such as hospitals, private practice and community mental health care centers (Bech, 1999 as qtd by Pistole; Weikel & Stickle as qtd in Pistole). But because they did not receive training under established disciplines, such as social work, psychology or psychiatry, they did not belong to a recognized professional organization. They were thus unqualified for traditional credentials and licensing. Simply said, they were not a visible professional sector (Pistole).

Mental Health Counseling became a licensed profession, when Virginia became the first state to pass a regulatory art for professional counselors in 1975 (Pope, 2012). By 1994, 41 state had acquired licensure and there were over 63,000 counselors licensed in the U.S..

This has been an interesting online course and I am not sure if online is the way for me to obtain the education needed to become a mental health counselor. I must admit that I truly struggled thru this online program just learning how to move thru the different links. It is imperative in this field to realize that continuous education is the key in obtaining the required knowledge to provide top-notch counseling service to the clients that the mental health counseling arena has to offer.

Mental health counselors work with individuals, families, and groups to address and treat mental and emotional disorders and to promote mental health. They are trained to address a wide range of issues, including depression, addiction and substance abuse, suicidal impulses, stress management, problems with self-esteem, issues associated with aging, job and career concerns, educational decisions, issues related to mental and emotional health, and family, parenting, and marital or other relationship problems. Mental health counselors often work closely with other mental health specialists, such as psychiatrists, psychologists, clinical social workers, psychiatric nurses, and school counselors. (US Department of Labor)