So I am about the embark upon my last semester as a graduate student in counseling. This road has been arduous and unexpected in a number of ways. When I first began gearing toward this five (?) years ago, my intention was to enter a PhD program. At the moment the thought of that sends my poor overworked soul teetering on the brink of the volcano.
By the time I get my counseling license I will have put in approximately 5-8 years of work, depending on how long licensing takes. Isn’t it great to know that your counselors go through this in order to offer their services to the public? I have so much more confidence now in any counselor that I might go to see. The degree itself is both nothing an everything. It says “I care enough about this to jump through a bunch of hoops” and the broad brief survey of the field is enough to at least get a smattering of what the potential options are in order to practice.
Personally I went into this program knowing what I wanted to do with it and what I wanted my final product to be. So I am at last at the gates to the land of freedom that I have wanted to frolic in for years, and the writing of my thesis will yield me the foundation for counseling practice that I have wanted for many years now:
I want to practice holistic life counseling. I am excited to hang out a shingle that represents my work and my background fully and honestly, with the work (both personal and professional) to back it up. It’s a scary thing to announce myself to the world in this way, and I feel afraid that my inadequacies both in experience and knowledge will show clearly through. But vulnerability and honesty are values of mine, and I intend to put my words and actions into alignment with one another in this new chapter.
I hope you will continue to join me as I continue showing up and digging in, no matter the external circumstance. See you in the field!
