WK 10 VoiceThread: Experiential Learning Opportunity: Interview a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC)

Hello, Doctor Goodra and classmates. Thank you for taking the time to

see and hear my presentation on week ten's voice thread,

the experiential learning opportunity and my

interview with a licensed professional counselor.

I will start off with saying that this was such

a great experience to see what it's really like to

get into the life of a counselor and what we can expect, you know, in our profession,

moving forward when we ourselves become licensed professional counselors.

So although there was quite a bit of

information that I gathered from this interview and I

definitely enjoyed my experience with this interview.

I broke it down to a few important key takeaways from my L PC interview.

What I learned in general is that counselors should be client centered.

Counselors should also be intuitive such as looking

at things like nonverbals or paying close attention

to what our client is actually trying to tell us.

Another key important takeaway is that counselors

should be willing to try new things.

For example,

our preferred theoretical orientations or approach might be something that we

are particularly more comfortable with in one approach over another.

However,

it is important to keep in mind that we adapt

to the needs of the client as best as possible.

So

to further our training, we should,

you know, get some additional professional development.

If there's a particular theoretical approach, we are not as comfortable with.

So that way we can help meet the client, you know, where they're at,

if it's one that we are not

typically using in our preferred theoretical orientation.

And another key point was it is important

to collaborate with other professionals as needed.

If there is something we are not comfortable with,

we must be willing to communicate and share cases and experiences with

others who have the training and knowledge that we also have.

But just so we can bounce off ideas with each other

to ensure we are doing what's best for the client.

My counselor and L PC interview took place with

Amy Haner who is a licensed professional counselor.

Her license status is active at this time.

She attended Illinois State University

and has special education experience is currently a director in special education

and has her licensed professional counselor credential.

I will talk a little more about her background in training uh in just a moment,

but that is who I interviewed for this particular assignment.

So for Miss Amy Haner,

her particular a approach and her preferred theoretical preference

is solution oriented as well as a behavioral approach.

She primarily works with kids and teens.

So this was very helpful for her in the work that she did as an L PC,

she dealt with crisis all the time.

So this, you know, really gave her a foundation in order to support her clients,

she would give her clients homework,

she would role play with them and coaching them through situations because

a lot of times it involved having family type therapy and groups,

uh family group meetings.

And so the coaching piece helped because

it was her work with, you know, kids and teens and with that work model, you know,

helping kids and teens did involve some coaching on

her end is how she explained that to me.

And so I will continue here.

So being a counselor for Miss Amy Haner,

her strength as she explained to me is that she

takes the time to see what her clients need.

Very client centered with her approach as an L PC,

she seeks collaboration if needed, especially in squishy situations.

And

her main weaknesses is that

she explained,

she struggles with wait time or si uh silence when it comes to clients,

not maybe responding right away.

And also as a busy mom, you know, when she was an L PC,

is attending professional development because she would get so busy.

So she did, you know, say that she does keep up with her continuing education units,

but it was at times hard for her to get some additional PD if needed.

So important traits for a counselor as she explained, it is, of course,

you have to be empathetic.

You also have to be realistic start where your client is. She also mentioned that

you can't always,

you know, essentially help the client succeed.

The client also has to want to succeeded and you help as much as you can,

you know, but staying within legal and ethical parameters,

and she did say that,

you know, when she was a counselor,

interacting with her peers really helped her out,

especially with difficult cases.

And it also did help her, you know,

when it came to things like countertransference or transference,

maybe if the client was getting too attacked,

um looking for a balance there.

And then, you know,

she did share about being very careful about over sharing your

personal information or putting your values on the client if that,

you know,

came down to it and the client was not kind of opening up in a way that you would expect,

but being very careful and that there is a

fine balance there that needs to stay in place.

And so, you know, she said, just do what your gut tells you.

There are gonna be times when you're maybe

you don't know what to do but do what your gut tells you

when it came to counselor wellness that, you know,

she admitted that it sometimes is a struggle for her

to maintain counselor wellness because she is so busy.

And what she would do though is spend time with her friends

and family volunteer and take care of her loved ones wherever needed.

She also brought up that she would always use a

lot of humor and also needed her diet sodas.

So Diet Coke was her always go to

in order to stay just,

you know,

well and, and to continue to do the work that she needed to do.

So talking with others, reaching out to others with more experience.

Um And then she would also also kind of just say

some affirmations that would help her get through her situations.

So the goal for Miss Amy Hayner as an L

PC was always to help her clients become independent.

She would always try to remember the goals,

help them with uh the coping skills they needed

as well as you know, just reminding them that if they,

you know, stopped their counseling sessions and they were exited from counseling,

she would always reassure them that if you need me later,

we can always reassess the situation.

I can always come back and help you

and just providing them with more tools in their

tool kit so that they can stay healthy themselves.

Ok?

So the way she would handle stress is that, you know, when there's difficult cases,

and I've talked a little bit about this already,

but she would always collaborate with other professionals

in order to help her through certain situations.

Um She talked a little bit about the transference

and counter transference and always just over sharing,

uh personal information can become too much.

So, being very careful with that,

if you have to refer a patient out because you are practicing uh without, you know,

a certain amount of competency,

it is very important that you take the time to refer a

patient out or provide them with sources and resources that can help them

in their overall goals and to succeed with their,

you know, just life experiences that they're experiencing.

So, um using affirmations again,

was another one of her go tos to remind her that

she could help them through whatever they were going through.

And if she couldn't,

she had resources or individuals that she could refer out

to and talk with and just to help her,

help her clients,

she mentioned that trust in the therapeutic relationship

is critical to the counselor and client relationship, right?

So report starts immediately,

Miss Amy Haner primarily worked with, you know,

students who were at risk kids who are at risk, maybe experiencing homelessness

or experiencing abuse and uh maybe some drug addiction, things like that.

So she had to come up with a plan such as working with CPS,

helping the kids reunite with their families.

And there was a lot of experience there in

crisis involvement where she was able to get,

you know, more experience as an L PC.

So uh briefly because I'm, you know, running out of time here,

but she wanted to go into special education,

but essentially didn't want to end up teaching.

The L PC route gave Miss Amy

Haner freedom, you know, more than teaching would have.

So she attended her university program in order to become

an L PC C which was at Illinois State University.

She also attended Concordia University because that's when

she really wanted to start working in schools.

So she had obtained her educational leadership credential,

did her L PC hours in Austin, Texas.

And her why was because she really wanted to help kids and teenagers.

That is why she got into this field.

If there's a case of abuse or neglect,

you know, we have to help the families,

we have to help the clients give them tools to help them,

but always making sure we're explaining limits of confidentiality right away.

We're also reporting those cases of abuse and neglect.

And if we have to attend court to

report certain things, there might be times that there are those legal situations.

So Miss Amy Haner explained to me that a child or teen that she was helping,

she would mention to them right away.

I cannot live with something happening to you.

I have to report this and then explaining why

it was critical to report cases of abuse and neglect

further.

So you know,

some tips that she gave me is build report

early with your clients confront them respectfully if needed.

So example, if they didn't do their homework she mentioned, you know, hey,

you're not doing what you need to in order to be successful, how can we adjust?

And, you know, she did say her preference was to work with older kids and teenagers,

but did really enjoy family counseling.

And um what was really hard for her was to work

with elderly clients as well as those in hospice situations.

But she enjoyed her schedule as an L PC,

especially in the afternoons because she could stay at

home uh in the morning with her young boys.

And she, we just talked a lot about, you know, the L PC Board of Ethics,

how AC A helped her get through difficult cases.

Um and then just ways that she would decompress.

So some of that I already mentioned at the beginning,

but also like taking out a bath after work really helped her to destress

and she explained the steps and these are it on the screen about, you know,

what she would do as a counselor.

So, you know, doing an intake limits of, you know,

explaining limits of confidentiality to them during the therapy session,

meeting the client where they're at after the, the session,

reflecting on what she could have done better where she

could a just as a therapist also taking her notes.

And, you know, she talked a little bit about billing which is difficult for her,

but billing for her services was a discussion point.

And then, um as we continue here

kind of uh wrapping up towards the end. I know time is, has been kind of pushed.

But her typical days, this is what it looked like for her, you know,

days were quick for her afternoons were her work times.

So she would work from 12 noon to 8 p.m. would work with

her supervisor closely in order to go over cases and do case notes.

And then she talked about the parenting groups that she

had as well as uh presenting trainings wherever needed.

And so thank you guys for taking the time to see this today again.

I do appreciate it and just making sure that we covered everything

and we sure did. So you guys have a great rest of your day. Thank you all.

WK 10 VoiceThread: Experiential Learning Opportunity: Interview a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC)

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