The Role and Life of a Mental Health Counselor
Final Project: The Role and Life of a Mental Health Counselor
For the Final Project, you will apply the information learned in this course, as well as in an interview you conduct, to your understanding of what it means to be a mental health counselor.
Interview (in person) a mental health counselor who works with a population in a setting that interests you. For example, if you are interested in working as an in-home therapist with children in need of supervision, interview someone who does this work.
The Final Project consists of the following components:
1. A summation* of an interview with the professional mental health counselor, using the following questions and questions of your own that are prompted by the conversation:
When someone asks you how being a mental health counselor is different from being a social worker or psychologist, what do you tell them?
Can you describe what a normal day looks like for you as you do your job?
What court cases, public policies, and/or state laws direct what you do as a counselor? What regulations govern your activities and practice, particularly those that pertain to insurance and Medicaid?
What theory(ies) inform your practice and why?
How does understanding and respecting multiculturalism help you as a counselor?
How does your knowledge of human growth and development inform your practice?
How do you use assessments to help you with client case conceptualization?
Talk about your experiences with referring clients for psychotropic medications. What advice might you give me?
What kinds of provisions do you or does your agency make for emergency response management? Talk about a time when you had to respond to a natural disaster or some other large-scale crisis. If you never have encountered one, talk about a time when you had to respond to a client-crisis.
What is the role of accountability in your counseling practice? In what ways are you accountable and how do you address that
For the Final Project, you will apply the information learned in this course, as well as in an interview you conduct, to your understanding of what it means to be a mental health counselor.
Interview (in person) a mental health counselor who works with a population in a setting that interests you. For example, if you are interested in working as an in-home therapist with children in need of supervision, interview someone who does this work.
The Final Project consists of the following components:
1. A summation* of an interview with the professional mental health counselor, using the following questions and questions of your own that are prompted by the conversation:
When someone asks you how being a mental health counselor is different from being a social worker or psychologist, what do you tell them?
Can you describe what a normal day looks like for you as you do your job?
What court cases, public policies, and/or state laws direct what you do as a counselor? What regulations govern your activities and practice, particularly those that pertain to insurance and Medicaid?
What theory(ies) inform your practice and why?
How does understanding and respecting multiculturalism help you as a counselor?
How does your knowledge of human growth and development inform your practice?
How do you use assessments to help you with client case conceptualization?
Talk about your experiences with referring clients for psychotropic medications. What advice might you give me?
What kinds of provisions do you or does your agency make for emergency response management? Talk about a time when you had to respond to a natural disaster or some other large-scale crisis. If you never have encountered one, talk about a time when you had to respond to a client-crisis.
What is the role of accountability in your counseling practice? In what ways are you accountable and how do you address that