A Day in the Life of a Mental Health Counselor - Essay Example

WK11 (61) Project A Day in the Life of a Mental Health Counselor The mental health counselor that I interviewed seemed to really love his job. He said that his day starts out with getting to the office about 7:00 a.m. His first client is usually around 8:00 a.m. or 8:30 a.m. and he likes to take time in the morning to relax and get ready for his first session. Since he works with sex offenders he usually will only see 6-8 clients on an average day. This does not always mean that he will talk to his client in the office but he may need to go to the jail or prison in order to talk with his client. He spaces his clients so that he has the time to reflect on each one and write notes about them. This is an activity that is pretty much governed by the state in which you live he said, because there are certain "clinical standards" that you must adhere to if you are going to work in the state. He also is very careful to make notes that are informative about the case and not judgmental. This sometimes is difficult because some of the offenders act as thought they have done nothing wrong. He must use his patience and communication skills in order to get through to some of the men he deals with on an average day. In terms of activities, he said that he is in counseling sessions throughout the day and the only thing he really gets to do is take a lunch. He does answer phone calls and emails between sessions so that he does not get behind. He often reviews his cases and sometimes he will have to provide reports to a probation officer or to the courts as to the progress that his clients have made. Another thing he pointed out was that a lot of the people who come to his office have been referred there by an agency. Because of this they may appear to be angry and hostile at the beginning of the process but most will settle down and get into it once they know they are not being judged. Office help is expensive and since he is in private practice he attempts to cut his costs as necessary. He is in business with his wife and they have a receptionist for scheduling appointments and taking referrals. He said that they do this so that they will have more time to work with clients and so they do not have to worry about scheduling. Sometimes they have case report conferences in the office especially when they have a particularly difficult case. In the event that the client is violent they want to know exactly what they are dealing with in the process. The regulations that govern counseling in Ohio include a Code of Ethics for counselors in the state and there are strict Medicaid guidelines. He has liability insurance through the American Counseling Association because he is a member. They also have a strict code of ethics that reflect the states needs. Hr prefers taking private insurance over Medicaid because it pays sooner and he can charge his regular rate; with Medicaid he has to charge less and this can sometimes be difficult. Private insurance has a set rate but it is easier to get paid by them. The challenges that he has to deal with will generally be around treatment of the client. These are men that most of society would rather see stay in prison for the long term but they also deserve to get out after serving their time. He has to help them while also advocating for them so that the public is more educated about what goes on. These are men who can be as many victims and the victims of their crimes which make it more difficult to reach some of them. The other challenge is that there is a political climate that speaks about sexual offenders and the public gets what the media says rather than the straight truth about them. The two challenges he had working with clients. He said that his schedule is pretty much the same everyday unless there is a crisis with one of his clients. In that case, he will spend more time with that client helping them get through the crisis; at that point he may stop all other client work until this is finished. He also may have to go as an "expert witness" for some of his clients to show his progress to the courts. On these days he does not schedule as many clients because court can take several hours, especially if he has more than one client going. The way his office deals with crisis management depends largely on the crisis. As an example, if someone comes in and threatens anyone in the office the first course of action would be to try and calm them down while someone else is calling the police. If the individual is having a problem emotionally, they will attempt to help them through it. In the even that they are to taking medication but showing signs that they need to, they would refer the individual to their doctor or a psychiatrist depending no the situation. He is always on call with his clients because they are sexual offenders. Many go to groups that are like Alcoholics Anonymous as well as coming to their scheduled appointments. All his clients know that they can get a hold of him 24/7 and that depending on the situation he will get back to them as soon as he can. The only time he does not get to the individual within a few hours is if he is in session with someone else. I asked him if he ever found one or two people who would call him at all hours and he said that it is surprising but not many use the emergency number. He attributes this to the fact that he has "thrown out a lifeline" and they know it is there so they do not have to use it. His workday is different the said because he is not with an agency. As a private practitioner he decides his schedule and what he does each day. If he were in an agency setting his hours would be very different and he would have to do what was required by the agency. He also has a lot of support from the courts and probation officers because he has built a reputation for over 30 years. This sets him apart from some of the other counselors. The final part that makes this counseling different for him is that he is not a probation officer so it is easier for him to get his clients to move forward. He does not get the attitude that some of his colleges talk about because he treats all his clients with respect; he also expects that they will be respectful and do what they are requested to do. This counselor said that he basically knew what he was getting into before he started in private practice. His wife was already in private practice and he went in with her when they were married. He saw this as an opportunity to help him see a different perspective on life in general. His population is one of the most difficult both in getting them to accept training and to get the public to understand that they also have rights as citizens. Reflection In listening to Mr. Zachau it was clear that he is doing everything that we have read about in our class. He is an ethical counselor and is a member of several professional organizations. He talked about his beliefs in ethical principles which went along with what we read in our ethical research: To do no harm, to take good care of clients, to make sure we are always ethical with the clients. He also belongs to the ACA which was one of the organizations that I said I would join. He said that this was a very good organization and that it had a variety of educational materials that over the years had helped him. I would like to go into private practice some day but after listening to this interview I would say that it will be awhile before I did this today. He spoke about how much liability insurance he had to carry and about the fact that he did not get much vacation time. He also said that he had to be aware of what he was doing all the time because if he was not working with a client he was not making an income. This was something that I had thought about but I was not sure how it would work in the real world. I felt that Dr. Zachau was of good character and he attempted to make sure that he took good care of his clients. This to me said that he had integrity and that he cared about the plight of the men he served. He attended a CACREP school and he said that it was a better education he felt than some of the other counselors he knew received. He seemed to be very aware of what other counselors did and he said it was because he went to conferences whenever he could. I also asked him if he used cyber counseling in anyway. He did not approve of this method but he did use email as a way for clients to check in if they did not have a phone. Some of the men he explained were incarcerated and may not have phone privileges. I realized that this is not a population I would want to work with because it seemed to be too much work. I know there are juveniles that are sexual offenders and I may be working with some of them but this is the type of client I think I would refer out because this goes against my ethics. I feel that a sexual offender, though he may have the right to live a life and attempt to get better, may always be a sex offender and not be able to change as much as other types of clients. This is one that I will probably have to have some knowledge about because I may see a few of these clients in agency work. I did not ask him if he had a personal mission statement as I forgot but I would think that his personal mission statement had something to do with how he worked with clients and his professional one would be to continue his professional development. It seemed to me that he was a person who was always reading and he knew a lot about counseling. This led me to believe that he likes to keep abreast of what is happening in the field. He also belonged to a sex offender professional organization which I thought was very important for what they did. My Full Professional Day Since I will not be starting private practice my day will probably be different than when I interviewed. I would think that I would start out in the morning around 8:00 a.m. and this day may start with a staff meeting or case consulting depending on what the policy of the agency I was working for required. I may work either in an office with a door or a cubicle depending again on what the set-up of the office. My hourly activities would consist of seeing clients, doing paperwork, answering the phones and writing case notes. My chosen field is to work with teenagers and their parents. I would think that some of the challenges would be that there would be problems between the teen and their parents. Some parents may resent the fact that I am asking them to stretch and learn how to parent differently. Some of the teens may have attitudes that would not be as positive as they needed to be in order to work through their challenges. Often teens are in denial of their feelings and this might stop them from getting everything out of counseling that they could. In my community, some of the challenges in working with teens are that everyone wants to work with them. There are some people who are very good at working with teens and others who are not. Those who are not often are reluctant to allow you to do the work you need to do without a lot of paperwork. The good news is that people can pick and choose who they want to work with because there are so many choices for troubled teens. Daily challenges include getting attitudes from teens who do not want to be in counseling. Some of our clients come from the juvenile justice system and they are court ordered to be in counseling. Others are from broken homes and they have learned a certain kind of behavior that for them is difficult to change. The way that I have always chosen to deal with these challenges is to look at them as a way to break the ice with the client. I also attempt to build rapport quickly with my clients because they are already feeling vulnerable. I want them to know that they have a safe space to work through their issues away from any other influences. I have worked with severely angry teens as well as those who want to change but are not sure what to do to make the changes. In each case I make sure that I build rapport. I do this by talking to them about some of the things they have experienced and why they are in trouble now. I also want them to understand that where they need advocacy, I will be there helping them. What I like best about my job is the fact that I can help teenagers change their lives. I have always had support from family and friends to change my life but some teens do not have this support. I also find that many teens want to change but they do not understand the steps they need to change. When they listen to me and work through their issues, they come out on the other side understanding who they are and where they are going. This is the most rewarding part of all. How Counseling Impacts My Personality I enjoy helping people and have worked with them all my life in some capacity. I am easy going, put family and friends first, and I have a high level of integrity. For me this means that I can be flexible but I want to do the best for my clients. Sometimes it upsets me because I cannot make a client move faster than they are willing to go. I understand that they are at a certain place when they come to us and we have to help them see that there is another way to live their lives, but I get frustrated when they do not move quickly. I guess I have the personality of a visionary. I can see the big picture for the individual and I wonder why they cannot see it. I chose to be open to possibilities in my life and generally I am optimistic. I think that counseling impacts my personality because it is a helping profession. I like helping people and have always been in some situation where I needed to help. Read More