Respond sharing what you learned about creating comprehensive career programs. Share any useful resources you found with your peers.
Shannon Flanagan
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When creating a comprehensive school counseling program, the school counselor must think about all the types of students who are in the school system and what are their personal needs. Each grade will have their own personal needs in regards to what must be accomplished for that level, however, each school also has their own challenges and needs that set them apart from other schools. For example, a counselor may recognize that her school has a high rate of missed attendance. This counselor may decide to create a specific program in order to tackle this problem which would be included in the overall comprehensive school counseling program. School counselors must help children across all levels and abilities. This means the school counselor must tailor their program to fit each child. Each child will fall under the school counseling program, but will have their own personal program set up for them as well. For example, the counselor must decide which students receive and IEP or 504 plan which either the counselor, school nurse, or school psychologist must create.
This means others will be included in the overall school counseling program as well such as teachers, administrators, supervisors, nurses, psychologists, and others who can help the students needs. School counseling programs should be set up in order to meet all academic, personal, and social needs of every student. The counselor must then include items such as referrals, tardiness, assessments, college rates, report cards, achievement tests, and more to determine all students needs. Counselor must also have a reference list to responsive services such as in case a student becomes a threat or admits to thoughts of suicide. Each program should also include what each student should learn based upon their age level. THis can be obtained by creating a list of measurable goals for the student, and a belief that each of these students can achieve these goals. Counselors are then to work with teachers in order to implement lessons which help them in their career goals, personal lives, and social needs. Culture is also another factor to consider when creating a comprehensive school program. Many schools have different cultural backgrounds. Some may have a large population of hispanic immigrants, while others may mainly have Asians or African Americans.
Based upon the schools culture, the counselor will shape their program differently to handle their personal needs. For example, a counselor may find that her students who are mostly Asian have non-English parents who cannot speak English and therefore do not know how to communicate with members of the school. The school counselor can create more parent teacher nights which include translators for immigrant parents to help connect to staff members and become more involved in their childrens education. Overall, it is up to the school counselor to determine what the schools personal need are, and to develop a program which will help all students in their personal, academic, and social lives.
Socorro Matias
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Mental health problems are related to absenteeism, low productivity and staff turnover (Zalaquet, 2009). This has a great impact in the organizations (Zalaquet, 2009). That does why it is important that when doing career counseling, this matter be consider. It will be a good process if the client is seen as a whole person (Zalaquet, 2009; Zunker, 2016). Career counseling and personal counseling are related when a career decision making and finding a job matters (Zunker, 2016).
The process will be starting with a personal assessment related to what biases, if any can affect the counseling process. Zunker (2016) stated that this process it is necessary when counseling client of multicultural groups. The next step will be conducting an interview that will allow gathering the much information as possible (Zunker, 2016). In the interview it can be collected information regarding clients needs, goals, expectations, and other information that it is necessary to create a comprehensive career plan. Assessment will part of the process. Depending of the presenting problem, the assessment will be chosen. For example, if the client is undecided of what he wants, a starting point can be assessing his trait using Self-Directed Search, that use model of Hollands typology (Zunker, 2016). If the client shows thoughts that are consider maladaptive, the Career Thoughts Inventory can be chosen (Zunker, 2016). If client can be showing signs and symptoms of mental health problems, then the career counselor can refer the client to assess this issue and work in conjunction with the other professional (Zunker, 2016). Zunker (2016) stated that career counselor must be trained in the different assessment tools and refer client when not having the training related to mental health issues. This is important to address because mental health problems can affect the career decision making as well the process for finding a job (Zunker, 2016). For implementing the career program plan will be important to include the goals and strategies, in this way the client will have a vision of what he needs and when to do it.
Response Guidelines
Respond with substantive feedback. Focus on the strategies and services that the learner has chosen. Identify any legal or ethical issues that should be considered for the recommended service collaboration. How would you address these issues?
McKinley Marks
U10d1
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The grieving process is often very difficult to discuss; however, it is even more difficult to experience first-hand. Although death and dying are certainties and expected parts of human life; people often have a very difficult time navigating the grieving process. The process of grieving is an active coping process that includes the following: acknowledge the reality of the loss, working through emotional turmoil, adjust to the environment where the deceased is absent, and loosen the ties to the deceased (Cavanaugh & Blanchard-Fields, 2019). Kubler-Ross developed the widely accepted five stages of grief. The stages include denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance (Cavanaugh & Blanchard-Fields, 2019). Each of the four women is processing grief in their own unique way. For example, the third widow moved her wedding ring from the third finger on her left hand to the third finger of her right hand. To me, this signifies that she is currently in the bargaining stage; she wanted to show the word that she was no longer married while still feeling that special connection to her husband. I believe that this fourth widow is in the stage of acceptance. She has fashioned her wedding ring into a beautiful, new piece of jewelry signifying her new relationship with her deceased husband. Each culture is known to have its own ways of viewing death, grieving for it, and ritualizing it (Cavanaugh & Blanchard-Fields, 2019). The symbols that we use to signify death and our belief about the afterlife, or lack there of, are some of the main differences cross-culturally. It is important to point out that individuals navigate the stages of grief at their own pace. There is no correct or incorrect way to process oneâs feelings and emotions associated with the grieving process. Outpouring support should be provided to individuals who are journeying through the grieving process. They should be equipped with ample resources for tackling grief including, support group, counselors/social workers, and psychiatrists. I do believe that it makes an impact if a grieving widow was previously employed prior to their spouseâs death. Their job and employees can act as a support system or a routine/purpose for them to return to when they are ready.
Latonya Jones
U10D1 Latonya Jones
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I remember a quote that my uncle told me a long time ago; âthe only two certainties in life are death and taxesâ. I mention this quote because death is one of the only certainties that I know we must all expect to happen one day. The process of grieving does not have a timeframe, nor does it show the typical way that a person will grieve the death of their loved one. According to Cavanaugh & Blanchard-Fields (2019), Kubler initially described the stages of grief to be the following denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance; she later realized that the stages would not occur in any certain order and sometimes overlapped with one another.
I feel more information is needed in order to give a definite answer regarding the grieving stages for the widows, but I believe that I can safely assume that each widow has reached the acceptance stage of grief. Each widow appears to have placed their rings in certain places in order to grieve their spouses in their own way. With them each being in the acceptance stage, this confirms my initial thought that we each grieve differently than others, so it is very important to provide our loved ones with support and resources that they may need in order to grieve. In my opinion, there isnât much of a difference rather or not the women were employed prior to the death of their spouses. I think it matters more if their husbands have left their spouses financial resources that will be available after their death. My mom is unable to work full-time and has chosen to work very small hours due to health issues, so my father is the main breadwinner of the home. If something were to happen to him, my mother would still be financially stable because of multiple polices and retirement funds that he has allocated in case something were to happen to him.
One of the professional supports that I think would be beneficial is a Grief Support Group. I recently located a grief support group for an individual at my agency. Her mother died last year, but she is continuing to have difficulties coping, especially with the upcoming holidays, so I have found her a wonderful 13-week GriefSafe support group. One of the things that Iâve questioned is the support that widow fathers receive when their wives die, and they must take care of the children. According to Yopp, et al. (2019), âThe most striking findings were the magnitude and duration of the fathersâ depressive symptoms over time. Fathers reported substantially elevated levels of depressive symptoms beginning within the first three months of their wivesâ deaths and an overwhelming majority met screening criteria for clinically significant depression.â. This confirms my thoughts that support groups are needed for widows, regardless of gender and regardless of the stage of grief.
Reflection on Personal Growth
The goal of this discussion is to reflect on your personal growth, including the career implications of what you have learned.
Discuss how have you grown personally and professionally as a consequence of completing this course.
Name three strengths you have developed in this course and three areas you would like to strengthen as you continue your degree program.
Describe how your career aspirations have changed or developed during the process of taking this course.
Use below example to create this reflection
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I have grown so much from this class and it has made me gain a better understanding of how adults develop and why things happen or change as one gets older. My grandpa is the most important person in my life, and he has been through so much but has always stayed strong. This course has made me truly appreciate the individual he is. My work as a professional has also improved because I have a better understanding of adult development and I am able to apply this knowledge when working with not only my adolescent clients but with their parents as well. It has helped me be able to explain things better to my parents and helping them see how adult and child development are similar and different.
I have developed many strengths throughout this course. I have learned how to get better at using APA style, I have learned how to be more critical of the articles/databases/websites that I plan on using to make sure that I am getting good information and writing a literature review. I will continue to work on APA, proofing my papers, and disaggregating data from articles better. I donât really think my have career aspirations have changed but I am more open to working with adults. I remember saying that I only want to work with children and adolescents, but it has been interesting in learning different things about adult development. I have actually requested a few days at my job to be able to shadow one of our adult mental health providers so I can understand how their work is.
Thank you Dr. Mills, it has been a great class.
