Clinical Mental Health Counseling

Answer the questions in essay format.

1. As a counselor in training, what are your goals for your practicum experience.
2. What are your growth areas as well as your strengths and weaknesses? Specify.
3. How do you plan to grow while participating in the practicum?
4. Identify specific goals in each skill area that will become the initial focus for both group and individual supervision.
   • Counseling Performance Skills: Counseling performance skills refers to "what the counselor does during the session" or his/her counseling behaviors. This includes use of basic and advanced counseling skills, use of theory-based techniques, procedural skills, and professional and issue-specific skills.
   • Cognitive Counseling Skills: Cognitive counseling skills refer to the counselor's ability to think about the counseling session and to form a comprehensive explanation of the client and the client's issues. Related skills include the writing of intake summaries and case notes; assessment, diagnosis, and case conceptualization; and goal setting, treatment planning, and theory orientation
   • Self-Awareness Cognitive Skills: Self-awareness involves a counselor's recognition of how personal issues, beliefs, and motivations may influence in-session behavior as well as case conceptualization.
   • Developmental Level: Developmental level refers to the process of moving from being a novice counselor to becoming a professional counselor. This level is inferred based on how supervisees function on a continuum from dependence on the supervisor and the supervision process toward functioning at a collegial level with the supervisor