Blog 1

Before I even began reading the chapter or the article, I read through the list of 22 tenets for successful group counseling that Dr. Baker showed us in class. The ones that I believe will be the most difficult were the ones involving interacting with other, such as letting them know that their actions are affecting me and trying not to label people during feedback. I realize that makes me sound pretty conceited, and I, of course, don’t like to think that about myself, so I delved deeper into why those guidelines would be difficult for me to follow. First, I found my answer at the top of our syllabus in the quote by Carl Jung. I am pretty positive that my tendency to label others or allow their actions to affect me (then subsequently bottling my feelings about it) says a lot more about me than it does about who I am working with. I discovered even more about myself when beginning to read the chapter in our textbook. Corey & Corey (2008) talked about “other-esteem” and how relating to others and allowing them to have a respectful part of our lives will bring us as much joy as feeling confident in our own contributions to life (pg. 5). This was really significant to me because I understood that sometimes I lack in other-esteem and I will need to take this semester to work on that about myself. Powerful stuff!

                I know we have only had one class, but this (above) experience paired with our group introductions last night would both be categorized as critical incidents, as described by Furr & Carroll (2003). When we wrote our questions in the beginning of class, I was not prepared to have them asked of me right away, let alone in the entire group setting. This was uncomfortable for me, not because I am ashamed of or embarrassed by my past experiences, but because I am wary of over-sharing to people I don’t know very well. One of my biggest pet peeves is when someone tells their entire life story to everyone they meet, because I feel that it cheapens the depth of the experience. This came to light in Furr & Carroll’s article when they discussed student-faculty relationships (2003, pg. 484). I believe that it will be important for our class to have the comfort level with each other that is necessary for us all to grow as counselors and people. I feel optimistic that this experience will allow me to put away any judgments, pet peeves, and reservations in order to become the counselor I want to eventually be.

Corey, G. , & Corey, M.S. (2008). I never knew I had a choice: Explorations in personal growth (9^th ed.). Belmont, California: Thompson Brooks/Cole. ISBN: 9780495602293.

Furr, S. R., & Carroll, J. J. (2003). Critical Incidents in Student Counselor Development. Journal Of               Counseling & Development, 81(4), 483-489.