Blog 1

Like Baker had told us to do, I looked at the 22 ways of getting the most out of a group experience.  I only found one where it would be difficult to face when in a group.  I think that it would be hard to express my feelings about the group.  If I just met a group where I did not know anyone, it would be hard for me to describe my feelings towards them.  It is like I would be judging a book by its cover and I would feel uncomfortable doing that because why would I project my feelings onto someone I don’t know.  However, if I was in this group for awhile I think I would tell others how I felt about them.

When reading the Corey and Corey (2008), I first came across what brings us happiness.  This topic brought me back to my undergraduate days when I took a course on positive psychology.  I loved the class and we did a big section on happiness.  We talked about what kinds of things bring happiness and looked at lots of studies showing what people describe as being happy.  In the book, Corey and Corey (2008) did a good job summing up some of the material that I learned on happiness.  Words like love and relationships are big topics when dealing with happiness.  Going further into the book, I read about many of the theories that I liked in undergrad like psychodrama and experiential family therapy.  They both were really interesting to me and I enjoyed learning about them.  When I first learned them, I thought they were unique and interesting and then I grew to like them.

Looking over the article for this week’s reading, I felt that it was common sense that students in a counseling program would learn more about themselves as they took courses.  For myself personally, I have gained lots of knowledge about myself through the classes that I have taken and I have used what we learned in class to analyze myself along with others.  I also feel that in order to be a good counselor, one must know about their own biases and how they handle different situations.  It makes sense that over time students would gain knowledge about themselves.  Also with our program, a lot of the stuff we do for class is brought back on us and how everything relates to us.  That is what makes Millersville’s program such a good one.  We learn about ourselves as we learn how to counsel others.

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.

Furr, S. R., & Carroll, J. J. (2003). Critical incidents in student counselor development. Journal Of Counseling & Development, 81, 483-489.