Chapter One/Critical Incident Reply

After reading the first chapter of I Never Knew I Had a Choice(2008) as well as the Critical Incidents in Student Counselor Development(2003) I can say that I am very much so looking forward to the journey within this class over the course of the semester. Usually what I read within texts don’t tend to resonate with me but the required chapter as well as the accompanying article both felt as if they were geared directly towards me as ridiculous as it sounds. I shall start with the Carroll and Furr article as I felt it was the one that spurred me more.

The reason that this article touched base with me is pretty obvious as the article is aimed at a very succinct population of professors who are teaching in Master’s level School Counseling programs. As a result, a de facto second population would thus be the students in those populations. As I kept reading I felt as if I could have been a participant in the sample for the study because of my own critical incident(s) in such a short time in this program. The first course I took in this program was “Theory & Practice I” in which we were to be both clinician and client in practice sessions. In the article it mentions how those who also had to do this recognized it as a critical incident in their journey. This was an affective critical incident so far in my time here in the program because I feel that it changed me as an individual. In the smallest of social situations I was struck with anxiety and fear often to the point where it felt debilitating. However, over the course of the past five or six months I have made several strides past this although I still get anxious for presentations and such. It also makes me very excited as the article talked about how the mean number of critical incidents was higher for field-based experienced individuals which bodes well for future endeavors in the program.

As for the text, I really liked it because it touched on a couple of things that stuck with me most from my undergrad curriculum. Primarily Gardner’s theories of Multiple Intelligence as I think it’s something most counselors, as well as prospective counselors, should subscribe to in some capacity. Not everyone is going to learn or be at their best in a traditional classroom. Some people learn differently than others and I think we are all testament to that. I, personaly feel that I’ve always been a logical-mathematical learner as well as a musical-rhythmical one. The text introduced me to the “emotional learner” too which I also think applies to me.

Corey, G. & Corey, M.S. (2008). I never knew I had a choice: Exploration in personal growth (9th

                   Edition). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole

Furr, S.R. & Carroll, J.J. (2003). Critical incidents in student counselor development. Journal of 

                     Counseling & Development, 81, 483-489