Reflection Paper: Self-Assessment of Learning

Before entering college, I never took the time to self reflect on my actions as much as I should have. Over the years, I noticed that tend to be my biggest critic. I judge everything I do both inside and outside of the classroom very harshly. Many people suggest that I should not be so hard on myself. The more I reflect on myself, the more I learn about my beliefs and skills. I believe this is a strength because I am learning more about myself and my self-development as a future counselor.

Throughout this paper, I will reflect on my self-awareness when it comes to learning different counseling techniques as well as critiquing my skill development.

Self-Awareness

During a class discussion, we went over a scenario where a client was expressing having an affair with a co-worker who is married and has a child. When we were going over this particular scenario I became self-aware on how bias I am toward cheating on your significant other.

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If I have a future client who shares that they are cheating on their significant other, I do not want to judge them based on my beliefs. I want to help them to the best of my ability despite what I think is right or wrong. If I have a client who shares that their significant other is cheating on them, I do not want to make it seem like I am taking their side because of my beliefs. Noticing that I am biased toward cheating has impacted my learning because I will begin to look for different techniques that will benefit the way I help my client.

Helping my clients overcome what they are going through entails me to be very open-minded and say what is right for my client and their situation, not dependent on my personal beliefs.

During a role-playing session, I became self-aware that I need to work on using other techniques during a counseling session. I noticed during role-play, I mainly reflect on my client’s feelings. Reflecting on my clients feeling is not a bad technique, but I want to expand my techniques. I want to ask more open-ended questions, use more door openers, minimal encouragers, etc. During class I learned open-ended questions and door openers can encourage my client to expand on how they are feeling. Therefore, this will give me a better understanding of where my client is coming from and how my client is feeling. I also learned that using minimal encouragers will let my client know that I am listening to them.

Skill Development

One skill I want to improve on is utilizing silence without feeling uncomfortable. During role-play sessions, I practiced using silence but I found myself breaking the silence before my client did because I felt awkward. I fear that if I utilize silence and my client senses that I am uncomfortable, it will make them uncomfortable. If my client feels uncomfortable, they will not want to open up to me. One major lesson I took away from a class discussion as well as reading Young’s textbook is how silence can encourage the client to open up. One of my goals as a future counselor is having my client comfortable enough to open up to me about what they are going through. If silence will help my client open up to me, I want to master being comfortable sitting in silence. When I overcome the uncomfortable feeling of being in silence, I believe it will encourage my client to open up to me more about how they are feeling.

Another skill I want to improve on is not letting my nervous habits appear during a counseling session. I find that when I am nervous I play with my fingers. Playing with my fingers can distract my client as well as make them think I am not listening. Throughout the semester, I will practice not having my nervous habits show during a counseling session.

Conclusion

I believe if keep self-reflecting on my skill development, my skill development will improve. I believe that this will make me a better counselor. Throughout my paper, I shared how I became aware of the biases I have as well as certain self-development skills I want to improve. I hope my skill development improves as well as not having my bias get in the way of helping my clients.