Family Counselor Career Goals

The career that I would love to achieve would be counseling; however, I am still debating on if I want to be a child counselor, grief counselor, family counselor, or teen and adult counselor. When it comes to counseling, I believe it is more than just interacting with others; such as, being a good listener, patient, understanding and giving good advice. A counselor needs to understand the possible mental disorders, emotional disorders, what possible triggers are causing the stress that the patient is experiencing and what techniques or treatment plans would be best for that patient to achieve a healthy lifestyle mentally, physically and emotionally. By obtaining a degree in Psychology, plus furthering my education I hope to understand mental and emotional disorders thoroughly as well as learn what treatment techniques and plans would be best for the patient that comes to me for help.

In addition, currently my plan is to attend graduate school for my masters, and possibly Ph.D in Clinical Counseling. Recently, I have been doing research on possible graduate programs that I would like to apply for. One barrier would be my GPA. My GPA has been good so far; however, this semester I struggled with my courses because as a new mother I was trying to find a balance between being a full time student and being a full time single mother. I’m
afraid that if my GPA goes down this semester that it will hurt my chances of getting accepted into graduate school. However, since I have a year and a half left until I graduate, I am hoping to bring my GPA back up if it does go down. Other barrier is money, lately money has been tight from paying bills and raising my son making sure he has everything he needs. And lastly, another barrier is being a single mother. Trying to find a balance between being a full time student and a full time mother can be extremely difficult at times. Even though, furthering my education will be difficult, furthering my education is what is best for my son and myself so I can obtain a good degree so I can have the opportunity to get a stable career so I can provide a stable lifestyle for my son and myself.

Furthermore, the previous university that I attended did not require PSYC 1102 in order to graduate; however, I am glad that UNG makes this course a requirement because it has helped me learn crucial information that I need to know when it comes to getting a degree in Psychology and how to apply to graduate school. I have learned what it takes, and have an idea on how to write a research proposal. In my previous Psychology courses, I never have to write a research proposal before, so I feel like this course, and this university is teaching me the information I need to know in order to succeed. I have also learned how to write a resume, and CV for which will help me when searching for a job or apply to graduate school.

Moreover, since losing my son, Nolan when I was 18 weeks pregnant, I have thought about becoming a grief counselor because I have experienced grief first hand and when I attended counseling for myself, it really helped me overcome the grief I experienced from losing a child.
While, the pain will never go away and I will always miss my son I have learned steps on how to grieve. Losing a loved one, losing a child is tragically heartbreaking and it can be hard to overcome. So, I think that my experience with grief will help me become a better counselor because I understand how hard it is emotionally to lose a child, and lose a loved
one.

At this time, I have not really decided about any research opportunities; however, while I am furthering my education I plan to keep an eye out because I do would like to be involved with any research opportunities that will help me succeed in my future career in Counseling or any research opportunities that I believe are interesting. For example, even though this may not help me in my future career field, I think breastfeeding related research opportunities will be interesting to participate in so I can learn more about the benefits of breastfeeding and learn why breastfeeding being publicly shamed by society.