Why I Want To Be A Mental Health Counselor

My motivation to become a mental health counselor comes from my personal background and experiences that I have gone through. Growing up in a country with no mental health counseling and if it was available, no one used it or knew it was easily accessible. The only time I heard about counseling been provided was when a person wanted to check the HIV status. People used family members of close friends if they needed someone to talk to about their problems. Even that was not common because people don’t others to know about their family problems. I realized I wanted to become a counselor when my husband and I decided to see a marriage counselor. It took a lot of strength for me to take that step but I did it. I recognized the importance of therapy
As a member, the duties I had were to help other students set goals and help them achieve these goals. We had weekly meetings where we would share what goals we had and how to meet these goals. During my time as an SNT Coordinator, I was able to develop listening skills.
Volunteering at the Child life and Creative Arts Therapy Department at Mount Sinai Children’s Hospital inspired me even more that my passion was to help other people. I know I was not providing counseling to any of the children but I let them know that I was there as a friend. They shared with me how they felt about being in the hospital and not home. I was there to listen and make them feel comfortable while they were in the
Myself has been an immigrant I know firsthand how hard it is to adjust to a new way of living. I moved to New York for college so, I was old enough to know that my culture was important to me. Even with this in mind, I still had a hard time adjusting to a New York culture. I wanted to stay true to my culture but I also wanted to be comfortable living in New York. In the end, I decided on changing some things in me and letting other things stay as they are. These are some of the reasons I would like to work with immigrant families. Zambia has a high population of people living with HIV/AIDS. Almost every family has had someone in the family affected by this disease. I know for sure that not only the person has HIV suffers but also his/her family. I understand that HIV-positive patients do not only have to deal with physical sickness but they also have to concerned with mental health. Been HIV positive brings anxiety and depression, not only the person infected but his/her family as well. People go through different reactions when they find out they are HIV positive. Some refuse to accept that the test is actually correct, whereas, others feel angry at the person who they believe gave them the disease. These people need someone they can talk to about how they are feeling. I would make a good counselor for this population because I have had both currently and