Personal Narrative: A Career As A School Counselor

Initially, I viewed counselors as professionals that offer advice and assistance to students due to my prior experiences with my school counselors. However, while enrolled in the Brooklyn College School Counseling program and reading varies course articles, my entire perspective of a school counselor has changed. My idea of a school counselor is a reflection of a school counselor I am striving to be in the future. In my opinion, school Counselors refrain from disclosing advice, but teach different skills and technique to the students resulting in the students learning to self counsel themselves. Counselors are advocates for the students, parents, school system as a whole and the community they work in. They are mindful, caring, the voice,

My parents are from the Caribbean island of Trinidad and Tobago. Because my parents left their country to have a better and successful life in America, they were stern when it came to education and achievement. At times when I made an academic or behavioral fault, my mother lectured me about doing it over until I got the right outcome. She refused to share answers to the problems she knew I was capable of solving. My parent enforced the idea of becoming your own thinker and problem solver because it was my life to live. They were willing to assist in guiding me in the right direction, but I was responsible for the choices I selected. Every choice, I decided, I prepared myself for the negative or positive consequences. In my opinion, family and culture is very important, therefore, as a counselor, I want to a chameleon. A chameleon is able to camouflage to their environment. I want to be able to able to represent all cultures in the school and teach the school to respect all cultures. My mindset has to change when counseling students to students. My parents enforced education, however, I may have a child whose parents that enforces spirituality. I cannot use my personal beliefs or bias to counsel that child. There are particular steps with dealing with multicultural counseling such as the (a) counselor has to aware of their own assumptions, values, and bias, (b) understand the worldview of the culturally different client and (c) develop appropriate counselor intervention strategies and techniques (Fukuyama & Sevig). I will take the extra steps such as research, in learning more about a culture different from my own. Also, as the chameleon, I have to educate the students of the culture of the school. Teaching students the motto and what the school stands