CURRENT STUDENT INSIGHTS

Natalie Spencer

As I enter into my fourth year as doctoral student in my counselor education program, I have found that I have learned just as much from my peers as I have from my professors and mentors. The greatest thing I have learned from my peers is to never be afraid to ask questions.

When I am with my peers I find that I am most at ease and I am willing to take more risks and explore topics and situations that normally I would shy away from. As I interact more and more with my peers, I have learned that it?s ok to ask questions and test my limits. My peers provide a safe environment for me to grow personally and professionally.

Without the support of my peers, I do not know where I would be today. My peers have enriched my life in so many ways. I?ve learned how to be a better leader, speaker, scholar, teacher, and counselor.  Over the years we?ve shared funny stories, called each other in distress over a paper, cried when things went wrong, and most of all supported each other. My peers are not only my colleagues, but they are also my friends. And that makes a world of difference.

Lindsey Stephenson

Chi Chapter, Chi Sigma Iota

University of Montevallo

            As an undergraduate, I visited the Carl Jung Institute in Zurich with a group of students where we listened to a lecture about the process of earning a spot at the Institute. At the time, to receive a diploma from the program each candidate had to undergo Jungian therapy. Initially, after hearing about this procedure I thought it might have been a means of discovering individuals who would not have ?fit in? with everyone else or whose personal problems were so significant that he or she would not have made an effective therapist. I should have asked a question about the purpose of the procedure, but I failed to somehow (I was likely distracted by the view of Lake Zurich directly outside).

            Looking back from my current graduate work, I think the Institute had the right idea requiring Jungian therapy for its students. Through observation and discussion with my classmates, I now understand that everyone can benefit from counseling and self-reflection?including counseling trainees?including me. I suppose admitting that I need to engage in more self-reflection is not much of a breakthrough, because as a counseling student I have the opportunity to talk about it frequently with my peers in venues like group supervision and class discussions, but I think more is involved than just admitting it. I think the difficult part of that realization is the implied pending action: getting help. I am not talking about fire-side chats with a friend, I am talking about facing the stuff in life that you try not to face; about really getting your hands dirty. Doing something about extra baggage takes more than just insight; it takes bravery. It's something we ask our clients to do everyday, and I had to ask myself,  Am I willing to be that brave?

Darla Timberlake
Alpha Omega Lambda
Regent University-Virginia Beach

            My counseling peers have totally surprised me by how much they have taught me about myself as a person and as a counselor.  I entered graduate school at age 47 after 26 years as a dental hygienist.  I felt very strongly that entering the counseling profession was what I was supposed to do; however, I was extremely intimidated (scared to death to be exact) at the thought of changing careers and journeying through graduate school with peers young enough to be my offspring! I began my studies with the deer in the headlight look, but after being welcomed with open arms and hearts I slowly settled in to my new calling.

            After almost 5 semesters, I can truly say that my peers, being the talented counselors that they are, have mirrored to me strengths I possessed that I did not know existed.  In this mirroring, my strengths have only grown.  As someone who used to always sit on the sidelines, I now find myself active on so many fronts including being President of Regent University?s chapter of Chi Sigma Iota.  This was a huge departure from my safety zone of not stepping into any limelight.

            The empowerment piece of counseling has been felt firsthand by me from what my peers have mirrored back.  Not only have I grown immeasurably because of what I have learned from them, but my counseling skills have grown as well.  Helping someone step into their own light by mirroring their strengths is not just a counseling concept anymore.  I am living and shining proof of the results.  I look forward to passing the gift my cohorts have given me on to my clients, and I thank my fellow peers from the bottom of my heart for all they have taught and instilled in me.


Shannon Eller
Chi Chi Chapter
Columbus State University

Rachael Hopkins
Alpha Upsilon Alpha Chapter
Argosy University-Atlanta

Gender-Specific Treatment Modalities- Females

This proposal grew out of a needs-assessment based on the loss of female participants at the Griffin Day Reporting Center, a community-based program for mandated felony probationers with substance abuse disorders.  Shortly after beginning the program, we noticed that the few females we had in the program were dropping out at a much higher rate than male offenders, either by absconding from supervision or becoming incarcerated.

In order to provide better services for the females we had, we began to attempt to develop a program that would meet the unique needs of the females we were counseling so that they could have a better opportunity to complete the programming and return to the community.  We began to see these females within a culturally-specific model, realizing that their needs were different than male offenders, specifically in the areas of education, family support, and employability.  However, in the past some treatment modalties have failed to account for the huge disparity of these needs within the female population and for the fact that females respond differently to treatment than males.  We have seen that it is essential to develop a gender-specific counseling model that targets these areas of need from the perspective of the female.  Several key needs must be addressed for the females in treatment and recovery:  transitional housing assistance, job readiness and reentry, education assistance, substance abuse treatment, financial solvency, mental and physical health assessment, family violence training, family support assistance, and connection with community resources and social services.

Determining if a multiculturally competent, gender-specific model of counseling will serve to increase success rates of females in treatment has become the target for our upcoming dissertation projects. 

Gail Perry-Ryder

Tau Chapter

Lehman College/CUNY

            In this field of crime victim services, I encounter very black-and-white, narrowly-defined characterizations of who ?victims? and ?criminals? are, particularly from other victim service professionals and colleagues in the legal services and law enforcement arenas. Victims of crime are often characterized very one-dimensionally and perpetrators of crime even more so, and this has direct implications for what they are seen to need or deserve by way of treatment and/or restitution. The nuances of the human experience of both are simply lost. For example, many perpetrators of street level crime have been victims of the same themselves, which does not excuse the crime, but immediately throws into question the good person-bad person dichotomy. Another example is that prison rape is a crime that merits legal action and follow-up trauma services?logic which acknowledges that prisoners, too, are human beings that can be victimized?but many people continue to think of this as a contradiction in terms. Oversimplification of human nature serves a specific purpose in the criminal justice system and certainly helps the news media to influence public perception. But, it does little to promote healing or restoration. As counselors, we must to be the professionals that maintain a middle ground given that our goal is to promote healing. I am interested in seeing more research that deals with these issues.

Angie Pate
Chi Theta
Jacksonville State University

The topic of spirituality is the area of research that most captures my interest. In previous years, spirituality has not been a technique counselors have utilized. Counselors delve into all aspects of clients? lives, but the area of spirituality has often been ignored. Counselors have been hesitant to use spirituality in their practice because of the threat it might violate ethical codes. Many counselors were also unsure how to incorporate this concept into their practice. The counseling field has now begun exploring how spirituality can actually be a powerful tool to use with clients because so many individuals believe in a higher power. It profoundly influences how people think, feel, and act.  It also provides them with a sense of meaning and purpose in their lives. Spirituality is even beginning to be incorporated into counseling theories.

            The research on spirituality helps determine how to use it appropriately with clients who are spiritual. It helps provide a more holistic view of individuals. Since spirituality is a new concept being brought into the counseling field, it is important that counselors? conduct research because many students and counselors have had little training and understanding in exactly how to incorporate it into therapy. Research can provide more insight into what issues and clientele spirituality is best suited to aid, and how counselors can resourcefully and creatively use it. Spirituality captures my interest the most because it is such a new and unique technique in counseling. This is an important resource for counselors to use so they are able to fully support clients. It also provides more information so counseling students can better be trained. Spirituality affects so many facets of individuals? lives, and counselors must continue researching how to properly utilize this valuable tool so clients are able to become productive members of society.   
 
Ana Tindall

Pi Omega Chapter
Eastern Michigan University

The area of research which captures my interest the most is attachment theory. Learning about the four different attachment styles; avoidant, secure, ambivalent, and disorganized fascinate me. However, disorganized attachment is the most interesting because infants and young children who are categorized as having this style of attachment have unmet emotional and physical needs and their parents behavior is a source of fear and disorientation. The baby biologically wants to have closeness to the mother, especially if the baby is still breast feeding, however, the mother is someone feared by the baby. 

Currently I am involved in a longitudinal research study where we have been following a cohort of women from their third trimester of pregnancy through the child?s second birthday. At the moment, the majority of the infants are about one-year-old. During this interview with the mothers and their child we observe the dyad using the HOME Inventory as well as observe the interaction of the mothers with their children during a ten-minute video taped Play Interaction. During this 2 1/2 to 3 hour interview we have observed multiple incidences of disorganized attachment behaviors as well as text-book examples of other types of attachment.