This course was a very hands-on learning experience that proved to be both extremely beneficial and eye-opening at the same time. During these three weekend classes, we would spend much of our time practicing our skills as counsellors on each other while others watched to provide helpful feedback. I will admit that the first few times we did this, I was beyond uncomfortable! I remember thinking that I wanted to make the most of the exercises to improve my abilities, but being staged like we were also felt a bit like drama class in high school (which I immediately dropped after the first class thanks to my nerves). My classmates came through once again though, and we quickly realized that we were all in the same boat and none of us were there to judge the others, rather we were there to help each other succeed.
Up until this class, I would have thought that my listening skills were as good as they could be, but I was definitely wrong! I learned very quickly that there was a lot more to active listening than I had ever realized and I had a lot of room to grow. Before this class, I had never paid much attention to things like head nods, proximity, or the appropriate way to summarize and reflect messages back to a person. These things too seemed staged at first but quickly became second nature and much more natural the more we practiced. At this time I was in my first year as a school counsellor, which meant that I could take these skills back to work with me the next day to continue to practice until they became effective communication skills. I found being in a counselling position super helpful for this and to help me solidify my understanding of the content we were learning in class. This was amazing since our course syllabus included things like the counseling role in Manitoba schools and the importance of providing mental health literacy to students in K-12 schools. Everything that I learned in this class helped shape my new role as a guidance counsellor and left me feeling competent, yet eager to learn more in my next classes.
My personal life had seen some very big changes before this class, as I had unfortunately needed to take a year off due to a scheduling conflict. With this class being in such a condensed format, I was not able to take it if I wanted to see my niece get married as it fell on one of our dates for class. This was not the worst thing that could have happened to me though, since Shaun and I had just welcomed our daughter Londyn into the world a month earlier. I took advantage of an unfortunate situation and decided to soak up every minute of maternity leave without having to worry about work or being in class. Looking back, I am very grateful for this as it was one of the most life changing, meaningful and enjoyable years of my life so far. 😊
By the time I did take this class, I was also heading into a new counselling position as a first-time working mom, a role that weighed heavily on my own mental health. I am beyond grateful that this class provided so much space to talk about current issues in our personal lives as it gave me ample space to work through the difficult feelings that I was experiencing. Taking this class with such empathetic, smart, and talented peers is something that I am still truly grateful for to this day.
Favorite Resources:
This is an excellent resource that lays out the role of the school guidance counsellor in Manitoba, right down to what a typical day can look like. This was extremely helpful in my first years as a counselor and still something that I refer back to in an effort to deliver the best possible programming for all of our students!
Micki Banks
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