This is a class that brings up a few regrets when I look back along my journey. I remember my feelings heading into this class as being nervous and intimidated, but I think this was because I was a natural worrier and so the idea of crossing an ethical or legal line as a counsellor was terrifying to me! That being said, I was very hopeful that I would feel more sure of myself once the course was finished.
Looking back, I wish that I would have taken the course later in my program so that I could have applied the knowledge a little bit easier. I think this might have helped me to remember the case studies and examples a little bit better. That being said, this course gave me the appropriate resources to look back on as needed throughout any counselling role that I take on.
My second regret with this course is that I didn’t apply more of it to the role of a school counsellor. I took this course during the Spring of 2020, which meant that Covid19 was in full force. This had me interested in what counselling looked like for people that needed it during times like this, or those that were in other situations like living in small towns with limited access to counselling. I looked deeper into internet-based platforms for my research paper and while I did learn helpful information from this assignment, I think that my time would have been better spent researching ethical issues within schools in Manitoba.
I do remember learning a lot from our professor, Blythe Shepard, who seemed to be a wealth of knowledge on the topics. She ensured that our course outline covered a range of topics related to ethical and legal issues in the counselling world. Overall I left the course feeling confident when it came to ethical principles and with resources such as the CCPA Code of Ethics which I have looked back on many times since finishing the course.
At this point in my teaching career, I was about to make a change after spending the last six years as a middle years teacher at a school that I loved, with a staff and school community that I adored even more. Despite how much I enjoyed the company, I was struggling with the noise that came with an open-concept school and felt like it was time for a change. (Years later, this sensitivity to noise would be explained when a doctor surprised my with an ADHD diagnosis. More on the effects that this had on my mental health to come!)
I didn’t feel quite equipped for a counselling position yet, so I moved to another school to teach Grade 4, although the pandemic made this look a whole lot different than we were all used to. While the pandemic was having many negative effects on the world, Shaun and I did use the extra time at home as an opportunity to learn something new, blogging! HappyCuppaJoe was born during this time as was his fitness site, which he also still uses today. 😊
Favorite Resources:
This is an extremely helpful resource to have on hand as a counsellor, and one that I refer to whenever I am unsure of the right decision to make with a student. Although it is helpful for me to reference this on my own though, it is always important to me that I seek support from my team or my administration if I am ever questioning what the right next steps should be.
Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy is a widely used therapeutic approach that can be effective for various disorders, including anxiety, substance abuse, PTSD, and depression. Many people are unable to access therapy due to barriers such as location, symptoms, or privacy concerns. This paper considered the benefits and ethical considerations to these therapies being offered on an online platform, such as many of us used during Covid 19.
Micki Banks
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