Professional reflection and self care
The purpose of this academic essay is to:
Describe the principles and processes for developing self-awareness in the counselling profession. Principles can include models, theories and frameworks that help inform and guide self-reflective practice and self-awareness.
Identify the connections between self-awareness and ethically sustainable mental health and wellness in the counselling profession, as specified by your professional association (i.e., Australian Counselling Association, Psychotherapy and Counselling federation of Australia, Australian Psychological Association, Australian Association of Social Work).
Process:
Students are to write an essay on developing personal and professional self-awareness in counselling. In the essay, students are to describe how and why the development of self-awareness fosters ethically sustainable mental health and wellness in the counselling professional.
Throughout the essay, students are required to provide examples of how they can develop self-awareness in the counselling profession to support their mental health and wellness as a student counsellor, and support their ideas with relevant academic sources of literature. Those sources should be referenced, using APA 7th Edition.
Students structure the essay in the following way:
Introduction:
Outline the background information so the reader can make sense of your essay
Provide an overview of how you are going to address the essay topic with your main points and basic conclusion
Main body paragraphs:
Construct your paragraphs in the same format as you did with the formative component, use effective topic sentences, supporting sentences and concluding sentences
The main body paragraphs will include:
A definition and outline of the principles for developing personal and professional self-awareness in counselling. The principles can be understood as the factors or frameworks that support the importance of self-awareness. Provide examples of the principles to demonstrate your understanding, and support your ideas with links to academic sources of literature.
A definition and outline of the processes for developing personal and professional self-awareness in counselling. Processes can be understood as the means of developing self-awareness. Provide examples of the processes to demonstrate your understanding, and support your ideas with links to academic sources of literature.
A description which includes how and why the development of self-awareness fosters sustainable mental health and wellness in the counselling profession.
Examples of how you can develop self-awareness in the counselling profession to support your mental health and wellness as a student counsellor.
