Career Counseling CCP-670.SP01 Fall 2017

Professor: Mrs. Merylina Santiago-Asselin, MEd

DUE: Thursday, October 19, 2017, 1900

Outline

The purpose of this career path assignment is for me to explore my professional career of choice; as a pastoral counselor. In this assignment, I briefly explore my journey from here to there in this four-part paper.

In part one of this paper, I analyze some reasons why I have chosen this particular career for myself.

In part two of this paper, I examine some factors that brought me here. I take a closer look at my own clinical history and experience in therapy. I touch upon my own personal testimony as a believer. And I discuss some of my influences and other life factors that brought me to this point in my life. This includes my Christian attitudes and values that I hold very deeply. And how these have developed along with my journey up to this point in my life and career.

In part three of this paper, I take a look at where I am now in regards to school, what I am doing now as of October 2017. And most importantly, what I am doing now to make this career a reality for not just for myself, but in the joyful spirit of service to others from the overflow of the heart.

And finally, in part four, I put together a general plan for how to achieve a career as a pastoral counselor. This is just the start of my professional career as a counselor.

Part 1 - Why this particular career of pastoral counseling, and why it is important to me.

After some recent analysis as a result of this career paper assignment, plus my current entry into the field via my internship at RVCC, and after much contemplation with a bit of fret thrown in, and of course prayer, I have narrowed down some of the reasons why I have chosen to aspire to be a pastoral counselor.

A career in mental health counseling, specializing pastoral discipleship counseling just feels like the right choice for me. This could be for many reasons, it could be because of my strong desire to utilize my skills to help and counselor others. Or it could be because of my innate drive to serve my community and society at large as a productive and responsible citizen. It could be because I have my background undergrad degree in sociology and psychology. Whatever the reasons may be, this is what has emerged as the best and most natural career choice for me; as it fulfills my many drives and desires to live a life of service to others. On top of all the clinical and scientific aspects of the profession that draws me in, when adding in the spiritual aspect of things, I’m totally sold. I believe I’ve found the perfect career for me.

There is a trustworthy saying from the Bible that illustrates my desires here nicely, it is from 1st Timothy chapter 3. The first verse says, “If someone aspires to be a church leader, he desires an honorable position.” Church leader meaning that the counselor and the counseling process are indispensably connected to the local church and discipleship.

But it is the next verse that interests me most, it says, “So a church leader must be a man whose life is above reproach.” A life above reproach, what does that mean? It means that I recognize that I need to live the life that I’ll preach to my clients. It means that I need to be their example of a man living the Christ-driven life. It means that I still have a lot of work on myself to do. It means that I must release and confess my own flaws so that I may grow in character. It means recognizing sin and staying away from it. It means that I recognize the challenges ahead of me, and I know it surely won’t be easy, but totally worth it, as I could be of great help to many people.

Part 2 - What lead me to this point and what are my major influences.

I had to divide this section into five parts, A - E. A) Firstly I examine some of the factors and circumstances brought me here. B) Secondly, I take a closer look at my own clinical mental health history. C) Thirdly, my own experience in therapy over the years. D) Fourthly, I share some of my own testimony and E) I share some of my influences.

A) Factors and circumstances brought me here. My own testimony is the foundation of why I do what I do. My testimony as a sinner saved by the grace of God is out in the open for everyone, clients included from the very beginning. That may be more self-disclosure than most are used to, but I am not ashamed and I think it may make me more personable. My story as a born-again Christian, includes my own struggles with addictions and self-destructive behavior, my downfall into despair, years of homelessness, and ultimately recovery, as all is part of my story and is what makes me me. I seek to hopefully set the example of what revival looks like, what a Christ lead man looks like. And what proper Christian counseling plus discipleship looks like in real life. Living the transformed life would be the theme of my private practice someday down the road.

B) My brief history. I graduated high school in 2002, then I earned my undergrad degree in 2007, and then I joined the United States Marine Corps in 2008, (as there isn’t a lot of options for undergraduate sociologists back then, so the military seemed like the next best route at the time).

Then in 2009, I deployed to Afghanistan in service of Operation Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. I served with honor and was discharged into the Marine Corps reserve in late 2010.

This is about when my problems amplified and become most noticeable to me. I struggled with self-medicating my trauma with alcohol after my deployment. Within a few years, unable to find a decent job, I was homeless. It was a slow wasting away process, a slow death if you will. So there I was, you could say rock bottom, whatever it was, I felt clueless, hopeless and helpless, lost and without knowing my purpose or understanding my value. This was around the time between 2010 and my eventual move to Massachusetts in 2015.

And by the grace of God, not only have I recovered, but I'm on my way to true progress and flourishing as a human being, and that prosperity is something that I can now with absolute certainty attribute to the grace and glory of God. It certainly wasn’t my own cunning intelligence and savvy planning that brought me this far, oh no, it was all Him and His grace. That’s something we all can thank God for.

C) My experience in therapy. I have seen many therapists, doctors and counselors over my life. My strange behavior when I was just a young child spurred action by my mother in an attempt to get me some kind of help. I remember when the psychological evaluations started. And many secular therapy sessions, and prescriptions later, I ended up where I am today. I have learned something from all the counselors, clinics and therapists that I have seen. From this experience I have a strong sense of what worked for me and what didn’t work. I’ve learned from the good and bad treatments I have received in the course of my life. And as any good therapist who seeks to stay mentally and physically sound in mind and body, I will continue to work with my own therapist as I venture into the real world of mental health counseling.

D) My own testimony. My testimony is the reason I wanted to be a pastoral counselor in the first place. And so I want my story out there from the start; the good, the bad, the ugly, and both the things that I am now ashamed of as well as all the things that I’m proud of. This reflects my humanity and the importance of being a Christian, as this one aspect of life should permeate everything that we do as believers. And truth be told, it was this desire to serve others in need that drove me into this mental health counseling profession in the first place.

All my attitudes and values, whatever they were prior to coming to believe are irrelevant, as now all my attitudes and values have been redefined and reshaped by the Word of God. There truly is something ineffable about what happens when one reads the Bible with faith, shame melts away and one’s perspectives change. All that I was previously wrong about was eventually corrected and straighten out over time as I read more and more scripture. I came to believe wholeheartedly in the Bible, and that unlocked trans-formative powers in me. This didn’t happen all at once, and it isn’t something that I will ever be done with; it is a process. Transforms one’s lifestyle permanently is one of God’s promises you get from reading scripture daily

So my open testimony should help give clients some idea about who I am, where I’ve come from, what I’ve struggled through, and what I’ve overcome, all that out there right from the beginning. I think that the been there before, done that aspect that I bring to the therapy setting has great appeal to a lot of people. Plus I understand that there is a shortage of Christian counselors these days, making this endeavor all that much more worthwhile, as it is an economical fruitful profession that is in high demand.

E) My influences. I have been heavily influenced by many great teachers and philosophers in my life. Obviously, the biggest, most powerful and most recent influence for me has been the Bible, both the New and Old Testaments. I’m also amazingly intrigued and interested by all the natural and social sciences. I also have a deep passion for ontology, epistemology, physics, theology, and defense of the faith with Christian apologetics.

Part 3 - What am I doing right now to make this career a reality?

So to make this career as a pastoral counselor a reality, I have much work ahead of me. I have four key things that I need to do to make this happen. One, finish my master’s degree. Two, finish internship, and continue gaining experience in the field at various secular settings as I complete my internships requirements. Three, stay connected to my church and continue serving in my church (at least as much as I can, without burning out from volunteering too much, and while balancing other family and school responsibilities that I have). And lastly, four, and this is the most important of all; pray daily, read and stand on the Word of God, and live the character of Christ in all that I do. Never making myself the center while at the same time not neglecting to take care of myself.

One, finish my master’s degree. I need to continue working on my master’s degree in clinical counseling at Cambridge College in Springfield Massachusetts. I am halfway there to earning my Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC). To accomplish this, I need to continue what I am doing. Keep going to class (I strive for perfect attendance), keep up with all homework assignments and papers (as I have), and keep learning. I want to learn all the clinical counseling skills I can so that I can be the most effective and the best I that I can be. I realize that I still have so much to learn. All my classes at Cambridge have been really helpful so far. One of the most helpful classes I am finding is the practicum supervision.

Two, finish the internship. I am to continue gaining valuable experience in the field at various secular settings as I complete my internships. I am currently in my first internship, and I love it. It is exciting and challenging. It is the right thing for me to be doing at this time.

Three, stay in the church. I must stay connected to the body of Christ, to do that I am to stay connected to my church, and keep being involved in the community. And continue my own diligent independent studies of all things related to God and the Bible.

Four, and most important of all; I need to pray daily, read and stand on the Word of God, trust in God and live the character of Christ in all that I do. I need to set the example, and live the righteous life myself. I need to commit to never making myself the center of it all while at the same time not neglecting to take care of myself. This is how I am going to best be able to serve others.

Part 4 - My professional career plan.

This part is about where am I going and what I will do when I get there. While I am still in the very beginning of my career journey, as my professional career is just starting, I realize that I sure do still have so much to learn. I have many hours of hard work and studying to do ahead of me. There is still so much that I do not know and understand. But what I do know for sure is that slow and steady wins the race, and I am on the right track.

It is my ultimate hope that my living example will model what a transformation a Christian life can bring about. Choosing to trust in God. Choosing to believe in a God that loves us all dearly, and then choosing to live a Christian lifestyle. When done right, this almost always guarantees rapid and permanent improvement in the quality of one’s life.

By grounding all my ethical attitudes, moral standards and spiritual perspective of hope, all based in the Bible, the one and only true source of irrefutable wisdom and truth. And by doing so I am setting myself up to be of great service to many people. Clinical psychotherapy and the spiritual element are of equal importance.

The Bible frankly sets the stage nicely for therapy by laying out a clear moral standard for us all to live by, as well as what the expectations are. The Bible lays out a coherent message of right and wrong behavior and sets out a perfect blueprint for us to follow. I have found that this makes morality a lot less ambiguous.

The character of Christ, when imitated correctly, is the ultimate goal of therapy. Because let’s be honest, if we all lived our lives like Him, there’s no doubt the world would be a much different place. This age-old, time-tested righteous advice and wisdom about how to live a righteous life truly stands the test of time.

Conclusion

So I hope to accomplish my goal as a counselor to always be continually developing my therapeutic skills while building my own therapeutic model based on the Bible. This clinical-spiritual concept is still in development and needs much more work, and will likely be the theme of my Master's thesis. I am conducting research to publish a book about pastoral counseling someday.

All this will increase my repertoire of therapeutic techniques. So God willing, if all goes as planned, I will continue to develop these ideas as I finish my Master's. And God willing, I will open my own Christian counseling practice someday…

-David W. Coon, 10/19/17 1821 final