Objective #4: Fulfill the roles
of an effective counselor on the inpatient unit
Activities/Resources:
Switch roles with my mentor and I
will become the counselor
Be assigned to patients as a staff
member would, with my mentor's supervision
Seek employment on unit for next
summer
Evidence:
Include notes about my struggles
and successes while fulfilling the role of a counselor
Include progress notes about the
change of behavior in the children from the beginning of my role as
a counselor to the end, and how my support has caused a positive
change
The first four documents present progress notes I have been keeping about one individual patient on CPIS including my individual work and support I have given this child, and how my support has shown a positive change. I have also included a fifth document to detail my successes and struggles while acting as a counselor, and ideas of what I can do to improve in order to become an effective counselor on this unit. Progress notes are different from charting because charting describes each child's behavior each shift, as there are three different shifts each day, whereas progress notes are written by the same person every day, documenting a child's change in behavior day by day, rather than shift to shift. Progress notes are also not necessary whereas charting absolutely is, but I have found these notes to be helpful to me as I can see how my individual support is moving the children in a positive direction.
In order to have learned how to be an effective counselor at CPIS, I began by shadowing my career mentor for the majority of my internship. As I shadowed her, I learned all sorts of skills and note
taking strategies in order to be able to fulfill the roles of an effective counselor on the unit, which I have documented in my evidence. Thankfully the internship program at CPIS had allowed me to switch roles with my mentor and I performed all of
the duties of a counselor for the last couple of weeks I had interned on the
unit. While I was given this first hand opportunity to act as a counselor, I was still monitored closely just in case things had gotten out of hand. Through careful observation of my mentor and by assisting on the unit as much as I could, I was successfully able to fulfill the roles of an effective counselor at CPIS. I have included progress notes and a reflective piece on my work as a counselor as evidence that I now know how to be an effective counselor on the unit, and as proof that I have been working on this
objective throughout my time at CPIS.
