Emerging Leaders
The type of position I plan to seek as a doctoral level professional will be to continue to advance in leadership positions within my agency and also serve as a adjunct professor at a university, preferably in an online status. As an adjunct professor I will seek employment only at institutions that are CACREP accredited. When I initially began my bachelor degree I had planned on earning my Certified Addiction Professional (CAP) and staying employed as a counselor in the division of the agency where I work. Since that time and with the encouragement of my wife, coworkers, and mentors, I have earned my masters degree. I was recently promoted to Director of Men’s Residential Services within our agency and my goal now is to become the Vice President of Operations for the county where my division is (we are a multi-county agency). This position would also allow me to take a more active role as a CES and would give me an opportunity to realign the supervision of our agency counselors.
While receiving supervision for both my bachelor and masters internships, I quickly realized our agency had little structure for counselor supervisors or supervisees. My supervisor is a fantastic supervisor and counselor but she is also the clinical director of our adolescent programs and that is a challenge by itself. Although I received the supervision hours required for the internship, many times our meetings were brief and inconsistent. As a VP of Operations, I would be in a position to realign our counselor supervisors and develop a program that would benefit the counselor and the supervisor. Challenges that would face me as a Adjunct Faculty member teaching online counseling classes would be a shift of power. Much like I am facing now with having to shift from being a counselor to a director, as an educator I would have to shift from being a practitioner to a teacher. This shift in power is one of the greatest challenges for doctoral students transitioning to counselor educators (Lonn et al., 2014).
My professional development plan is multifold, but it really only consists of two main themes. Continue to develop my skills as a director in our agency, and complete my doctoral studies. Growth fostering relationships are a major part of Relational-Cultural Theory (RCT) (Lonn et al., 2014). The benefits of growth-fostering relationships in RCT include more clarity about self and others and also a desire for more connection among others (Lonn et al., 2014). I spent several months researching CES doctoral programs and had narrowed it down to Capella and two other universities. I decided to go with Capella because of the structured programming and the promotion of connectivity with the professors and students. Working with each other provides opportunities to make connections we may not have otherwise made and to learn from each other and our variety of skill sets. Using this information will make me more well informed and confident enough in myself to realize when I may need to reach out to others for input when I need additional assistance. It also allows me to accept feedback not just from my professor, but also from my peers and will help to improve my clarity about myself.
Lonn, M. R., Tello, A. M., Duffey, T., & Haberstroh, S., (2014). Relational-cultural theory as pedagogy: Preparing doctoral student leaders for the counselor education workforce. Journal of Counselor Leadership and Advocacy, 1(2), 140–151.
While receiving supervision for both my bachelor and masters internships, I quickly realized our agency had little structure for counselor supervisors or supervisees. My supervisor is a fantastic supervisor and counselor but she is also the clinical director of our adolescent programs and that is a challenge by itself. Although I received the supervision hours required for the internship, many times our meetings were brief and inconsistent. As a VP of Operations, I would be in a position to realign our counselor supervisors and develop a program that would benefit the counselor and the supervisor. Challenges that would face me as a Adjunct Faculty member teaching online counseling classes would be a shift of power. Much like I am facing now with having to shift from being a counselor to a director, as an educator I would have to shift from being a practitioner to a teacher. This shift in power is one of the greatest challenges for doctoral students transitioning to counselor educators (Lonn et al., 2014).
My professional development plan is multifold, but it really only consists of two main themes. Continue to develop my skills as a director in our agency, and complete my doctoral studies. Growth fostering relationships are a major part of Relational-Cultural Theory (RCT) (Lonn et al., 2014). The benefits of growth-fostering relationships in RCT include more clarity about self and others and also a desire for more connection among others (Lonn et al., 2014). I spent several months researching CES doctoral programs and had narrowed it down to Capella and two other universities. I decided to go with Capella because of the structured programming and the promotion of connectivity with the professors and students. Working with each other provides opportunities to make connections we may not have otherwise made and to learn from each other and our variety of skill sets. Using this information will make me more well informed and confident enough in myself to realize when I may need to reach out to others for input when I need additional assistance. It also allows me to accept feedback not just from my professor, but also from my peers and will help to improve my clarity about myself.
Reference
Lonn, M. R., Tello, A. M., Duffey, T., & Haberstroh, S., (2014). Relational-cultural theory as pedagogy: Preparing doctoral student leaders for the counselor education workforce. Journal of Counselor Leadership and Advocacy, 1(2), 140–151.
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