The Experience i Gained after a Mental Illness

1. If the cohort choice you selected on the first page of this application is full (weekend or weekday/evening), are you able to attend the other cohort?
2. What are your career objectives and professional goals? How will a program in Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology help meet these goals?
3. Please discuss your reasons for choosing this program.
4. What additional personal or professional information would be helpful in evaluating your application? Include the factors that led you to this course of study or career choice, any clinical or counseling experience you have had, as well as more general background data.

I have witnessed the impact of mental illness through personal experience and understand how challenging the road to recovery can be. However, the experience of seeing an individual walk away lighter to live their own personal journey after healing from physical, mental, or spiritual wounds is a humbling experience. There is nothing greater than seeing a human-being alleviated from pain. Therefore, I aspire to become a mental health counselor and make a difference in my community through mental healing.

Mental health counselors have the opportunity to inspire a spark of hope in individuals feeling lost and alone. Altruistic counselors instill hope through active listening, highlighting strengths, and supporting engagement. Although, active listening is a conspicuous mode of communication, it is essential in fostering hope. Listening actively allows us to connect with, support, and adequately understand others. Listening allows counselors to better understand their clients’ point of view and thus, provide adequate mental health care. Furthermore, by appreciating the client’s perspective, mental health counselors are better equipped to highlight the strengths of the client to explore goals and progress through sessions. Finally, mental health counselors instill hope in individuals feeling powerless by supporting engagement.

 Supporting a client's engagement includes discussing emotions and experiences, as well as gaining other supports and needed services to foster whole-person wellness. Supporting the client’s engagement is an empowering tool because it places the control back into their hands and encourages the individual to regain their voice. I believe a little spark of hope in an individual that feels alone in the world is the start of a unique and trusting relationship that allows the individual to feel heard and understood during lost times. However, it requires a willingness to learn and prepare to establish that vital relationship among counselor and client. Bastyr University’s Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology offers a holistic curriculum and hands-on clinical training that I am looking for to strengthen such skills needed to become a proficient mental health counselor.

What stood out about Bastyr’s counseling program that called to my attention is their value in whole-person wellness and emphasize in community. Humans are not machines that can be broken down into individual parts and clumped into symptoms when those parts malfunction. Humans are complex beings due to their unique subjective experience. Therefore, I aspire to take a holistic approach by investigating all aspects of an individual including their perspective. I believe by taking a holistic approach in understanding people, mental health professionals can have a deeper insight and adequately provide guidance. Consequently, I chose Bastyr’s program due to their holistic approach by covering complementary and alternative medicine. While reviewing other programs, I noticed that there was an emphasize in reductionism. 

Bastyr University encompasses humanism in their approach to counseling and that was influential in my decision. Most importantly, Bastyr’s counseling program is multiculturally sensitive and inclusive by emphasizing the importance in understanding the entire context that affects the individual. That includes the social context in which the individual resides. Bastyr is known for fostering multicultural diversity on their campus and as a student of color, I want to be part of a campus that values diversity, equity, and inclusion of all people. Upon attending a tour of Bastyr, I learned that they provide multiple supports and services to their students to ensure opportunity and safety. My experience on the Bastyr campus was excitement due to their strong value in both diversity and humanism. In addition, a close acquaintance speaks highly of the university and her experience attending Bastyr. Overall, the atmosphere at Bastyr strongly manifests a supportive and encouraging academic environment that I would be honored to be part of.

I believe I can be an asset to Bastyr University due to my willingness to learn, desire to serve as well as my acquired counseling experience. I currently work as a part-time Residential Youth Counselor for Pioneer Human Services and as a Group Life Counselor for Sea Mar Visions Youth Treatment Center. As a Residential Youth Counselor for the Pioneer residential juvenile reentry program, my primary responsibilities are to supervise and support residents to create a climate favorable to social and emotional development. The three Snohomish residential homes serve boys between the ages of 13 to 18 years old who are struggling with emotional, behavioral, and/or psychiatric problems. Therefore, I am responsible for ensuring program and facility safety, monitoring resident movement, and supporting structured cognitive and behavioral-based programming designed to promote successful community reintegration. 

As a Group Life Counselor for Sea Mar Visions Youth Treatment Center, I work with female youth undergoing intensive chemical dependency treatment. Similarly to my other position, I interact with the patients to best understand and empathize with their needs while maintaining facility expectations. In addition, I became certified in peer counseling by choice to provide the best support to those around me. I believe continued education is vital in the counseling profession and allows mental health professionals to stay informed. My work experience is relevant to the counseling profession because I work directly and empathetically with youth in need of emotional and psychological support. My skill set has enabled me to acquire expert knowledge in engaging young individuals in enjoyable experiences, helping them feel successful by providing positive support, and modeling prosocial behavior through my own actions. Furthermore, my interpersonal strengths and ability to connect with individuals of all ages and establish trusting relationships position me to thrive in this challenging role.

In Summary, my desire to assist individuals in need of a little of inspiration through empathetic connections is what led me to my career objective. My goals are to continue my passion, improve upon my skills, and reach my full potential to serve my community. My previous experience, complemented with my commitment to support and empower individuals on the road to recovery, I know I can quickly exceed the expectations of this role. I believe Bastyr’s counseling program is fitting to continue my passion and desire to learn due to their holistic approach, multicultural diversity, and value in community. Bastyr University’s Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology fosters an approach to counseling I am seeking in my postgraduate studies and it would be an honor to be part of your community. (TALK ABOUT COHORT FLEXIBILITY)

I have witnessed the impact of mental illness through personal experience and understand how challenging the road to recovery can be. However, the experience of seeing an individual walk away lighter and freer to live their own personal journey after healing from physical, mental, or spiritual wounds is a humbling experience. There is nothing better than seeing a human-being alleviated from pain. Therefore, I aspire to become a mental health counselor and make a difference in my community through mental healing. My previous experience, complemented with my commitment to support and empower individuals on the road to recovery, I know I can quickly exceed the expectations of this role would help me achieve my career objective through preparation of real-world experiences. Bastyr offers a holistic curriculum and hands-on clinical training that would best prepare me to serve my community.

The reputation of Bastyr University is the reason why I chose to apply to their counseling program. Bastyr is known for fostering multicultural diversity on their campus and as a student of color, I want to be part of a campus that values diversity, equity, and inclusion of all people. Upon attending a tour of Bastyr, I learned that they provide multiple supports and services to their students to ensure opportunity and safety. My experience on the Bastyr campus was excitement due to their strong value in…

 In addition, a close aquatnence speaks highly of the university and her experience attending Bastyr. Overall, the atmosphere at Bastyr strongly manifests a supportive and encouraging academic environment that I would be honor to be part of. This is due to their welcoming atmosphere, multicultural diversity, and beautiful campus. Furthermore, I hope to attend Bastyr’s counseling program because I believe it would effectively prepare me for the role of a mental health counselor. The Clinical Mental Health Counseling program is accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP), which would allow me to apply for my license upon completion. After successfully completing the counseling program and licensing exam, I will have reached my ultimate goal of becoming a Mental Health Counselor and hopefully work with the youth population.

As I previously mentioned, multicultural diversity is important to me because culture affects who we are as individuals, the choices we make, and how we interact with others. Almost any interaction is a cross-cultural interaction in some way. Although, its importance is known, there is still a lack of diversity represented in clinical research. Therefore, an area of clinical research that I am interested in is representing minority populations in clinical trials. I am attentive to the underrepresentation of racial and ethnic diverse populations in clinical research because different factors including race and ethnicity interact with therapies differently. Thus, establishing a more representative sample would help improve the mental health care for all people. In addition.

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