Running head: PSYCHOLOGY REFLECTION PAPER 1

Psychology Reflection Paper

Elyse Acompanado
Loras College
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In the beginning of my senior year I was unsure of what career I wanted to go into. While

having both a criminal justice and psychology major has been great, I found it hard to pick or

even merge the two majors together in a future career. I know that my career image involves

concern for others as I feel a call towards service. I want my career to help people in whatever

walk of life they are at. However, identifying who has been the biggest hurdle along with how I

want to help. I could continue my education in psychology for counseling or I could become

integrated with the criminal justice system with restorative justice programs. To bottom line is I

would like to go back to Wisconsin in either Madison or Milwaukee to work or go to grad

school.

To achieve this goal, I have been reflecting more on what I want to do. As I have been

gaining more experience through my internship at the Dubuque YMCA/YWCA Victims Service

Shelter I have become more incline to follow a career that helps victims of domestic violence. I

would love to continue pursuing an education in psychology to become a counselor to help these

victims.

The psychology courses I have taken at Loras College have been very beneficial and will

help me with a career in domestic violence counseling. The first course I would like to speak

about is Abnormal Psychology. From this course I received my first lesson on cultural

competency outside of the Honors Program in understanding there is more to a person than their

psychology disorder. From the Honors Program the Ice Burg Model was used to explain that we

do not know everything about a person or culture. Through cultural competency training I was

able to apply it to psychology as psychologist and counselors need to be people centered instead

of focusing on only one aspect of their client, the disorder. An application from Abnormal

Psychology is understanding what a disorder is when trying to help victims of domestic violence.
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The first part is knowing a disorder is any distress or impairments to functioning and a response

that is not typical or culturally expected. A disorder can then steam from psychological

dysfunction, personal distress, atypical or not culturally expected. The distress of domestic

violence would potentially lead to disorders that I would need to be aware of when providing

counseling.

The next course that would be beneficial to career in counseling with victims of domestic

violence is Interpersonal Relationships. Overall the course helped me understand of how we

interact with others and what goes into successful relationships. However, domestic violence

shows the dark side to relationships. As we are social species we need others even if there is

domestic violence, victims stay with their abuser for security. Through this experience, a victim

learns unhealthy relationship qualities in the beliefs about the nature and worth of close

relationships. The victim may come to idealize their partner by having generous perceptions of

their partner that emphasize good qualities and minimize their faults. When providing counseling

services for victims of domestic violence it is important to address how they should be treated in

a relationship.

The last course that will help prepare me for any future career would be Industrial-

Organizational (IO) Psychology. In the beginning of this course we first learned about how to

connect with future employers. The major benefit to this section was working on my

interviewing skills. From IO Psychology I will be able to apply PARK interviewing techniques

to behavioral interview questions. First I have to explain the situation or problem that I was faced

with. Then I describe actions I took to resolve the problem to move toward the goal. After that I

give the results to these actions in how to helped. The most important part is the knowledge

gained from this experience. So I end with an explanation of what I learned which includes what
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a learned about myself and how I might apply it in the future in the job a am interviewing at.

Another important message from IO Psychology is that failure is a dress rehearsal to success.

Now going into a field of counseling, failure is an outcome I would like to think about. However,

failure is a learning tool and maybe a client is not connecting. Therefore, the failure of building

connections will result in me reevaluating with I am doing or referring them to someone else.

Failure then can set me up for success in helping others as long as I am learning from it.

The American Psychology Association Ethics Code applies to psychologists who are

active in scientific, educational, or professional roles as psychologists. When going into

counseling I will have to follow the American Counseling Association’s Ethics Code. However,

the basis for both is to satisfy basic human needs. Primarily, the code of ethics is use to ensure

that I do not cause damage to a client. It would make sense that I would not want to cause more

harm to someone who has experienced domestic violence. Now because of this I need to make

sure I am building trust with the client. First I would make sure I am following Principle A:

Beneficence and Nonmaleficence. Through proper training and education, I will be able to

providing services in which I am acting in the best interest of the client. This goes into making

sure I understand their world and put away my biases. By working on understanding them I am

not forcing them into solutions and goals similar to the behavior of their abuser.

The second code I am able to apply to counseling is Section 4: Privacy and

Confidentiality. This is the understanding that what a client tells me will be protected from

disclosure without the client's permission. First I will inform the client of when I can and cannot

maintain confidentiality. Then the client can sign an informed consent form that states that he or

she is aware that there are specific times the counselor cannot maintain confidentiality. These

moments are when the client is a danger to himself or others or when the I am subpoenaed to
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court. In cases of domestic violence there are higher chances I would be subpoenaed to court.

However, I would be protected with privileged communication from having to reveal

information in court in many cases. If I am asked to reveal information the client has shared with

me, I should reveal as little as possible in order to keep confidentiality.

Throughout my years at Loras College I have developed a set of skills and abilities in

addition to knowledge gained that will help in counseling. I have basic knowledge from

Psychology and Criminal Justice courses like the ones listed above as well as Victimology and

Criminology. I have developed interpersonal skills, writing skills in reports, conflict

management, stress management, organization, oral and written communication. My personal

abilities have be developed from the experience in my internship that include active listening,

confidentiality, sensitivity, empathy, and compartmentalizing. I know that I will have to work on

building more psychological knowledge and counseling knowledge as I move forward in pursuit

of this career. Then I can work on my communication techniques, DSM 5 criteria, Ethics Code,

as well as therapy and counseling techniques.

Since I have collected relevant experience I am confident in becoming a domestic

violence counselor. The major experience I have is my internship at the Dubuque

YMCA/YWCA Victims Service Shelter. Even though it is a criminal justice internship I am still

using knowledge I have gained in psychology courses. Through the internship I have become a

certified emergency victim’s counselor and Victims Services Shelter Advocate. The knowledge I

gained on working with survivors of domestic violence so far has been tremendous. I would say

the core values I have developed are integrity, social justice, caring, and survivor centered. Every

aspect of advocacy has to be to the highest ethical standards and the advocates must hold

themselves accountable to them. With that there needs to be transparency and confidentiality of
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the people served. While at the shelter we value diverse perspectives and strive to incorporate an

anti-abuser environment. As an advocate we conduct our work with compassion and in the spirit

of inclusion that way we can meet all individuals with respect and without judgment. The work

is not about us it is about the survivors and we must keep them in mind.

I am very motivated to help others as I have a concern for others. In my internship, I was

able to help the clients in the shelter with the transition of living safe and healthy away from their

abuser. helped resolve customer complaints. I was told right away that I would need to ground

myself in my work as the work involves higher rates of burn out. This past semester I have been

working on grounding myself to be better at compartmentalizing how I feel. This will help with

persisting throughout my career. I would also say I have a strong work ethic. Getting the job

done right and on time is important very important to me. Regardless of what type of job I’ve

had I always tried to put in my everything into tasks and not complain.

There is a contingency plan if I am not accepted to grad school to become a domestic

violence counselor. I would like continue with moving back to Wisconsin to find advocacy jobs

preferably near Milwaukee. However, I know I am able to continue with making my internship

in Dubuque into a job if I need to save up. I would try my best to still carve a career in helping

with domestic violence. There are a couple of non-profit organizations in Milwaukee that are

involved in domestic violence advocacy. Another option could be working with the End

Domestic Abuse Wisconsin social services organization.