Running head: SELF-EVALUATION PAPER 1

Self-Evaluation Paper

Hannah Brown

Wake Forest University

CNS 738b: Clinical Mental Health Practicum

SELF-EVALUATION PAPER 2

Practicum has been an interesting semester for me. It was challenging to find the best

ways to juggle school, clients, and family life. Even with its challenges though, I learned a lot

about myself and how to best prioritize the things that are important. Learning more about

myself during this semester was eye opening, as well as learning about my clients, peers, and

supervisors and the importance of each of these.

There are so many things that I learned as a result of my time with clients. One of the

most important things that I learned is that all clients, no matter age, race, or gender, want to be

validated and heard. They are in a vulnerable position when coming to counseling and it makes it

more comfortable for them if they have a counselor who is willing to listen, understand, and

validate their emotions and feelings. If I as a counselor was not empathetic towards my clients’

feelings, it could hinder and possibly damage the clients trust as well as the therapeutic

relationship. Another thing I learned from my clients is that each of them are their own person.

This means that something that works for one person may not work for another. You could have

two clients come in presenting with the same symptoms, but their course of treatment could be

drastically different from one another. This taught me to clear my mind and any preconceived

notions I have before meeting with a client. This way I can come into the session with a clear

head ready to listen to this client’s story.

Having peers while going through practicum made it so much more enjoyable. My peers

helped me in many ways, and it is something I will thank them for. For starters, just having

others alongside you while going through the same program makes you feel less alone. You can

listen to each other’s difficulties and help one another through those situations, as well as

cheering them on when they are successful with a client. Watching how my peers interacted with

their clients helped me to better understand them and myself as a counselor. Their recordings
SELF-EVALUATION PAPER 3

showed me new ways to connect with clients and provided many ideas on activities to do with

the children that I see. Your peers are extremely important and if it wasn’t for them, I would

have had a much more difficult time getting through practicum.

If I am being honest, I would not have made it through practicum without my

supervisors. Both my university supervisor and my site supervisor were helpful throughout the

entire process. They were always there when I had questions or needed help working through a

specific scenario. I learned that supervisors are there to teach you, consult with you, as well as

cheer you on when you have a good session with a client. I was weary of my site supervisor at

first as her teaching style differed from my learning style. However, as the semester went on, I

have begun to better understand her and the ways that she explains things. This has helped me

tremendously during my work with clients. My university supervisor was also a tremendous help

throughout the semester. She took the role of teacher, supervisor, consultant, as well as our own

personal counselor at times. She was there to cheer us on and help us through difficult times. If

there were moments when we the students needed to unload something personal, she opened her

ears and listened without making us feel that bad if we were not talking about our clients at that

moment. I think that this was important as we are human and still have a personal life even when

going through school. We may face difficult times juggling everything and having a supervisor

that understood this made it much easier.

The course objectives include but are not limited to leading or co-leading a group session,

meeting direct hours with clients, group supervision, and becoming familiar with professional

activities and resources. When first starting practicum, I had very limited knowledge in each of

these areas as my only experience with clients had been in triad with my classmates. My

experience this semester has taught me a lot though. It has taught me that group sessions are way
SELF-EVALUATION PAPER 4

less scary than I thought they were, and they are actually some of the most interesting aspects of

my day. I have not had ample opportunities yet to lead a group, but I am much more confident

now to take on a group if and when the opportunity presents itself. My competency for meeting

with clients directly has vastly improved. While I do think I have a lot more work to do, I am

much more confident than I was when first starting out. My experience has taught me that I do

not have to be perfect for my clients, but I do need to give them 100% of my attention, empathy,

effort, and unconditional positive regard. Group supervision and professional activates went

hand-in-hand for me this semester. We had multiple opportunities each week for group

supervision and each one provided many new resources and activities for me to learn.

My learning goals consisted of improving empathy, understanding case

conceptualization, becoming more self-aware, and accepting feedback gracefully. I believe that I

made decent progress on each of these during this semester. I have always been an empathetic

person, but I have a difficult time expressing it properly to my clients. This is a skill that I will

continue to work on and improve. I have made a conscious effort to incorporate more

affirmations into my session as a way to help show my clients that I hear them and that I

empathize with them. The progress notes that I turn in for my clients are very structured which I

believe has help greatly in being able to better understand the importance of case

conceptualization. I do think that I still have some work to do on this, but I have become more

efficient at writing them towards the end of the semester. Being more self-aware has helped me

to understand why I may respond to clients in certain ways. I have made progress in

understanding myself and my own personal values better so that I can make sure to not impose

these values on my clients. Lastly, accepting feedback has always been difficult for me as I can
SELF-EVALUATION PAPER 5

be a bit of a perfectionist. However, I have found myself awaiting feedback as I know that it will

help me improve my skills and become a better counselor.

My key strengths when moving into practicum coincide with my direct hours. I believe

that I am good at making my clients feel comfortable and that they can trust me. This will be

important throughout my entire career as a counselor and something that I believe will always be

important. When it comes to growths, I think that I can grow in all areas. While this may not be

the specific information you are looking for, I think it is true. I do not think that I am perfect in

any area and that I can grow in all aspects relating to working with clients. By stating that I want

to grow in all areas it keeps me from putting working on specific skills off to the side because I

think that they do not require anymore work. I want to consistently work on all skills, especially

until I become more comfortable as a counselor.

Moving into Internship I, I want to change my learning goals a little. I want to focus on

reflections. During triads I did not have difficulty with reflections, but during practicum, I felt

my reflections were lacking and that I asked more questions than reflections. Specifically,

reflection of feeling. I think that this is an extremely important reflection to master and that it can

do wonders with clients when they see that you as a counselor truly understand how they are

feeling. Another learning goal for this upcoming semester is learning how to incorporate more

breathing into my sessions with clients. I want to incorporate it in the beginning as well as the

end instead of just jumping right in or sending them on their way when the timer goes off. I

believe that this will be beneficial for counseling and client to prepare our minds for what is next.