Trust Myself - What I've learnt as a Counsellor In Training (so far) #1

Yes, I am done with a semester of counselling practicum!

If you're wondering what practicum means, it basically means practice. So, I learnt all the theories and techniques of counselling in class, and I had to put them into practice by counselling actual clients.

practicum - a practical section of a course of a study. (according to Google. hehe.)

These sessions are free as I cannot yet charge for my services. I have yet to complete my internship and project paper which would allow me to graduate. Then I can finally apply for my licence as a professional counsellor.

As I collate my thick practicum folder for my supervisor's review, I noticed three (3) key learnings that I took away from this semester.

1. I really need to trust myself doing this work
2. There is a huge difference between being a counsellor and just being a friend
3. We are really blessed as human to know and have the power to make choices

I think for this post, I will just focus on the first one.

Trust Myself

This is a big take away for me in this first half of the year.

I could go into sessions worrying about my capability as a counsellor and be constantly mentally checking myself as I work with the client, but that would absolutely unhelpful! In fact, I personally had to go through my own journey of learning to be mindful. I learnt about dropping the struggle from a fantastic teacher and I learnt to drop my struggle of being perfect in order to help another.

Of course, there is a level of preparation before any counselling session, but we are only human and cannot tell what issue will present itself during sessions. I can only trust that I have come in with a genuine intention to help without the selfish intention that I am the only one that the client can depend on to fix the problem. That kind of belief is completely untrue and as ironic as it is, I need to trust the client if the counselling session were to be helpful.

I need to trust in:

• my knowledge and skills as a counsellor (-to-be);
• my client's potentials; and
• my genuine intention to help.

Having this form of 'trust', keeps me in the present and engaged with the person in front of me. My mind is not in the past or the future. It is true that the Now is most powerful as it is the only time and space we have at any point in time to move and make a change ( check out 'The Power of Now' by Eckhart Tolle).

In fact, just like physical health, mindfulness is an exercise in mental health. As such, it is not as easy as doing it once, there is constant practise throughout the day. I remember only being able to grasp on to that feeling for a split second, and I had to keep repeating my mental exercise over and over. Similarly, practising to trust myself has been an exercise and a practise to keep me going - constantly learning the trust about myself and what it is to be human.

My thicc practicum file all ready to be handed in to my supervisor

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