Counselor Identity Paper.docx - Running head: COUNSELOR...

Running head: COUNSELOR IDENTITY PAPER 1
Counselor Identity Paper
Demetrius Robertson
Southeastern Oklahoma State University

COUNSELOR IDENTITY PAPER
Mertz (2010) defines personal philosophy as, “The most basic beliefs, concepts, and
attitudes of an individual or group”. My personal philosophy that informs my future goals as an
effective professional school counselor includes basic beliefs I hold, concepts I have learned in
this class, and pieces of information I have gathered from spending time with school counselors.
At the core of my personal philosophy is the desire to be a helper. I have wanted to help
in any way that I can with a multitude of problems since I could speak. My mom always tells me
a story about when I was three and she hit a deer while I was in the back seat of our car. I can
recall this story quite well and also recall just how upset I was with her because she would not let
me get out of the car to try to help the deer she had hit. I have held this very deep care for others
for as long as I can remember and it was important to me when I was three years old and began
to drive me beginning in elementary, middle, and eventually high school, where I would use a
free seating chart in study hall to sit next to people who seemed lonely and attempt to become
their friend. In college when I took a strengths test, one of my strengths identified was being an
“includer” and I was not too surprised, knowing that I was driven by the desire to help. I think an
even deeper understanding of this idea of “helper” is the desire to make a difference in
someone’s life. I have been the happiest when I’ve been told I made a difference. This core belief
had a large effect on my choice of school counseling as a career. I wanted to be able to go to bed
every night knowing that I had done something to help others that day. It is my hope in my future
professional life that with each day I spend at a school, I can say whatever I did that day was
based on this core belief to help those around me and make a difference.
A core belief of mine that is rooted in my desire help is the vitality of community. When I
was in my final semester at UNI, I took a class called “Communication, Community, and
Change” taught by Kyle Rudick. He had us read many books and articles that highlighted the
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COUNSELOR IDENTITY PAPER
importance of community as a catalyst for change for a multitude of problems related to the
penal system in America. The idea of community as a source for change seemed a little silly at
first, but the more we read about it, the more I believed it and thought about how this idea could
be of use to me in the school counseling field. Interestingly enough, as I read about the role of