What have you done in the past 12 months to improve yourself personally and professionally?
The interviewer would like to know about the recent actions you have taken to expand your knowledge as a Mental Health Counselor. Discuss the ways you have helped yourself when it comes to personal and professional growth.
Continual learning is critical to keeping yourself in check as you work in an emotionally-driven environment. Share some of the helpful tools and tips you have recently applied to drive more impact in your personal and work life.
"I have always taken great care when it comes to my personal and professional growth. I have been taking mindfulness courses to help me thrive on a personal level but also to gain new therapeutic techniques to use with my clients. I am a strong believer in the helpfulness of journaling as a cognitive behavior therapy technique for addressing mental health issues. For this reason, I continually research and try different journaling techniques. I believe in taking the techniques that I learn and trying them out for myself before I introduce them to my clients. Overall, this year has been a success for me when it comes to expanding my global view and improving my counseling approach. I feel more secure today than I have throughout most of my career, and I believe this is because of the way I have immersed myself in personal and professional growth opportunities."
"As a recent graduate and a new Mental Health Counselor, it's very fresh in my mind how important it is to protect myself from the emotional strain and stress that comes with this line of work. For this reason, I have recently adopted a few routines to ensure a healthy mental transition between my work and home life. I have enrolled myself in bi-weekly therapy sessions so that I have a safe place to express myself. I have started to take yoga and meditation classes, which has helped me to clear my brain and simmer on positive thoughts. Professionally speaking, I have enrolled myself in an online course focused on strengthening my knowledge of hypnotherapy, a technique that I find fascinating. I love to learn, and I must grow as a counselor and as an individual. Rest assured, I will keep expanding as a professional and as a healthy, well-adjusted individual."
Community answers are written by other candidates practicing this set. Reading how others frame the same question is one of the fastest ways to sharpen your own.
Anonymous Answer
Over the past twelve months, I have gained the Crisis Intervention Certificate and attended a QPR training (Training on Suicide). I appreciated the crisis intervention procedure algorithm "INSERT," which helped me remember the steps to take during crisis intervention.
QPR teaches that anyone can intervene. It gives a layperson tools to intervene in suicide prevention by making a contract with the person not to kill themselves, offering help to find support, giving hope to the person wanting to commit suicide, and directing the person to resources, for example, suicidal hotline, a Pastor or person of faith, or mental health professional.
Stephanie's Feedback
Excellent! It sounds like you've taken some important steps over the past twelve months to continue developing your professional skills. To deepen the impact of your response, I suggest including a sentence or two about what you learned from this training and how you plan to utilize these skills.
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