Discussion: Client Issues

Clinical mental health counselors, like doctors and lawyers, practice in specialty areas. These areas are specific to client issues or populations for which the counselor has had advanced clinical training and experience. Often, counselors enter a training program with an idea of the client issues or populations for which they have a passion. These specialty areas include, but are not limited to, drug and alcohol treatment, eating disorders, trauma, crisis management, depression, and/or anxiety. You might not know what area of counseling you’d like to practice, and that’s OK! Feel free to pick a topic that is most interesting to you at this point in your training.

For this Discussion, you will explore various client issues and analyze a video concerning a client population or issue that interests you. Your analysis, and the resulting dialogue with your colleagues, will help you as you work to determine the client issue or population with which you would like to specialize.

To Prepare:

Review Section 3, “Client Issues and Advocacy,” from the Erford course text.

In addition to the assigned reading (Chapter 8), select one additional chapter from Section 3 to review and incorporate into this discussion: Chapters 7, 9, 10, 11, or 12.

Search the Walden Library and choose a video that demonstrates a client population or client issue that interests you. Think about why you selected this video. The video should align with the chapter you have selected.

Also, as you review the video, notice what the clinical mental health counselor does during the session.

After reviewing the video, reflect on anything that surprised you in the video.

Think about any insights you gained or conclusions you drew about client issues and this population from the video and the chapter, noting specifically if anything reinforced your desire to work with this client issue or population.

By Day 3

Post the following:

The title and a brief description of the video you selected.

Explain why this client issue and/or population interests you.

Explain any insights you gained or conclusions you drew about working with that client issue or population.

Finally, explain how this video and chapter may have confirmed or challenged your interest in working with this client issue or population, and explain why.

In addition to citing the video you selected, be sure to support your postings and responses with specific citations to the Learning Resources (chapter readings) and additional scholarly resources as needed to support your perspectives.

Read your colleagues’ postings.

By Day 6

Respond to at least two different colleagues’ postings by commenting on their choice of client issue or population, and/or explaining any new insight or curiosity that resulted from reading their post.

Be sure to support your postings and responses with specific references to the Learning Resources. Use proper APA format and citations.

Return to this Discussion in a few days to read the responses to your initial posting. Note what you have learned and/or any insights that you have gained as a result of your colleagues’ comments.

Submission and Grading Information

Grading Criteria

 To access your rubric:

Week 7 Discussion Rubric

Post by Day 3 and Respond by Day 6

 To participate in this Discussion:

Week 7 Discussion

Final Project: Part 1: Identify Your Interview Subject

In Week 5, you began work on your Final Project by finding websites and online tools to aid in the selection of an interview subject. This week, you will put those sources to use by searching for and identifying your interview subject.

For Part 1 of your Final Project, you will identify the mental health counselor you selected as the interview subject for your Final Project. You will provide a full description of the interview subject, and you will explain why you selected this counselor to interview.

To Prepare:

Review the Final Project Overview in this week’s Learning Resources.

Identify the licensed mental health counselor you have selected to interview.

Assignment (1 page):

Using the Final Project Interview Subject Template in this week’s Learning Resources, write a one page summary and include:

Who you are interviewing.

Describe his or her professional license, setting, population/specialization, and any other relevant information.

Explain why you selected this counselor to interview.

Even though this assignment is only 1 page, you are expected to apply the same APA format and style and scholarly writing requirements that you have applied to other formal writing assignments in this course.

Support your Final Project Part 1 Assignment by citing all resources in APA format and style, including those in the Learning Resources. Be sure to include a reference page for your resources.

By Day 7

Submit your Final Project Part 1 Assignment.

Submission and Grading Information

To submit your completed Assignment for review and grading, do the following:

Please save your Assignment using the naming convention “WK7Proj+last name+first initial.(extension)” as the name.

Click the Week 7 Project Rubric to review the Grading Criteria for the Assignment.

Click the Week 7 Project link. You will also be able to “View Rubric” for grading criteria from thisarea.

Next, from the Attach File area, click on the Browse My Computer button. Find the document you saved as “WK7Proj+last name+first initial.(extension)” and click Open.

If applicable: From the Plagiarism Tools area, click the checkbox for I agree to submit my paper(s) to the Global Reference Database.

Click on the Submit button to complete your submission.

Grading Criteria

 To access your rubric:

Week 7 Project Rubric

Check Your Assignment Draft for Authenticity

 To check your Assignment draft for authenticity:

Submit your Week 7 Final Project draft and review the originality report.

Submit Your Assignment by Day 7

 To submit your Assignment:

Week 7 Final Project