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Hello I am Karina Garcia!

I am currently enrolled in the Professional Counseling Program. I have reached my 4th year of teaching elementary students. I have focused on upper elementary and love it! My professional goal is to learn how to utilize the skills I have acquired as a teacher and now as a grad student in counseling. As a teacher, I have been exposed to various situations and want to learn reflective and responsive techniques when handling a crisis. I am curious as to how much this course will relate to what I have learned through teaching and other previous jobs where I have dealt with crises.

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In working with children the focus on ethics that is most important is consent and managing boundaries.

Section A.2. The age range I want to work with is 10-14 which they are minors and are legally unable to give consent so they need a parent or guardian to give it, however, these individuals can assent in receiving counseling. Understanding what that looks like in a child will be critical in treating children.

Section A.6. With this age range being minors maintaining boundaries between the family members and the child can be difficult. It is important for my future role to establish these boundaries to help the child.

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Unit 1 Section 1: Reflection Introductions and Assessing Prior Knowledge

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Unit 1 Section 1: Reflection Introductions and Assessing Prior Knowledge

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In this introduction to the course, it was interesting to see how my prior knowledge from undergrad and teaching influenced my perception of what I believed about mental health. It was helpful to learn that in the age group of 10-14 suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death, as that is the age range I would focus on in counseling as this is the age I am most familiar with. This assignment was interesting to be a part of especially when responding to our peers. In responding it was interesting to see that even though we are all taking the same course, all the different paths we want to take. In reading through the responses I saw all the different types of therapy we want to study such as sand therapy and work with firefighter's mental health. This helped expose me to expand my thinking to something other than just my work with children.

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Unit 1 Section 2: Reference Guide for Mental Health Disorders

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Unit 1 Section 2: Reference Guide for Mental Health Disorders

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This assignment was very purposeful for the course and my future role as a counselor. Knowing the difference between different topics of mental health is crucial as counselors we need to know the basics, we need to know how to distinguish as well as familiarize ourselves with how to treat these patients. I found it most helpful learning about the different types of depression, and anxiety disorders as they are typically generalized.

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Reference Guide for Mental Health Disorders 

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Section 3: Unit 2: Developmental Discussion on Trauma

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Section 3: Unit 2: Developmental Discussion on Trauma

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This assignment is important in helping us understand the different types of trauma and watching these documentaries help connect them to real-world experiences. The documentary I chose to watch was The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez. Despite this being a traumatizing and saddening case was helpful for me aspiring counselor to understand the proper protocols that should have been taken for a child in this situation. It discussed all the proper channels on how the case of Gabriel was handled and should have been handled. The audience member is exposed to the direct trauma he suffered through abuse from his mother and stepfather. The audience is exposed to the secondary trauma that individuals who spent their time with Gabriel experienced. This case is one that I can continue to but in shock was possible but helps remind me of how important it is that we as educators, social workers or counselors take our jobs seriously in that the impact we have is life or death.

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Section 4: Unit 3 Assignment 1: Psychological First Aid Online Certificate

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Section 4: Unit 3 Assignment 1: Psychological First Aid Online Certificate

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This section was a great tool to be introduced to. It helped provide training for each of us in our counseling careers. This training after completion provided us with certification for psychological first aid. Psychological first aid offered great information on how to handle various crises. It helps us approach victims, gather information, and help them seek further assistance.

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Psychological First Aid (PFA) Online_Certificate

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Section 5: Unit 3 Assignment 2 Reflection: Crisis Prevention and Threat Assessment

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Section 5: Unit 3 Assignment 2 Reflection: Crisis Prevention and Threat Assessment

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This assignment was a great way to collaborate with other students interested in this specific topic of suicide and self-injury. Many of us had some form of experience in this age group and felt that it was important to think about the preventive tasks to do and how to know what signs to look out for. We have also discussed how this is a big issue for schools and how could we provide interventions to students struggling with this. It was useful to collaborate and work with different ideas to come up with one overall plan for this specific crisis.

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This assignment was important because it allowed us to apply various topics we have learned about and apply them to specific case studies. In the case of Melynda we learn about her struggles and we begin on constructing on how to develop a relationship consider their current situation.

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Referral Processes and Cultural Competence 

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Referral Processes and Cultural Competence 

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Learning about seeking help from local emergency and non-emergency support services was beneficial throughout this course. This could be useful in case a student or future client needing these supports.

-Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741

-988 Lifeline: call or text 988

It is important to have cultural competence as this can greatly impact the relationship with the client. Being culturally incompetent can lead to clients leaving counseling, or possibly causing their issues to worsen.

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988 Lifeline. (2022). 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. 988lifeline.org. https://988lifeline.org/

American Counseling Association. (2014). ACA code of ethics. In Counseling.org. American Counseling Association. https://www.counseling.org/docs/default-source/default-document-library/ethics/2014-aca-code-of-ethics.pdf

Crisis Text Line. (2024). Crisis Text Line. Crisis Text Line. https://www.crisistextline.org/

Mental Health 101. (n.d.). MHA Screening. https://screening.mhanational.org/mental-health-101/

Williams, A. (2020). Early Childhood Trauma Impact on Adolescent Brain Development, Decision Making Abilities, and Delinquent Behaviors: Policy Implications for Juveniles Tried in Adult Court Systems. Juvenile and Family Court Journal, 71(1), 5–17. https://doi.org/10.1111/jfcj.12157