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Cultural competence is important for mental health counselors because it enables them to provide effective and ethical care to a diverse range of clients. To best serve clients, counselors must understand and respect cultural differences in beliefs, values, traditions, and communication styles. Culturally competent counselors are able to build rapport, trust, and a safe therapeutic environment with and for their clients, which is essential for successful therapy outcomes (Fountain House, 2022).

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As a counselor, I know there may situations in which my assistance alone would be insufficient. During these times, I will assess the needs of the client and provide them with resources and referrals that will meet said needs. This may include helping the client schedule additional counseling with a clinical psychologist or assist them with setting up an appointment with a psychiatrist.

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Below is a list of helpful resources for various issues:

- Helpful actions to tackle depression: https://www.everydayhealth.com/depression/treatment/ways-to-ease-seasonal-depression/
- Therapy and treatment options for anxiety: https://www.everydayhealth.com/anxiety/guide/resources/
- Recovery and treatment for substance abuse: https://www.dea.gov/recovery-resources
- Screening for adverse childhood experiences and trauma: https://www.acesaware.org/learn-about-screening/screening-tools/
- Mental Health First Aid: https://www.mentalhealthfirstaid.org/

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Local Emergency and Non-Emergency Services

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Local Emergency and Non-Emergency Services

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Below are a list of local emergency and non-emergency services:

- Local Police Department: 911
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration: https://www.samhsa.gov/find-support
- National Alliance on Mental Illness: 703-524-7600
- Emergency Mental Health Services: https://www.arlingtonva.us/Government/Programs/Health/Adult-Behavioral-Healthcare/Mental-Health/Emergency-Mental-Health-Services
- Prince George's County Behavioral Health Services: https://www.princegeorgescountymd.gov/1733/Behavioral-Health

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As a professional counselor and hopefully a future therapist, I must adhere to the ACA Code of Ethics as this includes the guidelines I must follow with clients. It is important to know and understand the bounds of my role so I don’t violate any laws.

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This was an enjoyable assignment for me. Since I want to be a clinical psychologist in the future, I was able to practice future skills with this assignment. During each part, I envisioned myself as Melynda's therapist, talking through her needs and issues and helping her take steps to improve her mental health and relationships. I am looking forward to using the techniques I've learned in this course in my future role.

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Unit 3 Reflection: Crisis Prevention and Threat Assessment

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Unit 3 Reflection: Crisis Prevention and Threat Assessment

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My group's focus for this assignment was school violence. I enjoyed working with my group. We all taught each other different aspects of school violence and prevention methods. We worked really well together and communicated efficiently to get our project completed. My slides were focused on agency collaboration, roles of the agencies and protocol for contacting the various agencies. I was able to take a deep dive into various organizations that can help schools mitigate school violence.

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Unit 3 Reflection: Psychological First Aid Certificate

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Unit 3 Reflection: Psychological First Aid Certificate

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It felt amazing to be able to add the Psychological First Aid Certificate to my resume and LinkedIn! I learned valuable information in this course that I can now take into the world and apply practically. I have the skills to help people in distress or find them the help they need if I am unable to meet specific requirements. I am so excited to have this certification and to have gained another skill. I have not taken a course where I was able to obtain a certification and having done that in this course, I realize how valuable that is. I hope more courses can add certifications to their curriculum.

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Unit 2 Reflection: Developmental Discussion on Trauma

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Unit 2 Reflection: Developmental Discussion on Trauma

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This unit was a very heavy one for me. It was so eye opening, too! I didn’t know that adverse childhood experience (ACE) was an actual term. I also gained more self awareness once I took the test. The statistics of unhealthy habits and  certain disorders developing for those who had a score of 4 or more were shocking but also made me realize the importance of resilience,  determination, and seeking help so one does not fall into the traps of adverse experiences (Hinson, 2023). I enjoyed learning about the different perspectives of my peers and their experiences during this unit as well.

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Hello! I am Amina and my program of study is Mental Health and Wellness Counseling.

A personal goal of mine is to obtain a PsyD in Clinical Psychology so I can help people as I truly believe this is my purpose in life.

A professional goal of mine in my current career as a military member is to teach my peers, bosses, and subordinates the importance of mental health. The military can be a challenging career and often times, mental health can be put on the back burner so I would like to bring more awareness to mental health issues that might develop in military members due to the neglect.

Out of this course, I would like to gain a better understanding of responses and behavior that is caused by trauma. Additionally, I would like to learn skills and techniques that a professional counselor or therapist can use to treat the specific trauma.

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Unit 1 Reflection: Reference Guide for Mental Health Disorders

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Unit 1 Reflection: Reference Guide for Mental Health Disorders

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This was my favorite assignment to work on so far in the course and one that taught me so much about mental health disorders. I loved creating the reference guide for myself to use in the future. It made me think about how I am slowly progressing towards my goal but most importantly, I enjoyed learning so much about the different types of mental health disorders along with the subcategories of those disorders. The helpful resources was a great way to learn about preventing and mitigating the effects of mental health disorders (Snyder, 2021). I’m glad I was able to have this as an assignment that will be used practically in the future.

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ACA Code of Ethics | Reading Counseling Services (n.d.). https://readingcounselingservices.com/aca-code-of-ethics/

Fountain House. (2022, October 14). Why is cultural competence important in mental health care? https://www.fountainhouse.org/news/why-is-cultural-competence-important-in-mental-health-care

Hinson, L. (2023, March 27). adverse childhood experiences test. Psych Central. https://psychcentral.com/quizzes/ace-test

Snyder, B. (2021, June 24). Stress, mental health, harassment, & bullying hazard awareness resources | IATSE 26. IATSE 26. https://www.iatse26.org/stress-mental-health-harassment-bullying-hazard-awareness-resources/

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Unit 1 Reflection: Introductions and Prior Knowledge

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Unit 1 Reflection: Introductions and Prior Knowledge

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This section was a great start to the course. Through the provided resources and independent research, I was able to truly understand mental health concerns and put them in perspective based on the statistics that I reviewed. I was shocked to learn that depression is the #1 cause of disability, globally. I realize that the magnitude of mental health concerns needs to be internalized more so people can gain a better understanding of its impact across the world.