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Section 1: Brief Introduction and Assessing Prior Knowledge

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Section 1: Brief Introduction and Assessing Prior Knowledge

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Hello Everyone! My name is Brittany Polonio. This is my second to last semester in the Mental Health and Wellness Counseling M.A. program. I aspire to further my enrollment in the LPC bridge program after I graduate to obtain a professional counseling license.

I currently work as a Special Education Teacher in the Dallas area. This is my second year as a teacher, and I still feel new in my current role. In my spare time, I weight train, read a ton of books and travel. By the end of the semester, my goal is to gain a deeper understanding of triggers related to trauma to assist future clients and students. One personal goal that I have is I would like to obtain my herbalist certification. I am an advocate for holistic approaches that aide in mental health, skin care and healthy eating.

I would like to understand how trauma impacts children and woman. Additionally, what interventions can aid to treating individuals who have experienced trauma related symptoms. I am a special education teacher and understanding how trauma can impact students who have special needs would be vital for my role. I want to be able to identify triggers associated with trauma and how to help students appropriately.

Additional information that I would like add is I am currently have a business were I make natural body butters, oil an beard oil!

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The ACA Code of Ethics are procedural guidelines for professional counselors and counselors in training. The ACA code of ethics has 6 main functions. Including ethical obligations, guidance for best practices of professional counselors, ethical deliberations to consider within the role of professional counselors and counselors in training. Ethical guideline and actions to take to establish expectations during counseling services. Ethical responsibilities within the counseling role, actions to take if ethical standards are breached.

The ACA Code of Ethics is important to my future school counseling role because I will have guidelines that protect, create structure, standards, and best practices to follow.

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Section 2: Reference Guide for Mental Health Disorders

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Section 2: Reference Guide for Mental Health Disorders

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What I learned during the mental health disorder template were how to best define each primary mental disorder and the specific type of disorders within those categories. For example, anxiety means to have access worry that begins to affect your personal life. Within the category was acute stress disorder/post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that relates to anxiety rooted in a traumatic experience.This is beneficial for my future role as I will have the knowledge and awareness to identify specific disorders that an individual has challenges with and the different signs and symptoms.

This can assist me in creating an action plan for treatment. I will be working with students who have challenges with anxiety and differentiating between panic disorder or PTSD, I will be able to give guidance insight and create actionable steps for that student.

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Reference Guide for Mental Health Disorders Template Assignment- Brittany Polonio (1)

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Section 3: Developmental Discussion on Trauma

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Section 3: Developmental Discussion on Trauma

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One major takeaway from this discussion is that traumatic experiences during childhood can manifest in different ways or various factors. I also learned that mental health disorders impact trauma. Watching the "The people vs. O.J Simpson", docuseries I learned that he may have suffered from a mental health disorder due to CTE. Such as explosive and impulsive behavior, impaired judgment, criminality and mood disorders (Baltz, 2016). Which can result in mental health disorders. That led to domestic violence abuse within his marriage to Nicole. She was experiencing primary trauma as a result of the trauma that her husband endured.

This discussion on trauma can be useful for my future role as a school counselor because I will have gained an understanding on what signs to look for if a student is in a domestic violence relationship.

Did O.J. have concussion trauma? CTE doctor says Yes. (2016, January 30). The Atlantic Journal Consitiution. Retrieved March 6, 2024, from https://www.ajc.com/sports/football/did-have-concussion-trauma-cte-doctor-says-yes/

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Section 4: Psychological First Aid Online Certificate 

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Section 4: Psychological First Aid Online Certificate 

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What I learned while obtaining my psychological first aid certificate was how to respond with a venerable population or survivors who are in critical condition or have experiences a natural disaster. You must approach them in a manner that is non-intrusive, shows compassion and patience. When working with children I learned that you have to get to their eye level and assist in helping the child express any emotions for example. You also have to be intentional about connecting survivors to any outside resources such as community resources, food banks, and shelter etc. Some takeaways from the training are meeting the needs of the survivors and meeting them where they are. If there are questions listen and respond in a manner calmly.

If the survivor want to talk listen with empathy. I will apply this lesson in to my future role by understanding best practices to effectively respond to individuals who are in critical conditions, aiding in their needs, safety directly, and any impacted stress they have experienced.

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Psychological First Aid (PFA) Online Certificate Brittany Polonio

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Section 5: Crisis Prevention and Threat Assessment

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Section 5: Crisis Prevention and Threat Assessment

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During the project I learned how to effectively respond to a an individual who is involved in a dating and domestic violence relationship. Major takeaways were cultural competence. Understanding that domestic violence can impact anybody, regardless of gender, race or ethnicity. Individuals who work in social services should be trained and held responsible for understanding how to respond to domestic violence circumstances.

Domestic violence training is needed for teaching employees with understanding signs of dating and domestic violence. For example, behavioral threat and trauma focused assessments are resources used to identify those who maybe in harmful or threading circumstances. The importance of trauma assessments and trainings are needed in the community to inform police officers, educators, social service workers, and health professionals.

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My takeaways were using different intervention skills and how to build rapport with the client. During the case study, I had to be intentional about the couples emotions. As discussed, both partners were experiencing anger within the relationship, which could cause tension during the session. For example, for attending to their behavior one partner would require my behavior to be open, calm and receptive as they expressed challenges in the relationship. While the other partner would benefit from my attentive behavior by showing more empathy, nodding and direct eye contact. As they would be showing emotions such as anger and sadness. I learned that two people can be in a relationship but need different forms of crisis intervention. I also learned that when applying counseling skills and techniques to clients within crisis intervention there has to be goals that are applicable for that client.

I will use the techniques and counseling skills in my future role as I will have married couples in my sessions. As a future counselor, the skills learned will be a continued practice. I will have to continue to learn what skill will be needed and implemented during my sessions. For example, I may need to summarize what a client is saying within the 2nd session. While with another client I will need to ask clarifying questions to gain an understanding when building rapport.