Faculty Development Plan
Counseling and Career Center
1998
Vision and Purpose
I see my role as a psychologist and clinical faculty member in the Counseling and Career Center as supporting the Aims of a BYU Education and the mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints by facilitating the personal and spiritual growth and development of the students at the university. This generation and future generations of LDS young adults face the greatest opportunities and challenges in the history of this earth. They not only have the challenge to work out their own salvation in the midst of increasing opposition, but they are needed to accomplish great works in preparation for the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. At the same time they will be busy earning a living and raising their families in a turbulent world.
I desire to see as many BYU students as possible leave the university with a sense of their eternal worth and with confidence to meet the opportunities and challenges of their lives, whatever their limitations may be. I want them to enjoy the journey of their lives, whatever the challenges. I feel a great sense of purpose in helping students grow in their abilities to understand themselves and others, to embrace their identity and agency as sons and daughters of God, to deal with the ambiguities of life, and to solve problems. I have the opportunity to impact students’ lives primarily through individual and group counseling, but also through teaching, supervision, scholarly work, and consultation with and outreach to the campus community.
Part I: Self-Assessment
Strengths, Skills, and Competencies
I believe I am a team player who is sensitive to the needs of the university at large, to those of my department, to those of the individuals who work there, and to those of the students I serve. I feel a strong sense of personal mission to help those around me understand the gospel and feel God’s love for them. I believe in the growth potential of each individual and work consistently at growth in my own life. My spiritual and professional life are fairly well integrated. I am good at seeing the big picture and my efforts tend to flow from that vision. I feel I am able to communicate my vision to others in group and one-on-one settings and that I contribute to discussions of important issues to our department. I seek peace and harmony in relationships and organizations without ignoring issues that need to be addressed.
I am reasonably competent as a therapist for this stage of my professional growth. I have fairly good ability to conceptualize student problems and how to address them. I have a lot of experience working with issues of abuse, depression, eating disorders, anxiety, and stress management as well as career issues and I feel prepared to deal with most issues students present. My developmental theoretical foundation helps me to place the difficulties students present in their normal developmental context, with a growth rather than pathology orientation to therapy.
My eight years as a high school counselor has given me an understanding of the developmental level of incoming freshman, a strong foundation in career guidance and college advisement, skill in crisis management, and experience in program development, in addition to group and individual counseling.
I am skilled at teaching through discussion in the classroom. I believe I communicate to the students I see in counseling and those I teach both my concern for them and my confidence in them to move forward in their lives. I feel that my co-workers and the students I serve see me as a trustworthy individual who loves the Lord.
Areas For Development
I want to be more organized in the way I approach my work, taking time and thought to set daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly priorities. I want to direct my time and energy with more spiritual guidance and in consultation with my mentor and director. Along with continuing to grow in clinical and teaching competence, I want to rely more on the Spirit in all my interactions with students. I believe this combination will allow me to become the master therapist and teacher I desire to be. I would like to be sensitive to the needs for service in my department and the university, while at the same time pursuing interests and activities that will result in my making the unique contribution to the university community for which I was hired.
Part II: Professional Goals
A. Clinical Work: Counseling and Supervision
Short Term Goals:
1. Work by the Spirit.
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Pray about specific clients on a regular basis.
Listen for spiritual promptings during sessions.
Study scriptures with an eye to spiritual interventions.
Evaluation: Personal reflection, journaling.
2. Work more effectively within a short-term model of counseling.
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Improve individual treatment planning.
Integrate didactic interventions more effectively with interpersonal process in counseling.
Read the literature on short-term therapy.
Attend conferences to improve clinical expertise.
Evaluation: Peer evaluation of sessions and notes; supervisor evaluation; OQ.
3. Improve organization.
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Write down daily, weekly, monthly priorities and evaluate.
Set aside time to stay current with paperwork.
Evaluation: Being current with paperwork; timely completion of projects.
4. Become licensed as a psychologist
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Submit licensure application in June 1998.
Set aside time each week to study for exam.
Take and pass licensure exam by April, 1999.
Long Term Goals:
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1. Become more involved in supervision and training in the center.
2. Become trained in Neurolinguistic Programming, EMDR, and other alternative therapy techniques that facilitate internal mechanisms of change.
3. Through study, practice, and research, become expert at helping students combat perfectionism.
B. Teaching
Short-Term Goals
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1. Set spiritual tone conducive to learning and self-exploration for each class period.
Be spiritually and mentally focused, as well as prepared for each class period.
Start with a spiritual thought, question, cartoon.
Begin with prayer.
Evaluation: Personal reflection, journaling; feedback from students.
2. Improve course curriculum: Summer 1998
Work on group curriculum project: self-assessment, definitions of success.
Use career panels to bring more information into the classroom.
Coordinate better access to College Advisement Centers.
Evaluate course objectives and refine readings and assignments to match.
Incorporate student feedback about activities and assignments.
Build in more flexibility of assignments to meet individual needs of students.
Evaluation: Self evaluation of improvements; student feedback and evaluations.
3. Refine my teaching style: Preparation--Summer, 1998; Implementation--Fall, 1998
Observe XXX’s St Dev 117 class Fall 1998 and meet to discuss observations.
Use variety of methods to involve class members in the learning process.
Experiment with more small group activities.
Use cooperative learning activities to increase involvement of less vocal students.
Use formative evaluation during the semester to improve teaching.
Incorporate feedback from mentor’s visits to observe class.
Incorporate feedback from faculty center student observer.
Use class time well.
Structure class activities in a coherent but flexible manner.
Divide time more effectively between discussion and information giving.
Evaluation: Feedback from mentor, student observers, self-analysis, feedback and evaluations from students.
Long-Term Goals
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1. Be open to opportunities to teach at the graduate level in the university.
C. Scholarship
Short-Term Goals
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1. Complete one to two scholarly projects each year including dissemination.
2. Be Organized.
Set priorities and specific tasks for completing projects.
Block time to work on projects.
3. Time-line for projects.
Research Committee Prediction of Therapy Outcome Study
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Present paper at APA, August, 1998 Article written: April 1999
Publish journal article from dissertation:
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Accepted: Fall 1998
Evaluation research on Career Exploration Class (Student Development 117):
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Initial results by February, 1999 Analyze data each semester
Present and/or submit article by December 1999
Mormon REBT Study
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Finish REBT Training: Fall 1998 Present at conference: 1999
Women and Careers
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Evaluate/Write-up Fall 1998 group: June 1999
Evaluation: Completion of projects; Reassess time lines each semester.
Long-Term Goals
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1. Pursue research and program development interests on perfectionism.
D. Citizenship
Short-Term Goals
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1. Continue in present assignments.
Research committee
Family and career programming with Women’s Services and Resources office
Rape-crisis liaison to university police and community resources
Coordinator for National Depression Screening Day
Utah Career Conference Committee
Evaluation: Feedback from colleagues and others I work with on assignments.
Long-Term Goals
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1. Accept assignments with an eye to balancing such commitments with other responsibilities.
2. Broaden involvement to university and professional organizations: university committees, Association of Mormon Counselors and Psychotherapists, Utah Psychological Association.
This faculty plan has been reviewed and agreed upon by:
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Faculty Member
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Mentor
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Department Chair
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Date