Alcohol Abuse Advice

Question by Indigo: I need to interview a mental health counselor?
for a school project on careers. if anyone is a mental health counselor, or any kind of counselor like that, can you answer these questions?

1. Do you ever get scared when dealing with patients who have drug or alcohol problems?
2. does your training prepare you for patients who have drug problems?
3. What are your favorite cases to deal with?
4. How do you prepare yourself each day to deal with different types of patients?
5. What is it about your personality that makes you good at your job?
6. What is your favorite part about your job?
7. What do you wear to work?
8. What made you decide to become a counselor?

Best answer:

Answer by Connie
1. Not usually Actually, I can’t remember having a client with drug and alcohol problems who was threatening; of course, I was not usually seeing them right in the midst of a crisis. I was scared a few times that a client was actively suicidal, but I was able to reach Emergency Services who helped me deal with the clients.

2. I took courses in dealing with drug and alcohol issues in school and as continuing education. I also took every opportunity to talk with more experienced D&A counselors, so I could learn from their experiences. It was possible to avoid taking any courses about D&A issues, but it is a mistake for any clinician to do that because there are many, many clients with unidentified substance abuse issues. Training cannot totally prepare you for dealing with any problem; I made mistakes but tried to learn from them how to help my clients more effectively.

3. I could be a jerk here and say YAVIS (young, attractive, verbal, intelligent and solvent), but I won’t. I liked working with adolescents, because they are in such a tumultuous stage of life; in general, I liked working with people in transition. I liked working with survivors of abuse. I liked working with people who had problems with identity.

4. I suppose that because my style as a therapist tended to be very client-centered, I knew the problems and issues would be different. Also, that is one of the things I liked best about my job: no day was ever the same as another. I did often have to gear myself up a little for new clients, because I would worry that I might not clearly grasp what help they wanted and not be useful to them. Usually I would remoind myself that I just had to ask about what I didn’t understand.

5. I am calm and a very good listener. I like learning about and experiencing different lives and cultures. I love people’s stories about their lives. I believe every human being is valuable and that every human being has a story worth listening to. I have learned as much from my clients as they have learned from me.

6. My favorite part of my job is the people, both clients and colleagues. I love to feel that I have helped some one to have a better life, even in a small way.

7. Usually dresses, a skirt or pants and blazer . I consciously try to look soft and approachable, not too corporate or hard-edged, Not too casual though, because I think you respect your clients by dressing properly.

8. I find people fascinating, so that was one part of it. Another part is that I was brought up to believe that the answer to the question “Am I my brother’s keeper/” is yes, so that’s probably why social work, rather than psychology. I went to college in the years of Vietnam and the Great Society, when social causes were important. I went to a college in which our resposibilities to community and society were an important value. I initially went to graduate school so that I could advance my career in social work management, but when I found out that I could actually do counseling, I was thrilled and never looked back.

I hope this is useful to you. Please contact me through Yahoo! if you like.

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