How to Develop Your Skills in Counseling

Counseling is a unique career choice that stretches across many industries. From grief counseling to working with married couples who are having relationship issues, there are plenty of specializations you can choose to specialize in. Not only is counseling a rewarding career in terms of compensation, but you can also leave work everyday knowing you directly helped someone, which is a rare gift in other professions. 

 Some elementary school counselors use books and other media to help their counseling (Photo credit: Wikipedia) 

As someone who might be considering counseling as a career, there are a few practical options you can pursue to get started in this rewarding industry. Below are the most notable ways to hone your skills as a counselor, both as a working student in school or as a new graduate. 

Enroll in a College Program 

The first step to developing your counseling career is to enroll in a college program for your Masters in Counseling. Not only is this step important in beginning your path in the field, but you will also build the foundation to hone your skills and further specialize later in your career. There are many counseling programs available both on-site at major colleges, as well as through various sources online. 

Volunteer Your Time  

One way to develop your skills in counseling is to volunteer at a facility that is in need. There are many places that you can do this, particularly if you are a student pursuing a degree. Simply make a search online, or inquire at a local college about what kinds of options you might have. Some common options include: drug counseling at a youth center, senior care facility and even hospitals. 

Internship 

Another way to obtain experience and develop your skills for your counseling career is to find an internship program that can help you develop your skills, while working with actual patients. There are programs that cater to both new grads, as well as students who are still working on their degree. 

Whatever the option may be, internships are a valuable element of a future career in counseling. These grant the opportunity for students to observe seasoned professionals as well as learn by experience. This kind of experience will give you more confidence, as well as make you more valuable to future employers. 

Each of these development opportunities provides a unique perspective in the industry of counseling. This is important for new grads, who have not found a job, especially because taking advantage of one of the above options is the perfect way to gain real experience and hone your skills for a career in counseling.

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Summer Recreation

The kids are enjoying their summer vacation even on a hot weather like this. They’re alternately studying and practicing piano lessons, having online activities for recreation and playing board games. The little boy is asking where can we find yoyo store that will give him enough choices for his preferred style. He loves playing it with his elder sister and told me that he wants to learn exhibition styles. He has collection of some sorts but those are just simple styles I bought from various stores I dropped by on my way going home. They’re not branded and not expensive so I want to give him some stylish and quality yoyo for his collection.

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Choosing Your Feline Pet Between Different Cat Breed

Taking a Look at Your Options when Getting a Cat as a Pet

Before adopting a cat as a pet, make sure to look at different cat breeds and know their different preferences and attitudes before deciding which one to get. There are many breeds of cat to choose from so you might want to think hard first before coming up with your final decision. 

Before choosing a cat, make sure to ask yourself these following questions: 

• Why do you want a cat? Are you looking for a companion or the status that goes with owning a specific cat breed? 

• Can you afford a cat? You have to consider not just the initial cost but yearly vaccinations as well as neutering or spaying. 

• Grooming - Are you willing to spend the time needed to groom a long hair breed? 

• Other pets - You have to take your other pets into consideration. Will your dog tolerate a kitten? 

When you deeply thought it over and answered the questions truthfully and still want to go ahead and get a pet cat, the next step would be to decide the following: 

• Long-haired or Short-haired? If grooming would be an issue, it would be best to stick with short-haired cats. But if shedding is an issue, long-haired cars might be preferable. While all cats shed, no matter their coat length, short hair tends to imbed in upholstery and clothing and is harder to remove. 

• Pedigreed or Random-Bred? The advantage of the pedigreed cat is the predictability of size, appearance and temperament, and you can choose one that seems very likely to fit into your lifestyle by way of activity level, grooming and other factors. 

• A Couch Potato or an Active Playful Cat? Temperament in cats are inherited so pedigreed cats are easier to predict when it comes to their temper. As a general rule, the heavy, round cats will generally be the less active, more laid-back cats; the more refined the cat – the more "built for speed" – the more active and inquisitive he is likely to be. 

• A Kitten or an Adult Cat? While kittens can be adorable, they also require a great of work – being destructive duri

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Summer Sale at PSEC Auditorium

Had a nice time shopping at the ground floor of my office at PSEC. SM Megamall visited the building for their week-long summer sale of branded shoes and bags. They were able to sell their regular-priced shoes and bags at 50% discount and even less. I got my shoes originally priced at PhP2,100 for PhP399 only. Every day I would go down at lunch break and look for things for my kids that I can buy at discount deals and I found black shoes and rubber shoes for Josh at half the price also.




There were plenty of bags and I searched for my favorite brand only to decide later that I don’t want to spend for myself and prioritize my kids since I don’t want to worry for their things on opening of classes. Well I searched for jansport knapsacks which my kids want but never found one for my girls. I also love it for DH and myself if only I found my type of design and color. Anyway that bag wouldn’t do for Josh as he needs a big trolley bag again this year. Hope they will soon put up a sale for school bags and other school things.

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Extra Income for the Family

My sister’s officemate is a sole breadwinner and he ventured on an accessory business making bracelets for women and kids. He and his wife thought that it might give them additional income and they’re true as their creations are beautiful especially that they’re using quality materials. I saw what my sister has bought from them and I can say that the beads they’ve used are extremely pretty just like what I saw from collections of Labradorite Beads in beautiful colors of yellow, blue and green. They also have black, red and violet color stones and they mixed everything in perfect harmony to produce pretty accessories for girls. There are several accessories in the market but I’m not sure of the quality so maybe I’ll just order from them next time I need one. I just admire their perseverance and patience in coming up with extra earning endeavors.

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Physician’s Directory

Directories are part of our life as we need them to locate what we need like home appliances, telephone numbers, companies, food, apartments, cars and every little thing we search every day. It can bring great help to us in easy purchasing of goods and finding addresses and contact numbers of people we lost contact to. Now it’s even better that there’s a directory of doctors through Doximity where as a member you can search for specific doctor, his specialization, interests, languages and many other pertinent information. 

If you’re part of their profile group you can easily locate and refer doctors like Haseeb Al-Mufti MD to patients needing his attention on his specialized field. They have organized all information that will help in locating for the best doctor for specific sickness. This creates good communication between doctors of varied clinical areas.

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Today’s Men

Some men are vain when it comes to look and physique and the emergence of clinics and gyms that cater to men are signs that they really take some time to care for their looks and their physical fitness. I even know some friends who read about reviews about products that can make muscles grow fast like progene reviews or about other brands just to make sure they’re using an effective one.

Well today’s men are more health and body conscious now compared to men of past years. Just like women who tried to maximize their potentials when it comes to beauty and body you could also see men who practice the same rituals in taking care of their face, skin and body. It’s a whole new different modern generation.

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Short Weekend Vacation

We had our weekend vacation near the mountains where my MIL lives. Montalban is just a one hour drive to the city but you could feel the difference of the weather once you reached it. After dinner we would go out of the house and take a casual walk or have a nice chat in the garden because it’s very relaxing there. You would feel the cold breeze on your face giving you the impression that it’s not summer there. Anyway we didn’t bring any swimming clothes and planned another weekend getaway just for swimming in one of the resorts there. The kids enjoyed our stay that they want to plan a vacation again.

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Online Opportunities

Nowadays there are more ways of earning for your family than in the past generations. There are jobs that make you wonder how people can earn it in the comfort of their homes. Well as they say in all jobs that you have you have to put in not just skills and intelligence but patience as well. Almost five years ago I’ve learned to express my thoughts online through the help of my friend. She introduced me to blogging and after 4 months I started earning extra income from writing articles and reviews.

Since the day I joined the blogging community the opportunities never cease to amaze as beside article writing and reviews you can also join some other earning sites like pay per install or accept link ads and advertise some sites in your blog. I always tell to friends who come to me for tutorial on online work that in this line of work you have to be patient and hard working in order to enjoy the fruits of your blogging income.

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Best Sleeping Nights

Every family deserves the best sleeping night and comfortable bedtime rest but how can we have it if we have a poor foam mattresses in our home. When I was in college day my mother bought me a set of bed foam mattress like Tempurpedic Cloud Supreme we have today. It’s a nice birthday gift for me coming from my loving and concerned Mom. She thought that my body needed a relief from long travel home coming from the university where I was studying. After a whole day stay in the university I had to prepare myself for long hours of travel in public commuter’s car amidst heavy traffic in the road. I need to have not just healthy mind but a strong body as well to cope up with daily stress of traveling and the pressures of school activities and papers.

Good physical body condition free from sickness and body pains should be maintained. But sometimes you can’t help getting sick because of too much work and activities in your life and one of the pain that I usually encounter is severe back pain especially if my sleeping foam mattress is of poor quality and not comfortable to sleep on. Our strength should be preserved for another day work so as to prevent us from feeling over fatigued.

Most of us believe that quality mattress like Tempurpedic bed which can give us comfortable sleep are just fair to be expensive or extravagant. But we could be wrong because there are reasonably-priced mattresses available in the market today which can offer not just affordability but healthy sleeping benefits and high quality materials as well. Plus they also offer long term money back guarantee which will make you feel assured that the product is really made based from high quality standard. We just have to compare products and read reviews so we can have the best deals ever.

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Loving Everything About Him

One month from now we’ll have our 16th wedding anniversary and when I think about those 16 years it feels like few years only. I really can’t believe we’ve been husband and wife for those long years except that our eldest will turn 15 on August and that’s our sign in counting our years, she was born three months after our first wedding anniversary. Looking back at those years I couldn’t remember a time that we lost our love for each other. It’s still the same as when we first said our vow of promise to each other and when we put our rings on each other’s finger.

Well we don’t have those diamond solitaire rings other couples have but we have forever in our heart and that’s what matters most. As we fondly sings the line ‘even if our hair is gray already’ when we were just newly married it remains that way now that we have some few real gray hairs. Love is like that you’ll love every bit of the person not only the good things about him but the imperfections as well.

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Stylish and Safe Driving

I just watched an action movie with my kids and Ed and the movie had my whole attention because of the fast movements. I really love action movies with lots of suspense and thrills as long as it’s not that violent. Well I’ve seen how the movie was directed with precise timing especially when the scene focused on some competitive racing.

The leading artist is impressive with his impeccable gears and accessories like leather jacket, stylish boots, helmets and the likes of Alpinestars SMX 2 Air Carbon Gloves which complete the whole attire. It’s rather expensive to dress up stylishly when you’re racing or driving but some people takes satisfaction in being fashionable even while racing. Well I noticed that he’s not just choosing items for the looks only but for safety and security reasons.

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Sakbay and Pinning Ceremonies

Ed had his recognition,sakbay and pinning ceremonies last week March 27 at URS Morong prior to his graduation day. His Mom was there to accompany him on stage on the pinning ceremony. She came all the way from Montalban to be with his youngest son. I was there also with Ed’s cousin and we were just lucky to enter the theater arts center because some of the students don’t have their parents with them and we were paired with them. I was glad that I was able to go inside because I was able to witness the whole ceremony and had some pictures also.

I’ve experienced several ceremonies with our kids but watching Ed and his Mom on stage gave me unexplainable feeling. I observed that Ed and MIL were equally happy too. We’re all proud that after two years Ed has finished the course. Wait it’s not his graduation day, it’s only the sakbay and pinning ceremonies. I will have another post for his graduation day which is 2 days after these ceremonies. 

will post some pics later :)

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Nicest Gift Ever

My friend is having a hard time thinking of gift for his boss as he seems to have everything. The other day he’s telling me that he’s looking for a nice blue necktie but he learned that his boss has varied blue neck ties so he changed his plans to buy it. I suggested that any accessory will do and since it’s a gift it will be appreciated no matter what it is.

He will not be able to give arturo fuente cigars to him because lately his boss is shifting to a healthy lifestyle and stopped his smoking habit so my friend erased it on his list. Maybe it’s really hard to give gift to the one who can buy anything and who has almost everything so I told him that besides the little accessory he has in mind just couple it with good prayers and it will be the nicest gift ever.

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