Contemporary Professional Development: Career Goals and Assessment

This report presents a comprehensive plan for professional development in counselling psychology. It begins by outlining short, medium, and long-term career goals, emphasizing the importance of continuous learning and skill development. The assessment section evaluates the student's current attributes, including knowledge, understanding, research methods, and critical thinking skills, while also identifying gaps in areas such as values, communication skills, and learning application. A detailed professional development plan is then proposed, outlining strategies to improve these underdeveloped skills and align with the 13 standards of National Practice for Mental Health Services. The plan includes specific actions, timelines, and relevant standards to facilitate the student's growth as a counselling psychologist, aiming to achieve their goal of working in a renowned treatment center in Australia.

CONTEMPORARY PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT:

TABLE OF CONTENTS
STATING CAREER GOALS.........................................................................................................2
ASSESSMENT................................................................................................................................3
Standards of National practice................................................................................................3
Current attributes....................................................................................................................3
Gaps or Underdeveloped skills...............................................................................................4
PROPOSING PLAN........................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9
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STATING CAREER GOALS
In way of becoming a successful Counselling psychologist it is required that I’m
developing short, medium and long term goals with including those points which I’m lacking
and that I’m having. The short term goal will be those which are relating with limited time frame
of under 1 year, medium term will be that of 3-5 years and long term is 5-10 years of goal.
Setting career goals as Counselling psychologist will be very important so that I could be
achieving what I have planned. For becoming Counselling psychologist there are certain steps
which need to be followed which could also be included to as short, medium and long term goals
for my career as Counselling psychologist (Ostrow, Leaf and Naeger, 2017).
Short term- The short term goal for me will be those related to communication and
building of knowledge for application of counselling psychologist. My short term career goal
will be passing the exam graduate the course and apply for the master degree in counselling
psychology. Graduating in counselling psychology will helps me in gaining theoretical
knowledge over behaviours and thinking ability of humans. However, masters will help me in
gaining practical insights of change in individual thoughts and behaviours. These could be
achieved with way of interacting with people who are suffering from psychological problems
and issues that will be achieved in given time frame of 12 months. This could be done meeting
with clients and patients of hospitals who are in need of psychology treatment and therapy. These
all are the short term goals which I need to be accomplish with given time frame. For all these
goals it is important that I’m having knowledge related to psychology. With help of reading
books, journals and articles on psychology or mental health and following all standards which
are laid down in National Standards for Mental Health Services 2013.
Medium term- The medium term goal will be obtaining Master of Counselling/Clinical
Psychology which is a 2 years course. I’m including this as my medium term goal because this
will help me to continuously gain wider knowledge is psychology and then I could be able to
easily solve any problem of my client or patient while my actual practice. So with the help of my
master’s degree in counselling psychology I will be able to get a good job in reputed hospital or
treatment centre of my country. The master degree will also help me to gain practical knowledge
on 6 attribute and 13 standards of National Practice Standards for Mental health. This could be
achieving by as being professional in psychology it will be essential to be accountable for people
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and families with whom I’m working with. So I also need to develop these goal which will be
achieved in medium time frame of 2 years.
Long term- my long term goal will be working as a counselling psychologist in reputed
and renowned treatment centre in Australia and this could be done after obtaining master’s
degree in counselling psychologist. This will be long term goal for coming 5-10 years and
helping me to grow and develop in my career.
ASSESSMENT
The main aim of my learning, education and career is to be a successful counselling
psychologist. A counselling psychologist is a mental health professional who works with patients
on emotional, mental and behavioural issues or disorders (Jenkins, Penafiel and Tatum, 2018).
He or she discuss problems with clients informally and provides most effective advice on the
techniques & strategies to address their problems.
All the above attributes or skills are responsible for significant and good practices related
to psychology, I have certain skills in me that can assist me to achieve my goal in profession of
Counselling psychologist but I also need to develop few of them which are necessary in attaining
my aim. The four years’ program focuses on each and every aspect of psychology that can help a
student to meet National practice standard in their career or profession as a psychologist (Cleary,
Velardi and Schnaidman, 2017).
Standards of National practice
There are 13 main standards related to the knowledge, skills and attitudes expected within
the individuals working in mental health services organizations. These standards are very
essential for an individual working or learning psychology. I developed certain skills to meet the
standards such as knowledge and understating related to psychology. I also learned standard of
individual planning and rights & responsibilities to develop creative thinking skills.
Current attributes Knowledge and Understanding – It refers to the overall learning of psychology that can
be developed by a student in the four years of program at the university. I focused on
every class, attained knowledge from books and online studies related to my subject. I
developed my understanding related to various topic such as abnormal psychology,
individual differences in behaviour and capacity, assessment and testing, biological
basses of behaviour, social psychology and so on. These attributes can help me to achieve
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my long term goal of becoming a Counselling psychologist and meeting the standards of
National practices such as Working with people, families and carers, Individual
planning, Access, Transitions in Care (Card, 2017). Research methods – This is another essential attribute that I developed in by continuous
learning in my program. It included the understanding, application and evaluation of
basic research methods in psychology such as research deign, data analysis and
interpretation and effective utilization of technologies. This skill may be beneficial for
me to perform practices with respect to standards related to working as a counselling
psychologist such as Quality improvement, working with aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander families, people and communities, Health promotion and prevention. Critical thinking skills – It is important for a psychologist to possess attribute of critical
and creative thinking to provide appropriate care or treatment to his or her patient. I
successfully develop this skill in my program that is useful for me in my future career
(Travis, 2018). This attribute can help an individual to meet National practice standards
2013 such as Treatment and support, Meeting diverse needs, individual planning,
Rights, responsibilities, safety and privacy.
Gaps or Underdeveloped skills Values – Ethics, code of conducts, understanding of complex socio-cultural and
international diversity comes under this attribute that is also an important element in
achieving my goals related to career in psychology. Due to lack of attention I lack in this
skill but need to develop it as it is important to meet standards such as Ethical practice
and professional development responsibilities, working with people, families and carers
in recovered focused ways, Rights responsibilities, safety and privacy, Meeting diverse
needs. Therefore, it is very important for me to make effective strategies that can help me
to develop this attribute. Communication skills – Communication is very necessary in any area or profession for
an individual. This attribute assist in interacting with people, sharing view and ideas etc.
as a Counselling psychologist it is very important to have effective skills for
communicating with patients. Therefore, in order to eliminate the gap in achieving my
goals I need to work on this attribute. It is essential to meet standards of National
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practices in psychology like Communication and Information management, Treatment
and Support, Health promotion and Prevention, Meeting diverse needs (Wright and
Smith, 2017). Learning and Application – There are various principles related to psychology such as
social, personal and organisation issues which are important to be understood and
applied. It helps in describing prime areas of psychology such as clinical, counselling,
forensic, and organisational and health. I was unable to develop this attribute that can be
a major reason influencing my practices with respect to standards such as Integration
and partnership, Rights, responsibilities, safety and privacy, Treatment and support,
Individual planning.
PROPOSING PLAN
All the above mentioned skills and attributes are required in developing my professional
growth in counselling psychology so that I could prosper and develop in future. There are some
skills and attribute which I’m currently having while some which I need to develop in coming
time frame (Evans-Lacko, Maughan and Arseneault, 2017). The attributes like that of value in
psychology, communication skill and learning and application of psychology need to be
developed as these are the one which I lack in myself. It is required to improve those skills and
attribute which will be helping me in my career development. So a plan need to be drawn which
will be showing the techniques and ways to develop those attributes as counselling psychologist
and them all must be as per 13 standards which are essential for this career. The plan of
continuing professional development is that which I’m having weakness identified in above
assessment session.
Continuing Professional Development Plan
Attribute Current
proficiency
Ways to develop
the attribute
Time
duration
Standards Detail
Value in
psychology
Respecting each
person their
ethnicity, values,
gender and
This attribute will
be achieved or
developed with
recognising and
3 years will
be taken to
develop this
attribute
Standard 1:
Rights,
responsibilities,
safety and
The value of
psychology
will be very
much essential
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diversity is
primary task
which I as
professional in
counselling
psychology should
be having. This
includes skills like
that of tolerating
during search of
greater
understanding and
acting ethically
and professional is
very much
important to have.
So currently I’m
not having these
respecting values
and beliefs of
people and
patients.
respecting social,
cultural diversity
of people with
whom I’m
working or for
whom I’m
working. so I
should start
learning about
people and trying
to knowing their
need or want so
that I could
develop value in
psychology
profession
(medium
term)
privacy
Standard 2:
Working with
people, families
and carers in
recovery-
focused ways
Standard 3:
Meeting diverse
needs
Standard 4:
Working with
Aboriginal and
Torres Strait
Islander
people, families
and
communities
Standard 13:
Ethical practice
and
professional
development
responsibilities
to be
developing
throughout the
period of
completing my
bachelors
program of
counselling
psychologist.
This will be
given growth
in my career.
Communication
skill
psychology
This is also one of
my weakness as I
need to be very
much interactive
in my career
where I will be
communicating
The best way to
achieve the skill of
communication is
to enrol within
some
communication
skills online
12 months
which is
short term
Standard 3:
Meeting diverse
needs
Standard 4:
Working with
Aboriginal and
Torres Strait
This
communication
skills will be
developed with
communicating
and interacting
with people,
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with patients and
their families
listing to their
problems and
issues faced by
them all. So
currently I’m not
having the
required skill of
communication
which I need to
have.
course so that my
lack of
communication
skill would be
developed.
This
communication
and interactive
skill could be
developed by
communicating
and working with
people who are of
different culture
and belonging to
various diversities.
So in way of
developing this
attribute I should
make efforts from
my side in
developing
communicating
skills by
interacting with
people
Islander
people, families
and
communities
Standard 11:
Communication
and information
management
community,
and staff and
with patients so
that I’m able to
meet my target
of
communication
skills.
Learning and
application of
psychology
As I’m pursing my
career as
counselling
psychology in way
of treating and
This skill will be
attained with
continuous
attending
professional
2-3 years
which is
medium
term in
improving
All standards
are applied
within this from
1-13.
This could be
achieved only
with help of
taking good
care on leaning
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taking care of
patients suffering
from mental health
so I’m always
required to apply
my learning and
knowledge which
I’m having. So in
this learning and
application of
them in practical
psychological case
is very much
important. So
currently I’m not
having this skill
which I need to
develop into
myself in given
time period.
development
seminars and
training programs
which is
developing for
further in my
career.
this
learning
and
application
of
psychology
and application
of all
psychology
terms.
CONCLUSION
The above report summarized that there are various skills or attributes which are required
by an individual in order to achieve professional goals or aims. This report determined short,
medium and long term career objectives for a psychology student. It also described various six
main attributes required by an individual to become a successful counselling psychologist such
as Communication skills, Values, Knowledge and understanding and so on. The study identified
that professional skills are important to meet standards of practices in career in psychology.
Furthermore, a professional development plan was developed in order to build under-developed
attributed or skills essential to achieve career goals and objectives.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Card, S.K., 2017. The psychology of human-computer interaction. CRC Press.
Cleary, T.J., Velardi, B. and Schnaidman, B., 2017. Effects of the Self-Regulation Empowerment
Program (SREP) on middle school students' strategic skills, self-efficacy, and
mathematics achievement. Journal of school psychology, 64, pp.28-42.
Evans-Lacko, S., Maughan, B. and Arseneault, L., 2017. Childhood bullying victimization is
associated with use of mental health services over five decades: a longitudinal nationally
representative cohort study. Psychological medicine. 47(1). pp.127-135.
Jenkins, P., Penafiel, A. and Tatum, B.C., 2018. Confluent Education in a Counseling
Psychology Program. Psychology,9(08), p.1957.
Ostrow, L., Leaf, P.J. and Naeger, S., 2017. Medicaid reimbursement of mental health peer-run
organizations: results of a national survey. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and
Mental Health Services Research. 44(4). pp.501-511.
Travis, S., 2018. Why Individual Psychology Needs to Gain Evidence-Based Status. The Journal
of Individual Psychology,74(3), pp.281-286.
Wright, C.V. and Smith, B.L., 2017. Assessment practices of professional psychologists: Results
of a national survey. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice,48(2), p.73.
Online
The national standards of practice. 2016. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.ncacinc.com/nsop>.
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