Essay Example: Professional Interview with a Teacher

My person of interest in this interview is Mrs White who happened to be my third-grade teacher. Besides being a shaper of young minds, Mrs White was also a part-time counsellor, and she had acquired a degree in counselling as a result. Back in third grade, Mondays were not my cup of tea. There was something about Mondays that would lower my spirits and dim my shine momentarily especially when the thought of it crossed my mind while having a good time over the weekend. My third-grade teacher was an attractive and gorgeous lady. Her face was charming and demanded much attention from whoever was looking at her. It was almost impossible to disobey her wishes or even say no to her when she was looking into your eyes. It is safe to say that her looks were in line with her profession, both teaching and counselling. She had the kind of empathy to fit in anyone's shoe and eyes that appeared to see straight through your soul. Mrs White is the kind of lady whose emotions are easily visible from her face and uses this feature to get her clients into opening up. People feel free to her, and her humble personality is like none other you have come across in the world. With her counselling skills and teaching expertise, Mrs White is a limited edition, and I am pleasured to interview her.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

Professional Interview

Me: Good morning Mrs White. Hope you are ready for my brief interview.

Mrs White: Good morning to you too. I think I am, what would you like to know?

Me: How long have you been a mental health professional?

Mrs White: Four years are practising, but I have always been interested in this field since high school?

Me: Does this mean teaching was never your passion and it was more of a job to you?

Mrs White: I cannot say I did not enjoy teaching because it is acted as a bridge to the counselling profession.

Me: Can you expound more on that?

Mrs White: We all start from somewhere and to me teaching was a stepping stone to being a counsellor. I feel that through education, I was able to interact with so many students and this gave me a chance to know them as well as understand their way of thinking. Additionally, teaching is a noble profession and being a shaper of young minds; it is almost impossible not to counsel them every now and them. It was like a package deal.

Me: Does the mental health professional have a specialisation or clinical focus, if so, what is it?

Mrs White: First I would like to say that the field of psychology is very vast with a lot of potential careers to choose from. The fact that counselling is the most commonly known specialization of psychology does not make it the only one. When it comes to clinical focus, there is health psychology that seeks to find the connection between psychology and health.

Me: So what is the role of a health psychologist in the clinical setting?

Mrs White: Their roles include educating people on the importance of having positive mindsets and how certain behaviours serve to eliminate or worsen illnesses. Health psychologists believe that good health starts with the mindset.

Me: What led you to choose a career in the mental health field?

Mrs White: I believe that the mind is the most powerful organ in the human body and it pretty much controls almost everything else. Understanding and mastering mental health is the key to living a sustainable and fulfilling life.

Me: Wow! That is very insightful. What theory(is) guide(s) the mental health professionals' practice?

Mrs White: Four main theories guide my profession, and they include: behaviourism, psychodynamic theory, cognitive theory, and humanistic theories.

Me: Which one do you relate to most and why?

Mrs White: I relate most to the cognitive theory because it holds the mind responsible for behaviours, thoughts, and emotions. It is through cognitivism that abnormal response can be explained and resolved.

Me: What is your theory of how clients change?

Mrs White: I believe that clients' changes begin with a change in the mindset. It is for that reason I find it critical to understand my client's thoughts, assumptions, experiences, as well as attitude before I can work on helping them with the change process. Different clients require different techniques as well as timing.

Me: What do you see as current issues that the profession is facing?

Mrs White: One major issue that the profession is facing is that people are not willing to visit a counsellor for fear of being perceived as mentally troubled. Consequentially, people would instead bottle their emotions and keep quiet about them. Secondly, we live in a fast-paced world where everyone is so focussed on money, careers, and success that they forget their first duty of looking out for each other.

Me: What do you like most about your work?

Mrs White: I love the feeling of being someone's pillar of hope, confidant, and fortress of solitude. Every time a client walks out of my office with a lighter burden to carry and a smile to share with the world gives me life and a sense of satisfaction like no other.

Me: What do you like the least about your work?

Mrs White: I hate the feeling of being put on a pedestal just because I am a counsellor. Being a counsellor does not make one a superhuman. I dislike being seen as patronising and Mrs Know-It-All.

Me. What advice would you offer a beginning counsellor-in-training?

Mrs White: I would urge them to take heart and look up even on the most desperate days. There will be days when clients will challenge your expertise and some even outright disregard you, but you have to be strong to see beyond that.

Reaction

There are a couple of things that I learned from the interview with Mrs White. I was impressed at how much she loved her career and talked so highly of it. Many are the times that people settle in counselling as a fail-safe. It is inspiring to know that not only do counsellors advise you on making the right choices and changes, but clinical mental health professions also play a part in the treatment of their patients. I was slightly shocked though that counsellors also fear to come off as patronizing in their career and admit to being human despite the white hat that the society has put on them.