I had my first class at Walsh tonight and was SO nervous walking in. However, some of you know me well enough to know that I walked in and immediately started introducing myself to people quietly sitting (looking as nervous as I) so that I could feel more comfortable in the room. I sat in the front - yes - I'm a brown-noser - and I also have the attention span of a gnat. So parked in my front row, I'm ready for class to begin - 15 minutes ahead of schedule! YAY!! (After my nightmares about having to park 10 miles away and walking/running there and getting there as class was letting out, etc.) My prof is awesome. She's actually also my advisor in the School Counseling focus, so it's great to get to know her on my first night. Looking over the syllabus, there is A LOT to do in the next 15 weeks, but I'm excited for the challenge. Our next meeting for this class meets the 13th, due to Labor Day, and we will have our first practice doing a COUNSELING SESSION. Holy crap. Talk about throwing us into the fire right off the bat. Which is exactly what she wants - she wants us raw. What we are, what we have - prior to a bunch of training. It's a great way to find out if this is really what I'm cut out to do or not! I'm incredibly nervous about that, but also very excited. I have 4 chapters of reading between now and then, so hopefully I'll get some knowledge from that to assist me, and the rest will be just me.
I was surprised to find that many of my classmates are the dual-focus in major. So they are doing both the School Counseling focus as well as Mental Health Counseling (or "Community Counseling"). It is something that I considered doing - actually after graduating with my School Counseling license in hand. However, I think I will take this semester to truly dive into whether or not I want to bite the bullet and do both now - at the same time - and get them done. It would mean, most likely, an additional year of classes/extra practicum. However, it would open me up to a much broader career spectrum, and give me even more of a knowledge base to pull from for any clients - School or Community. It's something I'm very interested in, and of course, my amazing husband is willing to support any decision I may make in this regard. He knows that it's likely I won't be holding down a full time job during any of this. If anything, perhaps substitute teaching, but not more than that. He's amazing and will have my back.
Needless to say, it was a great first night and my next class is Wednesday. We have an "Open House" of sorts Wednesday for the first hour, so I can clear up some of the questions I have about the program in general, and then dive head first into my Research class.
Thank you to all of you who have left supportive messages for me on my FB wall - it means SO MUCH! :)
Here's the "First Day of School" picture Matt took of me tonight:
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