ED619 - Philosophy in Counseling

Lourdes Alonso

Counseling Philosophy

My philosophy as a Counselor is to minister to every client with respect and fairness.  That no matter what race, religion, gender, social status, age, or sexuality, I will work very hard to empower each with their desired paths in life.

What motivates me is my nurturing disposition that I believe my Mom had recognized since I was a little girl and because of it, she encouraged me to be a teacher.  And she was right, because I truly enjoy my work.

If you hear me talking to my students before the start of class, you would think I was already the school counselor.  It begins every first 10 minutes of class.  I will remind my class that whatever it is they battled at home, leave it there.  They can only control what is happening now so focus on doing their best every second of the day.  More specifically, if they have no control over a problem at home, I remind them to leave all their worries behind, and concentrate on the present. 

I encourage them too by telling them some of my hardships in my childhood and how I struggled to get good grades, to be liked, to ignore the teasing, and just concentrate on myself.  I see their eyes light up.  Every first of January, the Chamorru month Tumaiguini which means ‘like this,’ I would have the students work on their ‘dreams.’  I have them draw their dream job, dream life, and then remind them if they start planning now they can succeed and reach their goals.

In this one instance, I told of when I was in third grade.  How I walked to school everyday, bloody feet and all because I couldn’t afford to buy another pair of shoes.  But I worked very hard to make sure I did well in school so one day I can buy all the shoes I wanted.  The story changes on and on.  This is my motivator, seeing the possibilities of people’s lives, by simple encouragement given the opportunity to plan for their dreams at a very early age, or at any age for that matter.  I earned my college degree and began teaching in my late 40’s.

I forget every now and then that kids are so inclined to pass on the juicy news of what they hear from and about their teachers.  One morning a teary-eyed co-worker handed me a cup of warm cocoa, apologetic.  “Oh Lou”, she goes on I didn’t know you had such a hard life.”

I responded with eh, “life is not easy.”  She went on, “but your feet bled walking around because you couldn’t afford to buy yourself another shoe?!”   Not feeling the need to explain, I answer with, “boy does that get them wanting to do better in school now