Doctoral Students : We Need
More Support ! continued from page 14
in their field , and to broaden their employment opportunities . Ironically , this commitment to years of coursework , clinical experience , and , at times , fellowships or residencies , can take a toll on their mental health , as well as on their personal relationships and their work duties .
Because many graduate students are more than simply fulltime students — doctoral students are often employed full time in the counseling field while managing their academic workload and their daily lives — obtaining an advanced degree often comes with an increase in stress and workload , which can lead to burnout and other negative impacts . include at least three of the six doctoral core areas : teaching , research , scholarship , leadership , advocacy , and counseling . ( See the CACREP 2016 standards at https :// bit . ly / 3psVmOv .)
We have identified some of our own personal challenges and barriers as we work towards completion of our doctoral degrees . We recognize that no one program will prepare us fully for every aspect we may encounter ; however , we would like to highlight some of the challenges we have encountered , along with some proposed ideas to rectify them , in four areas :
• Teaching ,
• Research ,
• Clinical work , and
• Supervision .
The most frequent stressors experienced by doctoral students in counseling include : managing coursework , time-management struggles , financial issues , completing a thesis or dissertation , work-family balance , interpersonal relationships , stress regarding practicum and internship , and managing roles as teachers or supervisors , according to research by Injung Lee , PhD , and others . Their findings appeared in the December 2018 issue of Counselor Education and Supervision , https :// bit . ly / 3pzN4UX .
IDENTIFYING CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS IN FOUR AREAS
To ensure that the counseling field continues to develop and produce talented , committed , stable professionals capable of helping their clients and contributing to the clinical mental health counseling field , it is important to identify what graduate students need in order to complete their doctoral program . This article emerged naturally from an ongoing conversation in a supervision group that was part of a doctoral internship class .
We share a consensus on not only the challenges that doctoral students experience in their roles as students as teachers , researchers , clinicians , and supervisors , but on what doctoral students need to be successful and feel supported by their programs .
Some of the obvious challenges and barriers that exist for future counselor educators during their doctoral journey include intensive courses and course loads , heavy writing and research demands , comprehensive exams , dissertation , and juggling various internship experiences successfully , as well as life , work , and family commitments . Counselor Education doctoral students must complete 600 hours of supervised internship experiences to successfully satisfy these requirements , according to CACREP standards , which further require that the internship experience
TEACHING
Challenges
The teaching component in the Counselor Education and Supervision ( CES ) program is essential in creating the next generation of university and community college professors . For doctoral students , being placed in a teaching role can bring about an increase in anxiety . Despite being familiar with the content of the course , the doctoral student may be uncertain about the best way to teach the material in a classroom setting .
Doctoral students have been sitting for years as students in a classroom — now we are responsible for being in front of the class delivering the lesson . Where do we start ? How do we ensure that the students are engaged ? How do we grade fairly ? These are just a few of the questions that doctoral students may have when undertaking a teaching component of their program , and it ’ s easy to see why , if the questions are not answered , they may be fearful or anxious when entering the classroom setting as the instructor .
Because the logistics of the classroom experience from the professor ’ s lens is not discussed or taught within the program , doctoral students have to scramble on our own to develop the necessary skills to properly manage a course , such as grading assignments and exams , managing a classroom , etc . Doctoral students concerned about how to manage a classroom well may seek guidance from their professors on :
• How are attendance and deadlines managed ?
• What styles of teaching — lecture only , activities , peer teaching , etc .— are acceptable ? continued on page 16 The Advocate Magazine Summer 2021 American Mental Health Counselors Association ( AMHCA ) www . amhca . org
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