I was interviewed by Jr Blanco for the TAAP Talk Podcast and thought I would share some of the information. The topic of the podcast was Addiction Studies degrees.
Success!
We talked about students who are successful in graduate school and the
characteristics they possess.
Students who seem to be most successful present professionally and continue professional development and readiness while in school. One has to enjoy or be willing to work through the lack of enjoyment of writing. There is a lot of writing in most graduate programs. Students also have to be serious about their work. I have noticed a difference in graduate and undergraduate classes I have taught that graduate students do not miss class and do not turn assignments in late.
Stumbling Blocks!
We also talked about what might be a stumbling block for students in graduate school.
The converse of the things that I mentioned about students being successful, of course. Also, sometimes older students who have not been in school in a number of years mention the advanced technologies we use in higher education are unfamiliar. Most get the hang of it after a semester or two.
Students struggle when their personal issues have not been dealt with – when they are still really raw and unhealed, a lot more than those in undergrad. Likely because the focus of graduate school is specifically on counseling and helping professional topics. During undergraduate studies, students are typically taking a more diverse course load. Also, class sizes are much smaller in graduate programs.
Advice!
Jr asked me what advice I have for students.
There are several things I recommend to students in our undergraduate
program:
MENTOR and NETWORKING - Look for a mentor in the profession. Attend events to build your network. Meetings and conferences, like those offered around the state by TAAP, for instance, offer so many amazing pieces of education but a primary benefit for students is the networking that occurs among participants.
VOLUNTEER and JOIN – Do some volunteer work or join a student organization. Do not do this just because it will look great on a graduate school application, but for the experience and community it can provide.
PRE-PLANNING FOR PROFESSIONALISM – This can sound unnecessary to students at times, but I find it extremely important. Begin thinking of your professional reputation and image before you even start your career. Think of what you are posting on social media and how those posts might influence potential employment.
Consider how you spend your leisure time. Think of how unhealthy activities might impact your ability to obtain and maintain gainful employment. Employment opportunities are big, but the profession is small in the way that we are a community, and our professional reputations are important.
PERSONAL WORK – Every human being has personal issues to work out. If you are going to work with computers, you may be able to avoid those surfacing or causing difficulty in your life. Those who work in Addiction Counseling do not have that luxury. The clients we treat in our practices will trigger personal issues in us if we are not working on those. We do not want to harm people and personal issues that are not dealt with could cause us to do harm.
Many people are called to Addiction Counseling or similar career fields because of their personal experiences (they are in recovery, a family member struggles with addiction, a friend died from substance use, and other personal issues), which is great. Personal experience can help get us to the right place sometimes.
We do not have to be healed - we just have to be working on healing and aware of our issues. And willing to work on new ones that come up.
Exciting News!
UNT has a new degree that launches in Fall 2021. One can
obtain a certificate, minor, and now a bachelor’s degree in Addiction Studies. The Addiction Studies program at the University of North Texas is in the Department of Rehabilitation & Health Services, which is located in
