Your Vision As A Practitioner And Scholar

Your Vision As A Practitioner Scholar

Your Vision As A Practitioner S

YOUR VISION AS A PRACTITIONER SCHOLAR 1 YOUR VISION AS A PRACTITIONER S

YOUR VISION AS A PRACTITIONER SCHOLAR 6 Your Vision as a Practitioner Scholar Sandy Pennington Capella University Abstract My greatest vision is to help patients go through physical rehabilitation with respect and humaneness. In return, this exposure will give me a chance to practice psychology in a field that interests me greatly. I will also be able to make first hand observations in my area of specialization. These observations will continue to further my knowledge in my chose field and help me help other patients better. This field will also help me to meet likeminded colleagues with whom I can formulate better ways of assisting the patients who are now in wheelchairs. Assisting individuals who are confined to wheelchairs to get their lives back will not only help me achieve my professional goals but also enable me to contribute to the society positively.

Introduction

The practitioner-scholar theory exposes psychology students to the real world instead of only relying on the theoretical part of their studies. With this theory, students are able to practically apply what they have learnt in class or a real world setting. The theory therefore helps students to continuously use scholarly research so as to derive new questions and practical answers to psychological problems. It also pushes psychology students to question the assumptions that have been in use over the years and formulate new solutions for existing and emergent problems.

The students are exposed to a wide range of practical activities that relate to their course, throughout. The use of this method in training therefore exposes the student to the nature of research studies and how to collect data, and compile it to produce valuable information. In return, the psychology student will be able to inform his practice in a meaningful way, and may even instigate changes within the profession through the hands on approach to their studies (Foley & McNeil, 2015).

Vision

My vision is to become the most successful psychologist in the area of physical rehabilitation. I envision being a psychologist who is well respected in my field and who is on the frontline of research into the issues regarding patients who are confined to wheelchairs. I want to be able to represent this fraction of patients in a manner that dignifies them and gives them hope to live one more day with the confidence and hope that they can get better not only physically but emotionally and socially. I also want to be able to champion for the allocation of more funds into the area of physical rehabilitation and the accompanying course of treatment.

Goals

My goal is to help as many patients as is humanely possible to be able to live comfortably without needing to use the wheelchair. For those patients who cannot entirely be weaned off the wheelchair, my goal is to help them accept themselves and show them the various ways through which they can still contribute to the society without feeling like they are powerless.

I also intend to use my acquired knowledge and affiliations to conduct studies that will help in the formation of new policies in the field of rehabilitative counseling. Through the handling of so many patients, my experience will grow and I will therefore be more placed to help solve more complex cases of individuals who have ended up in wheelchairs. My aim is to also help the patients to get incorporated back to the society with as little friction as possible. By being as close as possible with their family members, the patient will have a better chance of getting better because they have something to look forward to, people to come back home to.

I am also a great advocate for short periods of stay in rehabilitation centers. Staying too long in a rehab center can make the patient get too used to life without walking. It alienates them from the rest of the world.

I will be able to achieve these goals by attending numerous workshops on the issue of counseling individuals who are confined to wheelchairs as well as reading numerous publications on the same topic. I will also seek to join my colleagues who may be doing research projects and conducting studies on issues related to counseling patients who are in wheelchairs. This will help me to have a better insight of the problems faced by individuals who are confined to the wheelchair and how I can help them lead a decent life (Alger & Luke, 2015).

Depending on what caused the patient to be in a wheelchair in the first place and the hands-on knowledge I have acquired in the course of my training, I will formulate treatment plans for these individuals. Working with them over time will enable me to gauge the areas in which they need more help and therefore focus more on these areas.

Conclusion

There are not many psychologists who have ventured into rehabilitation counseling. This means that the field is fresh for me to question assumptions that have been made in previous years as well as to formulate new questions that can challenge the existing policies and practices. Additionally, this field has access to tones of data through patient records that can be used to formulate better treatment plans for incoming patients. This is therefore a promising area for specialization. There is an opportunity for career growth in this venture.

References

• Alger, A., & Luke, M. (2015). The School Counselor Perspective: Preparing Students to be College and Career Ready within a Comprehensive School Counseling Program. The Practitioner Scholar: Journal of Counseling and Professional Psychology , 4(1).
• Foley, K. P., & McNeil, C. B. (2015). Scholar–Practitioner Model. The Encyclopedia of Clinical Psychology.
• Heracleous, L. (2011). Introduction to the special issue on bridging the scholar-practitioner divide. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science , 47(1), 5.