Abstract
Psychology as a discipline tends to study human activities and cognitive behavior from varied perspectives. The profession uses scientific approaches better to understand human emotions, learning, and reaction. Being a psychologist, it is essential to focus on its dynamics to make plans that meet changing needs of people. In this regard, the essay concentrates extensively on my future as a psychologist: values, principles, alongside strategies for self-care.
Values in psychology enable one to understand client needs better, allowing the psychologist to design proper paths for intervention. In simple terms, values help promote healthy relationships, allowing people to set their lives and others on the desired track. To a psychologist, values act as guiding tools used to protect others and themselves (Cooper et al., 2019). In my future professional practice as a psychologist, the following will be my guiding values:
Progressive learning: considering increased dynamics in psychology, I am entirely dedicated to lifelong learning as a psychologist. My value here is guided by the fact that therapeutic approaches and new ideas continue to emerge. As a result, I am bound to stay abreast by embracing close colleagues’ consultations, attending pieces of training, and engaging in research (Bedi et al., 2020). In this case, it is essential to realize that psychologists’ desire can backfire due to a lack of preparedness to operate with particular clients or situations. Inadequate preparation is likely to result in a poor diagnosis of people’s needs, leading to a wrong intervention likely to harm clients.
Maintenance of appropriate boundaries: as one of my future values as a psychologist, I am bound to adhere to specific limits that will help me maintain therapeutic and professional relations. The value will help me in upholding desirable moral standards with the clients (Messham, 2018). In this case, romantic association with the clients is highly discouraged due to ethical codes, power differential, and other sexual laws that prevent such actions.
Cross-cultural understanding: in this case, I will be required to exercise self-examination and dedication to diversity consideration to enhance my effectiveness. In other words, this value will help me analyze my personal beliefs and how they align or differ with those of the clients. The practice will enable me to operate in a pluralistic society with unique cultural differences. Failure to embrace this value in a diverse artistic community will attract resistance, which will likely interfere with my performance as a psychologist (Mills et al., 2017). Proper utilization of this value will help me to confront and recognize my biases as I strive to ensure fairness and equity in my practice. The idea here is that human beings have dignity and rights: no one is without a particular belief regardless of their conditions.
Patience: as an influential psychologist, I will be open to the fact that some long-standing behaviors need time before registering any positive change. Using this value will require me to give proper guidance to the client instead of directing them on what to change and how to arrive at the desired end. In this case, I will be open to the fact that improvement is nonlinear and with common setbacks that are likely to pave the way with time (Jenkins et al., 2019). The value provides a guide on dealing with some resistant and angry clients who cannot be forced to change before they are convinced why they need it.
In addition to the above values, my profession will use principles that are stimulating in nature. The main aim of these codes is to inspire and guide my practice towards the highest ethical ideals. In this case, it is significant to realize that my professional principles are not obligations; hence they are not required to give a basis for executing sanctions. Using these principles requires me to be keen to avoid distorting their purpose and meaning:
Beneficence and non-maleficence
As a psychologist, I intend to ensure my clients reap maximum benefits from the service they receive. To ensure this, I am obliged to protect the rights and welfare of those who seek my help and other affected individuals. In case of a conflict in psychologists, ideas, concerns, or responsibilities for a proper resolution that avoids harm must be enacted. Considering that psychologists’ actions and judgment are likely to influence people’s lives, the principle will help me guard my power against negative influence.
Integrity
Using this principle in my professional practice, I intend to promote honesty, truthfulness, and accuracy. By doing this, cases revolving around fraud, fact misinterpretation, and stealing will be highly prohibited in my profession. Such practices as avoidance of unclear and unwise commitment will help me in maintaining desired standards (Curry & Epley, 2020). In circumstances where deception is ethically justifiable for increasing gains and reducing harm, the principle will help me decide the action that will not result in mistrust.
Responsibility and fidelity
The principle here will help me to establish a desirable relationship of trust among my clients. To achieve this, I am required to be aware of scientific and professional responsibilities to surrounding communities. Additionally, I intend to ensure good cooperation with institutions such as APA and other professionals to the required extent of meeting my clients’ needs (Allan, 2019). To ensure this, I will strive to donate a considerable portion of my professional time to enhance the satisfaction of my clients.
Research in psychology has established that burnout among psychologists has resulted in significant adverse effects that will deter one from attaining required outcomes if not well addressed well (Quartiroli et al., 2021). Some exhaustion results from an increased workload, work pressures, and other factors which involve providing support to individuals in distress. In this regard, I have established self-care strategies that will help in coping with work-related burnout:
Taking vacation
This strategy requires taking off from the usual routine to give the body time to recover from daily overload. According to APA findings, taking a break from regular work schedules has a long-lasting effect that helps individuals improve their work performance and general well-being. As a result, I intend to set a time for other activities away from the regular daily routine.
Treats
The strategy here calls for pleasure that introduces an aspect of spontaneity and happiness to our days. The plan is based on the fact that most professionals allocate no finances, time, and other resources for necessary macro self-care. Some have a feeling that setting aside money and time to look after themselves is wastage. Contrary, APA research has established that having no time for ourselves is an act of selfishness (Bettney, 2017). If one suffers from burnout, there will be no chance to help people anymore. As a result, a considerable proportion of both my time and resources will be dedicated to my self-treat. The practice will allow me to overcome emotional and compassion work fatigue.
References
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Jenkins, E. K., Slemon, A., O’Flynn-Magee, K., & Mahy, J. (2019). Exploring the implications of a self-care assignment to foster undergraduate nursing student mental health: Findings from a survey research study. Nurse education today, 81, 13-18. Web.
Messham, L. S. (2018). Exploring Clinical Psychologists’ experiences of leading within clinical teams in relation to their values (Doctoral dissertation, University of Leeds). Web.
Mills, J., Wand, T., & Fraser, J. A. (2017). Palliative care professionals’ care and compassion for self and others: a narrative review. International journal of palliative nursing, 23(5), 219-229. Web.
Quartiroli, A., Wagstaff, C. R., & Thelwell, R. (2021). The what and the how of self-care for sport psychology practitioners: A delphi study. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 1-20. Web.