Internship Students

As a CHS student, have you experienced a “cannonball moment” that has influenced your decision to be in a helping profession?

I feel that I have had many “cannonball moments,” big and small, over the course of the years while pursuing professional counseling. The most significant “cannonball moment” I can recall is when I made the decision to seek counseling myself in the senior year of my undergraduate degree. This was one of the first of many decisions I would make through which I began to take care of myself and to put myself and my needs first, as I had not entirely been doing so prior to that. This has influenced my decision to continue pursuing professional counseling because I want to ensure the same services and opportunities I had are available to everyone; I believe everyone is deserving of such opportunities. Having any role in that process has been and will always be extremely fulfilling to me. It is incredible to witness what human beings are capable of with effective support, guidance and community. I am and always will be incredibly grateful to witness and be a part of these phenomenon.

Erin Williams

As a CHS student we are taught about how important it is for us as counselors, to show up for our clients and how just showing up for someone can significantly impact their thoughts/feelings and help to build the therapeutic alliance. However, we don’t always realize how impactful this is until we’re in the field practicing. Throughout my internship this semester, I’ve had several ‘cannonball moments’ that occurred and reminded me of why I chose to be in a helping profession. At my internship site, I’ve been lucky enough to work with various populations and age groups, and I’ve found myself not only helping and educating my clients, but also learning from my clients. One specific ‘cannonball moment’ that I experienced this semester was with a client that I’ve been working with and during our sessions, I would mention things that the client had reported in previous sessions. One day when I was working with this individual they expressed surprise at the fact that I’d remembered specific things they said previously and told me that other counselors they’d seen would never seem to remember stuff like that and it would make the individual feel like their former counselors didn’t care. When the client expressed this to me, I could tell that it was important to them and made them feel like someone really cared. This moment made me realize that just being there for my clients, showing up and listening, is one of the most important things that I can do to help others and all it takes is me providing time and being present during my time with clients. Experiencing this ‘cannonball moment’ influenced my decision to continue to be in a helping profession and in a way it showed me that this is the right profession for me to be in.