My name is Karen Winsor and I work as a Career Counsellor
for Wascana Campus SIAST. I have been working in this field
for the past five years, particularly in Career Counselling,
but I have worked in Counselling for the past ten to eleven
years.
[Education & Training:]
My jobs were quite varied (as many entry-level
jobs are for most young people) in my early
years of going to University. I did different
jobs like waitressing and so on. I started
with a two-year teaching diploma. At that time,
you could teach with a two-year diploma. So
I taught in elementary school and found that,
after teaching there for a year, it wasn't
a career place for me to be in. It was fun
but I knew that it was not where I wanted to
be in my life. So I went back to University
and completed a Bachelor of Arts with a major
in History and a minor in Psychology. At that
point I could apply for a professional teaching
certificate, which is what I did.
I went overseas with Canadian University Services
Overseas for two years and found that to be
a different experience. I lived in South America
and in the jungle. After that, I travelled
through the rest of South America. When I came
back to Canada, I went into teaching in a high
school and enjoyed that experience. I taught
in the high school system for a period of time,
various grade levels (mostly grade nine and
ten) and then I became a stay-at-home mom.
For eight years I was raising my daughters
and then I returned to the workplace. I realized,
when I wanted to return [to teaching], that
I needed more education. So that's what I did.
I went back to University and applied for a
graduate program for a Masters in Education
and went into the Educational Psychology area.
When I returned to school, I found it was very
challenging. Returning as an adult student
brought a few different kinds of fears and
anticipations, in terms of how would I make
out as a student after having been away for
a long time. But I found I'd settled into it
and learned.
I completed a Masters in Education over a
period of time and that brings me to probably
where my job is now in terms of education.
Some of the paths I have chosen evolved as
time went on; as one experience led to another
experience, and in terms of wanting to get
into career counselling by taking a summer
class that further peaked my interest in the
counselling field in terms of getting into
Adult Education. I started out working as an
Instructor in a literacy program for adult
students. Part of working as an Instructor
in that field was being able to do counselling
with students. So I took a life skills program
which added to that particular mix.
As I made my decision in terms of the career
path, the jobs did seem to lead from one area
to another in terms of first of all getting
involved in Adult Education, Counselling and
then into specifically Career Counselling.
[Change & Adaptability:]
In terms of making changes from one job to
another, when I made the changes, part of it
was due to realizing that that job was not
the one that was particularly satisfying and
another part was having an opportunity to do
something different. So when I had that opportunity
I would take it. I think the ability to adapt
to change is very critical in the counselling
field because you are presented daily with
different issues that people you are counselling
come with. So you need to be aware and attuned
to the very different kinds of problems that
they may present.
[Skills Needed:]
One of the most important ones [skills] is
being interested in people, being able to listen
to their problems and assist them in coming
up with solutions. In terms of career paths,
sometimes what people need is a kick start
to just help them to make decisions. It may
be some questions you ask or some kinds of
assessments they may do and the interpretation
that may help them in terms of what choices
they need to make. These skills are a very
important part of my particular path.
I have learned tremendously from other people
that I have worked with. I have been able to
acquire many skills by observing others participating
in activities. The role modelling by people
I've worked with is very important. The day-to-day
kind of work that you do requires a team to
be able to do those kinds of activities.
To be able to think and act independently
is important in this career also because when
you are in a one-to-one situation with a client,
you need to be able to gather information from
that person, make suggestions and offer options
for them to follow up.
[Succeeding:]
To be successful, the first criterion is people
skills. You need to like people and you need
to want to work with people. The second criterion
is training. You need to learn an approach
on what you are going to do and combine it
with the experience. Experience is also very
important because it is a great teacher.
In order to remain current in this career
you constantly need to be taking workshops,
you need to do a lot of reading and you need
to be able to hear some of the so-called gurus
of the field when they visit a place like Regina.
It is important to go to those kinds of workshops.
In order to follow a successful career path
it’s very important for people to:
A mentor certainly is someone who helps someone
to be able to get into a field and I think
it is important to keep your options open
to opportunity.
