WKU News

Career shadowing can make a huge impact on people trying to figure out their future career.  But with privacy laws, how do you pull back the curtain on careers in counseling?

That’s where WKU’s Talley Family Counseling Center comes in as WKU’s Amy Bingham explains in this week’s View from the Hill.

The Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce has a program called SCK Launch, a partnership with city and county schools and area businesses to provide insight into careers in the area.  When it came time to showcase careers in counseling and psychology, they found the perfect partner in WKU.

“There’s a lot of students who are interested in mental health and mental health careers but because of HIPPA there’s not places they can go in.”

The people at WKU’s Talley Family Counseling Center jumped at the chance to showcase careers in mental health to high school students.

“I think they’re seeing how broad the idea of counseling is that it’s not just always sitting in a room talking with someone that’s having emotional difficulty.”

Interns at the Center showed students what goes on in various therapy sessions.

“A lot of times they would ask how do I do this, what do I need to do, is this the right way?  But just allowing them to just be creative and be themselves

Because we want someone to tell us how to be ourselves but in reality we know ourselves better than anyone else does so just being able to tap into our own creative.”

“We don’t often get the opportunity to see up close what counseling looks like so this is really neat to see the play therapy to see how students interact with one  another when they are pretending or doing the role play.”

For senior Rylee Turner, it was a glimpse into her future.

“I want to be a therapist, mainly a children’s therapist.  Work in art and play therapy.”

For others it opened their eyes to the wide variety of paths they can take.

“Until they come today they didn’t  know there are 50 to 60 careers within that mental health area.”

And it’s a field that’s expected to grow by 22 percent over the next 10 years.

 “It’s a profession that’s solid, that’s stable. There’s a need for it and it’s really enjoyable.  I don’t know many therapists that don’t find it exciting.”

The Talley Family Counseling Center, located in Gary Ransdell Hall, provides professional counseling to individuals, families and couples at no cost. For information, visit https://www.wku.edu/talleycounseling/