ABSTRACT
Counselors in Training are introduced to the Actualization process from the Universal Growth Model, including the Professional Growth Plan that paves the way, combining skills practice, assessment, newfound meaning, and growth in an ongoing fashion. One can create a growth plan from the beginning of his/her journey or halfway in, assessing his/her strengths and areas of challenge, helping to set him/her up for ongoing growth throughout his/her professional career. Self-actualization was described by Abraham Maslow as the highest level of needs at the top of a pyramid of life needs. The new learning, actualization and connection one obtains appears to elicit a new awaking in that it helps encourage him/her to look at even other places of ongoing needed growth in life. Using the foundational counseling skill of immediacy and facing fears within situations and relationships, while also reflecting and using self-awareness, can contribute to meaningful connection.
