TPC-Journal-V4-Issue4

The Professional Counselor \Volume 4, Issue 4 410 Discussion This study demonstrates many aspects of rural mental health counseling and answers the research question related to rural counselors’ various roles and supervision and professional development experiences. Given the extra roles that participants take on and the multiple settings in which they practice, the findings of this study are similar to those of Bushy and Carty (1994). This study further highlights the ambiguous nature of availability and accessibility of rural mental health resources. In some instances, participants described ample collegial accessibility. Putting Out Fires said, “I feel supervision-wise, I get a lot of good support.” All Things Rural concurred: “I know a lot of my colleagues in the area. And that’s helpful.” In other instances, participants bemoaned a lack of resources. Putting Out Fires replied, “You have to work your butt off. We have scraped. We have scraped.” Super Nanny responded, “They’re there. You just have to look for them.” With such contradictions occurring within the context of the four interviews, the complexity of rural mental health counseling is apparent. Hard work is expected. Putting Out Fires explained, “If you’re going to be successful, you’re going to have to work at it.” By using a qualitative design, the author was able to gain insight into the nature of rural mental health counseling experiences that she could not study easily through quantitative methods. Allowing participants to speak candidly about their experiences in a semistructured interview format provided an increased understanding of rural mental health counseling experiences, supervision and professional development. The participants also represented a variety of service venues, including outpatient services on an American Indian reservation. One limitation of the study relates to the questionable reliability of self-reports. Some participants may have felt political or internal pressure to portray their geographic location or job in a positive light. The author’s presence during data collection may similarly have impacted participants’ responses. An obvious limitation is the narrow demographic representation and sample size. Although the participants represented a variety of community mental health settings, all the participants were Caucasian females. Having more substantive demographic differences (e.g., age, race, gender, years in the field) and a larger sample size could have further enriched the findings. Implications for Clinical Practice, Counselor Education and Future Research It remains clear that certain personal qualities and professional skills can lead to increased rural mental health job satisfaction and success. For example, knowing how to adapt to ever-changing situations, be they role or setting related, is important. Whether being prepared to help a community sandbag for an approaching flood, anticipating loss of cell phone reception or writing one’s own grants, flexibility becomes key. As All Things Rural said, “You just have to be very versatile.” The current study reinforced findings from previous rural mental health research. Working in isolation is a hard truth for rural mental health counselors (Curtin & Hargrove, 2010). All Things Rural said, “Smaller communities . . . don’t have services.” The Pastor’s Wife expanded on the dilemma: “And the resources out there are even . . . less than here, so it was really important to have those credentials.” Obtaining additional credentials may not only help advance one’s career goals, but in rural mental health counseling, it can become a function of survival. Smalley et al. (2010) further suggested anticipation of ethical dilemmas. Participants in this study recognized the coping skills necessary for dealing with concerns surrounding confidentiality, dual relationships and