McDaniel professor Diane Walsh teaches counseling with creativity

What brought you to McDaniel?

I’m originally from Iowa, but I moved around a lot after finishing my undergraduate degree. After four different cities in less than 10 years, I was ready to find a place I wanted to be long term. I was struck by how beautiful McDaniel’s campus is the first time I visited, but it was talking to people that made me want to work here. The more I connected with others, the more I could see myself at McDaniel.

What first drew you to the field of counseling?

My sophomore year of college, I realized I wanted to be a counselor and college professor. I felt called to alleviate suffering and work toward a more just world, and counseling seemed like a good option for that. I wanted to be a college professor because I was drawn to forming the next generation of counselors. I’m thankful for the insight I had at 19, because I love what I do. I also love the underlying philosophy and approach of counseling. Counselors focus on client empowerment and wellness, and we believe in the resilience of individuals we work with. This approach fits well with my personal beliefs and frames how I work with clients.

What are some of the graduate courses that you teach?

I have taught ethics, group counseling, assessment, and human development at McDaniel. The courses in the Counseling program are eight weeks and online, so there’s a lot to cover in a short amount of time. I am intentional in how I structure classes, and learning can take place anywhere in online education.

I try to find creative ways for students to gain content knowledge and practical counseling skills. In the ethics class, our meetings are spent discussing ethical issues, working on case studies, or developing ethical reasoning skills.

In the assessment class, students are exposed to a variety of assessments and evaluate assessments for use with clients. They role-play using assessments and engage in activities that develop their case conceptualization skills. Each time I teach a class, I make changes to better fit the needs of my students and emphasize opportunities that will prepare them for their work as counselors.

What do you do in your role on the board of MACES?

I currently serve as the secretary on the board. We had several exciting initiatives this year, including partnering with the Maryland Counselors for Social Justice for an inaugural graduate student conference and focusing on decolonization efforts in counselor education.

You’ve previously presented at MACES events — what topics did you discuss?

MACES offers a spring webinar series, which I have presented at twice. In 2023, the topic was addressing spirituality and religion (S/R) in counselor education. Research indicates that many counselor educators don’t feel equipped to address S/R in their teaching or supervision, so this presentation focused on maintaining professional boundaries and appropriately addressing S/R when relevant. S/R can be connected to an individual’s identity, worldview, meaning making, and sense of purpose. It can influence how a person understands suffering, healing, and hope. Even individuals who aren’t religious or spiritual have experiences of S/R. Put simply, S/R is a component of diversity, and it can have a positive and/or negative impact on mental health.

This May, I presented with two colleagues on increasing social class awareness in counseling. My colleagues and I did research on the counseling experiences of college students from low-income backgrounds. Social class encompasses so much more than financial status alone, and the stories from the participants illustrated how a lack of awareness in counselors can negatively impact the working relationship. Social class isn’t something that is talked about much, but our social class location can influence how we experience the world. The data from this study was fascinating, and it provided great insight on how to better work with individuals from diverse social class backgrounds.

You recently volunteered with the MCA conference planning committee, earning you the Presidential Certificate of Appreciation. What were your goals when you got involved?

I’m involved in professional organizations at the national level, but local engagement is important to me. Maryland is where I live and where I work; what happens in Maryland directly impacts me and my clients. I wanted to get more involved in the MCA to increase my sense of community and build connections. I was primarily responsible for the coordination of volunteers during the conference, which was a great way to connect with counselors across the state.

I am fortunate to have relationships with some phenomenal counselors who specialize in trauma, and we’ve integrated my research interests and their specialty in trauma for different publications and presentations. In my clinical experiences, many clients don’t come to me specifically to address trauma, but it may be a part of the work we do.

How do you incorporate your research and interests into your courses?

My interest in counselor development lends itself well to teaching. Counseling is a practice-oriented profession, and becoming a counselor is a transformational experience. It requires academic knowledge, practical skills, and a significant degree of self-awareness. Within counselor development, I’m particularly interested in self-awareness that facilitates clinical growth. This type of self-awareness allows a counselor to be curious about their beliefs, assumptions, and views. I work with students to develop reflection with meaning and purpose, as well as explore the implications of what we bring to the counseling room.

I also love facilitating group counseling in my clinical work, which makes teaching the group class fun. When discussing diversity and worldview, I might use research I have done on religion and spirituality or social class to illustrate examples. The richness of my clinical experiences also influences how I teach, as I emphasize practical applications of the course content. I’m also lucky that I find counseling fascinating, so I’m pretty interested in everything I teach.

How else does your experience with clinical counseling inform your teaching?

My experiences in counseling are foundational to how I teach, and I am constantly thinking about my students’ future clients. I’m very careful about protecting client confidentiality, but even without directly sharing, my clinical experiences add richness, nuance, and substance to how I teach.

My experiences in counseling are foundational to how I teach, and I am constantly thinking about my students’ future clients.

For instance, I have worked a lot with teens and young adults. In the human development class, I was able to highlight theories and topics that had been most salient to me in my clinical work. In my ethics class, I address ethical and legal issues counselors commonly face, including some that have happened to me or colleagues. I will demonstrate different counseling techniques or activities with students, which allows students to experience what clients may experience. This also gives us the opportunity to talk about how to apply the intervention to their own practice.

What’s something you hope students in the Counseling program take away from your courses?

Counselors are never done learning, and the work we do should be reflective of the client in front of us. I hope my students walk away from my classes with a greater sense of curiosity and intentionality in how they apply course content with clients, as well as a desire to continue to grow.