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Blog 2: Reflections on Therapeutic AllianceJust as in other areas of life, building trusting and authentic relationships is crucial to the process and outcome of counseling. Neither the client nor the counselor can do the work required in therapy without first establishing a safe space and clear communication. As the Meyers (2014) article points out, there must also be a common understanding of what the outcome of therapy should be and buy in from both counselor and client. Both parties have to be willing to trust in the process as they do in each other. The hardest clients I have worked with have been those who have been forced to be in sessions by court or their parents and therefore did not buy into the therapeutic process. On the other hand, I was able to help one client, with whom I had great rapport, make a great deal of progress in just a couple of weeks. I tend to be more solution-focused and like to integrate humor in my sessions. Because her personality was similar to mine, we were able to quickly identify goals and she spent a great deal of time outside of the sessions working toward those goals. Additionally, conversations moved deeper quicker as we easily understood one another and felt comfortable in being direct. Finally, I appreciate how the Meyers (2014) article talked about how validating clients’ worldviews is sometimes all it takes the enhance the therapeutic relationship. This is something we should be doing anyway as counselors, and is a good reminder of some of the benefits this understanding can yield.
Reference: Meyers, L. (2014). Connecting with clients. Retrieved from http//ct.counseling.org/2014/08/connecting-with- clients/ Blog 4: Motivational InterviewingIn the smoking cessation video clip, the clinician used a lot of reflection to show empathy. He also fostered self-efficacy in the client by saying “that’s a decision only you can make” when the question of whether or not to quit smoking was brought up. Another way of doing this was through using decisional balancing to get the client to identify the pros and cons of quitting or continuing to smoke. The clinician also asked permission before giving info on the effectiveness of having a quit date in order to empower the client. Furthermore, the clinician also asked the client to look forward and think about the results if she did not quit smoking, which developed discrepancy as she was able to see that she wants her health to be better but that it won’t improve if she continues smoking. By the end of the clip, the clinician had built rapport with the client and the client had made the decision to quit smoking.
In the other clip, the counselor amplified exceptions by encouraging the client to look back when he asked “Was there a time when you did get some work done, even in the smallest way? How did you make that happen?” The counselor also nudged the client to look forward by saying, “Let’s imagine you were making progress-what would be different? How would you know you were making progress?” The client and clinician worked in partnership to re-evaluate black-and-white thinking and set realistic goals for the client to make progress on his dissertation. Blog 6: Spirituality in CounselingI was raised in a very religious Presbyterian home and sent to private, Christian school. Due to what I experienced as some hypocrisy, I pulled away from the church as a teenager. Although I don’t consider myself a religious person anymore, I will occasionally attend religious serviced. More often, I have spent time exploring spiritual concepts through reading and self-reflection. I personally think it is very important to question beliefs you’ve been raised with. This can occasionally hinder me as a counselor when I disagree with what I consider to be close-minded or unchallenged beliefs. This subtle judgment may prevent me from fully connecting with my client, and I might be resistant to exploring spiritual/religious resources that may be useful to the client. I can see myself encouraging clients to read about the topics of spirituality and religion, to seek council from religious mentors, and to use prayer as a form of meditation. However, I cannot see myself relying on specific religious texts. If the client wanted a more religiously or spiritually focused therapy, I would likely refer them to another counselor who may have more experience and willingness to work with those topics.
Blog 7: Career CounselingThe most obvious career development need of these students was to attain guidance on choosing a post-college work path. Our Gladding and Newsome (2017) text explain that college students typically “need help understanding their values, interests, motivations, personality, and skills” (p. 337). Gladding and Newsome (2017) discuss how family history can play into an individual’s career development. This is one area that was addressed in these career-oriented courses through the family genogram project. Students were exposed to new ideas by interacting with guest who came to the classes to speak about their work and how they applied their majors to their careers. Many of the students commented that these courses were particularly helpful because instead of being lecture-based, they fostered introspection through interactive activities.
Once these interests and skills were identified (throughout CNS 120) students then needed to learn how to apply them to prospective careers (in CNS 220) and the job search process (in CNS 320). Students were asked to put themselves in prospective employer’s shoes and act as a hiring manager so they could identify what stands out on a resume. They were also taught how to leverage tangible career tools, such as LinkedIn. |