Chapters
1-3 of the Therapeutic Expedition, were very interesting in learning about the
helping process and how one prepares for the journey of helping someone. The
parts that stood out the most to me were the aspects of what one needs to do in
order to be ready for the journey that Thomas and Sosin discuss throughout the
chapters.
In
these chapters, the authors use many visuals to help create a portrait of what
they are referencing. The first section is referred to as the heart of helping,
which is a great visual of the foundations and what keeps the counselor going.
The foundation is the heart beat of the helping process. This chapter discusses
many aspects of the foundation including: worldviews, values, goals and guides,
the character of the counselor, and the risks a counselor takes.
In
chapter 2, the fundamentals of helping, Thomas and Sosin (2011, 59-60) quote
Corey (2005) by discussing the stool model of practice. The stool represents
counseling supports and what counseling is balanced on. The first leg on the
stool represents the character of the counselor, because who you are as a
person has implications for your professional practice. The second leg
represents the counselor’s worldview. The third leg of counseling represents
the counselor’s skill sets. All of these legs of the stool are important to
keep in balance. Without one leg of the stool, it is bound to fall.
These
chapters have such practice applications and make me personally seek out to
develop skills as a counselor and also continue to grow in my own personal
life.
Reference:
ReplyDeleteThomas, J. C., & Sosin, L. (2011). Therapeutic expedition: Equipping the Christian counselor for the journey. B&H Publishing.
Shiloh, Thank you for this thoughtful post. I appreciated your careful explanation regarding the stool concept in the life of the counselor. As Christian counseling students it is important that we use this teaching time of our lives to build these three parts of the stool. For instance, we must first build our spiritual life in regards to our personal walk with Christ which leads to our character and world view. Furthermore, we must take responsibility in our studies as we learn to integrate counseling theories and techniques from all different backgrounds with our worldview and character. building a strong foundation when we are in school will assist us in remaining balanced in our life time.
ReplyDeleteHi Meagan! Thank you for taking the time to read my post and reply! I enjoyed reading about the stool concept in the chapter and how practical it was. I know in my studies through my undergrad there were classes that I was just thinking, "why does this matter?!" And through reading through the text for this class (and others), I am just in awe of how practical it is and how in developing our skills as counselors we are working towards continued self-awareness. The stools represents not only counseling professional development, but also personal development (not even in regards to the field of counseling). It made me take a step back and think about my own personal life, and I hope it did the same for you!
DeleteShiloh, it seems that you are noticing that the journey of becoming a counselor means much more than learning the right set of skills and interventions. It also implies developing personally and investing in our own journey of becoming and refining our own worldviews and values.
ReplyDelete