My Sister, My Best Friend
Photo by: Meagan Eckhardt
While reading these past couple weeks one specific section stuck out to me. Chapter 10 in Thomas and Sosin's book Therapeutic Expedition reviews the process of assessing a client. This chapter is very helpful in addressing specific areas and tactics that a counselor should be aware of when approaching client assessment. One aspect that stuck out to me was assessing social and family history. The author states "When it comes to knowing who God is, what he have experienced in our most intimate relationships has a critical impact (Thomas & Sosin, 2010, p.349)" This section reminded me of my relationship with my family and most specifically my younger sister. This was the first time that I processed how my younger sister and I have reflected and influenced each others views towards relating to God. There was a time in my life where my sister and I were very distant. We grew up best friends, and when I started a season of rebellion in my life I found myself withdrawing from this close intimate relationship I had developed with her. I stopped staying up late at night talking to her and started coming home late at night and going right to bed. When she drew close to me asking me questions I found myself being fake and not open with her.
When assessing a client's social and family history a counselor will understand how the clients social and family history affect their view of God, and use this understanding to create adequate treatment plans for the client. For instance if a counselor was assessing me during that period of my life they may have picked up on my withdraw from friends and family reflected my withdraw from God and the Holy Spirit. I also believe it is more important that a counselor becomes self aware of how their view of God is affected and has been affected by their own social and family relationships. This level of self awareness will protect the counselor from countertransference if the client is going through something similar. Self awareness in dealing with family and social dynamics is key in understanding others social and family dynamics.
I can honestly say my relationship with my younger sister has shown me how persistent and present God is. She reflects the LOVE of Christ to me, and is a physical reminder of Gods love and patience during my failures. I am grateful that God created humanity in a relatiobal way so that we can have a tangible example of relating to Him.
Joshua 1:9
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
Meagan,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your thoughtful post reflecting on Thomas and Sosin's focus on how our relationships with family may parallel our relationship with God.
Kirkpatrick, a researcher at William and Mary has studied attachment to God, and the idea of adopting God as a substitute attachment figure.
One of my favorite websites provides a video that helps people correct views of God as heavenly Father that may be distorted by their experiences with earthly attachment figures.
Check out: www.fathersloveletter.com
Discussing early childhood relationships is often a part of the intake process and increasing our own self-awareness regarding how our experiences influence our spirituality can be helpful in allowing us to be more present with clients as they share.
Dr. K
Dear Meagan,
ReplyDeleteI really appreciated you sharing about your relationship with your sister. I agree that one’s close relationships play an impactful role in one’s relationship with the Lord. I think this plays into Jordan’s post about how there are seasons of change within our lives. Additionally, the spiritual journey activity Dr. Knight had us do during class one day also is applicable to your post. I think that we are able to see how different relationships influence our view and relationship with the Lord. I think the Lord desires us to have relationships that encourage and push us to change to be more like Him. Additionally, I think there are times when we will go through difficult periods of our life that we will be able to look back on and see how those hard times brought on good periods of change where we were able to embrace our relationship with the Lord and have a significant growing time.
Good post!
Camille
p.s. That video is cool :)
ReplyDeleteHey Meagan,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your post. I am very close to one of my sisters as well. She had a huge impact during my childhood and we remain close today. She has been a great example for me to follow. I really appreciate the emphasis she has put in raising children in a Godly home. The way I approach my family and friends will be a good representation of how I will conduct myself during counseling sessions. Your post served as a great reminder on how important it is to have Christ as a priority. This will set everything else in place for family and career.