Let's hike up!

Caption: norway-mountain-sky-blue-water-people

URL: https://pixabay.com/en/norway-mountain-sky-blue-water-772991/

Summarizing is one of the techniques a counselor must learn in order to make headway in the therapeutic alliance. It is also an advance reflecting skill which is used to draw attention to the client’s difficulties, to identify themes in the client’s story, and to help transition to another topic while providing a stepping tool for goals to be set (Young, 2017). Summarizing structures a clients’ presenting story as it progresses (Kuntze et al., 2009). When we think of a structure, we realize that there are many parts to it. Structures aren’t conjured from a magical world somewhere; they are built! Comparatively, if we think of a summary as a structure, then there must be other things this technique entails.

In order to get a good summary, encapsulating sentences that reflect the client’s content, the client’s feelings and the client’s underlying meanings are very vital. You see, it is a build-up from the foundation onto the finishing portion. As counselors, we first must reflect the client’s content, while listening for the client’s feelings and then infer meanings for what has been shared. It is not okay to dwell only on the content and expect to yield results from the counselling session. Neither would it be profitable to capture the client’s feelings and hold back from inferring meaning.

Imagine going hiking with a group of people. We know that getting to the apex of the mountain isn’t easy. However, one step at a time gets you closer and closer. From each move, your view becomes clearer and clearer. It is like that for the skill of summarizing, an advance skill that gets better as you practice the basic skills (Kuntze et al., 2009). As you reflect content, feelings and meanings, the view becomes clearer and gives you a foundation to develop a good summary.

Reference

Kuntze, J., van der Molen, H. T., & Born, M. P. (2009). Increase in counselling communication

            skills after basic and advanced microskills training. British Journal Of Educational

            Psychology, 79(1), 175-188.

Young, M. E (2017). Learning the Art of Helping: Building Blocks and Techniques

            (6^thed.). Boston, MA: Pearson. 

Termination

             

                          https://pixabay.com/en/gull-wing-bird-sea-fly-venice-1635683/

Losing a client can be a very detaching experience. The client and counselor have shared many vulnerable moments with one another upon termination of this therapeutic relationship. Despite many assumptions, termination is not always for “bad” reasons. Many counselors endorse termination in response to the client’s improvement (Westmacott, Hunsley, Best, McKean, & Schindler, 2012). Clients may find it difficult to discontinue services with an individual who has actually taken the time to listen to them.

 As preparing counselors, we have to prepare ourselves with the reality that not every client will be lifelong clients. So, we have to devote time to prepare the client for the upcoming termination. We want to make sure we prepare the client at least three sessions before the last session (Young, 2017). As we are discussing this upcoming event we as counselors should emphasize the client’s strengths and the progress that they have made throughout their sessions. Many might assume that counselors would feel sort of upset about the termination process. However, research has shown that counselors have positive feelings about termination (Knox et al., 2011). They report that these health professionals are actually proud of their client’s achievements (Knox et al., 2011).  

In Young’s (2017) literature he offers 7 suggestions surrounding the topic of preparing for termination. The steps are as follows: “(1) Bring termination up early. (2) Help the client think of termination as an opportunity to put new learning into practice. (3) Specify the number of session at the very beginning, so both helper an client are prepared for termination. (4) Us a fading procedure; that is, space appointments over increasing lengths of time. (5) Help the client to see his or her own actions that led to success and that the client has the personal resources to deal with future issues. (6) Play down the sadness of termination; play up the sense of accomplishment and the value of independence. (7) Use reflective listening to allow the client to express feelings of loss (p.286)”.  I think each of these suggestions are very helpful for aspiring counselors to know. My personal favorite suggestion would be the second suggestion. This suggestion involves allowing the client to see termination as an opportunity to put what they have learned into practice. In this relationship we encourage individuals to be autonomous. We want them to learn how to navigate their lives independently from us. This is a great opportunity to create a moment of empowerment for the client. Reframing the client’s somewhat melancholy emotions surrounding termination into hopeful opportunities of progression can set the client at ease.

Knox, S., Adrians, N., Everson, E., Hess, S., Hill, C., & Crook-Lyon, R. (2011). Clients' perspectives on therapy termination. Psychotherapy Research, 21(2), 154-167. doi:10.1080/10503307.2010.534509

Westmacott, R., Hunsley, J., Best, M., Rumstein-McKean, O., & Schindler, D. (2010). Client and therapist views of contextual factors related to termination from psychotherapy: A comparison between unilateral and mutual terminators. Psychotherapy Research, 20(4), 423-435. doi:10.1080/10503301003645796

Young, M. (2017). Learning the art of helping, 6^th edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

How iMessages can Prevent Fatal Attacks

                               Caption: Piranha attack

                               URL: https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2013/06/08/17/24/piranhas-                                      123287_960_720.jpg

When preparing to give a client any sort of feedback, it is important to consider how the client will react to the feedback.  Throughout the past semester, there was a guy I was working with on the hall.  To me he had a very abrasive personality and I did not agree with many of the things he said or did.  Simply put, he is a huge jerk.  I tried talking to him about his actions and choice of words, but whenever I would confront him, he would get defensive and felt attacked.  No matter the calmness or rearranging of words, he would always further build up a wall.  Given that he is a stubborn person who continually believed himself to be right, he would then attack me for pointing something out.  He did not want to be the one who had a flaw. 

Young (2017) mentions the use of I-messages and how stating how things makes the one helping feel, puts things into a different perspective.  If I were to say to this individual that I am uncomfortable with the way he jokes around with others (because in doing so he puts others down), then there may be a better connection and he may see where I am coming from.  It is interesting to note that Shechtman and Sarig (2016) found that feedback did not help improve the overall progress of children/adolescence in a group counseling setting.  This individual is not a child or adolescent and my interactions with him have been more one-on-one.  Bucher and Manning (2001) write that “you” messages focus on the other person and can build walls or roadblocks, while “I-messages” can provide transparency through empathy.  This may then prove to be an effective way to provide feedback to an individual.

Bucher, K. T., & Manning, M. L. (2001). Exploring the foundations of middle school classroom management: the theoretical contributions of B. F. Skinner, Fritz Redl and William Wattenberg, William Glasser, and Thomas Gordon all have particular relevance for middle school educators. Childhood Education, 78(2), 84+. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.liberty.edu/login?url=http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=vic_liberty&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA81857965&sid=summon&asid=937004b202ff21e96e28dd4712fea8ff

Shechtman, Z., & Sarig, O. (2016). The Effect of Client Progress Feedback on Child/Adolescent’s Group-Counseling Outcomes. The Journal for Specialists in Group Work, 41(4), 334-349. doi:10.1080/01933922.2016.1232323

Young, M. E. (2017). Learning the art of helping: building blocks and techniques (6th ed.). Boston: Pearson.

Emphasize Strengths

                                                   Caption: General practice counseling
                   http://quest.eb.com/search/counseling/1/132_1278618/General-practice-counselling


       As counselors occasionally there will be times where point out a clients strengths can greatly assist them. As Scott Meir and Susan Davis (2011) state "emphasizing strengths is a particularly important method for helping a clients regain control in a crisis." (Meir & Davis, 2011). There are in fact counselors who specialize in this very form of counseling. Now as counselors we will find ourselves occasionally pointing out our counselees strengths to them, but the two studies I will present will showcase how we should consider implementing strength based counseling more regularly.
       "Researchers and practitioners have found that clients are able to use their own strengths to withstand their difficulties and improve their lives. Six studies have provided empirical support for the use of a strengths-based counseling approach with adolescents and adults." (Farmer, Lile & Welfare, 2013). This article goes on to lay out a large amount of data all pointing to the fact that counselees flourish under strength based counseling which encourages us remind our counselees of all the strengths they possess and encourage them to think on those strengths in which they have been blessed. This is no to say we impose our views of their strengths on them, but as our sessions progress we will learn areas in which our counselee does feel good about it. We must store those away in case at some point in the future our counselee needs to be reminded of those very strengths. The second article cites "Strength-based counseling represents a paradigm shift in psychology from the deficit medical model to one that stresses clients’ strengths." (Smith, 2006). This article goes on to parrot the similarities of the last study, clearly we will see more of this model in the field in the upcoming years. 

                                                                         References 

WELFARE, L. E., FARMER, L. B., & LILE, J. J. (2013). Empirical evidence for the importance of conceptualizing client strengths. The Journal of Humanistic Counseling

General practice counselling. Photography. Britannica ImageQuest, Encyclopædia Britannica, 25 May 2016. quest.eb.com/search/132_1278618/1/132_1278618/cite. Accessed 4 Apr 2017.

Smith, E. J. (2006). The strength-based counseling model: A paradigm shift in psychology. The Counseling Psychologist

Self care

Image: Garrett Thurman


In this past month I have learned a lot about self care, and way too much about what happens what when I neglect it. Between several jobs, school, and stresses at home, I have been exhausted for a while now. Typically, I remain fairly healthy and take care of myself well, even in busy times. I think generally I know what I need to do in order to take care of myself well, but those things have fallen onto the back burner. A result of this self neglect has been a decrease in how well I am able to perform all of the responsibilities I have devoted so much time to. Going into counseling, this is something that I really will need to manage well.  I have found that I am bad at saying no to other people that need my help, despite the fact that I have sacrificed the time I need for self care. This has been a concern of mine going into the field, but I did not think I would be experiencing it at this point. All that being said, I think this will be an important part of my journey to becoming a counselor and I am thankful that I have the chance to figure out how to manage self care and other responsibilities before I begin my work in the field.

Challenging through Confrontation

Caption: Boss denying something saying no with a finger gesture to an upset employee in her office
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I think that one of the most important skills that I may find myself struggling with is the challenging skill. This more advanced skill is needed to help clients grow by noticing inconsistencies. I think the key to challenging is balancing the confrontation with sensitivity and support so that the client does not feel attacked, but he will rather more receptive to the opposing view. Young (2017, pp. 156) explains, “We all use such defense mechanisms to distort reality so that we can reduce anxiety.” By challenging through confrontation, we can shed light on a blind spot in a client’s life to help them face reality and break down the walls of these defense mechanisms.

            One very sensitive subject to challenge is a client’s irrational beliefs, but this may be one of the most necessary areas to challenge since so much emotional suffering can be brought on by irrational beliefs. By challenging irrational beliefs, the counselor can become a mirror of sorts to reflect the irrational thinking of the client and help the client see that there may be a more realistic, healthy way of viewing himself and the world. By asking clarifying questions such as, “Would it really be the end of the world?” the counselor can help the client come to a more practical understanding of some negative consequence they may be exploring. Spong (2012) explores the idea of challenging a client’s prejudice within the counseling relationship and explains that when challenging prejudice, counselors must remember to balance congruence and unconditional positive regard. Challenging with confrontation is among the more advanced counseling skills, but it may prove necessary to move the client to a place where he may grow and change.

References

Spong, S. J. (2012). The challenge of prejudice: counsellors’ talk about challenging clients’ prejudices. British Journal Of Guidance & Counselling, 40(2), 113-125. doi:10.1080/03069885.2011.646948

Young, M. (2017). Learning the art of helping, 6^th edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Why do we reflect meaning?

Pawn reflecting has a queen

 If there is one thing in counseling that I struggle to grasp would be revealing meaning back to our clients. Why do we need to reflect meaning? What purpose does reflective meaning provide for me as the counselor and my client? I struggled to have an understanding of the importance of reflecting mean back to my client. Furthermore, it feels unnatural, uncomfortable, and strange to interrupt a person to indicate one's word or phrase. Anais Nin stated, “We don’t see things as they are, we see things as we are (pp 122).”

Leontiev said, “meanings are built from a person’s past experiences, which are alloyed with firm beliefs, fuzzy ideas, and unconscious schemes or prejudices ( 2007, pp 123).” Why do we need to reflect meaning according to Young it helps us to understand the client at a deeper level while pushing the client to go deeper (2017). Reflecting meanings provides the client a different perspective of the sense of the word or phrase. Additionally, it creates insight into the individuals own thoughts and feelings to help him/her better understand the self. It essentially gives the clients a different view of his/her beliefs has they process the information to or from the counselor. Reflecting meaning allows you to go deeper with your client to by peeling back layers in their life to get to the root of the problem while providing a sense of empathy to create a safe environment for the client.

However, it is important for a counselor to establish a healthy therapeutic relationship with the client to allow a safe place for the individual to discuss the root issues within the self. Focusing on the reflective meaning and avoid close-ended questions will provide a better route to ensure the client gets to where they want to be.

References:

     

Leontiev, D. A. (2007). Approaching worldview structure with ultimate meanings technique. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 47, 243-266.

Picture Reference: https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/chess-mirror-447130387?utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=Pixabay&utm_source=44814&irgwc=1

Young, M. (2017). Learning the art of helping, 6^th edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.     ISBN: 0-13-416578-0