Summary of the Client Christina is an 8-year-old child who is being adopted by her cousins. Christina’s mother died from a drug overdose. Her mother was physically abusive, neglectful, emotionally abusive and Christina suffers from other trauma yet to be discovered. Christian spent several years in the foster care system and had five different placements. Since moving in with the Martinez family she has started showing several behavioral problems she is acting out, and avoiding any physical contact she is also being verbally aggressive towards tommy and refuses to share mealtimes with the family.…
You did an outstanding job explaining the interventions you would use with Precious through narrative therapy. In your first meeting with Precious, you stated that you reviewed her case and recognized that she has endured many hardships in her life, yet she still has a smile on her face. This was a great way to start the session. You complimented her right from the start by recognizing her determination to have a better life. Precious would appreciate your initial icebreaker as she has limited self-esteem and probably has not had someone say something positive about her for some time.…
Oscar, I have to say that I chuckled when I read, "I've done everything in the mental health field except prescribe medication; you name it: case manager, psychotherapist, administrator, clinical supervisor. " You are quite an interesting person Oscar. winking I have to say your previous employment was quite a surprise to me. I'm a little taken back. I'm usually a perceptive person, but you really got me this time.…
Since I was first accepted into the graduate clinical mental health counseling program, I highly anticipated my first experience of actual counseling. I never expected the difficulties I would face upon my first encounter counseling a client. With my client unaware of the reason for being referred to me, asking “what brings you in here today?” turned out to be the wrong question to ask. The more appropriate way initiating a counseling relationship begins with introductions and obtaining background information from the client increasing the trust level between client and the counselor. During the session, I detected my “machine gun questions” meaning I never provided my client adequate time to respond before I asked another question; as a result,…
I was sitting In a dark room, like a cell. I could hear faint voices arguing outside. It had been seven days since I had heard from the task force, I am the head of a task force. I was the best detective in the world. But I should not brag, I should listen, find a way out.…
The pain began slowly, pricking me with its sharp needles only while doing barre in ballet once a week. I ignored it, believing it to be normal, common discomfort that would soon go away, typical thoughts of a dancer whose entire sport is centered around “good pain”. Six months later, it had escalated to the degree that every step I took felt like an arrow to my knee. Dancing had become impossible, and it was determined that I should be taken to the orthopedist. The bland, brown and beige lobby became extraordinarily familiar as I waited two hours to be examined.…
This week I had trouble keeping up with my behavior change for many different reasons. I believe one reason is related to the transtheoretical model. My mind set is still stuck in the preparation stage and I need to push myself past that to take action in the next stage. I know I want to get more sleep but there is many factors that push me to stay awake and sacrifice sleep still; for example, hanging out with friends at night.…
As a child growing up in Rhode Island, the smallest state in the Union, the idea of a vast planet brimming with civilization and culture was more like something out of a fairy tale than it was reality. So, when my father announced that we would be leaving the country to go to Scotland, the home of his and my ancestors, my world began to expand at a rapid pace. This trip could not have been timed more perfectly. The summer of 2007 marked the end of fourth grade, my first year at Saint Mary Academy Bay View.…
My interests in counseling is fuel by hurts and pain of people I observed throughout my lifespan. From the time I could speak, I saw family members, being taunted, by traumatic event that occurred throughout their lifespan. As I watched the hurt and pain of others consume them, I watch them suppressed the pain, in a harmful matter. For the future suppressing the pain, like substance abuse became an unconscious systematic coping method for stressors. Furthermore, as years progressed the hurt and pain presented itself through violence, verbal, and physical abuse.…
“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view --- until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” To really understand a situation, you must look at every corner, every aspect, and every possibility of the problem. It wouldn’t be fair to the other person if you didn’t listen to their side. Consider all possibilities as a right possibility. Recently I had a an argument with a friend who did not see things from my point of view.…
A form of refugee-relevant psychological therapy, Narrative Exposure Therapy, “produces swift and meaningful result.” First devised by German researchers Frank Nuener, Maggie Schauer and Thomas Elbert, NET is specifically designed to be given in a refugee camp. Treatments are typically given in six sessions, about an hour long each and focus on clearly documenting every atrocity endured in great detail. A clinical trial of 43 Sudanese refugees, designed to examine NET effectiveness, compared results of 4 sessions of NET with results from standard counseling session. A year later, 29 percent of NET patient met PTSD criteria, while 79 percent of counseling and 80 percent of psychoeducation patients met PTSD criteria.…
Model of Family Therapy The Experiential Family Therapy model is a theory that was developed by the practitioners of Carl, Whitaker, Walter Kempler and Virginia Satir. With the Experiential Family Therapy Model, the goal of the therapist is to catalyze the natural drive of the family to reach growth and the full potential of the individual members of the family. Still, the individual practitioners allowed their personality to be instrumental in the success of their unique forms of Experimental Family Therapy, although their focus and goals were similar (Goldberg, 2013). Because of the importance of the individual personality in the success of a model, Whitaker’s Symbolic-Experiential Family Therapy (S-EFT) was selected and will be argued for…
Do you know what you will be doing five years down the road? For me, it is hard to imagine myself as a therapist though I do share an interest in helping people. The reality is, you can plan for many things but you never can fully predict where life will take you. As a therapist I can identify some potential strengths and weaknesses that I bring to the field.…
Another goal is to encourage the client (s) to examine their preferred answers to their problems that they are going through. Since, clients possess strengths; the goal of this therapy is to use those strengths to solve their problem. (Gehart, 2014). The goal of Narrative Therapy is to use the client’s language to find out what is going well in the client’s lives to enable the client to anticipate a positive change in their life (Gehart, 2014).…
The sickness that I live with is one that some would find excessively appalling, making it impossible to talk about; so I kept it to a whisper. This sickness I thought was to embarrassing to talk about, making it impossible to seek help, left me feeling alone in the dark. This sickness ruined friendships, without me realizing it. This sickness that made getting out of bed a struggle for me. This sickness made it impossible for me to see a positive future, until the day I stopped calling myself “crazy” and began to grow from what we all call, depression.…