Johari Window Analysis

• Your basic philosophy about the nature of human beings with substance or behavioral addictions;
A person with substance abuse and/or behavioral addictions in my opinion is in a perpetual state of crisis, whether they are looking for their substance of choice or working to hide their usage among other things. The thoughts of a person who is in active addiction are skewed and their views of the world as well as themselves are often very negative. The addict is generally self-destructive with little to no self-esteem. Addicts are often find themselves doing things that they would not otherwise do, such things as steal, lie, cheat, sell their bodies and everything that they own or hold dear. An addict wears a mask that attempts to hide their …show more content…
The Johari window is a great tool in the respect of counseling for addiction because it gives a client the ability to examine areas of their lives in a structured and tangible way. Using this tool allows both the counselor and the client to be able to see what the where the client sees themselves in their lives in the moment, what they are hiding from themselves and others as well as some of the things that they can discover about themselves. The Johari window prompts the client to dig deeper into the issues that they are both aware of and unaware of at the same time. It also allows that the client may be ashamed of these areas due to vulnerability to having faults, weaknesses, and dysfunctions exposed. The client can become vulnerable to the process and become more honest and clearer in their goals and needs throughout the process of therapy. The Johari Window has four parts that the client is encouraged to work on, their open self, their hidden self, their blind area-what they do not want those around them to see about them and the last part is that which they do not know about themselves. This last part is open for self-discovery. The four panes of the Johari window ask the client the right questions in order to allow the client to open up in a non-threatening way and be able to examine the issues that they are facing both visible and invisible to themselves and those around …show more content…
The role of myself as a counselor is to accept the client as they are and where they are in the moment. I will also work to be as real as I can be with the client and see them as they see themselves as they understand the situation. Another component to being an effective counselor is showing empathy without sympathy towards the clients’ issues. As an effective counselor I must be able to first develop a therapeutic relationship based on trust and openness with a client so that they can achieve the greatest success possible through any recovery/treatment plan. The next step would be to provide the client with the tools, available programs and education that they will need to decide what level of recovery that they are seeking; whether it would be harm reduction or full abstinence. My role as a counselor is to assist the client in developing a set of goals that will allow them to work towards the level they choose for themselves for recovery. Each client is an individual and as such each one will have specific outcomes that they are seeking in their personal recovery and maintenance within their personal program. As their counselor I will be there to listen to their needs, wants and aspirations in a life that they are currently unfamiliar with. The first function that I will address as a counselor will