Counseling: A Personal Narrative

confused and doesn't know what to do as she can not be seen with him.

and describe (50+ words) the respective theory in the far left column. (2) Under the Intent

This paper will describe my personal approach to counseling. It will discuss my philosophy of human nature. I will describe my beliefs of the counselor’s role and the theoretical approaches I would draw from as a profession school counselor. I would then evaluate my preferred approaches for their strengths and weaknesses. Finally, using my personal approach to counseling, I will present the concerns I have in the Case of Jasmine and apply strategies to the scenario. I will end with evaluating this approach in Jasmine’s case and give an explanation of considerations for working with her in the school setting

The pre-class paper I wrote when class first began focused on my personal influences, how people become who they are today, and how people change and heal. Now that class is coming to an end, I have re-read my pre-class paper and have noticed some changes in the way I view these topics. My personal influences, for the most part, have remained the same. In my pre-class paper, I discussed how my love for psychology, my two friends who struggled with drug addiction and my early experiences were the biggest influences that made me decide to pursue counseling. I am still passionate about psychology and interested in the concentration of addiction counseling. I will never forget the massive impact my two friends who struggled with addiction had on my decision to enter this field. Also, I still believe my early experiences greatly influenced who I am today. By having to support myself at such a young age, I became the hard working and non-judgmental person I am today. Also, by being the middle child, I usually stayed out of family arguments and was the person my family members would talk to if they were upset. I now realize that my experiences are consistent to the family birth order aspect of Adlerian Therapy. Adler believed the middle child was usually left out and played the role as the peacemaker in the family, which is what I usually did. My family

When she told him she no longer loved him and needed to move on, he sat in silence for a few moments. She almost rolled her eyes when he started crying. She hated when other people showed emotion in front of her.

As is true of most people, it is difficult for me to apply a Freudian lens to my experiences growing up simply because I do not remember that far back in my life. According to Freud, every family experiences what he calls the 'family romance' of the Oedipus complex or the Electra complex. The young infant desires his or her mother and resents and wants to supplant the father in the mother's affections. The boy resolves this by identifying with his father. The girl's Electra complex "has its roots in the little girl's discovery that she, along with her mother and all other women, lack the penis which her father and other men posses" and so she comes to resent her mother yet identifies with her mother to 'possess' a man (Stevenson 1999). However, my experiences show the culturally-limited perspective of Freud I grew up in a single parent household.

There are a number of historical theories in counseling, which have been used to assist clients during the counseling process. This week’s readings provided quite a few concepts from counseling theories which emerged around the mid-to-late twentieth century. These concepts come from the Adlerian therapy, reality therapy, and person-centered therapy. Within these therapies there were a few concepts that were valuable and interesting to me. Many coincided with my views on the reasons for people’s behavior and human nature. These concepts are also meaningful to me for various reasons. Each of these psychological concepts might be useful when having a counseling relationship with a client in a variety of ways. Counseling theories can help a counselor properly assist someone, which may be more effective, rather than the counselor doing whatever they feel is right at the time of the counseling session (Roy-Day, 2015).

Among the many issues that face the counseling profession, counseling culturally diverse clients is one of the most challenging. Becoming culturally competent is a road that all counselors must travel in order to be truly effective. In order to successfully travel that road, counselors must have multicultural training with the intended destination being culturally competency. Cultural competence requires trainees to become aware of their own world views, their assumptions of human behavior, their misinformation and lack of knowledge, and most importantly, their biases and their prejudices (Sue & Sue, 2016). Because of the complexity of working with populations from diverse backgrounds, a broad range of counseling theories and research is needed.

What I know is that there is no one size fit all when it comes to counseling. Each client presents with a unique set of issues. Mychalleng is to recognize the issue, have a solid comprehension of the theories, and set forth a motion in place which will benefit both the client and therapist. At this juncture in my counseling journey I have waivered multiple times on my theoretical orientations; however there are is a common theme with the theories that is starting to develop. I am drawn to the theoretical tenents of empowerment, self-actualization, motivation, cognitions, behaviors, self-awareness, delving into the past, spirituality, and that I am beginning to recognize. I see that I am drawn to theories that focus on delving into a person’s

I may not have much experience in counseling services, but I have learned a lot throughout my college career, three-month internship, and personal experiences with several of my children’s school counselors. Each of these factors drove me to not only help others but to get involved in what I believe is the starting point of teaching the young to how to help themselves.

She wonders if he will call her again since he was so mad, bit a few days later, he calls her

She confided in him and let her feelings win. Little did both of them know that this would be the

As a child, I have always sought to help others either by helping the elderly, listening to a friend in need or simply giving advice based on my own experiences. This was a sufficient and often rewarding technique I used to help people. Unfortunately, after reading Chapter 1, I realized that I needed to re-evaluate my idea of how I helped others and access my own abilities in doing so. A counselor to me is simply a friend comforting another friend in need. Now, I do realize there are more technical terms, therapeutics, and common practices associated with being a counselor, but bottom line “I want to help”. So, I began to evaluate myself based on the six components of a working alliance (empathy, acceptance, genuineness, wellness perspective,

Numerous research and studies demonstrate that new approaches and methods need to be taken in order that school counselors have an opportunity to provide students with the effective assistance within the limited time they are allotted for sessions. The method of counseling known as Solution Focused Brief Counseling has been proven to be an effective form of counseling which provides more assistance to students and allows school counselors, the career in which people spend the third highest percentage of time occupied with work, to face the issue of the limited time they have for sessions (Murphy, 2008). It is for this reason that the New Jersey School Counselor Association should become further aware of this method of counseling as well as the results which it yields and initiate the use of this method within schools throughout the state. This form of counseling should be part of the training which school counselors receive, as this method would improve the assistance that students receive from their school counselors as well as provide school counselors with a counseling approach that will work within a few sessions. The effective results of this method have been proven by studies and research from the Center for School Counseling Outcome Research and Evaluation, American Psychological Association, as well as other sources. Therefore, the method of Solution Focused Brief Counseling should be applied within New Jersey schools because research proves that this method is

These days, the counselor is one of the important jobs in our society. Since human psychology is developed in early 19th century, counseling becomes a way of therapy to human problems. Many counseling clinics take care people who has psychological, social, marital, relational or communicational problems. We call them as a specialist who can solve those kinds of problems. Then, what is the definition of counseling? In the Oxford Dictionary, it says, “The provision of assistance and guidance in resolving personal, social, or psychological problems and difficulties, especially by a professional.” Actually, I doubt to use this word in the church. In other words, I don’t think this modern concept of ‘counseling’ can be used in the church as same way in secular world. But, there is the biblical concept of counseling. For Christian, the only Counselor is Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. And as his disciples or servant, we, especially pastors, are a counselor to the others who are in need.