My Counseling Session

I believe counseling is a collaborative partnership between client and counselor. Furthermore, this collaborative partnership is built from trust and acceptance of both client and counselor. I hope in conjunction with clients to understand the issues and concerns so to help them tap into their wisdom, creativity, and strengths to meet their current challenges. I believe in a comprehensive perspective through which clients can better comprehend themselves in the framework that our thinking about events can lead to emotional and behavioral upset. Moreover, counselors are to provide a safe environment for clients to explore their challenges and identify ways to move differently in overcoming these challenges.

Needs of Love, Affection and Belongingness are needs for safety and for physiological well-being are satisfied; the next class of needs for love, affection and belongingness can emerge. Maslow states that people seek to overcome feelings of loneliness and alienation. This involves both giving and receiving love, affection and the sense of belonging.

Counseling is a profession of which the goal is to help people who are experiencing issues. In retrospect these issues are impacting the client greatly, to a point that is hindering or obstructing daily functions or some aspect of their lives. As it stands, the therapist is tasked with adjusting or changing how a client views, approaches, and reacts to the situations and circumstances that are taking place in his/her life. The idea of counseling is derived from many different theories. Depending upon the nature of the problem the client is experiencing will determine, which theory is ultimately used to bring about a change in behavior. With that being said, it is relevant to point out that counselor does not fix and make a problem

Briefly outline and describe the essential elements of a solution-based, short-term pastoral counseling strategy such as its goal-orientation; brief (i.e., number of sessions) and time-limited (i.e., length of each session) nature; basic tenets and guiding assumptions (briefly explain each tenet and assumption), essential interpersonal skills, and possible behavioral positions (i.e., attending, blaming, willing).

As it was mentioned before, the key idea of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory relates to the existence of several sets of motivation and needs that govern human behavior. Hence, the major concepts of this theory include certain needs that are grouped into sets based on their place within the hierarchy of all the needs. The first version of the theory has five needs, which are divided into

Introduction to counseling has taught me a lot about how we see each other. It taught me that a lot of what we do is subconscious. While completing the interview the most difficult thing to do was find an issue that was conflicting me. The person I chose was a good friend of mine, Ashley. We are close to each other, but never really opened up to each other about an issue that was bothering us. It was difficult at first to not laugh, and take it seriously. Eventually we were relaxed and ignored that it was being recorded, and had a true counseling session.

Christians called to a higher standard and must live the Christian values as we should and know how; none of us is perfect but only trying to perfect the walk that the Lord has commanded us to do.

According to Zalenski & Raspa (2006), the first level of needs is physiologic such as the need for food, air, and water. The second level encompasses safety needs, which including security, stability, protection; freedom from fear, anxiety, and chaos. The third level of need is belonging and love. The fourth level is the need for esteem, which is affected by the environment and related to societal recognition. The fifth level is the need for self-actualization, which is about the unique potential in

I think Glasser is correct with his five basic human needs of choice theory. I agree with his reasonings on all of the human's needs. If these needs were not fulfilled then we would be trying to fill that void in our lives. I think the two most important needs are survival and love and belonging. On the other hand, one could argue that the need for love and belonging is not as important for all humans. There are many single individuals who are content with being alone. They may have friends, but when it comes to having romantic relationships, they prefer to not engage.

It is unrealistic for me as a counselor to think I am ready for every situation to counsel people. I realize that every client is different, and they are each facing different issues and struggles. One area that I will continue to work on is myself. I want to continue to learn the counseling field and the changes that happen every day. I will continue to be part of organizations such as the ACA and ASCA for professional development.

You never really realize you’re a victim until it’s all over and a counselor is repeatedly telling you not to blame yourself.

As stated further by Maslow, there are five levels in the need hierarchy, which are physiological, safety, love and belongingness, esteem, and self-actualization and they are very often of unconscious nature and can be at certain times reserved. Unfortunately, there are not too many who are capable of reaching self-actualization and the ones who will are very creative and acknowledge the world very accurately. An individual however is always aware of the fact that he or she has possesses a choice and therefore he or she has the ability to influence their behavior and personality at anytime (Cloninger, 2008).

There are so many emotions going through my head as I am writing this last journey entry. After having a couple of days to sit down and process the last group session, it dawn on me how I despise goodbyes. I feel very sad knowing that I won’t have another opportunity to sit down in these booth surrounded by incredible and supportive individuals, ever again. I have tears in my eyes when I think about not being able to see E. and T. ever again, except for next week’s potluck, because they’re graduating. Although I am super excited for this accomplishment, it’s sad that I won’t ever see them in classes or walking around on campus ever again. I’ve gotten to know them since Counseling 200 and they have both impacted my professional life drastically. On the bright side, we still have the potluck.

The counseling session with my volunteer client began with an opening statement and informed consent. Also, I conducted a 21-minute interview with my volunteer "client." The session includes the mini-mental status exam (MMSE) authored by Kurlowicz & Wallace (1999) due to my client's age. After the MMSE assessment, I asked my client an open-ended question and continued to apply my counseling skills. I closed the session with a summary. However, I ran over the allotted 15 minutes. My client presented dressed appropriately, is of better than average intelligence, is well oriented, and appears as having good judgment, no delusions nor is he psychotic.

Counselling sessions can help us work through a range of personal issues from everyday hardships to potentially life threatening situations. In this reflective essay I propose to put theory to practice by analysing and reflecting upon a one hour session with a professional counsellor. The session is to be recorded so I can refer to particular instances during the session.