Personal Narrative: A Career As A Non-Directive Play Therapy

This paper will look at the logic of narrative therapy by focusing on 5 major points. This paper will begin by discussing how the narrative approach defines and perceives problems. It will address how narrative therapy views the nature of the relationship between the client and the professional. This paper will look at how problems are solved using the narrative approach. It will also focus on three main techniques used in narrative therapy, which will include externalization, deconstruction and re-authoring. This paper will also include a short narrative critique of the medical model.

Why is externalising a central technique in narrative therapy today, and what are the limitations and successes of this technique?

The history of mental health in the United States show a robust movement towards the mental healthcare system we have today. Prior to the 19th century, individuals with mental health issues were widely considered to be demonically possessed, thus contributing to the stigmatization of mental illness and the proliferation of poor treatment conditions. However, in the 1800s, there was a dramatic change in mental healthcare in the U.S. The government took a proactive role in treating the mentally ill, leading to the dawn of state psychiatric facilities.

“The last thing I heard where the sirens. And the last thing I saw where a kaleidoscope of blue and red. And then everything went black, every ounce of air had escaped my lungs and had reached the surface of the lake in the form of little bubbles.” I told Louis Green, possibly the most boring person on earth. I don’t think he wanted to be my therapist anymore then I wanted to be in therapy.

There are various types of interventions utilized by narrative therapist. The intervention used will depend on the therapist and the client. The following are just a few of the interventions that are at a narrative therapist disposal.

“How can I be good again? I just lost my wife and son in a car accident. There's nothing in life that can cheer me up. I have become an alcoholic who is now jobless.” I said. My Therapist, Dr. Newman, told me “Trust me, Mr. Smith. Only time can heal your wounds if you allow it to. Well, that's the end of the session, and I want to recall the accident that occurred so we can talk about it tomorrow.”

When I was first awoken before 8:00 a.m on a Monday morning in July, it is not hard to imagine how unamused I was. My mom had signed me up to volunteer for two weeks at the Munroe Meyer Institute at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Their summer camp for kids with special needs ages three and a half through twenty-one had become my home for the next week. This camp provides an summer camp experience for kids who would not otherwise have one. The campers are divided into groups with staff and volunteers as well. A volunteer at Camp Monroe has a new buddy every day they help their buddy with tasks, offer encouragement, and give simple direction when needed. The activities for the campers include: swimming, cooking, sports, creative

Another goal of mine is to be able to practice cultural humility, a term I learned in a multiculturalism course in my undergrad. I plan to work with as many populations as I can throughout my career. I have my biases and generalizations of people and I want to be able to address them in a diverse classroom environment before going into the work field. I am most interested in working with and learning about Children, Youth and Women during my advanced year of study. Specifically with adolescents because of my plans to work in the CSEC field.

As a child, did you ever dream of becoming a wealthy doctor, or a nurse? Have you ever wanted to help someone in your family who struggles on a daily basis? Everyone will have that feeling at some point in their life. That is what physical therapy is composed of. It is, and was the start of the medical field, but can also be bypassed for a doctor or nurse practitioner. From repairing torn ligaments, to fixing broken bones, physical therapy is the most beneficial form of diagnostics. However, what you do to start a career in this field will determine the level of success. “The future depends on what you do today.” (Gandhi). Becoming a physical therapist requires a high level of education and skill to even enter the workforce, and there are many ways to begin your upcoming future in this career.

Throughout my life, I always helped people with different issues and tasks they either asked me to do or I was willing to help them. Overtime, I realized that I wanted to do therapy to help people with different and disorders. Recently, after taking a survey about my different interests, I saw a career that I never knew about before called “Family and Marital Therapist.” I skimmed over the information about what they did. And, it dawned on me that, “I can help people with family/problems in their marriage.”

Developmentally appropriate practice as already influenced my career in relations to working with children. I have worked with special needs children from different cultural backgrounds for several years and have always been able to modify any work presented to me to that of the child’s ability plus adding a little more challenge to the work at hand after they have mastered the basics of the work presented.

I have been fortunate to have had an array of clinical and training experience with diverse populations, and plan to continue to build on my experience during internship. At Alliant International University, diversity clinical training is important and embedded in my curriculum. It is essential to remain sensitive to multicultural issues especially because of the different populations we help. Being part of the minority culture that has experience a lifetime of different shortcomings and oppression, it made me more conscious and sympathetic to others problems. My life experiences and clinical training has helped me to build upon my multicultural competence in my career. One experience stands out. During my senior year in high school while applying

On Monday, I met C2 and his father in the waiting room and asked them to follow me to the adult therapy room in order to explain what happened during the evaluation, his results, and why I looked at those areas. I felt it went fairly well; however, I was nervous that I did not explain areas thoroughly or messed up in some area. After the conference, I showed Mr. B to the therapy room and C2 to the child therapy room. We sat at the table and I let him choose which game to start with. We got through two activities this session, which I felt they went fairly well.

I was always asked what I wanted to do when I would get older, but I would never have an answer. Rushed and unready to answer, I would reply with lawyer. The only reason I would say that is because I loved to argue and I was very passionate in the ideals and values that I believed in. Moreover, I decided to stick with that answer until I found some career that better interested me. It was not until I was fifteen when my mother got into a car accident, that I figured out what career would best suit me and pertain to my qualities. Because of the accident, my mother was left with pain in the leg area, leaving it almost impossible to move long distances. Consequently, this was not the best situation for her, especially since she already had joint pain there. It hurt to see my mother struggle to move up or down the stairs or even move her legs too much.

Do you believe that your role as a therapist will end at the end of the day or will it be present in your personal life also?