Personal Narrative: Family Therapy Relationship

My personal and educational experiences have influenced my desire in pursuing my degree in Marriage & Family Therapy. My last semester of college, I was interning at Care Fresno. During this time, I lived in a high crime apartment located in southeast Fresno. I was able to reach out and mentor at risk families. This experience has equipped me with skills, such as: be able to empathize, communicate, and lead other effectively. After I graduated with my Bachelor’s degree, I started working as a Drug & Alcohol Counselor at Aegis Treatment Centers. While at Aegis Treatment Centers, I realized how much I enjoy providing empathy, psycho-educating, and teaching individuals how to cope with their emotions.

Family Therapy can be implemented in a different ways in a program that provides a facet of services, but it’s imperative that the approaches used are appropriate for the individual or families utilizing services. Functional Family Therapy is used to help deal with substance abuse in families but can also be used to assist with behavioral issues in children. A well rounded family service program can not only use this one approach but utilize other approaches to meet the needs of the population being served. And while implementing the service ethics will play a major role in the therapy being providing.

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

When narrative therapy first came into my life, I was not able to realize its brilliance. I had the misconception that the modality found where problems stemmed from and then showed clients how to cope with problems when they reoccur. Then I saw narrative therapy in action during a session with clients of my colleagues. The idea of problems being outsiders intruding on the system was fascinating and co-authoring a new narrative with a client sounded fulfilling. When all of a client’s knowledge is considered socially constructed rather than learned, it helps the therapist to see the client and the client’s problems as separate entities. Meaning becomes attributed to these problems through the client’s interactions with their social environment.

“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.

I never thought that I'd be writing to you out of all people. Everyone may question my sanity once they figure out I've been trying to write to you ever since you were convicted five years ago. It's just.... I couldn’t find the right words to explain how badly you hurt me. However, my therapist said that writing this letter will help me accept the fact that I made the dumbest mistake in the world seven years ago when we got married. Oh yeah, I'm going to a therapist. I find that quite ironic since one day I thought I could become a therapist, and specialize in women sciences, but instead, I'm going to one.

One tool that is helpful in narrative deconstruction and reconstruction is NPCS – Narrative Process Coding System (Angus & Hardtke, 2001). It is a two-step process which enables raters to subdivide therapy session transcripts into segments and divide and characterize topic

Week three in clinical was difficult for me, I had a great experience overall but I hated seeing and holding a baby that had passed away at 21 weeks. To know what the family could possibly be going through was heartbreaking. I wouldn’t exactly know what to do if I was with the patient and her family exactly. I do know that I did place her in the room when she was admitted to triage. I do feel good about seeing the scenario play out, while being a student rather than being in the field alone. Other than that I was able to see the beginning stage of labor as well as a C-section. Everyone was so bent out of shape on making sure I eat and that I don’t faint, but it seriously wasn’t bad. As a matter of fact I was too intrigued with the mother rather

Has your world ever been flipped upside down overnight? Well, mine has when my Uncle had a bad stroke that causes him to lose the left side of his brain. This event changed my life forever it was like I was blind to being able to see for the very first time. Those horrible days truly made me rethink my life, and it taught me how precious life is and how quickly life can be taken away. The biggest thing that came out of this was the improvement in my work ethic, giving it my all 100% of the time, and not procrastinating on anything in my life. Having my world flipped upside was probably the greatest thing that could have happened and here's why.

I am interested in completing my practicum at Trinity Counseling Center, located in Anaheim, California. I am interested in completing my practicum at Trinity Counseling Center because I have personally received counseling and therapy at Trinity Counseling Center. I began to receive counseling services at Trinity in July of 2014 when I was going through a very difficult time in my life. Before I went to Trinity Counseling Center and began counseling sessions at Trinity, I received counseling services at another Christian counseling center. However, the counselor at this first Christian counseling center abandoned me. He gave me a list of local Christian counseling centers and then he abandoned me. After a few months of feeling very confused and hurt due to abandonment by my first counselor, I was able to begin receiving counseling services at Trinity Counseling

According to Winek (2010) narrative family therapy has several interventions that are used. Listening to the family and showing interested in getting to know the members of the family as people and in making sure that the problem does not trick us into mistaking them for it (Metcalf, 2011). Questions are used as a way generate experience rather than to gather information. Asking questions can lead to separating “person” from “problem”, identifying preferred directions, and creating alternative stories to support these directions. Externalization is a process of separating the person from identifying with the problem. “The person is not the problem; the problem is the problem.” Externalizing conversations can lead clients in recognizing times

Right away, from the first session, I could tell that my therapist wanted to get a feel for what my family looked like and probably see if they were able to help me out with my problem. He asked me about my mom, my dad, siblings, grandparents and such. It got him stuck when nobody besides my mom knew about the death. I could see that he wanted to have some way of including my family in therapy, but I knew my family would not come in for therapy. That is when he started asking about if there were over-involvements within the relationships, who I was cut off with, and where there was distance and conflict at. If there was a conflict, he would ask where it came from and why. As well as asking the same questions for over-involvement, cutoffs and

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

Compared to other psychotherapeutic approaches, narrative therapy is the new kid on the block. The change in the cultural and social climate of the late 1970’s and early 1980’s demanded a change in therapeutic practices. Influenced by various existing approaches, narrative therapy has found its own place in the field psychotherapy. Narrative therapy’s core concepts make it not only unique but also effective. According to narrative therapy, “narratives are a reflection of the dominant culture and therefore must be challenged to ensure that they are sensitive to diversity issues, such as gender, sexual orientation, and culture” (Nystul, 2011, p. ). These narratives are dominant and often cause turmoil when they don’t mirror the local discourses