Psychology Theories And Techniques Of Counseling

The purpose of this paper is to display the application of counseling theories and techniques learned in the Coun 520 – Counseling Theories course at Messiah College. Theoretical case conceptualization will be through the use of techniques with a fictional client. One tool that will be employed to assist with achieving this goal will be a modified version of the Hays’ (2007) ADDRESSING model. For the purpose of the course, the ADDRESSING model has been defined as follows: (A) – Age, (D) – Developmental disabilities, (D) – Disabilities acquired later in life, (R) – Religion and/or spirituality, (E) – Ethnicity, (S) – Social status, (S) – Sexual orientation, (I) – Birth order, (N) – Preferred name/nickname, and (G) – Gender. The ADDRESSING model will be used to describe both the “client” and the “counselor”. I will use one primary theory as my foundational approach and two others will be described as a best fit for meeting the needs of the fictional client. Terms and concepts learned from the Coun 520 course will be discussed with appropriate examples. Finally, I will discuss goals for treatment and any possible limitations of my chosen integrated approach.

Integrated approach to counseling is when you combined theories to cover the clients’ feelings, cognitive patterns, and behavior (Corey, Theory and Practice of Counseling and Pschotherapy 8e, 2009). Each theory focuses one of these key components of a client but in counseling you need to focus on each of these to fully help a client. The key to integrative counseling is to have multiple theories function in harmony (Corey, Theory and Practice of Counseling and Pschotherapy 8e, 2009).

Counseling is defined as ”the use of therapeutic strategies to help clients address personal concerns and mental health issues” (Nystul, 2016). Pursuing counseling as a career involves many years of formal study and certification or licensure. After receiving licensure to practice as a professional counselors it is a requirement to maintain involvement and certification in certain associations in order to hold your license. These association often require further education and/or professional practice in order to maintain membership in these associations. It is quite obvious that counseling requires a large amount of commitment and passion in order to pursue it as a career and maintain a title as a counselor. I have conducted an interview with a professional counselor in order to further understand the experience of being a counselor. The interview that I conducted explores the requirements of maintaining and receiving a counselling career, the experience of being a counselor, and what characteristics or skills a professional may have. The Individual who agreed to the interview was a counselor by the name of Susie Facio. Susie Facio, through this interview, will be giving us a look at what influenced her to become a counselor, what her work entails on a day to day basis, and what qualities and skills she has acquired in order to become a successful counselor.

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.

As a counseling student, it is very important to formulate a counseling theory tailored to ones’ own personality and beliefs. A counselor may choose a single theory to model when practicing therapy or pick and choose components and techniques from various theories, otherwise known as eclecticism. No theory is considered right or wrong. Understanding the different therapeutic approaches are important to effective counseling, however, counselors must also understand their own personal value, view of human nature, human behavior, counseling techniques and the purpose and goals of counseling. Understanding these components along with the different theoretical approaches will provide the counselor with a 9 knowledge of their own counseling, orientation and is essential to not only the productivity of counseling but the growth of the counselor as well.

The British Association for Counselling’s Code of Ethics and Practice for Counsellors states that ‘Counselling may be concerned with developmental issues, addressing and resolving specific problems, making decisions, coping with crisis, developing personal insight and knowledge, working through feelings of inner conflict or improving relationships with others’ (BACP Ethical Framework).

This paper identifies the three major counseling theories that have been the most influential in the development of my ideas on counseling. The major points of Person-Centered Therapy, Adlerian Therapy, and Behavioral Therapy are looked at in brief. Each theory is then shown how a school counselor can apply them into their work with students. While one theory does not work for every situation in the school setting, each theory brings something beneficial to the school counselor.

It is imperative to study counseling theories when beginning field based work. Counseling theories provide a foundation to be able to learn and develop my own techniques. Some ideas that exemplify the significance of counseling theories are; research, application of theories, and case studies.

Before starting graduate school I did not know that counseling was a distinct profession from psychology. I enjoyed learning that counseling was born from the educational field with a wellness focus rather than a medical focus (Granello & Young, 2012, Remley & Herlihy, 2010). In different classes, we learn how counselors are different from other mental health professionals. For example, we discussed how psychiatrists and psychologists focus on the biological and psychological factors that influence mental illness, and social worker seek the environmental factors that address a person’s wellness. Counselors operate in the niche between psychologists and social workers. I was excited to learn the new opportunities and training available as a student in a distinct field to address unique

This application paper will discuss my personal theory of counseling or psychotherapy in a number of different areas. Specifically, I will discuss the seven areas of interest. First, I will discuss and describe

The aim of this assignment is to compare and contrast two theories or theorists of counselling from psychodynamic, humanistic or cognitive behavioural traditions and also to assess their strengths and weaknesses. This essay will focus on exploring the contrasting ideas and approaches of Carl Rogers who is a key figure associated with the person-centered approach and Fritz Perls who developed Gestalt therapy. Although they are both regarded as humanistic counsellors, they share a very different approach when working with clients. I have chosen to analyse these two theorists because of their contrasting styles, in particular my curiosity was sparked after viewing both Perls and Rogers sessions with Gloria. I found it fascinating how such different styles could still be successful in therapy. In particular fritz perls style really grabbed my attention as at first, I was really put off by his seemingly rude demeanour. However, after reading information on gestalt therapy and the ideas behind it I started to understand how it works.

Compassion and interpersonal are essential skills for counselors to possess in “normalizing [client’s] fears of [their] undetermined future” (Cornell, 2015 pg??). This is the initial step toward assisting clients’ who feel unprepared in pursuing an occupation. Counselors should use these skills during the relationship development phase and when occupational changeover is certain or has precedent in meeting their clients’ general life expectations.

This quarter’s course of “theories of counseling” felt like a whirlwind of theories, theorist, therapeutic techniques, and proper application of theoretical framework to help counsel students. As the course continued each new theory and therapy style I learned about seemed more appealing and useful than the last. In deciding which therapy styles I would favor using I have to take into account the general demographic of the students and communities I wish to work in. I plan to work with middle school to high school students that are from urban low social economic status and are recent arrivals to the country. Some of the characteristics of obstacles these students and families face daily are, single parent home/income, past/recent trauma, history of low family education level and legal trouble. I am fortunate to live in the community and society I want to help and that I have grown up in. I am equally blessed to be raised and have the opportunity to give back to my community and society the best way I know how by giving back in a positive manner.

In the beginning, social work consisted mainly of charitable organizations operated by upper-class men and women. These individuals, who had no training, volunteered their time to address issues that arose during their time like poverty and immigration. Through the years, social work gained popularity and refined policies, casework, and qualifications of workers. Recently, empathy has been a big concern in the social work field. Having its own definition within this field, empathy has changed meaning throughout the years and been divided into three different specific types. Recently, scientist have studied an area in the human brain that connects directly with empathy. This is very important in the social work field for a helpful clientele experience and the workers ability to help and understand. Social workers have expressed the need for empathy but the lack of training received. They are finding it hard to adequately work in this profession because the amount of stress caused by workload, lack of time, and difficulties with clientele. Due to the stress, individuals face health related problems that affect both work and personal life. They resort to coping methods that are both positive and negative. To lessen the intensity of stress at work college students need to take action. Social work students need to take general education then be accepted into a social work program. The two year graduate program teacher skills on interpersonal skills but lack an empathy course.

At the beginning of this course, I kept calling it a “therapy” course. I was under the impression I was going to come out of the class a better person who has taken the time to make changes and reflect. However, as the course progressed I recognized that the class is what you put into it. The class wasn’t going to change me by doing these activities, but it was how these activities challenged me shift my priorities and simply become more aware. The only change that was going to be made was if I saw the need for it and I was committed. I think the course overall encouraged us, the students, to become more self-aware in many different aspects of our lives. In my case, I think I gained the most from the constant discussion of the importance of reflection and consciousness. Although, we focused on certain topics throughout the semester like time management, diet, and gender issues; I think the main objective was to improve my connection with myself and to realize my own potential. I believe that each person should gain something different by the end of the semester because the discussions and activities all have a varying affects. I assume that the level of immersion from students differed depending on the activity and how the student determined its importance. However, I would think that everyone in class, including myself, is able to be more open, honest, and truthful with myself. Additionally, I think this course emphasized the importance for students to always strive to