Toward Intentional Interviewing and Counseling

I conduct a forty five minutes interview with Robin Gibson, a mental health professional that is actively involved in counseling divorced couples, remarried couples, and blended families in my local area of Hartsville, South Carolina. Robin Gibson has been a licensed counselor for eighteen years. Robin’s credentials consist of a LCP, Licensed Professional Counselors, and a CAC, Certified Addition Counselor. Robin is one of the licensed behavioral health counselors at Care South Carolina Community Health Center located at the Hartsville cite. Care South Carolina Community Health Center offers a variety of services that includes medical care of Family Practice, Pediatrics, Chiropractic, Dental, HIV/Aids, Counseling, Pharmacy, and Community Outreach,

The field of child counseling has been enriched through the integration of play therapy within different therapeutic approaches, as this method allows children to express thoughts and feelings that they might not be able to convey any other way due to their limited vocabulary (Henderson & Thompson, 2016). Over the past eight years, MacGill (2017) has built both her private practice, as well as functioned as a school counselor for students with special needs, MacGill demonstrates each day the many ways that play therapy can be integrated with several different therapeutic approaches as a method of building rapport and gaining a better understanding of each child’s mental health needs. MacGill is a Licensed Clinical

Throughout the past couple of months my fellow peers and I have been studying the topic ‘challenge’ and how it affects our lives and people around us. In our everyday lives we are confronting challenges, some are as small as walking up a few steps, and some are larger and more challenging that could be life or death circumstances.

My goals for the session were to introduce myself to the client, understand the client’s concerns, learn her background and current situation for several areas relevant to her life and her concerns, such as medical, family, legal, educational, and vocational. I

Listening: During a client consultation I made sure to listen to my client’s needs and use active listening to give the client a sense of confidence and assure them that they would be taken care of, I also made sure to clarify any doubts with the client. For example, when the client would ask to have a haircut or trimming of only one inch, I would always ask them to describe what one inch meant to them. My clientele was constant. My customers kept returning back to me and bringing in new customers with them, one of the best complements I got was “You never leave my hair too short you always cut it exactly how I want it” and many others.

On a bright and crisp morning of March 25, 2015, I interviewed Joni Roche and learned what a typical day was like for this Professional Counselor. Mrs. Roche has owned her own practice for nearly eighteen years and has truly loved every single part of it. Mrs. Roche has received a Master of the Arts degree and is a Licensed Profession Counselor and a Nationally Credited Counselor. During my interview with Mrs. Roche, I truly learned so many things from different counseling techniques, what it is like to have a private practice and the good and bad things counseling comes with that people do not necessarily speak about.

The initial thing to do in order to overcome any challenge is to identify the problem and its causes. When these are identified, a strategy can be put into place as to how to best solve the problem at hand. It is also important to follow up the situation after the initial problem has been resolved in order to make sure the problem will not recur.

For this part of the assignment I am using examples from a 50 minute session recorded within the learning environment. I play the role of the counsellor, and another student plays the role of the client. In order for me to answer the learning outcomes, I have watched the DVD recording.

Step one is defining the problem. This means that you need to see the current crisis the way that the client is seeing it right now. In this step you need to employ what is known as core listening skills, being empathetic, being genuine and showing acceptance or positive regard for their situation.(James, 2004)

I interviewed Dr. Edward on Friday, September 5th, 2014. The interview took place at Restore Joy Counseling Service in Chesapeake, VA. Initially, I was going to interview Damita Gonzalez but due to a change in her schedule, I interviewed Restore Joy’s owner Dr. Edward. The interview lasted about 34 minutes and 43 seconds, starting at around 10am. The interview was held in an office with two chairs and a computer desk. I asked Dr. Edward approximately 13 questions about the counseling field. It was not until the interview started that I learned Dr. Edward is no longer a practicing counselor.

The recordings help recognize the use of skills, analyze effective communication and pin point areas of improvement. The two main skills used throughout this process recording were elaboration and empathy; however efforts at addressing the silence, displaying genuineness and focused listening were also used. Even though the use of empathy and elaboration seemed to be used throughout the session, there is still some much needed improvement as well as listening to the implied

If I am having trouble I, can pause and reassess my strategy plan. A problem is a chance to try my best. It trains me to solve problems. It makes me think about different ways to solve a problem. It makes me work diligently on that specific issue. Problems teach me many things, and I try to work very hard to achieve the goal solving the problem.

The challenge we encounter does not solve by itself, we must face

The interview took place in a small room. There were four members from the Interviewing and Counselling class that were present; myself the counsellor, the client and the two others were technical support. The client gave permission for the other two members to be present because they helped to tape and time of the session. The setting was not very ideal, since there were two additional members and the room was available for a limited time. Nevertheless, it worked because it was a familiar setting where we practice our counselling most of the time. The setting encouraged comfort and disclosure because the door of the room was closed and the client and I trusted the other members. At the

The first step in the problem solving process, allowed me to identify the problem. A situation can be perceived or thought of as problematic when an individual encounters situations disturbs them or they find that it keeps them from a goal (Bingham, 1999). The problem surfacing in affording an education and paying for everyday necessities became the central focus at that point in my life and defined the problem that needed an immediate response. The problem solving process can best be defined as the best way to overcome obstacles in situations and the steps used to help overcome them (Peterson et al., 2002).