Vignette:. Audrey (Age 10) Has Lived With Her Foster Mother

The development of young characters can be seen throughout the novel with the shift in responsibility to be a parent from Ma and Da to Audrey and Devon. “Sometimes, as Da had done, Devon took a thing to town to pawn. He pawned the box that Grandda’s money had come in and brought home second-hand shoes for me.” (135) Further, this can also be seen with Izzy’s adjustment to the rural farming conditions from a previous rich city life and Audrey’s brave decision to work for the selfish pig farmer; even little Harper realises that the world is not just fun and games. Despite the Flute family despising Vandery Cable, Audrey, transitioning into the role of a mature and dedicated second mother, takes this burden upon herself as she values her family’s welfare over her own. The courage and bravery needed to fill the shoes of the previous dependent characters shows how the next generation is helping to ease to hardships faced by the community. Being brave and facing ones fears is the only way to achieve anything in these merciless times and by Audrey facing her fears for the benefit of her family, we can see her develop from a young and naive teenager into a mature and independent adult. The bravery and sacrifices made by the young generation to support

Emotion focused therapy (EFT) uses multiple techniques to illicit emotional reconstruction. “By bringing awareness, regulation, reflection and transformation” (Seligman & Reichenberg, 2014, p. 160) to the forefront, the client, has the ability to focus on those emotions and recognize the maladaptive strategies used to alleviate these responses. Within EFT validation is key in promoting congruence, positive regard and empathy. “Validation is the processes of letting the [client] know that the therapist views their needs and reactions as understandable, valid, and normal” (Denton, Johnson, & Burleson, 2009). By allowing the client to lead the session and reflecting the client’s emotions back to her you reinforced to the client that it was safe

This paper evaluates the Structural Family Therapy model and its impact on the Emotionally Focused Therapy by Sue Johnson. This paper will discuss the concepts of therapy utilized within the Structural Family Therapy model and how Sue Johnson utilized many of its methods when constructing Emotionally Focused Therapy model. The history of family therapy will be evaluated and the goals of family therapy. Research has proven that due to these clinical practices, families and couples are allowed to evolved issues in which they face into healthy relationships by evaluating patterns in behaviors and past events in their lives. Therapy focuses on the correction of the dysfunctional family as a cohesive unit and does not place focus on the individual. Therefore we find the psychotherapy as a family unit deems to be more effective than previous practices of an isolated session with only the patient and therapist.

According to author Susan Egbert Cutler, “foster care provides children, youth, or adults with supervision and a place to live outside of their usual home setting” (Cutler). Typically, a person gets placed in foster care because they come from an unsafe home environment and are unable to care for themselves on their own (Cutler). The experiences of every child in foster care are different because there are so many variables that contribute to whether or not a particular foster home is a good fit for the child: the biological parents, the foster parents, the circumstances of the placement, and the foster child themselves. For example, Wanda Corley, who was a child placed in foster care during the 1950s, has her own unique perspective on foster

Twenty-one year old Claudia Felder lives in Chino, California in a lovely home, with three sweet dogs, and most importantly, a family. One would never think that this well off young lady was once living a life inside foster care. She entered the system when she was just three years old, when most preschoolers were busy having play dates and learning to color within the lines. Claudia’s earliest memories instead were of her mom being beaten in a motel room. After that experience, Felder entered the foster system and stayed there for the next ten years. With not enough foster families in the system, she was bounced around wherever a bed was available. Her lack of a consistent foster

Crystal stated that the foster father is not talking nice to Josilynn, Josilynn reports. Josilynn reports that the foster father is saying, "none of your nosey ass business". Worker will address without telling the foster parent what was said, speaking about age appropriate conversations. Crystal reports when the worker informed the foster parent not to cut Josilynn's hair, the foster father told Josilynn that her mother should worry about getting the children back rather than them taking care of the children. The children stated that the foster father is mean and the foster mother is nice. The worker stated that the foster mother is a push over like Crystal and is often ran over by the children. The foster father is not a push

Out of every short-term foster parent I’ve had in the past two years, Venus was the one person who had the biggest impact on my life. In the beginning, Venus was very generous and claimed she was my birth mother. She would buy me all sorts of gifts like a TV, lip sticks, any snacks I was craving and even planned to take me on a twelve-day cruise. Then everything changed in the blink of an eye. I only lasted three months in her home, with all the chaos. All I wanted was a stable home little did I know her home was the farthest you can get from stable.

Person-Centered Therapy (PCT) embodies a humanistic approach, which is intended to increase a person’s feelings of self-worth, and reduce the level of incongruence between the ideal self and the actual self (Gelso, Cepeda & Davenport, 2006). This critical analysis is meant to examine various approaches and skills counselors/therapists would use when applying a ‘person-centered’ type of therapy. This analysis briefly outlines what PCT is, but focuses more heavily on the various approaches used by social workers throughout the therapeutic relationship. More specifically, PCT approaches such as, counselor/client congruence, empathic understanding, and unconditional positive regard are the main approaches highlighted in this analysis as they play an integral role in the counseling relationship.

This example of a family’s interesting dynamics that come about can be seen in a show called, “The Fosters.” In this show, the Foster family lives in San Diego where Stef Foster and Lena Adams (in later seasons being Lena Adams-Foster) parent five children, four of them being foster children and one coming from a previous marriage. The children’s names are Brandon (17yrs old), who is the oldest, Mariana (16) and Jesus (16), who are twins that were adopted after Stef and Lena got together, and Callie (17) and Jude (13) who are siblings that both got adopted. Stef is the birth mother of Brandon, coming from a previous relationship with another charater named Mike.

The first step would have involved the counsellor to create a psychological contact with Felicia. The second step within the process would be the counsellor needs to ensure that Felicia is in a state of incongruence. Incongruence is the difference of the client’s self-image and actual experience. If Felicia’s self-image and actual experiences don’t match it could lead her to feeling vulnerable and create anxiety. On the other hand, the counsellor needs to be congruent. This would mean the counsellor will be himself 100%. This will involve the counsellor being honest and transparent of who they are and not putting up a façade. The counsellor should show unconditional positive regard (UPR) to Felicia. Unconditional positive regard is the counsellor accepting and supporting the client without judging them. The fifth condition the counsellor should actively use would be empathy. Empathy is the skill to understand another individual’s feelings. This is vital within therapy. The counsellor should be able to experience the client’s feelings without it having effect on their emotions. The final condition would be the counsellor and the client have a minimal degree understanding of

Theoretical orientations provide a type of framework for counselors to understand a client’s behavior, thoughts, and feelings and help counselors work through a client’s journey from their diagnosis to their treatment. Theoretical approaches are an important part of the counseling process, but with so many different theories and techniques out there, it’s challenging to figure and decide which counseling approach works best. In this paper, I will discuss the theories that I have learned throughout the course and the ones that I most closely identify with, along with the ones that I least identify with. This paper will also include the use and role of theoretical orientations.

Emotionally focused therapy is designed to be short-term in structure. Developed principally by Dr. Susan Johnson, the main target of this type of therapy is couples and is focused on expressing emotions. The primary goal of emotionally focused therapy is to create a safe and long-lasting bond between romantic partners and family members while expanding and restructuring significant emotional responses. Partakers in emotionally focused therapy are emboldened to express their thoughts and emotions in a safe environment without fear of judgment. In this paper, we will discuss a therapy session between Sue Johnson and a couple, Leslie and Scott.

Since existential therapy is formulated upon philosophical approach, it produces opportunities for me as the therapist to explore and utilize creative and diverse techniques to aide Pauline in living her life to the fullest. With her consent, in addition to individual counseling, I would incorporate family therapy or link Pauline to a support group to help her not only appreciate her life but the lives of her friends who seems to care for her. I would encourage Pauline to talk to her pastor/God to help her in her faith and overcome her anger with God or link up with a faith-base organization to help her discover the meaning to her critical fate. I believe being transparent, displaying genuine qualities and allowing Pauline to facilitate her sessions with guidance will support our client-counselor relationship, which will motivate Pauline to exhibit transparency, authenticity and freedom in accepting her innermost qualities as well as limitations. I would explore things that Pauline like to do and develop interventions to encourage her to explore the activities and hobbies she desires to do.

Within psychology there are many different theories that counselors should get to know in order to figure out which theory fits their own personal style of counseling. Some counselors stick to one specific theory, but many take on an integrative approach and use multiple theories within their practice. The four psychological theories that I am focusing on in this paper are the contemporary psychodynamic, theory, cognitive behavioral therapy, person-centered therapy, and the family systems theory.

In the vignette, it is mentioned that the client Julie, a 34-year-old African American female, is calling about her son 12-year-old son Derik, who seems to be having an adjustment issue relating to her recent marriage to John. Although Julie indicated that she is calling on behalf of her son’s adjustment problem, she spends most of the time talking about her dissatisfaction at work and within her romantic life. When approaching this case through a solution-focused lens, I would stress to her that anyone who is concerned about the problem situation (Derik’s adjustment problem, although it is apparent there are other issues) should attend the sessions. In the initial intake phase, little information is taken, understanding that the client is the expert in what needs to change; as the therapist, my role is to help her access the strengths she already possesses.