Theory and PracTice of counseling and PsychoTheraPy
A
Your paper should answer each question in depth—these are not short answer questions, but comprehensive discussion questions in that they need to provide the response, supportive evidence, and explanation (i.e. detail, examples). Please check for spelling and grammar errors before submitting the final draft of your paper. Identify your responses noting each subpart (individual questions) using separate paragraphs, as opposed to including everything into one long narrative. You can separate your responses by noting the question and subpart (1.A, 1.B, 1.C, etc….)—just do not use the bullet formatting. Designate the response number and then use paragraph style for the response.
Your responses should be inclusive of supportive evidence and explanation. In other words, you should answer the question, provide evidence that backs it up, and then provide some type of detail, explanation, elaboration to tie it all together. I want to see how the evidence supports your response. Just providing a statement of paraphrase or a direct quote doesn’t explain the connection. It is the explanation, detail, examples, that help to synthesize the responses.
A reference page should be included at the end (beginning on a new page, as with APA style). Please feel free to add additional sources if you should find other supportive information through your research throughout the week. This is most definitely encouraged but not required. All responses provided through the discussion papers throughout this course can be supported by the resources provided each week.
Discussion Paper #1:
This course is designed to provide an overview, or survey, of various approaches to therapeutic intervention. It is NOT designed to transform all of you into perfect “counselors” although that word has been appropriated for many quasi-helping roles. All of you, however, are either currently engaged in human services of some type or are interested in future helping services roles. Consequently, identifying the basic skills of effective helpers may become tools that you will readily use in your current or future professional roles. Helpers, for our purposes, include counselors, teachers, TSS workers, case manages/supervisors, residential care providers, and basically …..nearly anyone who seeks to engage in human services.
Following Chapter 1 & 2 of your text, respond to the following question:
Question 1:
In addition to the introduction to the text, information about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs can be beneficial in looking at the inherent nature of people and human behavior, of which we will get into with the different intervention approaches through the remainder of the text. Maslow’s model is often cited as the beginning of humanistic psychology because it is a positive approach to explaining human behavior. Please read the attached power point presentation on Maslow. One of the assertions that Maslow believed in was his theory of Self-Actualization in that no one is fully self-actualized. Instead, we are on the road to “Becoming”. It is just that some folks are a little farther along than others. Maslow would say that anyone who claims to be fully self-actualized is clearly not.
From the PP presentation on Counselor Characteristics please identify and discuss with examples:
A. two (2) areas (characteristics) of self-actualization that you feel you are currently acting upon—and
B. two (2) areas that you believe need further development.
Question 2:
Your reading from Corey (2017) chapter 2 for this week reviews characteristics of helpers including the helper personality, helper life-style, helper as a facilitator, and helper as a scholar. One area that may be intriguing to you focuses on awareness of self and values. Fundamental to this pertains to your generalized world view of life and human nature in value-based areas such as– Are people inherently honest?
Value-based issues greatly influence our ability to effectively empathize with and serve others. Will your personal values on abortion influence your response to a client whose decision differs from your own? How will your convictions on sexual orientation and illicit drug use influence your ability to empathize with someone who contracted HIV through drug use/sharing needles or perhaps gay sexual activity or other LGBTQ ideas?
Establishing empathy for another is perhaps the most fundamental step in seeking to create a helping alliance with someone. However, demonstrating empathy while seeking to understand a client’s situation does not necessarily mean approval of a client’s behavior. Illicit drug use would be a case in point.
Following Chapter 2 in the text, please respond to the following question:
Think about these following issues and respond accordingly:
A. Explain the distinction between exposing your values and imposing them when working with a client.
B. In what ways are you aware of your key values and how likely are they to affect the way you work with clients?
C. How can you remain true to your own values and at the same time make allowances for your clients to make their own choices, even if they differ from yours?
D. Is it ever appropriate to make value judgements with clients? Why or why not?
Question 3:
The remainder of chapter 2 from Corey pertains to the helping process, specifically how professionals can develop an effective working relationship with clients. This involves both knowledge and practice. As we will begin to delve into the specific intervention strategies, we will first begin with an overview of helping models and the development of the relationship. During our Zoom week, we will focus more specifically on the helping relationship; however, we will begin with one prominent model which exists and is commonly applied. One of the most notable of these is Gerald Egan’s Model for Helping. Additional materials explaining Egan’s Model can be found in the Content Module for Week One.
Your beliefs about human nature and how people change will influence your view of the helping process. There also may be times when your employer will require you to follow a prescribed approach on how you work directly with clients and their families. For some of you currently working, you may already have an established model you use or are required to follow a yet different model than what we are reviewing for this course. For example, those of you who may work in addiction may incorporate the disease model with a strong emphasis on 12-Step involvement.
Another current area within the helping process that is impacted by the type of model used can be found within the managed care system. You should have concerns about the impact of managed care on human services, as its emphasis is on making rather quick assessments on problems and designing brief interventions, rather than providing opportunities for intensive self-exploration. If, for some reason, your employer expects to you follow a particular approach that is not in line with your own view of the helping process, it will probably leave you conflicted and dissatisfied. Keep in mind that these models of the helping process may readily lend themselves to different theoretical models as well (e.g. Rogerian, CBT, Gestalt). We will be reviewing these and other various theoretical models a little later in this course.
Following Chapter 2 from the text and the supplemental readings on Egan’s Model, respond to the following:
Consider Egan’s Model and evaluate this process based using the following criteria for parts A, B, C—(does it do this or not AND explain why/why not):
A. Enables the client to talk openly without being judged
B. Helps the client gain greater awareness of themselves and their situation
C. Focuses on ways to help clients manage their problems and develop opportunities.
D. How effective you feel you would be incorporating this model if this was the approach you needed to conform to within an agency. (How would this approach balance with your values/personal characteristics?)
