This essay will explore the nature of the therapeutic process; using my fifty minute long real play session with one of my colleagues. Also, I will explore my experience of the therapeutic relationship and how it influences therapeutic change and increase the affectivity of the therapy.
In addition to this, I will be attaining feedback from my client after discussing each stage of the therapeutic process in detail to help me understand what worked well for the client and gain more insight into what I need to improve in order for my future sessions to be more successful. Before the beginning of the session, I made sure I place the chairs in an appropriate position to promote equality and decrease the power dynamic between myself and the client.
According to Vossler (2010) a mindfully arranged room creates an appropriate emotional atmosphere. For instance a light neutral room with upright chairs suggests equal, rational conversation, while proximity between the seats indicates openness as well as discreetly informing boundaries between counsellor and client.
Additionally, a client is unlikely to be comfortable and at ease about disclosing intimate personal information unless they are sure that their privacy is protected and there is no chance of anyone overhearing. Therefore, I have set up a neural room with minimal furniture in an attempt to make it a helpful environment and help my client feel safe to share intimate details about their vulnerabilities; express themselves freely and be themselves without fearing judgment. In an ideal world, this space would be different from their everyday encounters and experiences thus, will allow clients to talk without any suspicion of exploitation and manipulation.
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...eldard (2005); I explained to her that I was from a different culture and explained the difference in our belief systems. Also, this helps clients feel at ease and valued as an equal adult. However I refrained from sharing what I would do because I did not want the session to become an advice giving session instead of it being a counselling session.
Additionally, I have also, noticed the fact that she has referred to me “counsellor” in a sarcastic tone. This shows an indication that she was coming to the realisation that although i was a counsellor i was not an expert sine,she was the one doing the entire decision making. Clarkson (2003) believes that a counsellor’s self disclosure contributes in the process of healing as it is a sign that the client is realising their own strengths to use their resourceful self to find their own way of coping with their issue.
Rye N. Child-Centred Play Therapy. In: JH Stone, M Blouin, editors. International Encyclopedia of Rehabilitation. 2010.
Wehrman, J. D., & Field, J. E. (2013). Play-Based Activities in Family Counseling. American Journal of Family Therapy, 41(4), 341-352. doi:10.1080/01926187.2012.704838
Reflecting on my work as a therapist, I recognize the importance of the therapeutic relationship. For instance, in EFT the therapist, “the therapeutic relationship, characterized by presence, empathy, acceptance, and congruence, helps clients to feel safe enough to face dreaded feelings and painful memories (Greenberg, 2014).
O’conner, K. & Braverman, L. (2009) Play Therapy, Theory and Practice; Wiley & Sons, Inc, Hoboken, New Jersey.
A therapeutic relationship is a key component in the nursing profession. Without therapeutic relationships, the best possible care can never be provided. The foundation in which trust is built upon is created from the nurse’s ability to truly listen and respond appropriately. Listening creates the base in developing a strong, trusting relationship. Sometimes it is simply hearing what a patient says that makes all the difference, empowering them to open up and become more comfortable with the nurse (Hawkins-Walsh, 2000).
reira, J. K. (2014). Can we play too? Experiential techniques for family therapists to actively include children in sessions. The Family Journal, 22(4), 390-396. doi:10.1177/1066480714533639
The therapeutic process requires a focus on the emotional experience of clients and involves developing clients’ recognition of their emotional patterns and needs. The exploration of clients’ emotional experiences and establishing “links between self and environment”, plays a pivotal role in the emotional change process. (Greenberg, Rice, & Elliott, 1993, p. 54).
Current research implies that an empathetic clinician-client relationship and interrelated ecosystems play the majority role in the success of therapy (Kilpatrick & Holland, 2009). The clinician’s ability to be present and actively perceive what the client is experiencing is of utmost importance in creating a therapeutic alliance. It is imperative that the clinician gains positive regard towards the client and their environment displaying honest acceptance towards the client no matter what issues are presented in session. This closely relates to a sincere presentation of genuineness that instills a feeling of honesty within the client and clinician (Kilpatrick & Holland, 2009). An experienced clinician builds upon the therapeutic
Although, this session ended with amazing results, I feel as though I need more practice with this type of therapy. I have to continue to practice on allowing the patient to come up with their own solutions. I found it hard not giving advice to my client, because I already knew the situation. However, in the end I found myself very proud, because even though this was not a real therapy session, but the client was able to find a real solution to her problem. This experience is one that teaches the therapist restraint, it allows one to step back and listen. It also gives the client the opportunity to reach a solution themselves without someone giving them the answer to their
Next, I am going to discuss the person-centred interventions I exercised through the therapeutic process with my client in session four. Within this I am going to explore how these interventions impacted my client’s responses and how I could improve my skills in future sessions.
The counselling process is one that may last for as little as one session or for years, it is within the middles stages of the helping relationship that particular counselling skills such as a focusing, challenging and immediacy can be implemented, as well as use of advanced empathy that can be applied due to increased familiarity with a speaker. Many actions may occur within middles stage of the helping relationship such as transitions that occur for a multitude of reasons and the outcome of which can vary based on the attitude of the speaker. Self-awareness remains vital throughout the entire counselling relationship due to the continual influence of empathy in the helping relationship and remaining aware my own motives and values when using advanced empathy and specific counselling skills. Ethics and boundaries are also involved within the counselling process as within a counselling relationship, I as the counsellor, must be careful with the balance or expenditure of power when challenging.
Therapeutic relationship is an essential part of nursing; it is the foundation of nursing (CNO, 2009). The National Competency Standard for Registered Nurses state that nurses are responsible for “establishing, sustaining and concluding professional relationship with individuals/groups.” Throughout this essay the importance of forming a therapeutic relationships will be explained. The process of building a therapeutic relationship begins from prior to time of contact with a patient, the interpersonal skills of the nurse; then the process includes skills required by the nurse to communicate effectively, including respect, trust, non-judgment and empathy. The way to portray these skills can be via verbal or non-verbal cues that are important to understand how they influence a person. The process and skills listed below are all relevant to nurses working in the contemporary hospital environment today.
Wehrman, J. D., & Field, J. E. (2013). Play-based activities in family counseling. American Journal of Family Therapy, 14(4), 341-352. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01926187.2012.704838
The counseling session began with the introductions where I introduced myself as the counselor and later introduced my client. This stage is important in any counseling session since it is the time of exploration and focusing according to Gerard Egan as quoted by Wright (1998) in his essay on couselling skills. It is in this session that I was able to establish rapport and trust with my client in order to come up with a working and fruitful relationship with him. During this stage I made use of skills like questioning, where I would pose a question directly to my client, sometimes I would choose to just listen to what the client wanted to speak out while in some instances I would be forced to paraphrase the question if I felt the client did not understand the question I had asked previously. There were also other times when I would reflect through silence. During such a period, I got time to study the client and the information he had given. This being a difficult area, since some clients may not be able to volunteer information to you as the counselor, I decided to assure the client of confidentiality of any information he was willing to share with me with a few exceptions which I also told him about. Being open to him about the only times the information may not be confidential was part of my building rapport and establishing trust with him. I therefore, decided to ask the client what information he wanted to share with me and lucky enough he was ready to speak to me about different issues that he was going through.
This is a counselling method used to help youngsters communicate their inner experiences through using toys and play. Nondirective play therapy is a non-pathologizing technique founded on the belief that youngsters have the internal drive to attain wellness (Petruk, 2009). Play therapy is grounded on the theory that play is a youngster’s language, the toys considered the words a youngster uses to express or show their inner experiences and how they experience and perceive the world. Within a play session, and throughout the course of sessions, themes develop in the youngster’s play, giving the therapist insight into the child’s feelings, thoughts, experiences, and interpretations of their world (Petruk,