As I observed the practice session with Mary acting in the role of the therapist and Stephanie playing the client, I saw great examples of active listening and rapport building. As Stephanie revealed her frustrations and struggles about working with non-productive co-workers, Mary nodded in agreement, validated, and also restated, in a calming voice, what Stephanie said. Because Stephanie felt heard and understood by Mary, Stephanie felt comfortable expressing and exploring her feelings and wishes in the positive environment Mary created.
Another good skill that Mary used was keeping pace with Stephanie. When Mary asked questions about how Stephanie felt, the tone and speed of Mary’s voice mirrored Stephanie’s. I think that really helped Stephanie to feel comfortable with being herself and expressing her true feelings and thoughts. Perhaps Stephanie felt so comfortable that she did not realize that she was asking Mary to reveal her own personal opinion, like she would from a friend. Mary, however, handled that situation very professionally, with care and concern for Stephanie, by just turning the focus back towards Stephanie to ponder how she should handle the matter. As stated by Hill (2009), the therapy session should focus on the client and his or her thoughts and feels, rather than someone else’s (p. 131).
Mary stayed focused on the main issue presented, and perhaps due to limited time, did not explore background information too much. I think with more time, she would have asked questions like how long the situation had been going on and if there were other times when she had felt the same way.
In the session with Patricia acting in the role of the therapist and Jill playing the client, good rapport was also establish...
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...wn from the first session. A good rapport is going to go a long way, and hopefully ultimately leading to discovering/establishing mental and physical health for April. I would definitely practice patience above all, even with the imminent health risk. She has the tendency to self-sabotage and copes with stress by disassociating, so pushing or rushing matters would likely result in her not staying connected or engaged in the healing process. I would also find educational resources (experts, books, etc.) that would give me the background knowledge needed for working with a client like April.
Works Cited
Garcia, R. (Producer). (2009). In Treatment [Television series]. New York:
Home Box Office.
Hill, C. E. (2009). Helping skills: Facilitating Exploration, Insight, and Action, 3rd ed. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
While her therapist helps her with her father, the therapist unintentionally improves her relationship with her husband. At Southeastern Louisiana University’s common read, Smith explains, “I think I was able to meet him [her husband] because I cleared up a lot of silly stuff through therapy” (Smith). This confirmation allows the reader to receive a higher understanding of the effect therapy impacted Tracy K. Smith.
The thought of even having to touch the aides disgust Mary because they are a physical representation of the reality she is denying. When she is told that she may have to kill her daughter, she reacts poorly, as most would expect a mother to, however she has gone to extremes. She accuses her husband of having never loved their daughter and that the only thing keeping them married was the daughter and that without Jennifer, Peter would have left Mary (156-158). This intense outburst from a woman who is usually so calm when tragedy affects those outside of her narcissistic bubble only goes to show further the indifferent attitude of denial. When made to recognize the oncoming death, she cannot fathom it, and tries to find other reasons for Peter trying to get her to come to terms with “murdering” her daughter.
...d again delve into her own emotions, using my words to help her identify how she may be feeling, my client can put a name to what she is actually experiencing. While it may seem obvious to the listener, when under stress, people may not know what they are feeling, or how to deal with it. Self-confidence is built when a listener allows that person to find out for themselves how to proceed (Petersen, 2007).
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
Stickley, T. & Freshwater, D. (2006). “The Art of Listening to the Therapeutic Relationship” Journal of Mental health Practice. 9 (5) pp12 - 18.
Near the middle of the story we see Mary exhibit her bad sinister character; her personality and feelings suddenly change when she murders her own husband by hitting him at the back of the head with a frozen lamb leg. After denying all of Mary’s helpful deeds, Patrick told her to sit down so that he can tell her something serious; the story doesn’t tell us what he says to her but Mary suddenly changes after he tells her something, her “instinct was not to believe any of it” (Dahl 2). She just responded with “I’ll get the supper” (Dahl 2) and felt nothing of her body except for nausea and a desire to vomit. She went down the cellar, opened the freezer, grabbed a frozen leg of lamb, went back upstairs, came behind Patrick, and swung the big leg of lamb as hard as she could to the back of his head killing him. This act of sudden violence shows how much she has gone ...
Communication is a vital part of everyday life. It allows feelings and emotions to be transmitted as a way of interaction. Therapeutic communication is an excellent form of interaction between an experienced interviewer and the interviewee. The National Commission of Correct Healthcare defines therapeutic communication as a “ face-to-face process of interacting that focuses on advancing the physical and emotional well-being of a patient” (CITATION). Kim Kardashian also partook in a therapeutic interview with Oprah Winfrey that follows all guidelines of an ideal interview with exceptional therapeutic communication techniques.
McLeod, J. and McLeod, J. (2011) Counselling skills: A practical guide for counsellors and helping professionals, 2nd editions, New York: McGraw Hill
Counseling skills has provided me with a valuable insight into the helping relationship and how it is both created and maintained in order to encourage growth and development in the client. The factors involved within the helping relationship include considering Roger’s core conditions, congruence, unconditional positive regard and empathy as the three main characteristics necessary in a helping relationship. In order to fully incorporate all three of Roger’s core conditions, I as the counselor must be self-aware, as a lack of self-awareness may inhibit truly listening and understanding the client; self-awareness can be enhanced through exercises such as Johari’s window. Counseling skills such as body language and active listening also plays a role within encouraging the client to open up and can help me as the counselor convey empathy.
Teyber, E., & McClure, F. H. (2011). Interpersonal process in therapy: An integrative model (6th ed.). California State University, San bernardino: Brooks/Cole.
For clients who express their experiences for the first time in counseling, it can be a powerful force to help them heal. It is important for the counselor to pay close attention to the person’s body language, affect and tone. The counselor must consider the possible scenarios that may occur in the first session. Cultural aspects of the client must be considered. From the client’s perspective, the first session is an important session, even if the first session is mostly an information gathering session. The client may have experiences much trauma in their life, never being able to trust a person with their closest feelings. This is why it is very important to establish rapport and trust in...
The session starts by the therapist making introductions and gathering information as to problems, family structure, interests, and job responsibilities both within and outside of the family. These are all possible subjects to help open up discussion and ease the client into the therapy process (Rogers, 1946). Here, the therapist notes that the man is feeling out of his element, which he quickly admits to. The husband explains that he is used to dealing with issues himself, so that asking a third party for assistance is out of his comfort zone. The therapist seems to miss the man’s explanation for why he prefers to deal with issues on his own. After the therapi...
To explain, the client should not be inferior to the counselor; the environment should be two people discussing an issue and ways to make a difference. A therapist should occasionally share similar experiences; therefore, sessions should make clients feel comfortable. To add, the client should feel safe due to the positive atmosphere the therapist brings to the session. The goal is to finally give the client a chance to be heard, regularly people are muted and feel like they are insignificant to society. Similarly, to Person-centered therapy where communication with the client is unconditionally positive. The therapist needs to genuinely care about the client needs for them to fully express themselves successfully. Furthermore, clients should be encouraging to make their own choices which model how to identify and use power responsibly. Hence, this will help the client feel more confident in everyday life when making a meaningful
Stickley,T. & Freshwater, D. (2006). “The Art of Listening to the Therapeutic Relationship” Journal of Mental health Practice. 9 (5) pp12 - 18.
Cormier, S, Nurius, P & Osborn, C 2012, Interviewing and change strategies for helpers: fundamental skills and cognitive behavioural interventions, 7th edn, Brooks Cole, Belmont, California.