Theories to Use as a School Counselor

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As a future school counselor I do not think there is just one type of theory that will work with all of my students. A few of the theories that stood out to me over the semester were choice theory, person-centered therapy, and solution focused therapy. Choice theory is the theoretical orientations from which my personal theory comes from. Choice Theory concludes that behavior is central to our existence and is driven by five genetically driven needs. The five driven needs are survival such as food, clothing, shelter, breathing personal safety and others. This is also supported by the fundamental psychological needs such as belonging, connecting, love, power, significance, competence, freedom, autonomy, fun and learning. As a future school counselor my roll will change from being a teacher to being an advocate for the students in the building. As I deal with students on a daily basis it will be important to find out which students are lacking one or more of the five genetically driven needs or fundamental psychological needs. As I discover what the student is missing I will then need to be able to help the student become aware of the need or needs that are lacking with the student and try to help the student identify their unmet need or needs an try to help teach them ways to satisfy the unmet need or needs. I also have become passionate for person-centered therapy. As I start to work with students I will need to help the student to emphasis on how they act in their world with others, how they can move forward in a constructive directions, and how they can successfully deal with obstacles that are blocking their growth. The student may be dealing with obstacles from within themselves and outside of themselves. As the counselo... ... middle of paper ... ...nsibility. With the issue being that she did not get her homework completed I would focuses on that first. I would lead the student into making decisions that will help her figure a way to get her homework completed and not fail the assignment. Since this has not been a problem but could continue to be a problem in the future a plan needs to be set up. The student will first need to figure out what is working for her in her life to get homework completed during the day. After the student can identify what is working for her then a plan can be made. I will guide her but let her make the choice if she is going to talk to the teacher one-on-one and see if she can hand in the assignment that is not completed but still work on the plan to help her get her work done during the day since her responsibilities may be increasing at home during the evenings. (Book p. 400-104)

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