Running notes for COUN 550 class
Chapter 1: Helping as a personality Journey
2- BECOMING A REFLECTIVE PRACTITIONER
reflective practitioner -you make a commitment to a personal awareness
of your automatic reactions and prejudices by taking time to think back on
these reactions and perhaps to record them in a journal or discuss them
with a super- visor or colleague. In other words, the reflective practitioner
consciously reviews what has happened and decides on a plan of action
3-Socratic questioning (asking leading questions), journal writing, watching
and then reflecting on video segments, conducting small groups to react to
case studies, or even reflecting teams
4- Using Reflection to Help You Overcome Challenging Situations and Enhance
Your Learning
clients should never receive both group and individual therapy at the same
time.
5- Using Reflection to Accommodate New Information About Yourself
Reflection can help you integrate new discoveries that you make about
yourself. It allows you to carefully consider the feedback you are getting
from supervisors, teachers, fellow students, and even your clients.
Helpers learn from difficult clients, unpleasant interactions, the failure of a
technique, and unexpected successes
reflective practitioner also means having the courage to ask for feedback
from others and then to reflect on how you can work more effectively in a
particularly difficult situation
5-ASK FOR SUPERVISION
Supervision is the practice of a helper and a supervisor sitting down to
review the helper’s problems and successes
Professional helpers are required to be under supervision while they are
students and during their post-degree internships. Supervision can also
focus on your personal wellness and help you avoid burnout
, real value is that it is a time set aside for you to listen to yourself as you
explain your situation to someone else. As a student, you may have the
opportunity to ask supervisors and faculty members to look at your videos
and discuss cases with you. Make use of this valuable opportunity to reflect
on your work
reflection in action.
6-DEVELOP A SUPPORT GROUP OF FELLOW LEARNERS
BECOME A CLIENT
KEEP A PERSONAL JOURNAL
When writing case notes
• During group supervision
• During individual discussion with a supervisor
• In personal therapy
• While journal writing
• During meditation
• As a part of a course assignment such as a paper
• While listening to recorded sessions
• When talking informally to fellow practitioners
• When unexpectedly thinking about a client
• In online groups, synchronously or asynchronously
7-what is helping?
Psychological Helping - different settings and different contracts between
helper and client mean that this kind of helping can be defined in a variety
of ways To the newcomer, this can be confusing. The following sections
clarify some of the most common terms, including interviewing, counseling,
psychotherapy, and coaching.
9 Interviewing - conversation between an inter- viewer and an interviewee.
During the conversation, the interviewer gathers and records information
about the interviewee. During an interview, the interviewer is eliciting data,
not trying to improve the situation of the interviewee. Thus, interviewing is
one method of assessment, as is giving a client a paper-and-pencil test.
o interviews can be structured with a series of predetermined
questions or unstructured with the helper fit- ting questions in during
the flow of the session.
An interview may also be used to test the interviewee’s skills, poise, or
ability to think in a “live” setting. This is called a situational interview.
,10-What Are Counseling and Psychotherapy?
Counseling and psychotherapy are professional helping services provided
by trained individuals who have contracts with their clients to assist them in
attaining their goals.
Between 1920 and 1950, psychotherapy was used to describe the process
of helping clients who were troubled by mental disorders.
Mental disorders are defined as severe disturbances of mood, thought, and
behavior for which there are specific diagnostic criteria.
11- Counseling was developed in the early 1960s as psychotherapy for
“normal people.” Medical terminology was shunned by counselors, along
with words such as treatment, patient, and diagnosis. Counselors believed
in seeing the client as a unique person rather than as a diagnostic label
Modern counselors routinely use assessment tools, learn diagnostic
methods, and engage in treatment planning. Similarly, professionals such as
psychologists and marriage and family therapists who prefer the term
psychotherapy or therapy also help clients with developmental difficulties
such as adolescent adjustment, marital issues, and the transition to college
or work—what we might call “normal prob- lems.”
Coaching
“Coaching is a development process whereby an individual meets on a
regular basis to clarify goals, deal with potential stumbling blocks and
improve their performance. It is an intervention that is highly personal and
generally involves a one-on-one relationship between coach and client”
counseling: “. . . a professional relationship that empowers diverse
individuals, families, and groups to accomplish mental health, wellness,
education, and career goals”
12Challenge of Development
a new helper is usually not equipped to handle every day-to-day decision
inde- pendent of supervision until after 2 years of education and 2 more
years of supervised experience.
, people enter this training with varying levels of expertise. A significant
number of people entering training are already working as professional
help- ers when they register for basic helping skills training
13-Perry’s Three Stages
14- THE DUALISTIC OR “RIGHT/WRONG” STAGE – stage 1
dualistic stage is characterized by the belief that a helper’s responses
to a client are either right or wrong. In the beginning, trainees often
believe that there is only one right way to respond to a client’s
statement or situation.
increases the internal pressure and makes helpers overly concerned
with their own performance. Moreover, they may fail to listen fully
to their clients because they are thinking about what they are going
to say next. They may feel that, by planning their next statement,
they will be able to construct a better response
15-THE MULTIPLISTIC STAG
each statement a client makes has many possible responses. Eventually,
you will become comfortable with the knowledge that there is no one right
answer at any moment in the helping process. Because of the diversity in
clients’ backgrounds, experiences, and worldviews, what is “right” for one
cli- ent may not be helpful at all for another clien
15-all interventions and techniques may seem equally appropriate. You
may even find yourself feeling overwhelmed by so many possibilities and
wondering what differentiates a good response from a great one.
15-THE RELATIVISTIC STAGE
you will recognize that although many types of responses may be
appropriate, depending on circumstances, some are better than others. You
will become more skilled at choosing from the many possibili- ties based on
the client’s goals, skills, and background
18-Following Ethical Guidelines
Chapter 1: Helping as a personality Journey
2- BECOMING A REFLECTIVE PRACTITIONER
reflective practitioner -you make a commitment to a personal awareness
of your automatic reactions and prejudices by taking time to think back on
these reactions and perhaps to record them in a journal or discuss them
with a super- visor or colleague. In other words, the reflective practitioner
consciously reviews what has happened and decides on a plan of action
3-Socratic questioning (asking leading questions), journal writing, watching
and then reflecting on video segments, conducting small groups to react to
case studies, or even reflecting teams
4- Using Reflection to Help You Overcome Challenging Situations and Enhance
Your Learning
clients should never receive both group and individual therapy at the same
time.
5- Using Reflection to Accommodate New Information About Yourself
Reflection can help you integrate new discoveries that you make about
yourself. It allows you to carefully consider the feedback you are getting
from supervisors, teachers, fellow students, and even your clients.
Helpers learn from difficult clients, unpleasant interactions, the failure of a
technique, and unexpected successes
reflective practitioner also means having the courage to ask for feedback
from others and then to reflect on how you can work more effectively in a
particularly difficult situation
5-ASK FOR SUPERVISION
Supervision is the practice of a helper and a supervisor sitting down to
review the helper’s problems and successes
Professional helpers are required to be under supervision while they are
students and during their post-degree internships. Supervision can also
focus on your personal wellness and help you avoid burnout
, real value is that it is a time set aside for you to listen to yourself as you
explain your situation to someone else. As a student, you may have the
opportunity to ask supervisors and faculty members to look at your videos
and discuss cases with you. Make use of this valuable opportunity to reflect
on your work
reflection in action.
6-DEVELOP A SUPPORT GROUP OF FELLOW LEARNERS
BECOME A CLIENT
KEEP A PERSONAL JOURNAL
When writing case notes
• During group supervision
• During individual discussion with a supervisor
• In personal therapy
• While journal writing
• During meditation
• As a part of a course assignment such as a paper
• While listening to recorded sessions
• When talking informally to fellow practitioners
• When unexpectedly thinking about a client
• In online groups, synchronously or asynchronously
7-what is helping?
Psychological Helping - different settings and different contracts between
helper and client mean that this kind of helping can be defined in a variety
of ways To the newcomer, this can be confusing. The following sections
clarify some of the most common terms, including interviewing, counseling,
psychotherapy, and coaching.
9 Interviewing - conversation between an inter- viewer and an interviewee.
During the conversation, the interviewer gathers and records information
about the interviewee. During an interview, the interviewer is eliciting data,
not trying to improve the situation of the interviewee. Thus, interviewing is
one method of assessment, as is giving a client a paper-and-pencil test.
o interviews can be structured with a series of predetermined
questions or unstructured with the helper fit- ting questions in during
the flow of the session.
An interview may also be used to test the interviewee’s skills, poise, or
ability to think in a “live” setting. This is called a situational interview.
,10-What Are Counseling and Psychotherapy?
Counseling and psychotherapy are professional helping services provided
by trained individuals who have contracts with their clients to assist them in
attaining their goals.
Between 1920 and 1950, psychotherapy was used to describe the process
of helping clients who were troubled by mental disorders.
Mental disorders are defined as severe disturbances of mood, thought, and
behavior for which there are specific diagnostic criteria.
11- Counseling was developed in the early 1960s as psychotherapy for
“normal people.” Medical terminology was shunned by counselors, along
with words such as treatment, patient, and diagnosis. Counselors believed
in seeing the client as a unique person rather than as a diagnostic label
Modern counselors routinely use assessment tools, learn diagnostic
methods, and engage in treatment planning. Similarly, professionals such as
psychologists and marriage and family therapists who prefer the term
psychotherapy or therapy also help clients with developmental difficulties
such as adolescent adjustment, marital issues, and the transition to college
or work—what we might call “normal prob- lems.”
Coaching
“Coaching is a development process whereby an individual meets on a
regular basis to clarify goals, deal with potential stumbling blocks and
improve their performance. It is an intervention that is highly personal and
generally involves a one-on-one relationship between coach and client”
counseling: “. . . a professional relationship that empowers diverse
individuals, families, and groups to accomplish mental health, wellness,
education, and career goals”
12Challenge of Development
a new helper is usually not equipped to handle every day-to-day decision
inde- pendent of supervision until after 2 years of education and 2 more
years of supervised experience.
, people enter this training with varying levels of expertise. A significant
number of people entering training are already working as professional
help- ers when they register for basic helping skills training
13-Perry’s Three Stages
14- THE DUALISTIC OR “RIGHT/WRONG” STAGE – stage 1
dualistic stage is characterized by the belief that a helper’s responses
to a client are either right or wrong. In the beginning, trainees often
believe that there is only one right way to respond to a client’s
statement or situation.
increases the internal pressure and makes helpers overly concerned
with their own performance. Moreover, they may fail to listen fully
to their clients because they are thinking about what they are going
to say next. They may feel that, by planning their next statement,
they will be able to construct a better response
15-THE MULTIPLISTIC STAG
each statement a client makes has many possible responses. Eventually,
you will become comfortable with the knowledge that there is no one right
answer at any moment in the helping process. Because of the diversity in
clients’ backgrounds, experiences, and worldviews, what is “right” for one
cli- ent may not be helpful at all for another clien
15-all interventions and techniques may seem equally appropriate. You
may even find yourself feeling overwhelmed by so many possibilities and
wondering what differentiates a good response from a great one.
15-THE RELATIVISTIC STAGE
you will recognize that although many types of responses may be
appropriate, depending on circumstances, some are better than others. You
will become more skilled at choosing from the many possibili- ties based on
the client’s goals, skills, and background
18-Following Ethical Guidelines
