Specialist Counselor Course

Questions: 1. List the main three reasons why it is important that both partners attend the initial interview. 2. Explain why family members can still benefit from therapy, even if the dysfunctional person is not present. 3. Why do some therapists prefer to have children present at the initial therapy session? 4. Name and describe three types of joining techniques. 5. In the first therapy session, why is the familys choice of seating seen as being a diagnostic tool? 6. Who is seen as the power person within the family? 7. Describe the intervention method developed by Gallant and Mallet. 8. If one partner indicates that they suspect that their behaviour might be contributing to the problem, what should be your response? 9. How does the therapist help parents deal with a substance-abusing adolescent? 10. How does the therapist help the partners of dysfunctional males develop a sense of their own individuality? Why is this important? Answers: 1)A counselor may find that a dysfunctional partner can oppose having their partner attend initial counseling session due to potential harassment or anticipated embarrassment. One of the partners should be supportive enough and firm in the counselors request that both the partners attend the counseling therapy. Three important causes are present for involving both the partners present in the counseling session, these are: the counselor requires an appropriate problem diagnosis and confirmation by the partner is vital; the counselor requires information regarding the fluctuations of the duos interaction and also the counselor requires a proper judgment of both couples substance misuse if substance abuse is valid to the complication. If an initial seating has been arranged by the partner of the individual, whose conduct is unmanageable and the other individual makes sure the counselor that the particular individual will not undergo therapy, create a prior arrangement to meet the partne r alone. 2)Family members can still get benefited from therapy, even if the dysfunctional person is not present. This is because if a partner never participates in the counseling therapy, the children and the other partner can benefit considerably by conveying their emotions and feelings and participating in an education process, which assists them, recognize the complication in a better way (Lam and Gale, 2004). The family members should understand the fact that they are not accountable for others behavior. All the members of the family should become gradually more independent to make sure their endurance as individual human beings. 3)Some therapists prefer to have children present at the initial therapy session because the children can benefit considerably by conveying their emotions and feelings and participating in an education process, which assists them, recognize the complication in a better way. During the process they can also gradually understand the fact that they are not accountable for others behavior and become more independent to assure their endurance as individual human beings. As therapy achieves something with the children along with the other family members, the dysfunctional member of the family may exhibit less opposition and be keen to participate eventually. The self-motivated initiation is that as the partner and children become more independent and healthier, they no longer behave in a way which gives returns in the form of offering attention. In consequence the stress is not shared and when the recompenses stop, the unmanageable behavior often finishes. 4)The three types of joining techniques are maintenance, tracking and mimesis. In order to alter and affect the family function, the therapist should initially join it. This can be achieved by building a trusting association with all the family members consist the individual who is left out or disliked. Maintenance technique provides support of the family organization as the counselor identifies it. In tracking method the therapist observe the behavioral patterns of the family members and their communication patterns. By approving and clarifying these patterns, the tracking method supports their continuation. Mimesis technique refers to the process of adopting a communicative style of a family, their content and tempo in order to encourage trust. 5)In the first therapy session, the familys choice of seating is seen as being a diagnostic tool. In the initial meeting attended by the family members, their willingness to seat in the counseling room is considered as a helpful diagnostic tool. If a therapist give no guidance to the family members regarding their seating arrangement, their own selections or seating preferences are expected to create their associations clear. Children can circle around their mother and maintain a safe distance from their father. It is a general instinct of a child to seat near to her mother. A youngster girl may choose to seat close to her father. Children often maintain distance from their step-parent. 6)As a counselor one should provide particular attempt to unite with the power person of the family at the very initial stage of counseling therapy. The power person is said to be the individual with an executive capacity to cancel or continue the therapy session. During the interaction with this power person the therapist should make this apparent that the therapist value what the person values. 7)An increasingly famous way of confronting individuals whose conduct is proving to be unmanageable is said to be the intervention method structured by Mallet and Gallant at the Johnson Institute in Minnesota. All the members of the family and someone else applicable to the complication and typically comprising the manager participate in the training method where they find out about the negative consequences of facilitating and regarding the outcomes of unmanageable conduct. With a counselor trained in the technique, the members of the family come to tenures with their emotions and feelings as these members prepare for the involvement itself. These members practice speeches they prepare to present, which indicate their fear regarding how the unmanageable behavior is impacting on the individual itself and on the other family members. An advance agreement is prepared regarding the family action in request, for example: moving out of the residence or entering therapy. The family trainin g may take almost one to one and half months. A risk may present if the training is inadequate and family members may burst out with anger and make the situation ever worst than the present situation. 8)When a therapist starts counseling a couple, the therapist should first listen for the dynamics of the couples interaction. This is to understand who is responsible, who commands. If it is the spouse who commenced the counseling, his or her goal is probably to be to change the conduct. Charge for the entire family complications may be put on this intolerable behavior (Bress, 2009). Initially it is vital to consider a couples anger and to offer support while gathering information regarding the complication. During this stage it is no proper to indicate how this spouse might be responding the behavior. Nevertheless, if one partner indicates that they suspect that their conduct might be contributing to the complication, the therapist may discover that probability and his/her empathic concern need to be clear. 9)Therapist should encourage the parents to increase sufficient monitoring and supervision. The parents should involve their teens in talking and sharing things with their parents. They should make them understand their teens that in any type of situation their parents are there to support them (Archives.drugabuse.gov, 2015). So, overall the parent should be a careful and good observer, typically of little details which make up their life. In general indications of dramatic transform in physical health, appearance and friends may be the indications of trouble. 10)An essential factor of family therapy should be the support of personal identities of the entire family member. For the partners of dysfunctional men, support of change is important (Carlson and Kjos, 2002). They frequently think of them in the context of others and may have lost consciousness of themselves as individual human beings. Simple queries regarding her needs and desires as separate individual assist revitalize personal objectives which have been positioned. Application of guided imagery and relaxation techniques assists evoke remembrance of individuality as separate and unique human individual. Such investigation should support importance beyond home. These are some activities, a job, educational program or community involvement can be a start. In this type of process of making selections, the wife will start to accept accountabilities for herself and her own activities. References Archives.drugabuse.gov, (2015).NIDA - Publications - Brief Strategic Family Therapy for Adolescent Drug Abuse. [online] Available at: https://archives.drugabuse.gov/TXManuals/BSFT/BSFT5.html [Accessed 29 Jan. 2015]. Bress, P. (2009).The dysfunctional family. FastPrint. Carlson, J. and Kjos, D. (2002).Theories and strategies of family therapy. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Lam, D. and Gale, J. (2004). Cognitive behaviour therapy: an evidence-based clinical framework for working with dysfunctional thoughts.Counselling Psychology Quarterly, 17(1), pp.53-67.