Question: 1. Describe how culture can play a major part in the counseling process. How should a counselor handle a client with a differing cultural background?
2. Following is a client narrative from a counseling session. At each point where the typescript has an asterisk, provide a counselor response and identify what type of response it is.
When I went back home last weekend, my parents told me that they had decided to separate and maybe divorce and it really threw me.
Then they watched me the entire weekend, I guess to see how I was reacting to them. Anyhow, I just pulled in and didn't give them anything to react to. I couldn't. I didn't know what to say. I mean, I knew that they had been having some trouble, but I never expected this. So they just unloaded and what was I to do with that? What would you do? By Saturday night, I had to get out, get away from the house, because all I was doing was staying in my room and crying, so I called a friend and we went out and really got wasted. I haven't been so drunk in a long time. Then Sunday morning, I was, like, really feeling it, and that's when they chose to try to have a conversation with me about their reasons for deciding to separate. I mean, I just couldn't hack it and so I packed up and left early to come back to school.[*]
1. What do you think is the most important stage of the counseling relationship? Why? How does your choice reflect your theoretical biases? Your own cultural background and values? Your gender? Would you consider yourself more attuned to what people do, to what people think, or to how people feel? How much of people's reactions can be attributed to their personal qualities? How much to their current environment? How much to their cultural background?
2. Listed next are four client situations. For the first two, develop and write an example of a self-disclosure response you might make to this client. For the second two, develop and write an example of an immediacy response you could use with this client. (20)
a. The client hints that he wants to tell you something, but he is reluctant to do so because it is something he feels very ashamed of.
b. The client believes she is the only person who has ever felt guilty about a particular issue.
c. You experience a great deal of tension and caution between yourself and the client. You both seem to be treating each other with kid gloves. You are aware of physical sensations of tension in your body, and you observe signs of similar sensations in the client.
d. You and your client like each other a great deal and have a lot in common. Lately, you have been spending more time swapping life stories than focusing on or dealing with the client's presented concern of career indecision.
1. Respond in writing to each of the following three client messages. (20)
2. Client: "I'm tired of sitting at home alone, but I feel so uncomfortable going out by myself."
1. Cognitive part of message:
2. Affective part of message:
3. Paraphrase of cognitive part:
4. Paraphrase of affective part:
3. Client: "I don't know why we got married in the first place."
1. Cognitive part of message:
2. Affective part of message:
3. Paraphrase of cognitive part:
4. Paraphrase of affective part:
4. Client: "The pressure from my job is a lot to contend with, but I expected it" (said with strained voice, furrowed brow, twisting of hands).
1. Cognitive part of message:
2. Affective part of message:
3. Reflection of content:
4. Reflection of feeling: