Posts Tagged ‘counseling’
Spirituality, Therapeutic Relationships, and the Ministry of Counseling
Posted by Nick Roy in Psychology and Spirituality Monday, 8 February 2010 21:26 No Comments
Suffering and pain can bring about great healing and transformation (Nouwen, 1975). Opposites shed light on each other, and therefore the beauty of healing is not seen as cleary unless it is against the backdrop of painful experience. Nouwen (1975) explains: “The paradox is indeed that new life is born out of the pains of the old” (p. 19).
Painful experiences that are a part of life give humanity a longing for healing, for “often it is the dark forest that makes us speak about the open field” (Nouwen, 1975, p. 19). The counselor is a guide for hurting people to help them come out of painful experiences and find healing. However, to rememdy the pain to quickly can short circuit the process and may cause dependency. The client who comes into counseling in despair gives the counselor the opportunity to promote solitude in the counseling session and to “speak about the fertile tree while witnessing the dying of the seed” (Nouwen, 1975, p. 53). The beauty of true life and transformation is that it comes out of death. It is the complete message of the gospel. Nouwen (1975) speaks of creating emptiness in a client in order for them to truly understand themselves, which drives them toward true living. It would not be wise to state directly to the client that pain must come first in an insensitive manner. Using professionalism and descretion over blunt verbiage would be best, but the message is still the same.
Reference
Nouwen, H.J.M. (1975). Reaching out: The three movements of the spiritual life. New York: Doubleday.
Is Motivational Interviewing an Approache to be Used with Clients?
Posted by Nick Roy in Theories of Counseling Thursday, 30 April 2009 19:03 No Comments
Motivational interviewing is a technique I believe would be useful with some clients. According to Rollnick and Miller it is useful with clients who are exhibiting ambivalence. That is, they are indecisive in determining their behavior choices, or unwilling to examine them. This style of counseling directs the conversations with the client to help uncover reasons to embrace behaviors or avoid behaviors. This technique could be useful with those suffering from addiction and even abusers, because motivational interviewing “relies upon identifying and mobilizing the client’s intrinsic values and goals to stimulate behavior change” (Rollnick & Miller, 1995). The counselor is helping the client pull information from their life to explain their behaviors from a personal perspective rather than explaining it to them and suggesting change from a clinical perspective alone. Jenkins explains this difference well when comparing collaboration versus confrontation, evocation versus education, and autonomy versus authority (Jenkins, 2003). The Four Guiding Principles Jenkins provides were very enlightening and his through explanations of how to talk with ambivalent clients really opened my eyes in some respects.
It does seem like a very pain-staking process when you read all of the data, but very sound and intelligent. I really don’t see it as useful with children as the client needs to understand intrinsic thoughts and values in order to benefit. I think it always important for a counselor to not present themselves in a condescending manner to their clients and use whatever technique what be most useful for each individual’s situation.
References
Rollnick S., & Miller, W.R. (1995). What is motivational interviewing? Behavioral and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 23, 325-334. Retrieved April 7, 2009 from http://motivationalinterview.org/clinical/whatismi.html.
Jenkins, David, (2003). Working with addictive disorders: a motivational interviewing perspective. Paper presented at the 2003 AACC World Conference, Nashville, TN.