PSYC4320_WEEK7_ProfessionalInterview

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Counseling Professional Interview Counseling Professional Interview Gwen McLaurine Capella University PSYC4320_TheoriesOfCounseling&Psytherapy WEEK 7 Paige Simmons November 26, 2023

Counseling Professional Interview Professional Interview INTRODUCTION Let me introduce to you, Gwen McLaurine. McLaurine holds several degrees under her belt, one of them being a bachelor’s in journalism and the second being a Master’s in Mental Health Counseling. Along with those degrees, she holds two different licensures. One in her hometown state of Indiana, Mental Health Counselor licenses. Then one in her son’s living state, Michigan, Licensed Professional Health Counselor. Gwen’s goal for furthering her education would be to get licensed in all states surrounding her hometown state. The reasoning for that is because McLaurine’s main professional setting for counseling is very faith-based. She works with a lot of churches in and out of the district, so by expanding her licensing to other states, she can expand her counseling to churches in those states also. McLaurine is open to clients even outside of religion, as she also works at the local hospital and counsels’ patients there as well. THEORETICAL ORIENTATION When talking with McLaurine, I spoke with her on her most used therapy approaches when dealing with her clients. As any therapist should answer, McLaurine’s reply was as so; she believes that being comfortable with only one specific approach is doing a disservice to your clients. Sometimes you can get lucky, and clients walk through that door and your “favorite” approach would best for them in their needs. Yet, more often you must be ready to switch things

Counseling Professional Interview up and always have a plan, B, C, and D on hand. She referred to this as being eclectic. Eclectic means, according to the dictionary, “deriving ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources”. McLaurine’s personal favorite approaches, the ones she most comfortable with is, client(person)-centered and solution focused. She explained how she felt these two approaches go hand in hand, because client-centered helped her understand the client a lot more, then once she understood the client, she can then dig into finding solutions that best fit the client’s needs. Client(person)-centered approach, according to Hill and Nakayama (2000), “He proposed that the therapist’s role was to listen to clients, be empathetic with them, and accept them for who they were rather than offer deep interpretations of unconscious material or mechanistically change behaviors”. This approach helps build that relationship with the client and creates that comfortability that a client and therapist look for in their relationship. That mindset for the client, “I can be myself”, helps them break down those walls and be more open to share things with their therapist that they wouldn’t typically talk about. This relationship through this approach then opens the door for our next point, solution focused approach. Solution focused brief therapy (SFBT) is, “a strengths-based therapeutic approach, emphasizing the resources that people possess and how these can be applied to a positive change process (e.g., Green, 2013)”. The main idea behind SFBT is understanding life if the problem didn’t exist and creating a more positive outlook around the problem to find ways of navigating

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Counseling Professional Interview through the issue without letting it defeat you. I enjoy learning more about this approach because a lot of issues we deal with as humans, are very temporary and short lived, so finding a mindset change in maneuvering around the issue instead of facing it head on, because more then likely its going to come or go. So, finding a different focus will help you face the issue without allowing it to directly change you negatively. INTERVENTIONS/TECHNIQUES When talking about McLaurine’s preferred techniques when dealing with clients, her two most common choices really make sense not only in relation to her theoretical orientation, but also in relation to her professional setting. One of her choices, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT). After further understanding this technique, it made sense with her professional setting in the hospital. According to the authors, Panos et al. (2014), “DBT is specifically focused on the following hierarchically ordered behavioral targets: (1) decrease life-threatening suicidal and parasuicidal acts; (2) decrease therapy-interfering behaviors (e.g., extensive phoning of therapist, premature leaving of therapy); (3) decrease quality of life-interfering behaviors (e.g., depression, substance abuse); and (4) increase behavioral skills (e.g., emotional regulation, mindfulness, and self-management).” This professional setting for McLaurine she deals with a lot of patients that are depressed, suicidal, different disorders (eating, bipolar), PTSD, substance abuse, addiction, and many other life-threatening issues. This technique according to Panos et al. (2014), “Within

Counseling Professional Interview the DBT theoretical framework, people with BPD are self-destructive because they lack important interpersonal, self-regulation (including emotional regulation), and distress tolerance skills”. This interventional style would best fit the clients/patients she handles in this environment. McLaurine ‘s personal favorite technique for most of her clients, Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT). According to Corey (2023), “Cognitive behavior therapy represents the mainstream of contemporary behavior therapy and is a popular theoretical orientation among psychologists. Cognitive behavioral therapy operates on the assumption that what people believe influences how they act and feel.” McLaurine described this technique fitting into her theoretical orientation approach with client-centered, as in both require creating that relationship with her client and understanding her client’s mindset and then finding a solution for the client’s need. When asked, McLaurine describes that she always encounters times when she feels unsure about how to help a client, there are so many ways to approach a client and that’s why she really likes to start her sessions of being more personal. Getting familiar with her client but also allowing her client to get more familiar with her. This sets the atmosphere for her to then determine the best way to approach her client. Sometimes there are times when she must switch up her technique or approach with a client, she may start with an approach, and then later realize that it was the best choice to then move to something different, she said its all about listening to

Counseling Professional Interview your client and seeing the change in them. No change after so many sessions, then you know you must figure out a different technique for that client. Sometimes she goes through several before she finds that perfect fit for the client’s need. ETHICS When discussing ethics with McLaurine, this part of the conversation really tuned me in, because of the relatability to it. When I asked McLaurine what ethical issue she encounters the most, her first words were faith/religion. McLaurine, as I, are Pentecostal Apostolic faith. So, the downside to McLaurine’s open door policy when taking on clients, is that she does come into times when she struggles with not always tying God into all her therapy sessions. A lot of times, specially being in church settings, it’s easy for her to use a more Christian like approach when dealing with clients. Tying God into her practice as really helped her faith grow and she states how amazing it works, but of course only when the client believes in God and is comfortable with tying the two together. When faced with this issue of differences in beliefs, she must really turn her personal feelings and beliefs off and focus solely on her textbook approaches. When you’re really in tune with your faith, it’s easy to make God the focus of all your conversations. I know for me, I unintentionally do it every day. According to the American Counseling Association (2014), when looking at this ethical issue and digging into the code of ethics, the one she associates with is, code A.4: Avoiding

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Counseling Professional Interview Harm and imposing values. This code specifies, “Counselors are aware of their own values, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors and avoid imposing values that are inconsistent with counseling goals. Counselors respect the diversity of clients, trainees, and research participants (ACA, 2014).” CULTURAL COMPETENCY This section really ties in with the ethic section, because McLaurine, as stated above, has a very open-door policy with the type of clients she works with. So, when faced with clients that may differ from her personally, she states it’s all about staying informed. Her goal is when she counsels a new client, she wants to deepen her understanding about that client. With her hometown, it’s very diverse. So, she encounters some many different diversities, from religion, to gender, to race, to age. Being informed and up to date on all different areas of diversity has helped her in understanding her client, how to approach her client, and creating that therapist to client relationship.

Counseling Professional Interview References ACA Code of Ethics As approved by the ACA Governing Council . (2005). https://www.counseling.org/docs/ethics/aca_2005_ethical_code.pdf?sfvrsn=2 Bond, C., Woods, K., Humphrey, N., Symes, W., & Green, L. (2013). Practitioner Review: The effectiveness of solution focused brief therapy with children and families: a systematic and critical evaluation of the literature from 1990-2010. Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry , 54 (7), 707–723. https://doi-org.library.capella.edu/10.1111/jcpp.12058 Corey, G. (2023). Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy (11th ed.). Cengage Limited. https://capella.vitalsource.com/books/9798214109374 Hill, C. E., & Nakayama, E. Y. (2000). Client-centered therapy: Where has it been and where is it going? A comment on Hathaway (1948). Journal of Clinical Psychology. , 56 (7), 861– 875. https://doi.org/10.1002/1097-4679(200007)56:73.0.CO;2-J Panos, P. T., Jackson, J. W., Hasan, O., & Panos, A. (2014). Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review Assessing the Efficacy of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). Research on Social Work Practice, 24(2), 213-223. https://doi- org.library.capella.edu/10.1177/1049731513503047

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