COUNSELING THEORY AND PRACTICE

Counseling Theory and Practice

Counseling Theory and Practice

Clinical Setting

It is my goal to become a school counselor in a local high school. Population I intend to work with Yuma has a diverse group of high school students. Over fifty percent are of Hispanic origin. Many children are first or second generation immigrants and don' t have a good grasp of the English language. Many of th em bring with them a strong identification to their Mexican heritage; therefore, I will have to be sensitive to their culture in order to better understand them. There are also children of military members, who have moved to different countries and cities every couple of years since they were born. Many of them have difficulty forming friendships and effective relationships. Many of these adolescents often act out and get in trouble often. It is also important to try and understand the different experie nces in their lives to get through to them as well(Enns, 2004).

Key theoretical concepts/techniques

I intend to use: After studying the different counseling theories, I have discovered that each theory is valid and there are ideas and techniques that I would use out of each of them. However, there are some theories more than others that I would use to guide me in my daily school counseling.

First, I would like to address Psychoanalytic Therapy. I agree with Freud on the power the unconscious in influencing how w e think, feel and behave and that dreams are powerful tools in helping people recognize their internal conflicts, central struggles, wants hopes and visions of the future. He also acknowledges the power of the past and early traumatic childhood experiences in preventing people from living happy, healthy, well-adjusted lives. I agree more with Erikson's psychosocial perspective than Freud's psychosexual stages in that people continue to develop socially throughout their lives and that there are specific events to be resolved in each stage of life. Since I will be working with adolescents, they will be concerned mainly with resolving the identity versus role confusion conflict(Glasser, 1998).

I would use Adlerian Therapy to guide how I counsel my students. Unlike Freud, Adler stresses choice and responsibility, meaning in life and the striving for success, completion and perfection. He believed that human behavior was not determined solely by heredity and environment. People have the capaci ty to interpret, influence and create events. In order to understand people we must first understand the systems of which they are part. Adler's life style assessment is holistic and systemic. With each student, I would try and gather as much informatio n as I can about his attitudes and the world in which he lives from his perspective.

In Person-Centered Therapy , Carl Rogers believed that people are essentially trustworthy. They have a vast potential for understanding themselves and resolving their own problems without direct intervention on the therapist's part. Rogers believed that the quality of the client-therapist relationship is the prime determinant of the outcome of the ...