Specialist Diploma In Counseling Psychology Module 1 Foundation Counseling Assignment Report
Chua Kee Siong
Chua Kee Siong
Assignment Report
Table OF Content MODULE 1 COURSE SUMMARY................................................................ 4 1. CLIENT DETAIL ................................................................................... 10 1.1. CLIENT BACKGROUND ....................................................... 10 1.2. CLIENT ISSUE ....................................................................... 11 1.3. CLIENT FAMILY DIAGRAM .................................................. 12 2. COUNSELING RECORD...................................................................... 13 3. CLIENT ANALYSIS .............................................................................. 24 3.1. COUNSELLING SESSION .................................................... 24 3.2. ORIGINAL FAMILY................................................................ 24 3.3. ENVIRONMENT AND TRAINING.......................................... 25 4. RECOMMENDATIONS......................................................................... 26 5. FOLLOW UP......................................................................................... 27 6. CONCLUSIONS.................................................................................... 28 7. REFERENCES...................................................................................... 29
Chua Kee Siong
Assignment Report
Table OF Figures Figure 1 Module 1 Summary Mind Map ..................................................... 5 Figure 2 Theory Summary Mind Map......................................................... 6 Figure 3 Professional Conduct Summary Mind Map ............................... 7 Figure 4 Counselling Technique Summary Mind Map ............................. 8 Figure 5 Preparation Summary Mind Map................................................. 9 Figure 6 Alex Family Diagram .................................................................. 12
Chua Kee Siong
Assignment Report
Module 1 Course Summary Counselling is a process that enables a person to sort out issues and reach decisions affecting their life. Counselling takes place when a counsellor sees a client in a private and confidential setting to explore a difficulty the client is having, distress they may be experiencing or perhaps their dissatisfaction with life, or loss of a sense of direction and purpose. It is always at the request of the client as no one can properly be 'sent' for counselling. By listening attentively and patiently the counsellor can begin to perceive the difficulties from the client's point of view and can help them to see things more clearly, possibly from a different perspective. Counselling is a way of enabling choice or change or of reducing confusion. It does not involve giving advice or directing a client to take a particular course of action. Counsellors do not judge or exploit their clients in any way. In the counselling sessions the client can explore various aspects of their life and feelings, talking about them freely and openly in a way that is rarely possible with friends or family. Bottled up feelings such as anger, anxiety, grief and embarrassment can become very intense and counselling offers an opportunity to explore them, with the possibility of making them easier to understand. The counsellor will encourage the expression of feelings and as a result of their training will be able to accept and reflect the client's problems without becoming burdened by them. Acceptance and respect for the client are essentials for a counsellor and, as the relationship develops, so too does trust between the counsellor and client, enabling the client to look at many aspects of their life, their relationships and themselves which they may not have considered or been able to face before. The counsellor may help the client to examine in detail the behaviour or situations which are proving troublesome and to find an area where it would be possible to initiate some change as a start. The counsellor may help the client to look at the options open to them and help them to decide the best for them. Module 1 of this counselling course covered the foundation and break up into 4 parts, namely the history and theory of counselling, the professional conduct of a counsellor, the various technique to be used during the session and finally the preparation work needed. The details are summaries in a mind map format for easy reference and remembering. ____________________________________________________________________________________ ACC Page: 4
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Module 1 Course Summary Figure 1 Module 1 Summary Mind Map
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Figure 2 Theory Summary Mind Map
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Figure 3 Professional Conduct Summary Mind Map
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Figure 4 Counselling Technique Summary Mind Map
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Figure 5 Preparation Summary Mind Map
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1.
Client Detail
1.1.
Client Background
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The client is Alex Tang, a male in his late 30 at the age of 38. He is married to his wife Sharon also of the age of 36 for 9 years. Currently they have 2 children John, at the age of 9 and Jack, at the age of 7. His relationship with his wife has deteriorated to normal friend, only discussion about the household items, task surrounding the children. This is partly because of his job nature and his commitment to the job and also partly because his wife has stopped working as an executive to take care of the children since a few years back, when the children encountered some difficulty with their school work. These have created pressure and further gap between them. Due to his late hours from work, in addition completion of one part time master degree programs (Business Administration) during the week night and weekends, his relationship and amount of time spent with his children and wife are also limited. Alex has a younger brother Mike but did not communicate much, his father Steven passed away when he was in the University, his mother Mdm Tay is staying alone and he visited her once every now and than. Overall his relationship with his own family is not as good as it should be. Alex also has no religion belief of any kind. He has been working in the current manufacturing company for the past 10 years, actually is his first job since graduated from the University as an Engineer. The company operates production systems that work round the clock non-stop. He started as the engineer supporting the system, always on call to return to the company if there were any production problem, this has also interrupted his private life and affected his family life. Through his work commitment, hard work, he has been promoted several times and currently running a support department of sizable staff and has become the dependent manager for his supervisor and enjoying support and attention for several years. ACC
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1.2.
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Client Issue Started three years ago, his status and relationship with the supervisor has changed. He no longer enjoyed the support and trust from his supervisor, there is lot of questioning and rework for his assignment. The biggest change and blow to him was the re-organization that happened in last year, with the re-organization, responsibility was transferred out from him; the staff reporting to him has also reduced. Since the re-organization, he has lost his confident in his own ability. He has lost his motivation and passion to work. He did not let his family know about the change in situation as he don’t want them to worry about it especially now he is the only bread earner in the family. Alex has been in this situation and condition for the past six months, he wanted to get out of the situation and restart his work life again, hence he has voluntarily seeks counseling assistant.
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1.3.
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Client Family Diagram
Figure 6 Alex Family Diagram
Mdm Tay
Accident Steven
60 M, 1962 D, 1989
Sharon
Mike
Alex
36
38
37
M,1995
John
Jack 9
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2.
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Counseling Record Following are selected sections of the counseling session recording with the client Alex, the recording selection was based on the need to demonstrate the understanding and the usage of the theory and technique learned from module 1 for assignment purpose. In actual counseling session, the client will have to fill up a detail background information questionnaire prior to the session for the counsellor to prepare and have a better understanding of the potential issues and area for further more gather of information, this way is more productive in spending time to explore and assist the client the required area during the counseling.
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Counsellor
:
Good Morning Alex, thanks for taking the time to come over and the trust in us to assist you in your current situation. How may I assist you?
Alex
：
I feel unhappy at work [Attentiveness to client to notice posture, eye contact etc. Client sat with his body lean away from the conservation and constantly playing with his hand phone, not having too much direct eye contact] [Reference 2, Chapter 10, Page 40]
Counsellor
:
May I know which company are you working for currently?
Alex
：
In a big corporation
Counsellor
:
Could you be more specific about how you feel unhappy at work [Client generalising, asking question trying to be more concrete] [Reference 2, Chapter 11, Page 46]
Alex
：
Pressure from supervisor and no trust
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Assignment Report
Counsellor
:
May I know your position and role in the company
Alex
：
Management level, managing staff
Counsellor
:
Could you be more specific, are you handling administration or operation task? [Client generalising, asking question trying to be more concrete] [Reference2, Chapter 11, Page46]
Alex
：
Both administration and operation tasks
Counsellor
:
The current situation, have you talked to anyone about it like your colleague
Alex
：
At our level, I suppose it not appropriate to let them see you in this light
Counsellor
:
How other staff being treated by your supervisor?
Alex
：
Good
Counsellor
:
When did you notice the current situation started
Alex
：
2 years ago
Counsellor
:
Are you aware of specific reason why this happened or specific incident that lead to this
Alex
：
No, I don’t know and supervisor did not say so
Counsellor
:
Have you discussed with your supervisor about the current situation
Alex
：
No
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Counsellor
:
You know your supervisor was good to you before
Alex
：
Yes, I was his right hand man
Counsellor
:
Do you know what happen 2 years ago
Alex
：
No
Counsellor
:
May I know your education level [Find out Client education level will help adjust the depth and complexity of the communication needed to reach client]
Alex
：
Master degree
Counsellor
:
You have work in the company for a long while, your experience and knowledge is definitely what the company find value to them. You have also decisively seeks assistant rather than talking to colleague show your calmness, clarity, objectivity in decision making. I’m happy that we have met today to discuss how to assist you moving forward. I do understand how bad you must have being feeling now about the situation. [Empathy to client situation and build rapport with client] [Refernece2, Chapter8, Page33]
[Moving on to gather information about client original family and family situation, as family is a resource that client can depend on] [Reference2, Chapter5, Page22]
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Counsellor
:
Are you marry and any children
Alex
：
Yes, two son at the age of 9 and at 7
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Counsellor
:
Your children must be adorable. Did you talk to your wife about this?
Alex
：
A bit, did not want to bother her and bring issue back after office hour
Counsellor
:
What did she say?
Alex
：
she told me to hang in there, it will pass and she support me
Counsellor
:
How about your family, you staying together with your parent
Alex
：
No
Counsellor
:
Are you close with your family
Alex
：
No, just the regular contact visit
Counsellor
:
You mentioned your elder son is 9, did you play or talk to him much
Alex
：
When he is older now, we talk more, he like computer hence we communicate thru facebook, messenger etc
Counsellor
:
From a scale of 1 to 10 how do you rate the relationship with your son [To be more specific about the relationship in order to determine whether this is a resource area for the client to draw on] [Reference 2, Chapter 11, Page 46]
Alex
：
6 to 7
Counsellor
:
On the same scale how do you rate the relationship with your wife
Alex
：
6 to 7
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[Moving on to gather information about client company, colleague] Counsellor
:
2 years ago, when you felt the lost of trust can you remember what happen
Alex
：
No
Counsellor
:
Anyone in the company told you directly that you are not trust worthy?
Alex
：
Not directly, but can see from the question and comment
Counsellor
:
Any specific example [Client generalising, asking question trying to be more concrete] [Reference 2, Chapter 11, Page 46]
Alex
：
He used to see my proposal now don’t or can’t even see eye to eye
Counsellor
:
Can you be more specific
Alex
：
Last time, he used to see the point that I bring up attentively, now lot of very tough questions that everyone know there are no answer to them
Counsellor
:
How is your feeling at work now
Phone SMS Alert
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Alex
：
Not happy
Counsellor
:
Can you be more specific how unhappy you are
Alex
：
Like lot of big rock in front of me, take lot of effort to clear it, very tired, discourage
Counsellor
:
Was it in mid or early 2008 that this happen Page: 17
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Alex
：
Mid
Counsellor
:
Can you recall anything related
Phone sms alert again
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Alex
：
I cannot if I can, I will clear it
Counsellor
:
So if you are him, will you tell the staff [Trying to understand the client expectation of a boss through his own behaviour and expectation, self awareness]
Alex
：
If I’m him, I will tell the staff specifically what went wrong and went so that the staff got a chance to improve
Counsellor
:
In doing so, your staff should trust you as this is your way of trust. So your supervisor has not done this hence he don’t trust you
Alex
：
No, he can communicate in any other way. For example, the same presentation done by other was easy but me very tough questioning
Counsellor
:
So other colleague sees it? Did they tell you directly?
Alex
：
Yes, they see it and just say don’t worry, he is like that
Counsellor
:
I do feel fully the obstacle that you are facing, I do work in the big corporate world like yourself before I started counselling career. The red tape that you have to clear and level of management asking question, many time, I also feel like kicking my supervisor [Empathy to client situation and build rapport with client with some level of self disclosure] Page: 18
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[Reference2, Chapter8, Page33, Chapter12, Page52] Today we are here to assist you in moving forward, do you want to release yourself from the situation and move forward. Can you say it Alex
：
Yes, I come here to release myself from the situation and to move forward
Phone sms alert again Counsellor
:
Do you want to reply the sms [Confrontation and Immediacy of situation as the client is constantly disturb by the sms alert and not cooperating] [Reference2, Chapter12, Page 54, Chapter12, Page49]
Alex
：
No need, it not important
Counsellor
:
How do you know it not important, did you saw it already?
Alex
：
I saw
Phone sms alert again Counsellor
:
I know you can handle situation well, like you saw the sms and decisive what to do and also able to prioritise issue When you say you are here to change, that is very good, however when the phone ring, I know you are not with us anymore What we do here is like walking, it take two leg to walk forward, with only one occasional, we will fall very fast. I know it the first time that we met and not to familiar with each other hence you took the sms. I hope to have your full cooperation to move forward together
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[Confrontation and Immediacy of situation as the client is constantly disturb by the sms alert and not cooperating] [Reference2, Chapter12, Page 54, Chapter12, Page49]
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Alex
：
Off the hp
Counsellor
:
You are still here in the company, have you think about leaving [To understand whether there are unfulfilled dream to start his own business]
Alex
：
Currently no, but have think about it
Counsellor
:
You supervisor is his own boss or like you have supervisor [To understand how much the client know and understand his supervisor to determine the relationship]
Alex
：
He has supervisor
Counsellor
:
In your own opinion are you better than you supervisor
Alex
：
In some ways yes but some no
Counsellor
:
How much do you know about your supervisor? He has how many brother and sister, he has any children?
Alex
：
I only know he is the elder, I think 2 children
Counsellor
:
2 years ago when your relationship was good, did you interact with him beyond the work level like play golf, drinking session
Alex
：
No
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Counsellor
:
Was he the same supervisor for the past few years
Alex
：
Yes
[Moving on, attempt to understand how the client felt when the relationship was good and trying to help client find that feeling to start the change in himself]
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Counsellor
:
When you first started in this company, how do you feel as compare to now?
Alex
：
I feel excitement, eager to commit and contribute
Counsellor
:
So this excitement stopped 2 years ago
Alex
：
Yes
Counsellor
:
If some how one day miracle happen, you are back with the trust, what will you be doing or feel
Alex
：
I will feel excitement and encourage to work
Counsellor
:
what specifically will you be doing
Alex
：
I don’t understand what you mean
Counsellor
:
I understand you are passing the day like a zombie and in fact very good that you are able to move around to do your work. Just picture yourself top of the world enjoying the trust and attention, in the morning, you step into the office what you will be doing that is different from now [Empathy and trying to help the client visualise the scene to be able to feel it better, as from the conservation the client is a visual person] [Reference2, Chapter8 Page22] Page: 21
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Alex
：
I will smile and say good morning to people that I come across, I will be more positive in replying my email
Counsellor
:
Yes, this is what you should start to feel and act, try this out and the people around you including your supervisor will feel the different and situation should start to improve. Once you change your perspective about the current situation and act accordingly, thing will change. It is much easier to start the change within you than changing the environment and people around you. [Attempt to explain to the client to understand his own self awareness, perspective, changing it will improve situation, as the client is highly educated this should be able to understand and help to anchor it in the concept as the client is very logical and systematic in nature]
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Alex
：
Yes, I understand what you mean now.
Counsellor
:
Yes, I know you will understand, you are a very logical and systematic person, with this you will definitely able to improve the situation. [Empathy and encouragement to anchor it the concept] [Reference2, Chapter8, Page22]
Alex
：
Yes, I think so too
Counsellor
:
Thank you for spending the time and trusting me in able to assist you, you have been patient with me. In the next 2 weeks, remember to find back that feeling and act accordingly thing will change. Once the office situation improved, we need to work on improving your family relationship; I believe you will like to improve that as well. Page: 22
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Alex
：
Yes, I definitely like to improve my family relationship. Thank you for being patient with me. So I see you in 2 weeks time?
Counsellor
：
Yes, see you in 2 week times, thank you.
Alex
：
Thank you.
Counselling Session ended
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3.
Client Analysis
3.1.
Counselling Session
Assignment Report
Although the client has voluntarily come for the counselling session seeking assistant to his situation, however because of his seniority in his job and managing sizable number of staff for many years. And always playing the role to provide solution and guidance to the staff, it is difficult for the client to be the one seeking solution and guidance, especially in the first counselling session. Hence, initial conversation the client just provide short and very general respond to the question and lot of clarification questions are needed to concretise the understanding. The behaviour of the client allowing the sms alert to interrupt the session also reflected the situation. Confrontation and situation immediacy technique were used to resolve the situation in order for the session to continue and the client did respond positively by turning off the hand phone, to the technique used. 3.2.
Original Family The client original family could likely be the source of the poor relationship with his wife and children and his own relationship with his mother and brother reflected that. The family relationship if good could have been an area of strength that he can drawn upon to support him going through the current career situation. However, unfortunately, this could have added on to the situation as he has no where to turn to discuss the situation hence leading to professional counseling. His wife has given up work as an executive to take care of the children could have her own psychology issues, the giving up of the career could have been no choice, the change of environment from interacting with colleague and social life to totally family, could have created certain relationship issue among them. The factor that both the client and his supervisor are elder son also added difficulty to the situation as both demanded for
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respect, in such a situation one has to give in, given the company setting which has to be the client to give in. Pressure as the sole earner for the entire family further added pressure to the client, as he could not afford to loose his job or change job to face financial issue. 3.3.
Environment and Training The client field of study in Engineering, his work and responsibility to resolve issues has trained and shaped him to be very logical and systematic in handling situation including relationship issues. However, human relationships of any kind cannot be handled this logical way. This has resulted in the lack of tactfulness empathy, in handling relationship matters. Evidently from the long relationship he has with his supervisor, yet he has little understanding of his supervisor background, family any information that he beyond work. This shown very clearly that lack of Emotional Intelligence.
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4.
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Recommendations The Client faces two main issues currently. One, the low morale in work which affected him significantly given the long hours he has put into work, further resulted the distance created with his family when he is back home after work. Second, the poor relationship with his family especially his wife and the lack of interactive time with his family. Both, mainly because of his poor emotional intelligence. There are other potential issues such as relationship with colleague and the issue of working too long in a company and wanted to try doing business observed during the counselling session which may need to be address once the main issues are resolved. Among the 2 main issues, priority has to be given to work [Reference2, Chapter13, page61 – priority of issue], being the main income source to his family; this situation has also added much pressure and will have serious implication if not handled first.
The work issue is actually a perspective issue of the client more than anything else, the client expectation of himself when face with such situation was not displayed by the supervisor, the poor emotional intelligence, not able to see, understand and accept the different side of his supervisor added on to the situation. It will be good to know, what was the incident that triggered this 2 years ago but was not able to uncover it from the client during this session. Hope to able to uncover it in the next session. In the mean time, the main resolution recommended to the client was to help the client to understand his own perspective, change his own perspective and act accordingly to the new perspective. It is always easier to change yourself than others and the environment. [Reference2, Chapter13, page61 – solution that is within the client ability and agreeable] Getting him to visualise the picture of him stepping into the office is able to better anchor the idea and good feeling, as the client is a visual person from the words in used during the conversation.
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5.
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Follow Up It is a usual practice to have follow up calls to the client 3 to 5 days after the counselling session especially it is the first session and especially there are specific agreed action that the client agreed to perform to improve the situation. It also provides the necessary feedback to the counsellor whether the client is proceeding toward the correct direction, whether there are adjustment needed and preparation for the next counselling session. A telephone call to Alex was completed after 5 days of his first counselling session. He is generally less frustrated with the situation with his work and supervisor. However, he does feedback that not every time he could think positively and see the other perspective. But it show sign of improvement that the supervisor also responded back with kind when he can do it. This is a positive sign that the solution for Alex is working, will need to reinforce this action and recommend other action during the second session with him.
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6.
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Conclusions In conclusion, it was an eventful and enriching experience to be able to deploy various counselling technique learned from the class to help the client. The preparation before the session is importance to be able to organise yourself and be prepared for the area to focus on for potential issue. However, from personal experience, the state of mind of the counsellor [reference Ms Lucy, lecturer, did shared this from her own experience, however it need real counselling session to fully realise the importance], the patient and the empathy shown to the client is extremely critical to determine whether the ice can be broken to really reach the client and be able to gain the trust and eventually assist the client to recovery. Alex was not cooperative and constantly interrupted by the alert from the sms, if the counsellor does not has a clear state of mind, lacking in patient and empathy, the session would likely stopped at the very beginning. The other important learning is the usage of immediacy technique. It is useful to help bring the counselling session back on track however, the style of conducting the immediacy technique has always need to display respect to the client, empathy of client situation and tactfulness of the words spoken. Anyone of such ingredient is wrong, the session could go other way not only ending it early but created a lasting wrong impression for the client toward counsellor in general. This may create hesitation for the client in seeking further counselling assistant and also required a much greater effort to undo the wrong. Finally, it very rewarding to be able to assist the client recovered from his/her trouble situation and moving forward to be a much happier person. It both learning experience for the client and the counsellor.
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7.
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References 1. 《辅导与心理治疗》 林孟平 著 2. 《辅导心理学文凭课程-第一部》 ACC ♦ End of Document ♦
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