Personal values that motivate me to become a helping professional are a positive attitude, empathy, building a relationship, having ethical standards, and communication skills.
Empathy
The first personal value to becoming a great helping professional is empathy for the client. Empathy is the ability to understand the client from his or her point of view to help understand the client (Egan, pg.48) From my past life experiences of growing up with an addict is learning empathy at a young age. We could not help the family member even though we tried. So, empathy was the best way to try to understand his actions. Solving the problem was not going to happen and we did not have the skills to help the trouble family member.(Egan, 2014, pg. 6) As
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According to Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi, helping clients develop unused opportunities and potential is positive psychology. Clients need to know that there are other opportunities for a better occupation, health, and home life. Treatment is not just fixing what is broken but helping the client start or redesign their life goals (Ince, 2009 pg.7) Helping the client find out their strengths and how to use them is positive behavior that all professional helpers need to help clients learn to use. Professional helpers have tools to help clients set these goals.
Positive Life Goals
The first goal is to help clients manage their problems by living more effectively and develop unused resources. (Egan, pg.9) For example climbing exercises will help build self confidence. The second goal is for the client to learn how to help oneself. Helpers will show the clients tools to help them make better decisions and set personal goals. These tools will help the client learn to help themselves.(Nelson-Jones, 2005,pg.11) The helper shows the client successful strategies to developing a preventative mentality which is the third goal to helping a client with positive life goals.
Building a
As a result, I am learning how to assist clients without labeling the client and developing a proper diagnosis. Assessing client problems should happen throughout the counseling process. In the beginning, counselors get background information on their clients to help the counselor develop a diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Correct diagnosis of clients is vital to receive reimbursement from insurance companies for counseling services. Assessments help the counselor determine an appropriate treatment for the client. Assessments can help clients realize their strengths and weaknesses (Whiston, 2017). Helping the client understand their strengths can assist the client in building confidence, reach the clients counseling goal, and implement healthy choices in the client’s
This method is grounded in the strengths perspective, a perspective in which the worker center’s their sessions around the clients’ abilities, gifts, and strengths (Shulman, 2016). Instead of focusing on what is wrong with the client, the worker highlights what is right with the client building on their strengths instead of emphasizing their deficits: the client already has what they need to get better or solve their problem (Corcoran, 2008). The role of the worker in this model is to help the client recognize their potential, recognize what resources they already have, and discuss what is going well for the client and what they have been able to accomplish already (Shulman, 2016). Techniques commonly used in this model, although they are not exclusive to this model, include an emphasis on pre- and between-session change, exception questions, the miracle question, scaling questions, and coping questions (Shulman, 2016). These questions are used for many reasons: for example, the miracle question is used because “sometimes asking clients to envision a brighter future may help them be clearer on what they want or to see a path to problem-solving.” (Corcoran, 2008, p. 434) while coping questions are used to allow the client to see what they are already accomplishing, rather than what they are transgressing (Corcoran, 2008). All
...ives from the implementation of an empathic, hopeful continuous treatment relationship, which provides integrated treatment and coordination of care through the course of multiple treatment episodes” (Watkins, 2015). Whether, confronted with a substance use disorder, gambling or sex addiction the way in which a counselor work with the client in an open helpful manner is the key to motivating the client to change their behaviors. “A man convinced against his will, Is of the same opinion still” (Carnegie, 1981). The most piece of the helping relationship is that the client is the lead in their care, as they are the ones that will be making the decisions for their care. A counselor is essentially a trained skillful teacher that guides an individual toward their best recovery options and it is up to the individual to make the needed changes in their life and behaviors.
Goals mean intended action, and passivity on the part of the client breeds passivity on the part of the helper
108). Saul Alinsky said “the human service worker who built a strong neighborhood action group will eventually be thrown out by the indigenous leadership” (Mandell & Schram, pg. 108). As terrible as that sounds on the surface how accomplished that worker must feel to see a group of people he helped become empowered and self-sufficient. The second quality of a Helping Relationship is that “there is a specific purpose and focus for the professional helping relationship” The therapist and client would “discuss clear goals and what they want therapy to accomplish” (Mandell & Schram, pg. 108).
...p their own solutions to problems. Clients may need some guidance, education, or direction depending on their abilities and how the therapy is going. It is then that I want to be able to help them feel more empowered and recognize that they can make changes with effort on their part.
People inherently have the power to solve their own problems and come to their own solutions. Clients are expected to play and active role in their own change by being open to expressing their problems,creating goals and ultimately evaluating their progress. Clients often use stories to explore their problems in preparation for deciding which goals they want to set and subsequently accomplish. Each client has specific issues and life experiences which the goal should reflect. Clients are expected to put great effort into discovering a desire that the client has deep convictions about and will commit to putting in the work it takes to change behaviors that are no longer working in their life. When the client discovers what they want to be changed it can become their goal. The goal needs to be important to the client and not something that someone else wants them to change. When ...
...velop plans and goals that they can put into action. I further believe warmth and empathy should be used in building relationships between clients. The therapist should create a setting in which clients feel safe and can be vulnerable and spontaneous. As I stated before when discussing goals, it is the role of the therapist to cultivate optimism and hope. According to Gehart (2010), hope should be instilled early on in therapy to foster motivation and a sense of momentum (p. 337). I agree with this statement because more than likely the client is in therapy to make some kind of change, to make an improvement. If hope is instilled early in treatment, clients are able to feel empowered and strengthened by their therapist’s encouraging attitude. Overall, a therapist should be a facilitator, a resource person, an observer and a model for effective communication.
These are the skills and competencies I have learned through my studies at Walden University. Kaslow, Grus, Campbell, & Fouad, et al. (2009) stated professionalism comes from my respect for those who need help. Integrity can be built with confidence in the therapist. Attitudes are charitable, polite, caring emotions toward others that fuel my motivation toward helping. This concern welfare of others comes from my religious and personal experiences as a child and young adult.
Being a therapist is not only sitting in a chair listening to your clients’ problems all day. It is also not “reading-minds” as many people think and it is not giving advice or solving each clients’ issue. Therapists have many qualities that define the effectiveness of their treatment and their competence in the field. The important qualities that a therapist should have are empathic and great listening skills. In addition to, the therapist must be knowledge in their skills and in the different mental disorders in order to prevent a misdiagnosis. Furthermore, the therapist should have other qualities such as interpersonal skills and the ability to build rapport with the clients so they can feel secure and continue to come to therapy.
This passion for helping others will prove the driving force towards my success in the University of Denver’s graduate program in Social Work. Through my plethora of volunteer experiences helping at-risk children, I have found that giving my time and assistance to others less fortunate is the most fulfilling way I can spend my time. I believe this passion to help others will keep me motivated in my job and help me persevere during the most difficult times. Because social work comes with a lot of emotional difficulty, my passion for helping families will keep me focused on my final goal of providing assistance despite what difficult obstacles come my way. The trait that will further fuel this passion is my empathy. I am able to identify and understand another person’s emotions and truly feel for them. Therefore, if I see someone that needs help, I do everything in my power to help and do not give up until that person is better off than they were before.
The counselor accomplishes the above by expressing empathy, developing discrepancies, going along with resistance and supporting self-efficacy. Moreover, the counselor guides the client toward a solution that will lead to permanent posi...
Carl R. Rogers theorized that through providing a certain kind of relationship with the client, one in which empathy, unconditional positive regard and congruence were present, the client would “discover within himself the capacity to the relationship for growth, and change and personal development” . As a counselor empathy is essential as it allows me to enter my clients internal frame of reference, while still retaining a problem-solving stance. Entering the client’s internal frame of reference means I must consider the emotions and thoughts of the client, it is similarly vital not to get lost in the internal frame of reference as this creates the distinction between sympathy and empathy. Unconditional positive regard, also called acceptance is essential as it plays a role in creating a helping relationship in which the client feels safe to express any negative emotions or thoughts, while being...
As an aspiring Occupational Therapist, I feel that it is incredibly important to have a strong set of values. I believe that this is important because, by understanding my own values and beliefs I can most appropriately respect and understand those of the people around me. As an Occupational Therapist, I will need to have a specific understanding of my client’s values and beliefs and well as other professionals. I will need to do that to assure that I am working most effectively with those individuals. The core of all my beliefs have to do with helping people live their lives to the greatest potential possible. I believe that everyone has activities that they find hard to do, and often avoid doing them. As an Occupational Therapist I want to
Making meaningful interactions with them to bond emotionally with empathy. For example, I worked with a client who was dying and could not afford 24/hour hospice care. I cared for her; I put myself in her shoes and made myself available to her; I always sat at her bedside, held her hand, asked her how she felt, offered and administered some pain medications as needed, repositioned her every hour, gave her bed baths, assisted her with feeding, drinking and elimination activities, snuggled her with her favourite blanket when she was cold, talked to her with suiting words and listened to her with empathy while I encouraged her to be strong and happy. I sheared in her joy every time she expressed her gratitude to me and I found satisfaction in her healing, thereby finding my own healing. On our third day together, she passed happily with a quiet hiccup and her passing was the most peaceful passing I have witnessed.