‘‘You have a decision to make about your pregnancy. Any pregnant adolescent has three options. Alphabetically, these options are: abortion or pregnancy termination; continuing the pregnancy and arranging for an adoption, infant care, or foster care; and continuing the pregnancy, entering prenatal care, and becoming a parent. At this point, which option do you think you will choose?” (Aruda, Waddicor, Frese, Cole & Burke, 2010, pp. 9-10). The preceding quote presents dialogue that a competent counselor should use with their pregnant, teenage client. This quote also shapes the focus of the following literature review by identifying the counselor’s responsibility to implement professional competency practices during counseling sessions. The specific …show more content…
During this transition period facilitated through options counseling, the counselor is sharing all the options a teenager has to decide upon during each stage of her pregnancy to ensure her educational, physical, and mental health. Options counseling will promote identity development by learning how to advocate for herself and her child (if she decides to continue with the pregnancy). The components of options counseling removes barriers such as lack of access, money, and availability as well as guilt, fear, embarrassment, denial, and confusion (Bluestein & Starling, 1994, p.141). Therefore, implementing ethical counseling practices, specifically professional competency, is imperative to prevent harmful pregnancy …show more content…
Based on Carl Roger’s 1940s psychotherapy model, (Samuel T. Gladding, 2013, p. 12) clients need to be heard and accepted which leads to guided self-growth. For instance, as a form of self-growth, teenage clients can achieve positive identity development only when counselors have given that responsibility to their clients. Aruda et al. (2010) recommend counselors to first examine personal values that are closely linked with a teenage client or group of clients. This step allows counselors to recognize if their religious values or socioeconomic class for instance will present biased word choices or physical behavior during counseling sessions. Moreover, in the Dobkin et al. (2013) article, they suggest collaborative decision-making between a counselor and their client to avoid counselors from stating prescriptive advice. Their article further suggests a healthy counselor-client relationship with collaborative decision-making. This will promote the client to examine her values in relation to all the optional services she is introduced to by her counselor. Dobkin et al. (2010) also connect non-directive statements with neutrality. This stance of neutrality allows the pregnant teen to express her thoughts and emotions. Engaging
...a decision. Like the many cases in this book showed, sometimes there is not a right and wrong answer. A good counselor will use their skills, experience, and education to overcome obstacles in therapy and to provide the client with excellent helping service.
Teenagers who become mothers have harsh prospects for the future. Teenagers obtaining abortions are 20% and girls under 15 accounts for 1.2%. They are much more likely to leave of school; receive insufficient prenatal care; rely on public assistance to raise a child; develop health problems; or en...
The female teen stares into the eyes of her newborn son, not realizing the type of life her and her son will have in the near future. Katrina L. Burchett excellently explicates teenage pregnancy among female adolescents living with domestic problems in her book titled Choices. The various elements that aid to the wide range of teenage pregnancies in the world should all be taken in to consideration. Getting pregnant at an adult is no longer substantial or conventional in our society. Everyday, female young adults are getting pregnant, which is why it is a social issue for the youth today.
“10 Arguments in Favor of Pro-Choice Policy.” Advocates for Youth. N.p., 2010. Web. 18 Mar. 2010. .
Every day, an overwhelming amount of human beings’ lives are terminated. The culprit: unwanted pregnancies. Many woman are (not by choice), becoming pregnant as a result of unsafe sex, rape, and other things. So what is one to do when they discover that they’re pregnant? They have some alternatives: (1) have the child and raise it (2) have the child, then give it up for adoption (3) get an abortion. Sadly, many women choose alternative three, unaware of what they’re getting themselves into.
Most people agree that abortion should be a rare procedure. To accomplish that ideal, our society must proactively, by providing resources and support, offer pregnant women the hope that carrying their babies to term is not the end of their plans and dreams. Then their difficult decisions would really be true choices vice acts of desperation. After all, it is just as much “pro-choice” for a woman to take charge of her life and courageously carr...
Seligman, L., & Reichenberg, L. W. (2014). Theories of Counseling and Psychotherapy, Systems, Strategies, and Skills (4th Edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
Values, Morals, and Beliefs are components that play a role in an individual’s self-identity. The establishment of these components shape human nature, behavior, and the development of an individual’s purpose. The basis of these fundamentals has contributed to my desire to become a counselor. This paper will discuss my views of human nature, factors of behavior changes, goals of therapy, the roles of a therapist, and the counseling approaches that I chose to incorporate in a practice.
In America, one million teenagers get pregnant every year (National Abortion Federation, 2003). Of these pregnancies, 78% are unplanned because these teenagers start having sex at a very young age and are unaware of ways to prevent pregnancies. Thirty-five percent of the pregnant teenagers chose to abort, as they fear that the consequences of the pregnancy might have significant effects on their lives. The problems that come with teenage pregnancies include dropping out of school, receiving inadequate prenatal care, developing health problems, relying on public assistance to raise a child, and probably divorcing their partners. In most states, the law allows pregnant teenagers to take their babies for adoption without consulting their parents.
There are multiple structures of that can be applied to the counselling process, ranging from the basic idea of a beginning, middle and end to a more structured approach as that proposed by Egan (1994). Although his initial structure offered three main components; Stage 1, exploring the situation, stage 2, identifying a new or desired scenario to strive for and stage 3, the action stage, in which methods of coping are devised of and implemented. Egan later devised a ten stage structure that still takes into account initial stages from the speakers perspective of identifying a problem and seeking help, within this structure stage 4 is the initial meeting of the counsellor and client and can be considered the beginning stage of the helping re...
Another aspect that pro-life supporters agree on with mandating laws for pre-abortion counseling is dealing with women’s psychological and emotional needs. Pre-abortion counseling can provide hope to pregnant women who are unhappy about being pregnant. Counseling sessions are considered as an opportunity for women to talk about their concerns and issues about pregnancy. It is also to support women by providing information that will consolidate their decision making. Counselors are to be non-judgmental and non-directive to provide women the best support as the client’s needs and interest is top priority. The client-centered approach is to be used due to its flexibility use of techniques and it tailors the client’s need. This counseling approach also view the clients with empathy. According to
A counselor is defined as a person trained to give guidance on personal, social, or psychological problems. Professional counselors help to identify goals and potential solutions to problems which cause emotional or social interruptions. Counseling also improves communication, strengthens self-esteem, and promotes behavior change in relations to mental health. Counseling enables us to appreciate how we are in healthy relationships and safe environments due to some of the bad things others experience. Counseling helps clients understand and clarify their views on life and learn to reach their goals through making wise choices. In most counseling situations, the client is experiencing personal issues such as low self-esteem,
Sexual relationships between counselors and clients should never ben permitted due to the power associated with the counselor’s role with clients. While ethical guidelines vary between different counseling associations as to whether it is acceptable for counselors to have sexual relationships with clients after the professional relationship has ended, in many cases these relationships continue to be prohibited. This standard is held because some believe that the powe...
In this experience, I saw a client ask the counselor what they thought they should do in a situation where both choices were not desirable. The counselor did not give their opinion and it seemed like the client left more frustrated and confused than when he had come in. I empathized with him and frankly was a bit annoyed with the counselor for not giving him advice or her opinion. After the session, the counselor had mentioned that it was necessary for the client to make the decision by himself. Although I could appreciate this, I was not completely satisfied with this
Swann, C., Bowe, K., McCormick, G., Kosmin, M. (2003) Teenage pregnancy and parenthood: a review of reviews. London: HAD.