Narrative Therapy Model

College is an opportunity to truly discover who you are. Often enough, you hear people saying “You should really major in this field, I think you would really enjoy this career.” or, “Do you think you really want to study that? Have you thought about what you will be doing ten years from now?” filling your mind with self doubt, uncertainty, and the anxiousness of not knowing what you want to do with the rest of your life. Mark Edmundson wrote an article titled, Who Are You and What Are You Doing Here?, published in Oxford American addressing college students and their families how the most important thing college students should focus on is personal growth. When students take their courses seriously their engagement can help finding out who they really are and which future career will lead not necessarily to great financial success, but to a career and life that is very satisfying. Edmundson wants to inspire his audience and have them take what he is saying seriously. Edmundson uses satirical informal language and hypothetical situations to effectively persuade college students to focus on their personal growth in order to create a life and career that is deeply fulfilling.

According to my site supervisor, there is only one career lesson delivered to each grade level at the middle school. She said that it is not until students get to high school that the counselors really begin to focus on careers and future plans. Upon further research, I discovered that this was consistent across all middle schools in the district. I feel as though it is of utmost importance for students to be prepared and have a plan once they graduate high school. They need to be aware of their options and their career goals. In order to have a career goal and understand their post-secondary options, students must understand and gain exposure the various career paths and opportunities. It is never too early to begin planning for the future, developing career goals, and creating a post-secondary plan. For these reasons, I chose to focus, advocate for, and plan for individual planning activities that career paths to aid students in career planning.

1. Compare and contrast how two different models of counselling would understand and approach treating Jim.

When we look upon Narrative Therapy, we look at the person rather than the problem. This means separating the problem from the person or family. Narrative Therapists believe that people are the solutions to their own problems or issues. They also believe that people are special, and can find the answers to problems or issues that they are experiencing.

A professional who holds a Master’s degree in counseling my also chose to have a career as a Vocational counselors. They may also be referred to as a career or employment counselors. These counselors offer counseling services in places other than the school setting. Their main objective is to help individuals with career choices, examine an educational background, employment history, skill and abilities, personalities and other aspects to help them. Additionally, career counselors may offer support services to people who have lost their jobs or experiencing career change issues (Baxter, 1997).

The focus of the semester long mentorship was to help students generate their personal statements for college entry. I mentored students on CGCC campus to help them cultivate their personal history and creatively write them on paper. Many students struggled with their past experiences as they stated that they were too young to obtain the amount of time it would take to create an experience. I asked them if they remember their first day of high school, and asked them each to tell the group what they remember. As a result, the students realized that even though they shared the same first experience, those experiences were completely different.

Often times, people live through painful events in their life that can alter their perception of themselves, their family, and the world. Narrative therapy offers the client the opportunity to re-write their story and gain a different perspective of specific events. It is important to understand that within the history of narrative therapy, therapists view client’s stories through a political lens. Often times, focusing on the oppression and cultural dominance that exists within the constructs of our society. Thus, empowering clients to change their story allows them to break free from the constraints that have shaped their outlook and allow for alternative ways of thinking.

This paper will look at the logic of narrative therapy by focusing on 5 major points. This paper will begin by discussing how the narrative approach defines and perceives problems. It will address how narrative therapy views the nature of the relationship between the client and the professional. This paper will look at how problems are solved using the narrative approach. It will also focus on three main techniques used in narrative therapy, which will include externalization, deconstruction and re-authoring. This paper will also include a short narrative critique of the medical model.

In the early 80’s a new theory garnered acclaim in psychotherapeutic circles. It is called Narrative therapy and has its roots in a postmodern idea known as constructivism. Ian Ridgway (2005) defines constructivism this way, “Humans create meaning within social contexts because it is believed either that reality is essentially without meaning or its true meaning is beyond us.” Michael White and David Epston are the two most prominent figures in the development of Narrative Therapy. White and Epston recognized a shift in how people construct meaning for their lives and believed that to help a client it was important to deconstruct the stories in his or her life the client would naturally alter the behavior (Nichols,

The individual presents orientated in all spheres and is able to recognize personal danger. While the individual is able to recognize personal danger and does not present as harm to self or others, during this month of July he struggled with feelings of agitation, irritability and anger (2-3x weekly); was isolative and withdrawn (daily); displayed feelings of hopelessness and helpless (3-4x weekly); and often has a difficult time concentrating. In order to assist the individual with those symptoms he is provided individual therapy once a week, where cognitive behavior therapy was being utilized to teach him how to fight off negative thoughts and how to become more aware of his symptoms and how to spot things that make his depression worse.

During the initial phase of the treatment, the therapist should be curious about the client’s experiences and also focusing on hearing their story to gain a full understanding of not only the problem, but the client’s point of view, hence making the client the expert. This also helps the therapist avoid any assumptions throughout their sessions. The therapist would also acknowledge some of the feelings that were expressed; such as frustration. She would look for clues of hope between the couple and what they would like to be different in the future. Once Bill and Leslie defines the problem, the next focus is on goal setting and finding solutions based on the clues presented. One of these clues is when Bill states that their problem is

Higher education is a time where an individual decides what career they want to peruse by the classes they take, this time of their development also showcases there many interests as it relates to the profession that they want to examine. When it comes to assisting the person that has questions about career and jobs, there are many resources available that will be able to support them in that. The following is a scenario about an individual that has questions about his future in a higher education setting. Kobe is a sophomore in college and doesn’t know what to do when it comes to his future, he has taken many classes his freshmen year of University but not of them were of interest when it comes to a career that he wants to peruse. Kobe’s

As a narrative therapist with this particular family the goal would be to be an empathic listener and touch on the key facts they describe as part of their narrative to unravel and mend the dilemma that brought them into therapy.

Students are able to see themselves as individuals with various skills and abilities, and understand that they can make choices about how they wish to move forward

Students are able to see themselves as individuals with various skills and abilities, and understand that they can make choices about how they wish to move forward