Equality in Solution Focused Brief Therapy

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The way I speak on this blog, I allow my words to flow freely and may say things potentially offensive. This is okay because blogging and therapy are very different creatures. I think the coolest thing that could happen from writing this blog post is that others will begin dialogue in the comments section.

To be able to work with a diverse population and be effective in achieving treatment plan goals is something that many counselors desire. I feel like SFBT will increase my efficacy when working with various populations that have different backgrounds than me.

I have probably come across another single bisexual Hispanic female that was raised in poverty with a mentally ill mother and are now part of the middle class. While others may share my upbringing and lens of the world, the fact is that most people sitting across from me have an entirely different lens through which they see the world. The freedom that SFBT allows is for me to explore the world through each consumer’s lens and each individual’s experiences.

Some of the worst things a counselor can say in my opinion include “get over it,” “I understand,” and “it will get better with time.” Who the hell am I to say with any accuracy that the proverbial ‘it’ will always get better with the passing of time?! With good intentions, clinicians have the ability to enhance potentiation or do serious damage. The most appealing piece of SFBT is it has not been found to cause any harm.

Occasionally I speak before thinking, a good example of that is when I told a coworker that he did not strike me as a “male man,” at which time he informed me he was very much a manly man and did all sorts of manly things like working on cars and watching sports. Can you imagine if I put my foot that far in my mouth in a session with a consumer?! By allowing the consumer to set the language for the session, nothing said will be offensive because I can use their language. I can ask questions with curiosity without saying something potentially indelicate.

“Solutions need not be directly related to the problems they are meant to solve.” -Steve de Shazer

Evolving Into The Solution Focused Brief Therapy Mindset

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Prior to meeting anyone in the field, my understanding of Solutioned Focused Brief Therapy was that it is a modality. That’s it. I honestly did not know what to expect. Arriving in Colorado for the SFBT Training with Teri Pichot, I noticed awesome new landscapes that I had never experienced before. My hope for SFBT is that it would be one more tool in my box of therapy knowledge. I thought it was right alongside Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, etcetera. I was WRONG. This new type of therapy is much more than just another way of therapy, it is a new way of thinking and approaching consumers.
Most clinicians are taught from a problem solving point of view, this is also true for myself. Learning to focus on solutions instead of problems is proving to be very difficult, but I am confident it is doable. I am currently attending the 2016 Annual SFBT Expo, where I am meeting a multitude of clinicians all with their own experiences of SFBT.
The more I hear, see, and practice the principles of SFBT, the more of a reality I see with consumers. Almost fully licensed, (I just have to submit my hours) I have decided the areas of focus I am interested in include substance abuse, trauma, lgbt issues, prison inmates, and life adjustments such as divorce, moving, work stress, weight loss, etcetera.
I am not yet sure how to fulfill all of my interests while working primarily with chemically dependent consumers, but I am determined and willing to work weekends. My best hopes for the next year is to implement the solution focused mindset effectively with consumers and with myself.
“Problem talk creates problems – Solution talk creates solutions”
Steve de Shazer (1940-2005)

Sobriety and Support

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I have never been one to care about the letters that come after my name, but with the encouragement of an awesome employer, I went ahead and applied to be a Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor. Below is the personal philosophy I wrote for my applications. Feel free to start a dialogue about drug/alcohol counseling in the comments. I’ll get you started….Do you think counselors that are in recovery are any more competent in their counseling abilities of substance abuse issues than clinicians that have never had a substance abuse issue?
A personal philosophy of counseling is essential for every counselor to be cognizant of in order to practice competently. Various methods and approaches can be effective with mental health and substance abuse treatments. The preferred methods I utilize are primarily Person-Centered Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, more specifically, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy. An important aspect to consider when counseling includes finding the approach that most accurately matches the needs of the consumer receiving services.
 
Treatment of substance abuse disorders is not typically the only problem that individuals need to process in counseling. Everyone has stressors in their lives to some extent and a person that abuses or is dependent on drugs and/or alcohol is no exception. Carl Rogers emphasized three characteristics that has resonated in my therapeutic relationships: genuineness, unconditional positive regard, and empathy. These characteristics can be integrated when identifying, processing, and becoming mindful of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
 
Our own life experiences often shape our values and treatment preferences. The efficacy of the above mentioned modalities were utilized in my personal life for nicotine cessation. After 12 years of nicotine dependence, I was able to successfully discontinue use of nicotine products. Whether a drug of choice is alcohol, nicotine, methamphetamine, opiates, or other substances, a person is capable of discontinuing use and learning relapse prevention strategies. A support system and person’s readiness to change are key components in their success rate. By becoming a Certified Alcohol Drug Counselor I intend to continue working with individuals that present with both mental health and substance abuse disorders. 

Passed the NCE!

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Good news world: I recently passed the National Counselor Examination!!! I have to say Howard Rosenthal is still relevant! I used his audio exam guides that were passed down to me by other counselors. Registering for the NCE was probably the most difficult piece of the testing process. Over a month the confirmation email sat in my inbox, registration just a click away. I had waited years to get to this point and when it came I wanted nothing more than to never click that link. A little voice in my head saying “what if you fail? what if you’re not meant to be a counselor? what will you do?” kept me from registering for what felt like an eternity.

Then one night while working late a coworker was asking if I’d taken the test. I lowered my head and said “I haven’t even registered yet”. That night I made a commitment to register for the test before anymore excuses about being busy came up. On a Thursday morning I registered for an 8am Saturday testing time. That meant I had less than 2 days to brush up on everything I was sure to have forgotten. Aside from Rosenthal’s super test review, the anxiety reduction techniques is probably what calmed me enough to take the exam.

Advice for future testers:
-Find the testing location BEFORE the day of your exam. (I went to the wrong building initially).
-Take breaks throughout the exam! The clock stops and you can get up and run around, stretch, get some water, or just take a mental break.
-Utilize all of the relaxation techniques you teach clients.
-Finally, take the test as soon as you can into your supervision process. This will allow you enough time to re-take the test if needed without having to reapply for licensure.

8 CACREP Areas

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This post will be a brief overview of the 8 Counsel for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) areas that the NCE is developed from: professional orientation, research and program evaluation, appraisal, lifestyle and career development, helping relationships, group counseling, human growth & development, and social & cultural foundations.

Professional orientation consists of the various aspects of the counseling profession. Essentially, being knowledgeable about the different types of licenses available, accreditation, ethics, legal responsibilities, and roles of a counselor.

Research and program evaluations is exactly what it sounds like. Research and evaluations are a prominent factor in the counseling profession and if you conducted your own research this section should be relatively easy. Review the different types of experiments, components of scientific designs, and a few prominent influences that are important including Occam’s Razor and where that came from. For the record, it came from a fellow named William of Occam’s, a 14th century theologian and philosopher and suggests that we interpret results in the simplest way.

Appraisal is a big fancy word for assessing things. In therapy that usually means people. There are different tests, to name a few: projective tests, intelligence tests, personality tests, achievement tests, aptitude tests, interest inventories, and informal assessments (like journaling). It’s important to know the tests that are frequently used by clinicians, who in history influenced or created them, good practices for interpreting results, and non-testing approaches to appraisal.

Lifestyle and career development includes several theories and influential people. One of the real big theories is the Trait and Factor theory, which has a model that matches an individual to a position. The big names with trait and factor are Parsons, Williamson, and Patterson. The nemonic I use for their names is trait and factor matches ‘people with places,’ and each persons name fits right in. Other big names in occupational theories include Roe, Brill, tend Holland…all structural/personality theorists. A few more names (because history is important) are Hoppock, Azrin, Krumboltz, Crites, Schlossberg, Tiedemand, and O’Hara.

Helping relationships entails learning a lot of different studies that help you understand the process of counseling and consulting. This area consists of several models and understanding the practical applications of them. For the NCE, being familiar with the goals, techniques, and people associated with the following therapies will cover a lot of ground: Psychoanalytic, Adlerian, Existential, Person-Centered, Gestalt, Reality, Behavior, Cognitive Behavior, Feminist, and Family Systems.

The group counseling area involves learning about purposes, development of stages, methods, dynamics, roles and leadership styles. Some big names in group therapy are Moreno, Pratt, Davis, Slavson, Lewin, and Window. I really don’t have a lot of knowledge in this area, a major resource I use is the massive amounts of literature written by Gerald Corey.

Human growth & development is following the lifespan from birth to death. There are theories of development for individuals, families, personalities, and neurological behaviors. There are several individuals that contributed theories including Festinger, Erikson, Jung, Kegan, Kelly, Kohlberg, Lewin, Loevinger, Maslow, Murray, Pavlov, Perry, Piaget, Rogers, Sullivan, and Thorndike. Sounds like a lot of names, but they all in their own way contributed to our understandings of human lives.

Social & cultural foundations focuses on theories surrounding multicultural, social justice, trends and diversity in groups around the world. A counselor’s role includes promoting and appreciating various social and cultural aspects of societies attitudes, beliefs, and experiences. Some key words/concepts with social & cultural foundations include: proxemics, prop inquiry, contextualism, mores, folkways, ecological culture, ethnocentrism, acculturation, assimilation, white privilege, emic and etic viewpoints, autoplastic, and alloplastic views, and congruity theory.

After writing these short blurbs, I begin to wonder if each might be a good blog post.

Ref:
Council for accreditation of counseling and related educational program (CACREP): The 2001 Standards (2005). Section II: Program objectives and curriculum (pp. 6-13).

Quizlet,NCE,www.quizlet.com

Introducing: Kat!

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Albert Einstein said “A question that sometimes drives me hazy, am I or the others crazy?”

This is my first blog post so I’ll begin by giving a little background on myself and interests.

Since childhood, I had always been fascinated with mind body connections. I used to be a shy, reserved person, only comfortable in specific areas where I felt confident. Later I would learn to adapt to my surroundings, where ever they may be.

My first job was at a bowling alley. There I learned important life skills such as dipping fingers in pickle juice before touching something hot, patience when interacting with customers, and balancing down the lanes to retrieve bowling balls.

About half way into my bachelor’s degree I decided to join the Navy Reserves. I knew I wanted to continue my education as well as join the military. The reserves provided the opportunity to do both. Picking my job in the reserves was limited, I had to pick by what was available at the reserve center in my area. Wanting to step out of my comfort zone and explore something new, I chose to be an aircraft structural mechanic. The school I attended, was fun at times, but mostly I learned how mechanically inclined I am NOT. The first time I held a torque wrench, I held it in the wrong hand, upside down. After 2 years I was able to change my job to something I knew well, paperwork. Now I am a yeoman, which is essentially a secretary. I know how to format correspondence, write awards, evaluations; all in an office, which I have learned over the years I can navigate around just about any administration. I also learned I had a gift for talking with shipmates about their personal problems, and then keeping it confidential. My contract in the Navy will soon end and I intend to dedicate more time to psychology.

Throughout my undergraduate education I searched within myself to decide what would engage and entertain me enough to make a career. I am a firm believer in not doing anything that is not enjoyable. Talking/listening and writing for hours on end sounded perfect for me. I graduated with a Masters of Science in Psychology and moved to Tulsa to pursue LPC licensure. Currently I am under supervision and one day plan to go into private practice. Working as an inpatient therapist I am exposed to a myriad of difficult psychiatric problems. Learning is an ongoing process for me, and I look forward to what I will learn in the coming years here in Tulsa.

With this blog I intend to explore topics that are relevant to the National Certification Exam, psychology in general, and various therapeutic topics.
Please comment, I welcome constructive feedback and ideas for topics to write about.