Read a selection of your colleagues’ postings. Respond to your colleagues’ postings. Respond in one or more of the following ways:

/in /by

Please no plagiarism and make sure you are able to access all resource on your own before you bid. One of the references must come from Flamez, B. & Sheperis, C. J. (2015) and/or Sommers-Flanagan, J., & Sommers-Flanagan, R. (2007). I have also attached my discussion rubric so you can see how to make full points. Please respond to all 3 of my classmates separately with references. I need this completed by 12/01/18 at 5pm.

Top of Form

Read a selection of your colleagues’ postings. Respond to your colleagues’ postings.

Respond in one or more of the following ways:

· Ask a probing question.

· Share an insight gained from having read your colleague’s posting.

· Offer and support an opinion.

· Validate an idea with your own experience.

· Make a suggestion.

· Expand on your colleague’s posting.

1. Classmate A. Mo

Overview of Population and Adolescent Issue

I would like to work in the African American community and specifically those in low-income neighborhoods. Since I am African American, I know that my culture tends to hold things in instead of receiving help. There are also not enough African American counselors so I want to be a part of the change. I know how to speak of my culture when I say that we have been through a lot from racism, systematic racism, discrimination (house loans, car loans, jobs, etc). All of these things that we deal with on a daily basis creates PTSD.

African Americans are less likely to utilize healthcare treatment or counseling as a result of historical factors, including the mistreatment of African Americans in medical trials, institutional racism, and a lack of equitable medical services across racial groups (Evans, Hemmings, Burkhalter, and Lacy, (2016). Another issue that I would possibly like to work with is adolescents who have been molested because I have been and have witnessed the effect that it has mentally, physically, and emotionally on growth. So often the effects that it has on a child’s life is ignored and there have been no real interventions for sexual abuse (Larson, (1993). The child feels betrayed and is in rage because the abuser betrayed her physical and psychological integrity. While this article is old, it touches me because this was the year that I was born. I know there have been since then more research that I can review but I wanted to first present the problem that I personally still see today in 2018.

Strengths and Limitations

I believe my strength to be an empath is what will make me a great counselor. I have the ability to empathize and sympathize with others. When people are telling me their story, I can almost picture myself being there and I can generally feel their pain through my body. It can be a blessing and a curse because I know that I have to be careful of how I show my emotions to their story. One limitation that I may have is the love for research. Right now, I do not have the love for research as I think I should. I like to try new things and don’t really like to look at the same thing over again. I would need to find a way to make research fun and liberating for me.

Why is it Important to Evaluate Strengths and Limitations?

I believe that it is important for me to evaluate myself when becoming a counselor because I can work on things now to become a better me and counselor. I believe in order to help others, I have to also be real with myself to enhance in internal growth. How can I tell someone else to work on themselves or to try something new if I am not willing to do so? Being able to evaluate my strengths gives me courage, motivation, and it’s a reminder of who I am. I believe that we can be so hard on ourselves, so thinking of our strengths reminds me how great I am.

I believe that also thinking of my strengths and limitations reminds me that I am human and to continue to do internal work. Yes, I will be a counselor and no, I won’t be a perfect counselor. I believe it will allow me to see that when I am working with my clients. I have to remember that they are not perfect and I can’t treat them like a robot. I must remember this. I know that I will be working on myself for eternity and I want my clients to know this as well. Making mistakes only presents guided tools for your continuous journey in life.

References

Larson, L. R. (1993). Betrayal and Repetition: Understanding aggression in sexually abused girls

Evans, M. A., Hemmings, C., Burkhalter, C., Lacy, Virginia. (2016). Responding to race-related

trauma: counseling and research recommendations to promote post-traumatic growth

when counseling African American males

2. Classmate N. Pra

Children and adolescence can be very resilient individuals, who live in starkly different worlds than adults. Psychologically and therapeutically speaking, children, adolescents, and adults all need different approaches to curb unwanted thoughts and behavior. This includes speaking differently, the topics of the conversation, the activities during the therapy session, and many other facets. Each client, in their stage of life, has a different dynamic that brings new experiences to the table both for themselves, and for the therapist (Sommers-Flanagan & Sommers-Flanagan, 2007).

Population

The population I would like to work with would be any adolescent who struggles with an eating disorder, LGBT issues, self-injurious behaviors/suicidal ideation, and substance abuse. I would prefer to speak with those who are older than twelve, although I would not be opposed to treating a younger child who also exhibits these symptoms. I have experience throughout my personal life, and current career with these particular struggles. A few of these issues remain a foundation into why I began a counseling career, and continue to drive me to help those who struggle.

Strengths and Limitations

The DSM-5 has completely redefined diagnoses, and symptoms across a lifespan. Counselors also must continually redefine themselves to adjust to their environment (Flamez & Sheperis, 2015). One strength that I possess is that I am dedicated, especially to my client’s and their wellbeing. In this dedication, I welcome the differences that the client may bring to the table, and sympathize with their struggles. A limitation that may arise could be that in my search to strengthen the therapeutic relationship with an adolescent, I may become too empathetic and lose my objectivity. This could hinder the therapeutic process and the ultimate success of the client’s future.

Considerations

Keeping self aware of my strengths and limitations will help me to become a better person, and a better counselor. The more I know what to look for during the counseling process, to either continue or stray from, will help my clients and their success. I have no fear that I will remain open to the client and their differences and create a positive environment in which they can grow and process their experiences in life.

References

Flamez, B. & Sheperis, C. J. (2015). Diagnosing and treating children and adolescents: A guide for clinical and school settings. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Sommers-Flanagan, J., & Sommers-Flanagan, R. (2007). Tough kids, cool counseling: User-friendly approaches with challenging youth (2nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: American Counseling Association.

3. Classmate A. Mat

Description of the population

Counseling children and adolescents have been determined to remain a task worthy of therapists with additional skills. Children and adolescents are named “special populations” due to numerous challenges and barriers in promoting successful treatment. The nature of an individual that is in a normal process of building the psychosocial development and also needs help and guidance during this process, proved to be a tough call (Halasz 2017).

For many years I trained and developed in working with adolescents. From the beginning of my career, I had a preference for working with challenging adolescents between the ages of 11 and 18. I was drawn towards study and training in working with a population that is resistant to advise, rebellious in front of rules, and disregards authority figures. The challenge posed by such a clientele, and the hope I have the skills to be successful where other failed, gave me the motivation to study some of the most intriguing cases of juvenile delinquency. In addition, my preference is working with clients that present dual diagnoses, such as addiction/violent behavior and mental health issues. I am confident that there are many unexplored avenues when it comes to youth with mental health problems and, before they became perpetrators, they were victims first. With such a population, the greatest challenge a therapist’s faces are the therapeutic alliance (Sommers-Flanagan & Sommers-Flanagan, 2007). In the absence of an alliance, there can be no therapy. The therapist’s awareness of developmental issues and defense mechanisms are utilized to guide one along the pathway of productive therapy. Over time I build particular skills in creating an alliance and while counseling the trust between a teenager and the counselor is the greatest joy I experience in my work.

The adolescent issue with which you might be interested in working and explain why

I will consider being most interested to work with adolescent coming from families with mental health issues, adolescents who themselves have been diagnosed as having mental health needs, such as Conduct disorder, depression disorders, anxiety disorders especial different phobias. I also like working with more severe mental health diagnoses such as schizophrenia. I am interested in studying what age the client displayed the mental health problem, what were the conditions, as I will make detailed inquiries to families, friends, peers, school and other health providers (Flamez & Sheperis, 2015).

The reason is that on one side challenging and difficult cases are appealing and on the other side I have the confidence I can help alleviate most of the problems this type of clientele faces.

Then, describe one strength you possess that may contribute to your effectiveness as a counselor and one limitation you may need to address and explain why.

I consider my main strength to be the experience/cultural awareness, combined with empathy. While knowing that adolescents can function in a different world than the adult one (Flamez & Sheperis, 2015), I have found that I can relate very well to the adolescent mind and empathically understand their needs and dreams. Without claiming “I have been there or I have done that” (Sommers-Flanagan & Sommers-Flanagan, 2007), I can create a therapeutic relationship without becoming friendly or stepping out of the therapist boundaries. I think this might be due to my complicate upbringing as a child when I had many unfulfilled dreams and bad experiences that I surpassed displaying strength and patience.

I can consider my limitation to be working with borderline personality disorder adolescent girls. This might be because while I am a direct, straightforward person, who uses a lot of energy to guide a client to discover an existentialist endeavor, a borderline personality adolescent girl will challenge my patience to the extreme.

Finally, explain why it is important for you to consider your strengths and limitations before working with this population.

The most important and the first thing a counselor should examine is his/her own strengths and weaknesses (Sommers-Flanagan & Sommers-Flanagan, 2007). This is also one of the first advise every instructor gives to new students. Knowing what you are capable of, potentially enhances professional success, while helping clients to surmount difficulties. While properly assessing your skills and strengths, as a counselor you are making sure you adhere to the foundation of the principles of ethical behavior decision making expressed in ACA 2014: the counselor can foster the right direction for a client ‘c life, can avoid making harm and promoting client’s wellbeing, being honest and truthful and implying at all time cultural sensitivity (ACA, 2014).

Knowing your limitations and weaknesses as a counselor, you can strive to improve, if possible, you can avoid working with the population that you do not feel comfortable to work with and you can be honest with yourself and others. Genuine honesty should be one of the fundamental trends a counselor should display.

References

American Counseling Association (ACA). 2014 ACA Code of Ethics

Halasz, G. (2017). Special population – child and adolescent psychotherapy. AUSTRALASIAN PSYCHIATRY, 25(3), 222–224. https://doi-org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.1177/1039856216689622

Flamez, B. & Sheperis, C. J. (2015). Diagnosing and treating children and adolescents: A guide for clinical and school settings. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Sommers-Flanagan, J., & Sommers-Flanagan, R. (2007). Tough kids, cool counseling: User-friendly approaches with challenging youth (2nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: American Counseling Association.

Bottom of Form

Required Resources

Learning Resources

Please read and view (where applicable) the following Learning Resources before you complete this week’s assignments.

This page contains the Learning Resources for this week. Be sure to scroll down the page to see all of the assigned resources for this week. To view this week’s media resources, please use the streaming media player below.

Accessible player  –Downloads– Download Video w/CC Download Audio Download Transcript

Readings

Course Introduction (located in the navigation bar to the left)

Flamez, B. & Sheperis, C. J. (2015). Diagnosing and treating children and adolescents: A guide for clinical and school settings. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

· Chapter 1 “Conceptualizing DSM-5 Disorders in Children and Adolescents”

· Chapter 2 “Effective Strategies for Assessing DSM-5 Disorders”

Sommers-Flanagan, J., & Sommers-Flanagan, R. (2007). Tough kids, cool counseling: User-friendly approaches with challenging youth(2nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: American Counseling Association.

· Chapter 1, “Adventures in Child and Adolescent Counseling”

Document: Final Project Case Study

Media

Laureate Education (Producer). (2011). Child and adolescent counseling [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

“Introduction to Child and Adolescent Counseling” (approximately 1 minute)

Laureate Education (Producer). (2011). Getting Started [Interactive media]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

Transcript

Optional Resources

Fitzpatrick, M. R., & Irannejad, S. (2008). Adolescent readiness for change and the working alliance in counseling. Journal of Counseling & Development, 86(4), 438–445.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

Tsai, M-H. & Ray, D. C. (2011). Children in therapy: Learning from evaluation of university-based community counseling clinical services. Children and Youth Services Review, 33(6), 901–909.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

Van Velsor, P. (2004). Revisiting basic counseling skills with children. Journal of Counseling & Development, 82(3), 313-318.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

Describe how your understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of brief or solution-focused therapy is similar to or different from their understanding

/in /by

Managed care is a frequently discussed and debated topic among mental health professionals. Managed care organizations encourage short-term, brief therapy and mandate the use of evidence-based practices. Using the Argosy University online library resources, locate one peer-reviewed journal article that describes the use of brief or solution-focused therapy with a client or population of interest to you. Post your article as an attachment in the Discussion Area.

Tasks:

In a minimum of 200 words, post to the Discussion Area your response to the following:

  • Summarize the article you selected by describing:
    • The purpose of the article
    • The client/population mentioned in the article
    • How brief or solution-focused therapy was used with the client/population
    • The outcomes/results of the use of brief or solution-focused therapy
  • Looking through the lens of managed care, describe how counselors, clients, and managed care organizations benefit from brief or solution-focused therapy.
  • Looking through the same lens, provide an argument to managed care organizations that describe the disadvantages associated with the use of brief or solution-focused therapy.
  • Further explain what you perceive to be the main advantages and disadvantages of managed care. Be sure to elaborate rather than regurgitate the material covered in the module and assigned readings.
  • Explain how the learning from this module will contribute to your professional growth as a new counselor-in-training.
  • Your discussion should clearly reflect your thoughtful and logical analysis of the information.

Support your rationale and analysis by using at least two resources from professional literature in your response. Professional literature may include peer-reviewed journal articles you can access through the Argosy University online library; relevant textbooks; and websites created by professional organizations, agencies, or institutions (websites ending in .edu or .gov).

Be sure to read all of your classmates’ original posts and respond to more than two of your classmates’ posts. Your responses should be substantive, meaning they should encourage further dialogue and discussion, encourage your classmates to think about other aspects of the topic, compare your response to your classmates’ responses, or ask a relevant question, to better assist you with your understanding. Responses such as “I like/I agree” or “I don’t like/I don’t agree” are not complete enough.

Your discussion posts and all written assignments should reflect graduate-level writing skills and appropriate use of APA style, including in-text citations and references.

Submission Details:

  • By the due date assigned, post your responses to the Discussion Area.
  • Through the end of the module, respond to more than two of your classmates’ posts. While responding, critique the relevance of the article selected by your classmates. Describe how your understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of brief or solution-focused therapy is similar to or different from their understanding. Be sure to mention any aspect in your classmates’ posts that you had not thought about previously as relating to managed care.

Grading CriteriaMaximum PointsQuality of initial posting, including fulfillment of assignment instructions8Quality of responses to classmates6Frequency of responses to classmates2Reference to supporting readings and other materials2Language and grammar2Total:20

Prompt: Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed: I. Biopsychosocial Summary A. Describe the problem that the client is seeking help for in this case. 

/in /by

Prompt: Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed: I. Biopsychosocial Summary A. Describe the problem that the client is seeking help for in this case.

i. Make sure to address any problems, issues, or challenges the client may be facing. B. Explain the symptoms affecting the client. i. What are the behavioral symptoms? ii. What are the cognitive symptoms? iii. What are the emotional symptoms? iv. What are the physiological symptoms? C. Identify any potential harmful behavior: i. Aggression ii. Harm to others iii. Harm to themselves D. Determine if the client has a family history of the diagnosis. Consider how this may affect the client. E. Use evidence-based research to support the biological factors presented in the case. F. Outline how the client identifies themselves in the following cultural characteristics. Make sure to add rationale for any obscure answers. i. Age ii. Disability iii. Religion iv. Social class v. Sexual orientation vi. Indigenous background vii. National origin viii. Gender identity G. Summarize how the client culturally identifies. i. In the context of the identifiers above, how does the client culturally identify?

Rubric Guidelines for Submission: Submit your biopsychosocial summary as a Microsoft Word document that is 3-5 pages in length and follows APA formatting with double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, and one-inch margins

Begin this assignment early in the week! It will take a considerable amount of time for you to review the entire course so far, reflect on what you have learned (do spend a lot of time thinking!) and write about it in a meaningful and properly formatted way.

/in /by

The Synthesis Paper assignment this week is the biggest single writing assignment you have for this course.  Everything we have studied so far in the course is part of this assignment; you are synthesizing all that  you have learned throughout the course.  Begin this assignment early in the week! It will take a considerable amount of time for you to review the entire course so far, reflect on what you have learned (do spend a lot of time thinking!) and write about it in a meaningful and properly formatted way.  When you read the detailed assignment instructions, you will see that you are to write about what YOU learned; write about the content of THIS course.  Proper APA style is a big part of this assignment, so be sure to carefully consult your APA Publication Manual. To begin, I recommend that you make a level one heading based on the the topic of the first question, and then go about answering that. You’ll most likely need to include other levels of headings, beneath each level one heading, to introduce the things you’re writing about.  Then, use another level one heading based on the second question, and continue from there.

You can include the assigned biblical perspective critique as a separate section (start with another level one heading if you do this) or you can incorporate it throughout your document (with appropriate subheadings).  It’s your choice.  If you include it throughout your document be sure to introduce it with appropriate headings.    When you list the Bible as a source in your assignment, you do need to cite the source properly in the body of what you write, and you do need to list the Bible as a reference with your references as well.  This was something from earlier in the course. If you have forgotten how to do this, check “classical works” in the index of the manual to see where to find how to do this.

As for the content of what you learned, whatever you learned in this course is the content to write about.  Repeat:  Write about what YOU learned; write about the content of THIS course.   In addition to the content, as mentioned above and in the instructions for this assignment, I will look for APA formatting, such as everything that needs to be on the title page, appropriate levels of headings, proper citations and references, and the other things listed in the assignment instructions.  The APA formatting is an important part of the content of this assignment.

Additional Comments

Read Instructions  

As always, be sure to carefully read the instructions for the Synthesis Paper assignment. Be very careful to use proper APA formatting, levels of headings, and so on.  For content, you will not be telling your life story; you will be telling the story of what you (the person being studied and written about in this case study) learned in PSYC 255 specifically. This is not a summary of the table of contents of the textbook; you are writing a case study about you and what you learned in the course. The instructions are specific as to what you need to write; stay on topic.  Tell me what you learned in this course.  Think about what you have learned, reflect, synthesize, and write that synthesized reflection into a case study report about you.   Do not simply copy and paste together various previous assignments from our course and combine those to create this document.

Take Time to Reflect  

The Synthesis Paper assignment is a big assignment. This assignment is a venue for you to demonstrate that which you have learned in the course, from APA formatting, to conducting a case study, to learning research content, to biblical critique, and so on. It will take a lot of thinking time and writing time to complete this.  Begin early!

Citing Yourself

Some have wondered how to cite and list as a reference the information from your DB posts while writing your Synthesis Paper. You can find some guidance with this in chapter 10 in the manual, in the sections about Textual Works.

Levels of Headings

For the Synthesis Paper, you need to decide what levels of headings you need in order to properly organize your document.   The first heading should be a level one heading.  But underneath that big topic (whatever the topic is that you’re writing about under your level one heading) you’ll probably need to use additional headings to organize what you’re writing about.  Beneath the topic of your level one heading, use a level two heading.   If you have sub-topics beneath the topic of that level two heading, then use level three for those sub-topics.   So, this assignment becomes an opportunity for you to demonstrate what you have learned throughout the course about APA formatting, including levels of headings and many other features.

Write in Third Person 

Some students have wondered about using third person or first person when writing the Synthesis Paper assignment. Typically, a researcher (you) would write in third person, not using first person in most instances in a research report.   This Synthesis Paper is a rather unique assignment in that you are the subject of the case study as well as the researcher for the case study.  For this assignment, write in third person.  Do not use first person in your writing.

Ideas on How To Begin

Maybe this will help.  Imagine sitting at your favorite coffee shop with one of your best friends.  Your friend asks you, “so what did you really learn in that research course?”   The answers that you would give to your friend could be the kinds of things to write about.   Then your friend asks you, “how does any of that relate to walking with Jesus, or things in the bible?”   Then, you would describe to your friend some of those things.  Take notes on what you just told your friend, and those notes might be a good source for some of the content of your assignment.

The difference between the coffee shop with your friend and the written Synthesis Paper assignment is that you will be writing the Synthesis Paper like a case study; you are writing about someone else, even though that “someone else” is actually you.    It’s an unusual assignment in that regard.  You’ll probably never have another assignment like this one.