COU202 Counselling Theory and Practice Task 4 Report Sample

Skills demonstrations will be delivered in Weeks 10 - 12 during tutorial time, according to the schedule established by the tutor. Students will work in pairs to deliver the session; one student will play the counsellor and one will play the client.

Students are required to:

• Choose a case study (the same as in assessment 1, 2, 3)

• Select a therapy from the following list:
- Narrative therapy
- Cognitive Behavioural therapy
- Acceptance and Commitment therapy
- Family systems theory
- Feminist perspective
- Anti-oppressive approach
- Grief & loss
- Trauma/PTSD

• Demonstrate the skills required for effectively counselling the client in a final counselling session.

• Demonstrate the use of applicable techniques from the chosen theory that may assist with counselling the client.

• Provide referral - if appropriate.

• Close the sessions and end the relationship with the client.

Client Counselling Notes (600 words) and Reflection (400 words)

Complete Client Counselling Notes recording information regarding the client and the final counselling session.

Identify the theory used and explain the associated techniques you have used to work with the client (reference these from unit readings). 

Solution

Identify the theory used and explain the associated techniques you have used to work with the client

The theory applied is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and the approaches applied include psychoeducation, cognitive restructuring, behavioural activation, relaxation techniques, and exposure and response prevention (ERP) in managing Rumi’s disordered eating as well as the consequent physical and emotional manifestations (Boelen & Lenferink, 2019).

Techniques Involved Within The Cognitive Behaviour Theory

Psychoeducation

• Teaches the client on the relationship between thinking, acting and feeling (Reid et al., 2021). In this case, for Rumi, it meant helping her understand how her eating disorder is connected to such symptoms as dizziness and fatigue.

• Offers the clients with information regarding the psychological and physiological consequences of eating disorders to enhance their understanding of their condition as well as the justification for the therapeutic procedures.

Cognitive Restructuring

• Cognitive restructuring involved assisting Rumi on how to challenge the cognitive distortions that she had towards her body image and worth (Santiago et al., 2020). The woman was told to complete a thought record: in this record, she is to write down events in which such thoughts were felt and attempt to replace these thoughts with more rational ones.

• Through cognitive restructuring, Rumi was empowered on how to have a positive and accurate perception of her body and herself (Reid et al., 2021). This technique helped her to argue with the credibility of negative thoughts which in turn, reduced the impact of the thoughts on her emotions and behaviors and enabled her to be more accepting of herself and hence become confident.
Behavioural Activation

• BA was used on Rumi in the hope that it would help her to reintroduce activities that she used to engage in before the onset of the eating disorder. These activities were brought back into Rumi’s life by setting small goals that are very much achievable coupled with an improvement in her mood and anxiety.

• Rumi was able to get some level of reward or pleasure from activities that had been previously pervaded by her disorder (Santiago et al., 2020). This approach was applied to increase desirable behaviours and therefore resulted in a better and more meaningful existence.

Relaxation Techniques

• This is explained by the fact that clients learn skills such as deep breathing, and progressive muscle relaxation, to control somatic symptoms of anxiety and stress, for example, slow heart rate and dizziness, as illustrated by Rumi (Santiago et al., 2020).

• Introduces Mindfulness meditation whereby the clients will be helped to focus on the present moment to reduce the experience of stress and enhance emotional self-regulation.

Application of the Techniques

• In psychoeducation, Rumi was given information that related the disordered eating to physical signs like dizziness and fatigue. This enabled her to see how her eating habits and fixation with her weight were affecting her health and thus bringing a positive change.

• In cognitive restructuring, Rumi was directed to what her distorted thoughts regarding body image and self-esteem were (Pickerell et al., 2023). This way, she was able to monitor her ANTs and the procedure of reattribution and replace them with more objective and constructive thoughts about herself.

• In the behavioural activation treatment of Rumi, she was helped to return to activities that she had given up because of an eating disorder (Santiago et al., 2020). By setting goals for these activities as small and easily manageable she slowly began to change for the better, her mood and anxiety were gradually decreasing therefore avoiding avoidance behaviours and encouraging a healthier lifestyle.

• The strategies that were applied to assist Rumi in regulating her physiological manifestations of anxiety and stress were deep breathing and progressive muscle relaxation (Boelen & Lenferink, 2019). Mindfulness meditation was also applied in making her conscious of her feelings to attend to some of the symptoms such as low heart rate and dizziness.

Reflection

Skills Demonstrated Well

While conducting the session with Rumi, I was able to illustrate several primary significant skills that are central to the formation of a counselling relationship. I engaged in paraphrasing, which helped me to get the most comprehensive idea of Rumi’s problems without intruding into her stories. This skill made Rumi feel understood and accepted thus creating a feeling of safety and non-acceptance of judgement. Furthermore, I used the empathy approach to be able to identify with Rumi’s feelings which is crucial in establishing trust (Boelen & Lenferink, 2019). This is by the PACFA Code of Ethics that mandates the client’s perception be valued and understood.

Skills to Improve

Even though I was successful in building a certain rapport with Rumi, I understand that there is room for improvement in my skills. One such area for University Assignment Help is that I am now able to confront cognitive distortions more competently. While assisting Rumi in recognizing negative thoughts, I realized that I did not encourage her to challenge them and find evidence that would support a different perspective (Pickerell et al., 2023). The ACA Code of Ethics also implies that empathic care should be balanced with the task of challenging the client for growth.

Impact of Worldview on Counselling

Looking at the impact of my belief system on the session, I can note that my belief in the overall health concept affected the way I worked on Rumi’s case. This approach towards health as a combination of physical and emotional well-being helped me to apply techniques that would help her with her physical issues as well as her mental issues. However, this worldview might have also made me focus on some aspects of the session, for instance, relieving the physical discomfort instead of exploring the emotions.

Development as a Counsellor

Comparing Tasks 1 and 2 to Task 4, I can identify the progress in the development as a counsellor and in the ability to establish an atmosphere that allows the client to trust me and become open. As for the earlier sessions, I concentrated on such aspects as establishing a relationship and identifying the client’s main issues (Reid et al., 2021). Nevertheless, in Task 4, I have gained more skills in combining different therapeutic approaches, including cognitive restructuring and behavioural activation, to work with more profound problems.

References

Boelen, P. A., & Lenferink, L. I. M. (2019). Symptoms of prolonged grief, posttraumatic stress, and depression in recently bereaved people: symptom profiles, predictive value, and cognitive behavioural correlates. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 55(6), 765–777. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-019-01776-w

Pickerell, L. E., Pennington, K., Cartledge, C., Miller, K. A., & Curtis, F. (2023). The Effectiveness of School-Based Mindfulness and Cognitive Behavioural Programmes to Improve Emotional Regulation in 7–12-Year-Olds: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Mindfulness. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-023-02131-6

Reid, J. E., Laws, K. R., Drummond, L., Vismara, M., Grancini, B., Mpavaenda, D., & Fineberg, N. A. (2021). Cognitive behavioural therapy with exposure and response prevention in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 106, 152223. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comppsych.2021.152223

Rudge, S., Feigenbaum, J. D., & Fonagy, P. (2020). Mechanisms of change in dialectical behaviour therapy and cognitive behaviour therapy for borderline personality disorder: a critical review of the literature. Journal of Mental Health, 29(1), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638237.2017.1322185

Santiago, V. A., Cassin, S. E., Wnuk, S., Du, C., Hawa, R., Parikh, S. V., & Sockalingam, S. (2020). “If you’re offered help, take it”: A qualitative study examining bariatric patients’ experience of telephone?based cognitive behavioural therapy. Clinical Obesity, 11(2). https://doi.org/10.1111/cob.12431

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