Reflection on Psychotherapy Session - Assignment Example

REFLECTION ON PSYCHOTHERAPY SESSION As per the assignment requirement, I was supposed to visit a personal therapist and reflect on the session. After careful consideration on the prices and other people’s reviews about various therapists, I settled on one female therapist by the name Debby Heath. She is registered with the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia (PACFA) and also a member of Counsellors and Psychotherapists Association of NSW Inc. Going by the reviews I saw online, I figured that she was appropriate for the exercise. I presented myself as a student experiencing self esteem issues in his life and was in need of someone to talk to and uplift my spirits as I was about to graduate hence needed to have strong self esteem that would enable me enter into the job market successfully. I booked for an appointment with the counsellor on a Tuesday morning at 9.30 am at the offices located at Suite 3.00 Versatile Building, Norwest Business Park, 29-31 Lexington Drive, Bella Vista, NSW 2153. I presented myself for the session 15 minutes earlier because I was not very familiar with the location. I made it to the office where I was welcomed by the receptionist. I informed about my appointment which she confirmed. As we were chatting, a neatly dressed lady, who I identified as Debby Heath from the photo posted on her website, appeared from an inner room. “Morning. You look really fresh for a morning!” She said as the stretched her hand to me. I was somehow caught off guard by this conversation. She invited me to wait in her office for the session to begin and offered me a cup of coffee and a muffin as she excused herself to finish up some paper work. I quietly sipped on my coffee and took in the ambience of the office to which she noticed and engaged in small talk about it. The session began exactly on the agreed time and not a second late. Debby began by informing me to state my reasons why I wanted to see a therapist and why I had settled on her. I explained to her how I was recovering from a very bad and embarrassing break up which had forced me to cut ties with a number of friends from my campus. As I narrated my story, she was very empathetic and seemed to understand my situation very well. She assured me that all would be well like she would to her own child. At this juncture, I realized how important the age factor was in client-therapist relationships. I figured it would be hard for a young professional to show care and even provide near-parental assurance to adult clients or even those older than him/her. However, in the case of this session, the therapist utilized the age differential to her advantage. She even narrated how one of her daughters had recently had a broken heart and how she is now recovered and doing well. Therapists are at times required to use their personal life stories during practice. This strategy of incorporating therapists’ personal stories in the context of a therapy session seems to work well. It informs clients that they are not alone in experiencing the challenges that they are facing. In this particular case, Debby treated me as she would treat her own child. She managed to explain to me that in life, heartbreaks are there to strengthen us as individuals and are important in teaching us what to look for in future partners. What I found interesting was the therapist’s reaction when I mentioned about a gay friend of mine whom I had tried to talk to unsuccessfully. Although the counsellor tried hard to hide it, I noted that she was not comfortable with same sex relationships. This pinpoints to the human element of psychotherapists. It is imperative they remain as objective as possible to prevent their personal views and beliefs in religion or other beliefs interfere with how they assist clients overcome their life challenges. Debby was very respectful and professional in very many ways. One of them is the fact shat she kept the time of appointment to the letter. I figured she accomplished this with the assistance of her secretary/receptionist who seemed very kind and professional. Another aspect that brought out the counsellor’s professionalism and her consciousness of professional ethics was on the issue of my sexuality. While I mentioned that I had gay friends, she did not question my sexuality. Nonetheless, while it is a very sensitive issue that some people might not be willing to share with others, it might have a role to play in self esteem issues in some people. Therefore, I feel that a client’s sexuality should be explored by a therapist if it falls within the context of the issues being addressed. For instance, in my view an individual may feel rejected and even suffer from low self esteem if his or her friends and even family are opposed to her or his sexual orientation. As it is required of a good therapist, she listened carefully and sought clarification occasionally. For instance she asked “You say you are afraid to meet new people, why do you feel uncomfortable meeting new people? Do you feel intimidated or unlikeable?” I found this to be very encouraging given that as a client I had someone who was willing to listen to my problems though they were basically made up. I also noted that as I narrated my story, she made some quick notes on a book. She then asked me to give her a brief overview of my relationship with my previous partner, family members and why I had not chosen to speak to them but rather a professional. I gave her imagined stories of how I was referred to her and how I had checked up her qualifications in her website. Debby engaged me in setting therapy goals and objectives. I was required to identify all the things that I wanted to achieve out of the whole therapeutic experience. This I found to be very encouraging in the sense that she recognized that I as not only her client but the one who will assess her based on what I achieve from the whole therapeutic experience. Corey (2009) indicates that the relationship between a therapist and a client is intricate and complicated in the sense that a client also functions as an evaluator, and an employer. When a client feels that the therapist is using an inefficient approach to deal with prevailing issues, then the client has the right to fire the therapist and seek help elsewhere. Thus by asking me to identity what I wanted to achieve through the whole exercise, the counsellor wanted to identify the objectives of the exercise by my standards and also identify the best ways to approach the problem and achieve the set goals and objectives. Debby also asked me whether I wanted the therapy to be a one time visit or to be a long continuous psychotherapy with several sessions. As a one time session, Debby did not share my believe in the feeling that my recent break up was the sole reason I was under motivated and had poor self esteem. She informed me that in most cases, clients have a perceived source of a problem and even a perceived solution to the problem which they expected the therapists to prescribe. For this reason, the therapist explored many areas of my life including how I my grades in college to my relationship with my parents. Most interestingly, she enquired about my childhood a possible cause of the current issue. Though, I did indicate I had minor childhood issues, she did not dwell on that very much. This I figured was what made her a good therapist in that she did not jump into conclusions. I was aware that while she was very qualified as a therapist, a single session lasting only an hour was not enough to reveal all the causes of my problem. As such, she was not ready to jeopardize her professionalism to impress me as a client. As a one time session, she gave me a number of strategies that would enable me to achieve my set goals and objectives in dealing with my self esteem issues. The fact she did not push me to go for longterm psychotherapy for monetary reasons really endeared me to her. She was willing to offer service on my terms for my benefit. She therefore gave me a number of remedies and strategies which she encouraged me to write down. She also gave me a template on which I would test whether I have made improvements. Failure to improve would mean a change in strategy or a change in the therapist. However, these strategies were not imposed on me; she sought my opinion on the suggested strategies. This was very encouraging. The therapist was ready to listen to me and was open to criticism from me. The session was good by any professional standards. The therapist was kind in person, was ready to listen and reason with me without jumping into conclusions. She did not unfairly judge or even hurry me through my long narrations. Simply said, Debby Heath demonstrated to me how a professional psychotherapist should work and relate with a client. This clearly embodies a professionally who I would emulate in my professional life. While we might differ in personality and backgrounds, she surely makes a very good example for aspiring psychotherapists to emulate. Unfortunately, I never go to practicing her steps in assisting me to regain my self esteem and feel motivated again in life. Nonetheless, I believe that the steps would works as they seem reasonable enough. All in all, this exercise benefited me in an enormous way as a budding professional. References Basch, M. F. (2008). Doing psychotherapy. London: Basic books. Corey, G. (2009). Theory and practice of counselling and psychotherapy. London: Cengage Learning Debbie Heath (2013). Psychotherapy and counselling. Retrieved from http://debbyheath.com.au/ Read More