Consultation of Clients Who Are Married to Children - Essay Example

 Before becoming a full-time mother, she had a career as an accounts clerk. She cherishes the role of full-time mom and feels very lucky that she is able to do it. On the initial contact, she talked about superficial topics and seemed relaxed. However, her body language showed that she was not comfortable. Her body was slumped and she maintained a poor eye contact. TJ’s dress was reasonably casual. She was of medium height and built with long curly hair and olive skin, which obviously showed her Greek features.

She wore no makeup. Her voice was soft, and it appeared that she was finding it difficult to make an eye contact. She appeared very shy and friendly but lacking in confidence. Her lack of confidence was evident from the fact that she was avoiding eye contact. Her nervousness was obvious from her body language which showed drooped shoulders and head, almost as if she was trying to make herself smaller. Apart from the hand movements to cough frequently, she maintained a reasonably still body.I thought that TJ needed to be encouraged to talk as she appeared very nervous.

It was necessary to make TJ feel comfortable and not judged. Hence, I felt that implementing Rogers’ core conditions for therapy, i.e. congruence, unconditional positive regard and empathy (McMillan, 2004, p.54), was an appropriate step at this stage. At the same time, I decided to adopt TA assumption in therapy, which says that apart from maintaining the positive regard for the client (‘You’re OK), the counselor needs to maintain the positive regard for ‘himself’ (‘I’m OK) (Stewart, 2007, p.4). I decided to introduce Rogers’ core conditions of unconditional positive regard, congruence and empathy and the TA approach, by reflecting on her thoughts, and paraphrasing what she was saying during the session.

I wanted to make TJ feel safe and be heard.