Dear Emily:

I tried to do the assigned reading last night but I couldn’t stuff another carrot into the stew. I sat in my chair, opened my books, flipped the pages back and forth and scanned the words but nothing would stick in my brain. I will give it everything I’ve got to absorb some more today but thank goodness this is my last day of school because the pot is overflowing.




We were going over the Gestalt theory yesterday and doing some experiments and role plays so we could get a better grasp of what it’s all about. The instructor we have now is not well versed on this particular theory and she admits it’s certainly not her thing, so I found the teaching of it, to be very poor, especially after having taken the course with an instructor who thrives on Gestalt and is a living representation of living in the moment.

Someone in class said they just weren’t getting it and could we please do a live demonstration as a class before pairing off in dyads to practice the skills with a client. The instructor turned to me and asked if I would be willing to do that with her being the client and me being the therapist. Hmmm…..”Okay”, I said as that’s about as much time as I had to think about it. So we take our positions in front of the class and proceed.

Talk about a challenge. Here I was with a fifteen minute time frame and working with the most cognitive, in her head, kind of person I know and having to use the Gestalt method with her. The Gestalt method is based in the here and now, the present moment, and getting in touch with and experiencing one’s feelings. I didn’t do too bad considering, but I’m sure I would have done much better in a more realistic situation, like an hour session for instance, where there is more time to build on the therapeutic relationship with the client.

One of my biggest things in counselling is always to very much be in the moment myself - to have great respect for the client and where they are at and to not be so concentrated on a method as to forget that the client sitting in front of me is a human being and not just someone to be taken through a process. Although this is one of my basic principles, I feel like I have a lot to consider yet about being a counsellor and what that means for me. This is the kind of stuff I’m trying to wrap my brain around through this course and what I’ll be doing in my next practicum as well.

I have to write a paper for this course on what my beliefs are around what makes people change, how I view change and how I connect it to one or more of the theoretical models we have been learning. Will my style of practice lean more towards being Psychodynamic, Cognitive Behavioral, Person Centered, Feminist, Existential? I know I will use an integrative approach, but I’m not quite sure exactly which approaches I will combine and use as my own style or on how this paper on what makes people change will come together.

What I do know is that I need to wrap my brain around all of this soon as this is the last day of class before Christmas and I want to have my paper and project, (a visual representation of what makes people change), done before we leave for our trek across the mountains to Alberta. Hopefully I can somehow stuff a few more carrots into the stew. If you have any ideas I can use for this creative visual part please send them on down.

Writefully Yours
Annette