Dear Emily:

I’ve started my third practicum. The last one for me! Again we are getting one week of lecture on the approach and then two weeks of counseling. I still don’t know which week I will be counselor and which I will be client. Twice I was lucky enough to get counselor first which is what I prefer. I’m hoping that’s how it turns out again but I think it’s the luck of the draw.

What I am learning this time around is an Integrative Approach. This, I’m discovering, is what I will likely be doing in my own practice. An Integrative method will compliment the holistic approach I take with counseling. Each of the theories I’ve studied comes from a different vantage point from which to look at human behavior. An Integrative Approach will allow me to stick my hand in the pot and choose from the various theories those that best fit who I am and my own beliefs and worldview.

I’ve always been of the belief that I cannot ask someone else to do what I haven’t been willing to do myself. This makes it essential that I always be willing to take a look at my own life and to experience what it is I expect my clients to experience. For sure whatever theories, techniques and methods I incorporate in my practice, they have to compliment who I am and the clients I will be working with. I look forward to the next three weeks and developing my own integrative style. But, as with the start of any new course, I have my apprehensions and concerns. I suppose it wouldn’t be normal if I wouldn’t.

Writefully Yours
Annette