Mental Health - Treatment Plan #1

The assignment this week was to find a student who is having a problem, discuss with them the problem, and come up with a treatment plan for them. This was not an easy assignment to do since I don't feel entirely qualified at this point to be offering counseling to a student with real problems. In some ways it did not feel ethical to be using a real student at this point. On the other hand, it was excellent experience and I felt like I was really helping the student think about their concerns. The environment was not threatening for the student because the student had agreed to speaking with me for the purpose of completing this assignment.

While the student may have other, more serious concerns, we did not delve into those things. My supervisor did not want to hand over a student with a serious problem right away, and I respect that line of thinking. Instead, I discussed a small dilemma the student was having with their significant other. On the surface, the topic seemed innocent enough and I truly did not believe I was going to get into anything that would require a "treatment plan." But after about 20 minutes or so, I could see some of the underlying issues. I was able to identify areas in self-esteem that could definitely be worked on.

I started the discussion with the Karl Tomm Questions in whatever way I could. My intent was to get into SFBT, so I believe I may have gone too fast into that idea. I spent too much time on my own agenda in the beginning and less time having the client develop the problem on their own. My supervisor let me know that she thought I did a very nice job of using open questions, but that I could work on giving the client time to think about the things they were saying. There was a lot of room for exploring some of the deeper issues and by the end of it, it seemed like I was really picking up on some of those things.

The counseling, overall, went pretty well. The client was very comfortable with discussing their problems and I felt like I had pretty good control. It is interesting to note that the client frequently looked at me for the solution to the problem. It was difficult to not share my opinion of what I thought the client should do. I tried using embedded questioning at times, but I also don't want to feed the answers to the client. The client should come to some of those conclusions on their own.

It is also important to keep in mind that sometimes the solution the client wants is not the one that is best for them. Without getting into details, the goal of this problem was one that could be potentially harmful to the client. There were times when I found myself trying to help the client achieve what they want, but what they wanted could be dangerous. So instead, I tried to direct the conversation away from the problem question and into more personal issues about what the client might need. Generally, things went the way they were planned though. I am hoping whatever treatment plan I come up with will be helpful to the client.