January 25, 2014
Capella University
“A problem shared is a problem halved” is an old saying that humans have found comfort in. For some unexplainable reason humans love and have found great comfort in sharing their problem’s or telling stories to others. Although the term, “counseling” wasn’t coined until the 1960’s, counseling can be traced all the way back to tribal times; they would sit around and share their experiences as a group. This later transferred into priests that would listen and advise their parishioners on their problems. But, in the 1890’s Sigmund Freud, a German neurologist, developed a theory, psychoanalysis. …show more content…
This theory allowed individual’s to tell their problems to a psychoanalyst who was an individual trained in interpreting the subconscious.
The key philosophies of counseling are wellness, resilience, and prevention. Today, professional counselors inspire wellness, or also known as, “a positive state of well-being” through developmental, preventive, and wellness-enhancing interventions. According to the scholarly article, “Wellness Counseling: The Evidence Base for Practice” by Jane Myers and Thomas Sweeney there were two models of Wellness introduced: Wheel of Wellness and Indivisible Self. The Wheel of Wellness (Myers, Sweeney, & Witmer, 2000; Sweeney & Witmer, 1991; Witmer & Sweeney, 1992) was first developed by Hettler; however, Sweeney and Witmer further developed the model of wellness and this is the model that is based in counseling. The second model of Wellness is Indivisible Self. (Myers & Sweeney, 2005z, 2005e) This model was defined as, “a way of life oriented toward optimal health and well-being, in which body, mind, and spirit are integrated by the individual to live life more fully within the human and natural community.” Spirituality is shown as the center of this model. Emitting from the wheel are 12 bars in the life task of self-direction: sense of worth, sense of control, realistic beliefs, emotional awareness and coping, sense of humor, nutrition, exercise, self-care, stress management, gender identity, and cultural identity. These bars help to regulate or direct the self as a person responds to work, leisure, friendship, and love.
Another philosophy of the counseling profession is, prevention. Counseling is a field where lines are gray. Over the years professionals have been trying to set definite standards in which counselors can act but, an inability to articulate distinct professional identities among colleagues often result in confusion about roles and responsibilities, conflicts related to power and status, and the production of professional stereotypes that endangers the effectiveness of inter-professional collaboration.
The last of the philosophies of counseling is resilience. In the world we live in, technology is constantly changing and new things are constantly emerging, so the ability to adapt to new learning styles, ways of counseling, techniques, is required for counselors who want to stay current. Many scholars have argued that counseling can be distinguished from related helping professions because of its developmental, prevention, and wellness orientation toward helping. Counselors are addressing some of the nation’s most complex social issues, issues that may increase the risk of, or exacerbate, concerns such as school dropout, poverty, discrimination, substance abuse, and chronic illness and disability. Recognizing that no profession can effectively address all these issues in seclusion, the counseling profession is increasingly stressing collaboration as best way for addressing interrelated social issues across school, family, and community systems. The importance of codependent efforts among helping professionals is needed to prevent a burnout in the Counseling fields.
School counseling or some method of it has been around since the early 1800’s, at that time it included classes to teach character development, socially appropriate behavior, and assist with vocational planning. It was not until the mid 1900’s that two acts were passed in Congress, the National Defense Education Act and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. These provided specific opportunities for training school counselors. Currently, the appropriate focus for school counselors is considered to be comprehensive and developmental programs. These programs in a school setting could look like, individual counseling, small group counseling, large group counseling, private consultations with the students and families, and coordination with the families and school. School counselors in the twentieth century have to learn to deal a plethora of emerging issues that were not relevant in the 1800’s. These issues could be, students with single-parent homes, low-income families, women in the work force, minorities and immigrants, technology emerging in the school systems, career changes, and increasing violence.
A collaboration of school counseling and addictions counseling could be beneficial in a school setting. The concept of Addiction Counseling started during the early 18th century when the term, “wounded healer” emerged from the Native Americans, and the Temperance Movement began. In the following years the idea of abstinence was strongly promoted, especially the abstinence from alcohol that eventually led into the passing of the Prohibition laws.
According to a national survey that the National Institute of Drug Abuse conducted in 2013, 22.7% of 12th grade students were using marijuana, 5.3% were using vicodin, 2.6% were using cocaine, and 4% were using Ecstasy, all of which were on a regular basis. For school counselors, the collaboration with addiction professionals would be beneficial because of the increasing use of drugs in school age kids. Specific programs could be developed that would raise awareness, educate kids on the harmfulness of drugs, and specific action could be taken to prevent drug use.
Regarding the case study with Ashley, having an addictions counselor and school counselor readily available for her to speak with could be very valuable to Ashley. Ashley has admitted to her teachers that she feels very depressed, so obviously she is reaching out to seek help for herself. The very act of a student talking about his or her feelings and addressing the issue of depression could be her way of asking for someone to help her. If Ashley is talking about how depressed she is then it would not be unusual for her to think about taking drugs, drinking, or even worse committing suicide. In this particular situation it would be nice to be able to collaborate with an addictions specialist to know the best route for counseling someone that potentially is using drugs or alcohol to achieve a sense of normalcy. According to her case study, it says that Ashley’s mom has recently re-married and Ashley is having a hard time getting along with her stepfather and his two kids. Ashley is probably having a hard time letting someone else into her mother’s life, especially with two added siblings. Ashley could have potentially been the only one in her mother’s life for a while and she was used to being the only one there for her mom and she could potentially feel like she is being replaced by this new man in her mother’s life. The role of the two counselors would be to be there for Ashley and help her in any way possible. If Ashley was using drugs then the substance abuse counselor would take more drastic action in getting help for Ashley who is under-age to be using alcohol and seeing as its illegal to be using drugs. The school counselor would be there to help Ashley talk through some of her emotional issues with her family and how they are affecting her schoolwork. The school counselor’s role is to make sure that the student succeeds in school. Each counselor’s role is unique and important at the same time in the case with Ashley.
If I were leading the team to help Ashley, I would first and foremost make sure that measures were being taken to ensure Ashley’s safety. I would talk with her and see if she is in any danger at home with her mother and stepfather. If Ashley were using drugs or alcohol then I would have the addiction’s counselor have one on one time with Ashley, her mother, and then them together. I would have the school counselor sit and meet with Ashley to talk about what is going on in her life that is causing her to be depressed. They could work through some issues and develop a plan of how to get Ashley back on track for succeeding in school. I would ensure that the Principal of the school was included on the information that he needed to know about a student in his school. I would check in with Ashley and her family on a regular basis and if need be I would recommend them to an outside counselor for further counseling.
References:
A brief history of counselling. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.counsellingtutor.com/introduction-to-counselling/history-of-counselling/
Drugfacts: High school and youth trends. (2014, 01). Retrieved from http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/high-school-youth-trends
Historical and professional foundations of counseling. (2012, 01). Retrieved from http://www.pearsonhighered.com/assets/hip/us/hip_us_pearsonhighered/samplechapter/013265797X.pdf
Margaret McAllister, Shirley Morrissey, Donna McAuliffe, Graham Davidson, Harry McConnell and Prasuna Reddy.
(n.d.). Teaching ideas for generating critical and constructive insights into well-functioning multidisciplinary mental health teams. Retrieved from http://media.proquest.com.library.capella.edu/media/pq/classic/doc/2656759281/fmt/pi/rep/NONE?hl=&cit:auth=McAllister, Margaret;Morrissey, Shirley;McAuliffe, Donna;Davidson, Graham;McConnell, Harry;Reddy, Prasuna&cit:title=Teaching ideas for generating critical and constructive insights into ..&cit:pub=The Journal of Mental Health Training, Education, and …show more content…
Practice
Meserole, L.
(n.d.). Historical overview of school counseling. Retrieved from http://laurameserole.com/more-about-counseling/historical-overview-of-school-counseling/
Pamela O. Paisley atid L. DiAtine Borders. (1995, 12). School counseling: An evolving specialty. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.library.capella.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=db896191-fc08-40e7-ad00-8f7ebb757f5d@sessionmgr198&vid=2&hid=113
Pi-Ming, Y. (2011, 01 07). Use of the resiliency model of family stress, adjustment and adaptation in the analysis of family caregiver reaction among families of older people with congestive heart failure. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.library.capella.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=b7f9ea3d-fdbf-401d-b4ec-17f031015d19@sessionmgr110&vid=2&hid=113
WILLIAM PAUL EVANS*, SHAWN C. MARSH and DANIEL J. WEIGEL. (2008, 12 19). Promoting adolescent sense of coherence: Testing models of risk, protection, and resiliency. Retrieved from
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