Informed consent for interview
I am a student at St. Leo University and for the assignment for the course Psychology, in which I am enrolled in, I am required to interview a professional marriage counselor about his/her work. As such, I am requesting your permission to conduct an interview with you.
This interview will contain questions about your position, the responsibilities you have, and the clients you work with and the kinds of interventions you provide in your work setting. I will use this information to help me better understand the nature of the work in your agency, the roles of a professional counselor, how theories and skills are applied in a clinical/school setting and how you interact with the populations you serve. Also, this interview will be summarized into written report. It will then be submitted to my instructor to fulfill the requirement for this assignment. The information you provide will not be used in any ways not stated in this contract. Before beginning the interview, I will need you to sign this contract stating that you agree to this interview and understand how the information you provided will be used.
I agree to be interviewed
Elizabeth Scott
Education background: Masters in clinical psychology from Pepperdine University and graduated in 2008
Interviewer’s (Student Name) XYZ
Time of starting interview 14:00 Hrs
Time of ending interview 15:00 Hrs
Interview
Interviewer: How long have you been the professional counselor?
Elizabeth Scott: Since I graduated from university, I have been helping and counseling troubled couples.
Interviewer: Do you have a specialization or clinical focus, if so, what is it?
Elizabeth Scott: I have done my masters in clinical psychology
Interviewer: What led you to choose a career in the counseling field?
Elizabeth Scott: I have always wanted to help everyone in one way or the other. Through counseling I make troubled people feel easy. I make them feel comfortable and how to deal with anxiety and other depression disorders. The feeling of making another feel at ease and relaxed makes me happy, and I end up loving my profession more. Understanding people and the process of healing in a metaphorical way is the requirement of my profession, and I believe that I can do a better job in managing conflicts among couples.
Interviewer: What theories and guide(s) the professional counselor’s practice?
Elizabeth Scott: Professional counselors try to implement all sort of theories such as Gottman method, positive psychology, emotionally focused couples theory, and narrative therapy.
Interviewer: What is your personal theory of how clients change?
Elizabeth Scott: When couples come to me in disgruntled form, damaged egos, and relationship which needs repairment. Through counseling, I see positive change in them gradually.I mostly incorporate positive psychology where I emphasize on positive emotions, character strengths, and constructive institutions to make them believe that happiness is derived from several mental and emotional factors. As a result, I have seen a change in relationships with my clients.
Interviewer: What therapeutic techniques/counseling skills, do you use with clients?
Elizabeth Scott: I use four therapeutic techniques with my clients such as free association, dream analysis, analysis of resistance, and analysis of transference.
Interviewer: In what ways do you utilize multicultural counseling competencies in your work?
Elizabeth Scott: It is imperative for an effective counselor to know about his/her client’s culture, identity, ethnicity, race,gender, and other aspects. I practice current theoretical approaches and self-reflection to polish the skills and techniques needed to acquire the culturally competent practices and engage the diverse clientele.
Interviewer: How do you see yourself as an advocate for the counseling profession?
Elizabeth Scott: To some extent, I play devil’s advocate in some situations for the sake of argument and a better understanding of the situation. But I do it in a subtle way because a little fraction of negativity can shatter the confidence of clients. Psychology helps people rethink about the decisions they have made or are going to make. Mental and emotional processes are carefully addressed in the counseling profession. I believe that this counseling profession has a lot to offer those who are willing to help troubled ones and instill calmness in them.
Interviewer: What do you see the current issue profession is facing?
Elizabeth Scott: The profession is facing not only one issue but several issues and currently the main challenge is the debate over how to define the perception of normal and healthy and other related notions like what is healthy for one and what is not for another person.
Interviewer: What do you like most about your work?
Elizabeth Scott: The ability to understand other people’s feelings and situations. And the happiness of providing them with the solutions which will solve their issues.
Interviewer: How did your training best and least prepare you for realities of being a professional counselor?
Elizabeth Scott: Training helped me a lot in grasping the complex concepts of psychology and implement it in the counseling profession. Training prepares you for the situations which are pretty common, regardless of having training in the particular field an impromptu situation makes you sweat whether you’re trained or not.
Interviewer: What advice would you give me as beginner counselor and in training?
Elizabeth Scott: If you think you can bring change in the damaged relationships then you should certainly pursue this career. As a beginner, counselor tries to go easy with the theories and focus on maintaining the counselor-client relationship. Take your clients as your fellow rather than labeling them as affectees.
Reflection paper
After interviewing the marriage counselor Elizabeth, I understood how she implements her theories and practices to improve the relationships among the couples. Couples come to counselors with the firm belief that they will repair their relationship. The difference between counselor and psychiatrist is another important aspect I understood through the interview.There are certain distinctions in the training and scope of practices in the professions counselors and psychologists such as counselors have master level education whereas psychologists possess a doctoral level degree.
Another integral information received after interviewing is that a counselor follows the curriculum set by CACREP whereas psychologists follow standards set by APA. A counselor has the tendency to treat and solve problems of couples or group of people whereas a psychologist treats an individual with serious mental disorder.
Also, the work environment where the interview took place was highly professional and designed according to the standards. The structure and work environment had all the details and proper touch to it which made me feel relaxed while I was conducting the interview. It has all the essential ingredients to make the client feel at ease. The proper interior of the workplace makes it more attractive for the customer. The paintings hung on the wall gave the soothing and calming effect to the entire setting. I am sure such environment maintained by professional counselors help their clients to a great extent. The environment plays a crucial role in helping clients to open up and vent about their feelings to the counselor.
Counselors deploy quotations and display books to give their workplace a professional touch and make their clients feel at home. Couples therapy helps the couple to open up about the feelings they’ve been bottling up and blowing off the steam. Speaking to a professional gives a clear understanding of the situation. Also, a third person judges the situation better than those who are struggling in the situation. The marriage counselors help couples to repair their relationship and provides solutions to the issues bundling up (Worthington Jr., 2009). Resolving conflicts and improvement of relationships are an integral part of marriage counseling.
People seek out the help of licensed therapists to rebuild their relationship.Self-care and maintaining work-life balance is an integral part of counselor life. The interview helped me to grasp the core importance of marriage counseling. Also, the therapeutic techniques used such as free association, dream analysis, analysis of transference, and analysis of reference. In dream analysis, the counselor investigates the repressed feelings that can be expressed in the dreams. Another technique which I found interesting was free association where counselors explore a person’s unconscious through spontaneous word association. For instance, Elizabeth would say the wife and I’d reply with mine which is totally illogical and irrelevant, but it works in most situations.
The interviewee also elaborated about the theories and skills used in the profession such as Gottman method, positive psychology, emotionally focused couples theory, and narrative therapy. In Gottman method, the affection, closeness, and respect is increased between the couples. After interviewing and clearing my concepts regarding psychology and counseling, I have decided to give the career a thought. There are issues faced by the profession such as long lost debates going on about the core concepts of normal and healthy. Intensive emotional and high expectations of clients are challenges faced by the counselor.
Training is another factor which is important in the psychology field, without training and practical education it can be difficult for the counselor to stay in the field and gain the respect of clients. I believe after proper training and practical implications of theories such as narrative theory and other prominent theories my future in the psychology field as counselor seems bright. As a career, the counselor has to be attentive to the clients and maintain a healthy relationship.
However, a marriage counselor play’s an integral role in the families and help them to maintain healthy relationships. Since I have the ability to socialize and understand the situation of others, the career can be the best choice. I can maintain mental and emotional health processes after training and I am looking forward to become a competent counselor.
Hence, the career requires extensive educational and practical training. A master’s level degree has to be maintained while pursuing the counseling profession. All the theories and skills have to be implemented carefully in the work and satisfy the clients approaching. Once I attain the education and training, I will be able to analyze the situations and provide proper solutions.
References
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