Reflective Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy in a Diverse Society

Jason D. Brown

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN:
  9783030245047
• eBook ISBN:
  9783030245054
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Mind & Body in Philosophy
• Index: Psychology

 

© The Author(s) 2019

J. D. BrownReflective Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy in a Diverse Societyhttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24505-4_1

Begin Abstract

1. Reflective Practice Framework

Jason D. Brown¹

(1)

Faculty of Education, Western University, London, Canada

Jason D. Brown

Email: [email protected]

End Abstract

Therapists’ perceptions shape the goals, activities, and outcomes of counseling and psychotherapy (Mahalik, Worthington, & Crump, 1999; Strupp, 1980). Reflective practice (RP) focuses on what professionals believe and value. It targets what is taken for granted. It invites professionals to challenge their assumptions. RP is the personal experience of meaning-making for self-awareness, cultural sensitivity, enhancement of the therapeutic relationship, as well as personal, professional, and social change.

What Is Reflective Practice?

• RP is a process for professional and personal self-improvement.
• RP includes what happened, why it happened, and how it happened.
• RP explores processes occurring throughout and following an experience.
• RP is a way of making meaning about why we do what we do.

What Is Not Reflective Practice?

• RP is not an identity, status (professional high ground), or achievement.
• RP is not prescriptive, punitive, or uniform.
• RP is not for personal therapy.
• RP is not for guilt release.

Why Does Reflective Practice Matter?

• RP is a professional resource.
• RP is a way to improve skill and effectiveness.
• RP is a way to enhance cultural competence, the therapeutic relationship, use of emotion, and self-care.

I (JB) was practicing in a medium-sized city’s downtown core counseling men who were released from institutions living in the community. As a professional corrections employee, it was an ethical responsibility to protect the public. I also felt it was necessary to connect with clients to understand the issues that led to incarceration. I some ways, such as their experience of being incarcerated for months to years, I had no point of reference and felt worlds apart. In other ways, I felt separated by only bad luck and some poor decisions. The struggles I had were about fairness, responsibility, and change. These were fundamental personal values tested by new professional experiences. For example, are trials, sentences as well as incarceration, and release applied fairly? Does responsibility for illicit behavior exist solely within the individual? If such behavior is in any way socially influenced, how much personal change is possible?

Take a few minutes to consider the many values listed below and check those that matter most to you. Once you have done that, check to see if they can be grouped and ranked in order of importance.

Acceptance	Accomplishment	Accountability	Accuracy
Achievement	Adaptability	Adventure	Agility
Alertness	Altruism	Ambition	Amusement
Assertiveness	Attentive	Audacity	Authenticity
Authority	Autonomy	Awareness	Balance
Beauty	Belonging	Best	Boldness
Bravery	Brilliance	Calm	Candor
Capable	Careful	Certainty	Challenge
Charity	Cheerfulness	Citizenship	Cleanliness
Clear	Clever	Comfort	Commitment
Common sense	Communication	Community	Compassion
Competence	Competition	Concentration	Confidence
Connection	Consciousness	Consistency	Contentment
Contribution	Control	Conviction	Cooperation
Correctness	Courage	Courtesy	Creativity
Credibility	Curiosity	Decisiveness	Dedication
Dependability	Determination	Development	Devotion
Dignity	Discipline	Discovery	Discretion
Diversity	Drive	Duty	Dynamism
Economy	Effectiveness	Efficiency	Elegance
Empathy	Empower	Endurance	Energy
Enjoyment	Enthusiasm	Entrepreneurship	Equality
Equity	Ethical	Excellence	Excitement
Experience	Expertise	Exploration	Expressive
Fairness	Faith	Fame	Family
Fearless	Feelings	Ferocious	Fidelity
Fitness	Fluency	Focus	Foresight
Fortitude	Freedom	Friendship	Fun
Generosity	Genius	Giving	Goodness
Grace	Gratitude	Greatness	Growth
Happiness	Hard work	Harmony	Health
Helping	Holiness	Honesty	Honor
Hope	Humility	Humor	Imagination
Improvement	Independence	Individuality	Ingenuity
Innovation	Inquisitive	Insightful	Inspiring
Integrity	Intelligence	Intensity	Intuition
Irreverent	Joy	Justice	Kindness
Knowledge	Lawful	Leadership	Learning
Legacy	Leisure	Liberty	Logic
Love	Loyalty	Mastery	Maturity
Meaning	Merit	Moderation	Motivation
Nature	Obedience	Openness	Optimism
Order	Organization	Originality	Partnership
Passion	Patience	Patriotism	Peace
Perfection	Performance	Persistence	Piety
Playfulness	Poise	Positivity	Potential
Power	Practicality	Preparedness	Present
Prestige	Productivity	Professionalism	Prosperity
Prudence	Purpose	Quality	Realistic
Reason	Recognition	Recreation	Reflective
Relationship	Reliability	Resourcefulness	Respect
Responsibility	Restraint	Results	Reverence
Rigor	Risk	Satisfaction	Security
Self-actualization	Self-control	Self-reliance	Selfless
Sensitivity	Serenity	Service	Sharing
Shrewdness	Significance	Silence	Simplicity
Sincerity	Skill	Smart	Solitude
Soundness	Speed	Spirit	Spirituality
Spontaneous	Stability	Status	Stewardship
Strategic	Strength	Structure	Success
Support	Surprise	Sustainability	Talent
Teamwork	Temperance	Thankful	Thorough
Thoughtful	Timeliness	Tolerance	Toughness
Traditional	Tranquility	Transparency	Trust
Truth	Understanding	Uniqueness	Unity
Usefulness	Valor	Variety	Victory
Vigor	Vision	Vitality	Wealth
Welcoming	Winning	Wisdom	Wonder

Personal Values and Reflexivity

The values we hold connect with our experience. They are at the center of RP. As you work through this text, return periodically to the values you identified and check their applicability to the topics as well as which are the most and least salient.

Reflexivity is considering self in context. It has been defined as “regular exercise of the mental ability, shared by all normal people, to consider themselves in relation to t...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Front Matter
• 1. Reflective Practice Framework
• 2. Theories of Learning
• 3. Ideologies, Worldviews, and Personalities
• 4. Cultural Self 1: Class, Race, and Ethnicity
• 5. Cultural Self 2: Gender and Sex, Disability, and Age
• 6. Intersections and Power
• 7. Emotions and Countertransference
• 8. Woundedness and Boundaries
• 9. Caring and Coping
• 10. Change Outside of the Therapeutic Encounter
• Back Matter