Couple Therapy (Research Paper Sample)

Counseling interventions
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Counseling interventions
Part I: Tom and Pam
Counseling intervention is defined as a unique interrelationship created between a counselor and a client in order to bring a change and a growth in client’s personal development, professional development, and social adjustment. The counseling process given to Tom and Pam is aimed at creating a change in their social adjustment and personal development (Griswold, 2007). Tom and Pam differ in the level at which they can distinguish pardoning and excusing from forgiving. From the statement by the Therapist, Tom is now willing to forgive Pam. Tom is equating the forgiveness to excusing and is, therefore, unwilling to forgive his partner Pam for minor offenses. As a result, the counselor's intervention was to help Tom understand his fears that after forgiving Pam he wouldn’t be rendered vulnerable in the future. The intention is to help Tom forgive Pam. However, the main challenge here is to help Tom forgive Pam, forget, and move forward without increasing the risk of engaging into another affair; this is because Tom feels that forgiving Pam is risky.
The counseling intervention given by the counselor is, therefore, to make Tom allow himself see both his relationship’s strength and vulnerabilities to help him forgive Pam. The therapist is focused to help Tom use his energies to making the relationship better rather than focusing on the hurt and anger he is facing in his relationship with Pam. In the counseling process, the therapist is committed to contributing to a gradual process of change towards Tom's personal development. The intervention uses the theory of behaviorism in psychology counseling to help Tom and Pam resolve their differences. At first, the therapist is focused to making Tom explore his inner world towards achieving strategies aimed to increase his level of forgiving Pam as well as motivating him to change his perception towards Pam. As a result, Tom can explore his hidden world and get new aspects in his unforgiving behavior, acknowledge his mental and social experience with Pam.
On the other hand, if I were to counsel this couple, my counseling intervention would be to help Tom and Pam to sacrifice oneself, avoid keeping silence to one another, and keep off the feeling of betrayal. It is good if Tom and Pam can express their vulnerability and strength, competence and weakness in a balanced way in their love relationship. I would, therefore, advise Tom to forgive and forget what Pam did to him in order as easy treatment period; he is to develop an insight to go back to his old "rose-colored glass" where he ignored the problems facing their relationship with Pam; he is to stop letting Pam off the hook and he has to forget the past. However, Tom is taking this as a theory that he is not sure whether he can do. My counseling intervention will be to make Tom and Pam see the possibility of forgiving each other and forgetting the past experience. How would forgiveness look to Tom and Pam if they start from the perspective of forgetting their past and the wrong Pam did? Tom needs to give support to him partner.
Counselor: Tom, it is better you focus on proving unconditional support to your partner. This will act as a new aspect of you having an intimate relationship.
Consequently, similar to the counselor’s aim, I would be focused to facilitate Tom and Pam progressively explores their past life, get a new connectivity, and have a vital and healthy relationship by changing their feelings; especially Tom who is feeling betrayed by Pam. His unconditional support will help him towards forgiving Pam.
Counselor: I think is good to avoid silence in your relation, Tom. Silence is taken as a non-verbal reaction that gives different meanings such as confusion, empathy, and misunderstanding. Do you think opening your heart to Pam will make you forgive each other?
Silence is a killer of most of the relationships. My intervention as a counselor would be to help the couple to change their thoughts towards each other by having an open relationship; Tom thinks that forgiving Pam might make her repeat the mistake again in the future. The two need to be counseled on how they can change their behavior as an individual responsibility. In this way, Tom and Pam will be able to forgive each other and have a progressive healing process and fulfill their human potential in their relationship.
Part II: Raising our Children’s Children
This counseling intervention concerns Shannon who is just 29 years old; however, this youthful African American woman have gone through so many problems in life. As a result, his case is very difficult to handle. Firstly, the lady resides in Roxbury one of the roughest part of Boston. Secondly, her boyfriend Jose has been very harsh to her; he inflicted brutal beatings to her: kicks, punches, and hit her on the head with a bottle. Consequently, Shannon feels that he cannot forgive Jose. At the same hand, she is very bitter because she went to prison when very young and she was pregnant; this was after she killed her batterer (Doucette-Dudman, 1997). The counseling intervention will be as below:
Counselor: Shannon, I feel you are a beautiful young lady, what do you do for a living?
This part is to make Shannon open up her heart. I know she was a prostitute, and she struggled with so many demons one could only imagine. Though she appears forgiving, she needs to continue with her direct ways in life. Additionally, this will help Shannon develop an insight that there hope in living.
Counselor: Are you happy with what you are going through in your life? What good thing do you embrace about Jose?
Here, Shannon is to have reflective expressions in her relationships with Jose and her life; reflective expression is the psychological technique in counseling that can help Shannon part with her emotions. Here she will be able to explore and examine her feelings and thoughts and know her hidden aspects in life. The intervention is focused to make Shannon understand that life can always change. Firstly, she is not happy because she is not staying with her son; she only stayed one week with her son because she was in prison by the time she gave birth. Through my counseling intervention to Shannon, I noted that she was not happy with the fact that she is getting to know who her son is now. However, she is happy with the foster home he is in.
Counselor: Shannon, I feel you need to accept you past and take another course in life. Firstly, how do your relatives treat you? Do they love you especially your grandmother?
Here I intend to use paraphrasing to help Shannon give her thoughts and whatever expressions she holds against or for her relatives. From her response, I would be able to examine her conflicts with any relative especially her grandmother. However, she cares much about her grandmother who is always ailing. Additionally, using paraphrasing in my counseling invention assists me to brighten and clarify Shannon’s expressions and anger she holds in life. This would develop a healing process.
Counselor: drugs and substance abuse is a deadly thing in life Shannon, I know drugs have affected your life so much that you need to have a second thought. What bad thing have you experienced due t...