BIP/BAP2 Reflective Essay On Psychotherapy With The Triad Clients Practice 1 Assessment Answer

Introduction 

Integrative psychotherapy practice is intriguing as various facets of human brain functioning is taken into account. Every human being is different from their mental health issues. The interventions designed to be applied hence, consist of different approaches, philosophies and methodologies that depends upon the need of the clients. This reflective essay emphasizing on personal experiences evolved strength and weaknesses in the process of comprehending the methods in psychotherapy supported my journey of becoming a resourceful therapist while applying various skills into practice with the triad clients (Gergen, 2009). The self-reflection aims to demonstrate my potency, limitation and other micro-skills that I have applied in the counselling sessions, which potentially addresses to meet the requirement of the clients. 

 The practitioner with mental health issues of the present generation understands that human life has become more involved with satisfying each layer of needs beyond the necessities required for human life sustenance. They try to involve as many theories and approaches possible rather than depending on one best view. As a therapist, I perceive that integrative psychotherapy justifies the idea and concept of integrating several possible theories and approaches in counselling sessions. The applied concepts gravitate around cognitive-behaviour, psychodynamic approaches, family therapy, client-centred, transactional analysis and gestalt therapy, as suitable for the client according to their issues involved to be addressed. 

Discussion 

The reflection on the triad clients in integrative counselling sessions helped me in developing the fundamental philosophy to assist them with a supportive and empathetic ambience which would further empower them to deal with their existing mental health issues. My concern in being an effectual therapist is to help my clients to identify how they would not think them as victims to circumstances instead would make choices to live with a purpose and constructively (Wilberg, 2004). The present complex characteristics of human beings and the surroundings with their ambitious influence on others lack in providing equal opportunities to make right choices in coordination to the environment or culture. Still, they can be self-reliant to comprehend their situations and recognize the possible situations that they are assisted with to have a happy and purposeful life.    

Objectives and goals of integrative psychotherapy practice

I perceive that while training as a therapist, the integrative psychotherapy has objectives and goals to be fulfilled in attending the triad clients in a counselling session and carving the path to be a recognized and registered therapist. The goals and objectives must be aligned with the healthcare protocols which needs ethical consideration and regulations to be followed while attending the counselling sessions (Mearns & Cooper, 2017). The goals of a practising therapist are to provide the clients with direction and structure and not advice in addressing their issues. The privacy of the clients is of utmost priority while taking their informed consent while providing them with therapy is one of the essential criteria to be pursued in this profession. The goals and objectives of a therapist hence highlight to become a productive guide, coach, partner in assisting with their mental health issues for the clients. The clients needed to be provided with relaxing ambience to emote out their thoughts, opinions, expressions, fears and anxieties which they currently face and might be the reasons of their depression or other mental health issues.  

I generally initiate my sessions with three figurine toys which help as a medium to emote out the experiences of the clients. I take permission from the clients before starting the session with introducing myself, informing about the time they have for the session, informing about their rights and responsibilities and other protocols of the profession (Joyce & Sills, 2018). I find this as my strength that I remember to acknowledge their presence by thanking them for arriving for the sessions. As a trainee in believe the common goals of a counselling session is to facilitate a behaviour change of the client, work on guiding them to improve their ability to maintain right relationships, and most importantly to cope with their existing issues. It is also essential to empower them with confidence in promoting an ambience where they can make their decisions, accept their current situations, and get motivated to work for improving their conditions consciously.  

Refection on the role of the therapist

The integrative point of view that I have comprehended in my training is to signify the dimensions of human mental health conditions which includes having the capacity to be self-aware, understand freedom and responsibility, create an identity with meaningful relationships, explore the meaning of life, values, goals, accept anxiety as a condition of living in the modern times and the vital point of accepting death and non-being (Van Der Kolk, 2014). The integrative therapy supports the practice of mindfulness, practicality in skill-building, being intuitive or creative, developing scientific rational and progressing towards resolving the conflicts or issues that the clients encounter.

 The role of the therapist is critical in addressing the pressing issues of the clients. As a therapist, I believe that being resourceful is the need of the hour since only following the protocol of being an active listener and empathetic towards the client will not resolve the issues. It is more beyond the traditions and norms of being a therapist in a theoretical set up (Friedmn, 2005). I need to respond to their emotions, expressions, and anxieties by summarizing them, paraphrasing the verbatim they spoke, and unconditional positive regards for their current conditions, allowing silence to contemplate on the issues expressed by the triad clients, questioning them and making a correct response.   

In the process, I would also need to maintain my boundaries and not just flow with emotion involved in the situation. Here, the role of a therapist requires acting skill. For example, I would like to share the experience that I had in the triad counselling session, where I witnessed the Client C when she got anxious in her session. The client faced racial trauma which invoked her anger and flamed her rage against the atrocities of society (Joo et al., 2019). In the session, she chose Moana as her toy figurine, which reflected her racial status while elaborating the pain she faced in the society because of her race, her colour and status in the community. I empathized with her being the woman of colour while I felt her pain deep inside me. I had to utilize my acting skills to get detached to the story while keeping my mental health condition sane to assist the client with relevance.  

The role of the therapist also highlights on the self-disclosure, which must be relevant to the therapeutic session provided to the clients. The intra-session and extra-session disclosure work as information both relevant in the session and if some time is gained in practice to be revealed of the therapist and can be relevant to the process of counselling must be involved to support the process of the therapeutic journey for the client (Anvari et al., 2020). There are some principles that I  follow while self-disclosure on my personal experiences, and if at all that can enrich a session involves the patience and time to wait and speak of the brief narratives. I know my boundary where I need to stop while providing personal experiences and where it might genuinely create positive impact and empower my client. The clients in the triad practice help me to engage non-verbal cues and communications which might augment my practice further as a registered one.

Reflecting on the techniques and methods of psychotherapy practices

The techniques and methods of integrative psychotherapy practices can be recognized as having several facets to be applied in every session. It is challenging and cumbersome at the same time to induce all the techniques and methods which would confuse the client instead of helping them (Boddey & Hodgkins, 2018). Hence, the purpose of therapy needs to be assessed by me through triad clients, which will simplify the actual process of providing therapy. The cases and issues were taken up the triad clients are similar to the practical situation faced by the clients who seek mental health interventions. Hence, choosing the technique will depend on the trait and personality of the client, the qualities exhibited during the session, the purpose of providing therapy, and the current problems faced by the client.  

 I induced the affirmative therapy for Client J, who chose Flowering Mother toy figurine in the initiation of the counselling session. The client very gently and politely corrected my error as addressing her she while the client belonged from LGBTQ community. The client spoke at length about the influence that the mother had on him (Donald et al., 2016). They remained bewildered in their body and their gender role, which they played in society more than being human. I feel connected with the clients which majorly speak about their position in the society in the 21^st century with a scientific outlook to everything and create a space of equality for them. It also involves in empowering the client for social justice, open-ended communication and questions, self-reflection to overcome biases and stereotype prejudices to address their issues with specific concerns in coping with daily traumas invoked by the society.  

Reflection on integrative psychotherapy on triad clients 

 As a therapist, I need to understand the ethical dimensions in the profession while intervening with the mental health issues of the clients. The reflection on the techniques used for the intervention also seeks the permission or informed consent of the clients before starting a session (Tschacher et al., 2020). The personal boundaries are maintained, personal information and client privacy and confidentiality on the case is assured, and every client is treated with dignity and respect. The techniques or methods that are in general followed by the therapist is employed by me in the counselling session comprising of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), dialectical behavioural therapy (DBT), sand therapy, psychodynamic therapy and play therapy. For employing play therapy, I keep the toy figurines in the session where helps the client to identify their issues while observing the toy as well as give them a relaxing ambience while emoting their heart out in the session.

 For the triad clients, I have used CBT which directly related to the moods of the clients with their thought process. A negative thought pattern can be recognized with this therapy to assess the current situation and condition that the client is (Echshtain et al., 2020). CBT aims to help the patient talk on several issues faced by the person while fragmenting their overwhelming problems. This fragmentation gives me the opportunity to recognize which issues to be dealt with priority and motivate them to change their thought patterns to positive ones focusing on the issues one by one to gain recovery from the mental health conditions.   

The DBT consciously involves the four skills of mindfulness, emotional regulations, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness. The therapy induces both behavioural and cognitive therapy which is more resourceful to support the clients in coping skills. This DBT skill helps the client in regulating the emotions, understanding the dysfunctional relationship s and coping with the stress (Raue et al., 2017). Play therapy is majorly used for children where attractive toys and games are kept in the counselling session to help them in processing their emotions and experiences which affect their moods. A play session helps the children emote their feelings, anxieties and emotions through symbolic meanings with the usage of toys and other figures in the session very actively. The sand tray therapy is also resourceful to understand the world of the client where they use small figurines in manipulating the sand tray and position the toys as happens in their useful life (Knapp et al., 2017). In such situations, we as therapist need to be active in understanding and interpreting their conditions to involve meaningful and purposeful directions and exercises as interventions.

The major depressive disorders (MDD) can be intervened through psychodynamic therapy which challenges the conventional norms and wisdom of psychological research and more driven with empirical research findings. For instance, H was the therapist in a case where the client had MDD, and psychodynamic therapy was employed her. Being an observer, in this case, I witnessed that this type of session is enriching for me where I learn that how the therapist needs to be an active listener to the pains of the clients, competent to paraphrase, mirroring the content, keep checking with the emotions of the client, applying all the necessary elements within the short period while ending the session with the gentle assurance of positivity.

Self-reflection on strength while counselling triad clients

 Self-reflection on practice session is essential to determine that I am healthy and safe to provide assurance and assistance through my therapy to the clients. The self-reflection helps in understanding our upbringing, the beliefs, and attitude through cultural integrations, and acceptance of multicultural aspects in every profession. Self-reflection also helps to identify the flaws within oneself, eliminate any biased or stereotypical thoughts on the society and communities and improve on their mental sanity to empower others.   

I believe the underlying strength in me is reflected through my acknowledging the patients, thanking them for arriving for the sessions, following the norms and practices of the profession and possessing interpersonal skills to make the session lively and impactful. I get engaged with the cases while maintaining the required ethical boundaries of the training sessions while creating a bond of trust for the clients who seek reassurance and assistance from the therapists (Lysaker et al., 2019). I am committed to triad clients while developing treatment and intervention plans for them. The ambience which the clients have in the session is full of optimistic thoughts, conscious efforts to bring sensitivity to the case and cultural background and inspire hope among the clients to resolve their conflicts.  

Self-reflection on challenges faced while counselling triad clients

 The profession of psychoanalysts or psychotherapists is full of challenges where a multitude of cases is witnessed daily. The complex environment around us has created more limitation in expressing the emotions, fear and anxiety that causes loneliness, and depression. Hence, the number of patients with mental health conditions is on the rise (Chigweder et al., 2019). This inflow of patients also limits the time for sessions which are merely fixed for 20 minutes for a client. The time provided is too short and creates unnecessary pressures on the clients and myself, which I feel limits the interaction skills of a therapist.  

Conclusion

The main benefit of using triads was to develop self-awareness. It is argued by sanders that “the processes of giving and receiving feedback require a feeling of safety if they are to be of any real use" (Sanders, 2011, p63). This is something I have experienced myself. At first, I did not feel safe enough to give honest feedback; I didn't trust my instincts enough and would avoid confrontation. As my confidence has grown, so has my ability to provide constructive feedback. 
Hence, in conclusion, issues of trust between trainees and feelings of vulnerability when using real problems for discussion gives rise to both the benefits and difficulties of using triads to develop trainee skills and self-awareness. And without creating self-awareness, therapists cannot expect to lead their client through a journey of self-discovery themselves due to an inability to meet the core conditions as outlined in mainstream theoretical approaches to therapy.