Bachelor of Applied Social Science Counseling Skills Reflection

This report reflects on a counseling session conducted by a student, focusing on the application of person-centered therapy. The session involved a woman distressed by marital problems stemming from her husband's infidelity, leading to depression and disillusionment. The student details the initial interactions, attempts to establish rapport, and the client's background, including her emotional dependence and the history of her relationship. The report explores the student's understanding of the situation, potential avenues for the client to explore, and the methods employed, such as encouraging open communication, considering separation, and addressing depression. The student emphasizes the importance of a non-judgmental approach, ensuring the client's comfort, and empowering her to make her own decisions, ultimately aiming to help the client achieve self-actualization and navigate her situation with strength and clarity. The report highlights the ethical considerations and practical application of counseling skills within a supportive therapeutic environment.

Running Head: REFLECTION
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Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
The person centered therapy was developed by American psychologist Carl Rogers.
This is a typical kind of therapy that is utilized in psycho analysis and it emphasizes on the
client's ability to self motivate himself or herself. Rogers was of the belief that an individual
in therapy should be given an environment that is wholly supportive of him and her. Rogers
used that our client rather than patient in order to counter the usual, hierarchical relationship
that is expected in between a client and the therapist (Rogers, 2001). This kind of therapy is
closely associated with human potential movement. In this movement which is dated back to
the 1900s, it was evident that human nature had an altered perspective. Psychological theories
previously have focused on how selfish and craft humans tend to be when it comes to saving
a place on this planet however this movement focus on humans being inherently good and
hoping for a positive and better changes in their lives. This is what the person centered
therapy is based on. The term self actualization is very important here because it focuses on
distance of a human then deficiencies he or she retains. This therapy wants to empathize with
the person in order to help the person achieve what he or she wants while acting as an agent
with the correct directions (Grant, 1990). In this assignment I will be reflecting on the
counseling session that I had with a certain woman who is distressed because of marital
problems arising due to an illicit affair in between her husband and another woman which has
caused her to become depressed and disillusioned about what she actually wants out of her
life and her relationship.
Beginning the session
As this was one of my first counseling sessions, I felt a little intimidated by the fact that a
person's mental well being will be depending on how I treat him or her. It is difficult facing
people for so sad and depressed and I am grateful that I am being given a chance to help. This
is why person centered therapy is an excellent method of therapy because here the counselor

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acts as an empath and the support system for the client. When faced with Mrs xyz, I realized
that it is impossible to tell if a person is depressed from the outer appearance. She was very
graceful and she greeted me very kindly. Before the session began, we even engaged in small
talk about her journey to my place and the weather. I tried to make small talk because I
wanted to make her feel comfortable and I even offered her water and tea. I am of the belief
that the counselor should not appear as someone very stoic and analytical in the first go.
Since I need conversation with her she relaxed in front of me and when I asked she was ready
to begin the session she nodded positively.
After the session I realized that she is an independent woman who is emotionally dependent
on a man. The beginning of a relationship was quite ordinary and it was built on a foundation
of awareness in which both the parties had met each other in real life. It is evident that both of
them were quite capable of taking decisions for them when it came to deciding if they want to
date or if they want to get married. I do not think that the difference in age was a problem for
either of them.
Understanding the Situation
I realized that the client is resentful about taking the decision of staying back in the
city for the man who is also her husband. It is evident that he had captured her heart and she
had quite carefully taken the decision of staying back and building a life together. Here we
see that she is somebody who is willing to sacrifice and compromise for the relationship to an
extent was changes the plan she had made for herself ever since she joined college.
She stresses on the fact that she is unsure about what happens next in her life. She
decided to get married to the man who had a history of cheating. Not only was that, despite
cheating on her with various other women the man also willing to marry her. His part of the
story is being recited by the client and I can tell that she is not very sure if his decision to

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marry was out of pity or if he actually loved her. I am of the belief that this man was also
quite elder to her, is someone who is quite shrewd about decision he takes and he was quite
convinced about how important he was in her life. Since she was over giving about the cases
of cheating before it was also evident that she is willing to compromise and work on things.
Save to save it can be assumed that this man knew the woman who was in love with him was
rather devoted in nature and that not marrying her would be a loss on his part. Too much
attachment can also trigger cases of cheating where sexual cheating is a kind of escape
mechanism in that getting away from something very passionate for high energy for a while.
Exploring the possibilities
I will have to ask her to look at all the possible venues she can take. I will ask her to
have a conversation with her husband. I will ask to confront him if she sees him cheating on
her and to make sure that he answers all her queries correctly. Firstly I will make sure that he
admits to cheating and I will make sure that she notices his behavior after admitting that he is
teaching. If he appears uninterested in her and has appeared for a long time, it probably
means that he is no more emotionally invested in her and that she should move out. Cheating
that is sexual in nature has destroyed marriages but many have chosen to forgive in these
cases. Cheating that is emotional in nature goes against the very basis of marriage and it is
inevitable that the marriage will crumble under the pressure of emotional cheating. It has to
be observed if he is apologetic about being caught what if getting caught makes him agitated.
He may or may not be at the question of divorce or a separation because he knows that his
wife is rather devoted in nature. This is when questions will be raised for my client, living
with the man who will continue to cheat on her with somebody else is impossible but if you
want to save the marriage, she will have to ensure that his cheating tendency stop and he ends
the affair while actively working on the relationship he shares with his wife to ensure that
such situations do not arise again (Levant & Schlien, 1984). For he might continue to be

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silent about it and this is when she will have to ensure that she is strong enough to move out,
especially because he does not display any tendency of respect towards her. Saving a
marriage which is no longer a marriage is not how people may survive but it is completely
upon my client to do what she wants.
My duty is to make her understand that she has always been somebody who has
chosen her heart over logic. I will have to make her understand that the fact that she decided
to stay back had yielded positive results until recently. There is no guarantee that moving out
of the city would have done for any good and that it was a part of her past (Cain, 2010). I will
have to ensure that she is not resentful of her decisions that she has taken in the past and that
she, who is a strong woman who has the ability to clean her slate and move forward in a new
way.
Methods
I will have to ensure that I present all of our options in front of her and she chooses
wisely. I will ask her to move apart for a while because it will give her enough space to think
and it is important that she maintains a few days of separation because that will help her
understand the situation more clearly and work on her feelings about the same without him in
sight 9krischenbaum &Jordan, 2005). This separation will help her clear the air and
understand what she actually wants for herself. I also I want her how to understand if the
previous cases of cheating actually left behind some resentment or if she had actually
forgiven him for the cases before. She has to reflect on the fact that her forgiveness could
probably have been a method of keeping him because she did not know what else to do. She
probably traced out a life for herself along with the man and the shock of cheating came as a
barrier in between what actually is and what she had dreamed for herself. She was not very
convinced about the fact that the cheating was really sexual and not emotional and maybe she

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convinced herself otherwise because she did not want to tell herself that she was incapable of
providing him the emotional stability or needs he wants for himself.
Tackling Depression
In order to tackle the depression I will be helping her realize that she is somebody to
is strong and will need the strength to battle all her feelings and truly understand what she
really wants. I will have to ask her to attend sessions once a week as long as she wants to. this
case is also a case in which she will have to acquire self actualization in which she will be
able to accept the idea that she has a life apart from the marriage and that she should not
invest any of her resources in a marriage that is no longer a marriage and that she should have
gone to live her life on her own terms like she always wanted to. I will help her get rid of any
sort of relief through which she will be off the idea that she has wasted a large part of a time
upon someone who did not deserve it. I will make her understand that people change just like
she can change I am that it is ok to make a decision that might not turn out to be very fruitful
in the future because it gave her joy at some point in the past. I will constantly remind her
that she is capable of taking correct decisions and that she should continue to utilize that
capability in order to make a better life for herself (Brodley, 1997).
Ensuring a Person Centered Approach
I will ensure that she is comfortable throughout the sessions with me and that the
report I built with her will allow her to spill anything and everything she might be feeling.
She should feel that she is being able to take the right decisions on her own and that I am a
good support system for the change in her life. She is a very centre of the Sera p and
everything I say will be working as a direction for her. Nothing judgmental will be put
forward by me because it can compare her ideas and it is important that her ideas at clearly
expressed through this therapy. I will only listen and give her options about the reasons of a

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feelings and how the situation might have turned out to be like that. She is the one who will
be responsible for taking the decisions she wants after carefully reflecting on her feelings
about the entire situation (Cooper & McLeod, 2011). This will require her to be very
confident and forthcoming about her demands from this marriage, she will have to stop the
fear of losing a person because she will have to understand that people change, she will also
have to convince herself that staying with a person who has no intention of being with her is
as good as staying alone and that being with him will make her responsible for a lot of things
in his life and she need not take the burden anymore. I am expecting any improvement in her
self esteem and a better understanding of feelings as it will be valuable sources of
information when it comes to the decision she will be taking. Understanding herself will
make her open to new things in the life she wants to lead and she will open herself to new
ways in which she can think about her life.
Conclusion
Person centered therapy is a wonderful way of staying beside a person when he or she
is in dire need of help. Not only is therapeutic but in this case the counselor is like and
advisor of friend the person can trust in a situation in which the person's trust is being shaken.
in this kind of therapy the person is not forced to acknowledge any sort of negativity and the
main focus is on the positive elements of his or wildlife 2 to open the mind of the client to the
countless possibilities that are still there on this planet for human heart to explore. Choose
this therapy Mrs X y z will be able to choose the correct path for her and will be able to take
the decision that will benefit her the most. She will also learn how to trust in herself again
after betrayal and this new found trust will enable her to think of a life beyond marriage

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References
Brodley, B. T. (1997). The nondirective attitude in client-centered therapy. The Person-
Centered Journal, 4(1), 18-30.
Cain, D. J. (2010). Person-centered psychotherapies. American Psychological Association.
Cooper, M., & McLeod, J. (2011). Person-centered therapy: A pluralistic
perspective. Person-Centered & Experiential Psychotherapies, 10(3), 210-223.
Grant, B. (1990). Principled and instrumental nondirectiveness in person-centered and client-
centered therapy. Person-Centered Review, 5(1), 77-88.
Kirschenbaum, H., & Jourdan, A. (2005). The current status of Carl Rogers and the person-
centered approach. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 42(1), 37.
Levant, R. F., & Shlien, J. M. (1984). Client-centered therapy and the person-centered approach:
New directions in theory, research, and practice. Praeger Publishers/Greenwood Publishing
Group.
Rogers, C.R., 2001. Client-centered/person-centered approach to therapy. Voprosy
Psikhologii, (2), pp.48-58.