My Theoretical Orientation

The Need for a Caring Adult

It was a conversation that ended with tears of happiness, laughter, and a clear therapeutic goal in mind.  After this one 30-minute conversation with this 15-year old, multiracial  high school sophomore, the student emphatically expressed to me how that one conversation was more helpful to her in changing how she viewed her presenting problem than any other session she previously had throughout her life.  Delighted as I was to hear this, her reaction left me thinking about what I was able to provide that perhaps other helping professionals were unable.  This would be a question I would find myself asking again and again after counseling many other students of various ethnic backgrounds; indeed it was the question fueling my zestful pursuit of completing a masters program in counseling.  Through my reflections, it was as though each student was telling me in their own way they simply needed a caring adult who took their time to understand them.

Having grown up in a strict military environment where the home was led by a distant and controlling step-father and a spiritually nurturing mother, I had to work through the tension that was created from my desire to be known by a caring adult and the unrelenting standards imposed on me by my family.  Years later I would find that those unrelenting standards led to pressure put on me by my own hand.  Having explored various careers in my life, I have finally arrived at a place where I have stopped the negative pressure and taken a more grateful view of my professional strengths, abilities, and growing expertise. Through my negative and positive professional, personal, and familial experiences what has emerged is a far more resilient professional that believes in the process of becoming a self-actualized, contributing individual. The results-oriented attitude I have toward solving issues and challenges informs how I often interact with the world around me; moreover, I firmly believe, like Abraham Maslow, that “if you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.” In other words, whenever I feel stuck in some way I realize that I need to employ a different set of skills or tools to attack the problem. I find great satisfaction and fulfillment from this creative process of problem solving. 

The Formation of a Theoretical Orientation

As a result of the formation of these values and personal philosophy on life I have initially in my journey to becoming a professional school counselor taken a great interest in the Person-Centered approach to counseling. The focus on the authentic interaction between the therapist and client (unconditional positive regard), the emphasis on the freedom clients have to make choices and the journey to self-actualization are all factors that attracted me to this approach.  Although I still hold to this conviction, I am also keenly aware that I also naturally gravitate toward honing in to the present experiences of students often reaching for Adlerian and Gestalt therapeutic techniques such as gathering life-history data, sharing interpretations, and creating experiments with clients.  My relation to authority worldview tends to be more egalitarian (Koltko-Rivera, 2004), and therefore rely very heavily on my personality to influence the direction of a therapeutic relationship.  The social justice advocate within me often leads me to being more naturally directive, confrontational, and exploratory which are classic behaviors of a feminist therapist.  As a professional that has been trained to see and understand complex systems, I also integrate family systems techniques in sessions which include family mapping and enactments.  I would be remissed if I did not include my passion for solution-focused group work with the students I encounter.

The Journey Ahead

Very much a humanist at heart, I am a believer in the positive psychology movement.  Circling back to the session I had with the young high school student, I realized very practically that day the power empathy has on the empowerment of adolescents.  Admittedly, I have much to learn in how to properly apply the various therapeutic techniques in an effective manner, but I remain excited at the prospect that this will be a lifelong journey.  It is both an honor and privilege to be on this journey to becoming a professional school counselor.