Reflect on your self-care practices this week
1. Reflect on your self-care practices this week. What has gone well? What areas have been challenging for you and why?
For mental health counselors, self-care practices help maintain psychological and physical health and wellness at a state that allows us work effectively and treat patients. In this practicum week, working with patients presenting with different mental health disorders was quite involving and self-care was mandatory. I kept a healthy work-life balance to ensure my physical and psychological wellness was properly managed. Also, I engaged in physical exercise to help refresh and unwind from the busy schedules of the week. Other self-care practices I engaged in during this week were journaling, reading for leisure, meditation, and becoming aware of my self-task. This self-care helped my delivery to our clients. Everything about my self-care gone well, allowing maintain a positive psychological and physical health and wellbeing for both personal benefit and that of the clients. The challenging part of this week’s practicum was time management as we had busy schedules and many patients to attend.
2. Unconditional positive regard is a foundation of the Person-Centered process. How does unconditional positive regard contribute to client growth? More specifically, how does a counselor help their client perceive that they are positively regarded unconditionally? How would the counselor exhibit unconditional positive regard towards the client?
According to (McLeod, 2019), person-centered therapy operates according to three basic principles that reflect the counselor’s attitude towards the client. These thee principles include congruence, unconditional positive regard, and empathy. Unconditional positive regard requires that the therapist must be valuing and non-judgemental of the client. This counselor’s genuine and deep care for the client helps restore the client’s hope. A counselor helps clients perceive to be unconditionally valued, accepted, and loved by being honest, genuine, and maintaining a positive attitude to the client regardless of the clients’ actions (McLeod, 2019). To further exhibit unconditional positive regard to the client, counselors should show deep and genuine care. Although the counselor might disapprove the client’s actions, they should first approve the client. In a nutshell, creating a counseling environment that proves acceptance of the client is vital. Besides, asking the client about what he/she feels and respecting their beliefs, perceptions, and thought patterns proves unconditional positive regard.
References
McLeod, S. (2019). Person Centered Therapy. Simply Pyschology, 19-32.