Free Essay about Counseling: Questions about the Final Session

How well did the relational model work for this final session?

The relational model worked excellently in providing a seamless termination process as I ensured that the client experienced no sense of abandonment. Before I began to appreciate the essence of talking about termination, I used to avoid the subject completely as it brought up uncomfortable feelings for me as well as for my very first. We subconsciously linked termination to painful separations such as divorces, getting fired, or death. Consequently, it provoked feelings of sadness and anger due to the overwhelming feeling of abandonment. I believe that in all meaningful relationships between the client and therapist, such feelings must be present. I employed the rational model to facilitate a healthy closure to ensure that the patient did not grieve after the termination. The termination process was bilateral since I engaged the client in an active discussion and the decision to end the therapy sessions was mutual. I also addressed the clients fear that he was hurting my feelings by terminating the relationship and relieve him of worrying that the goodbye would be sappy, painful, and awkward. Also, I found the termination process to be a laboratory for experiencing, coping, and processing feelings of loss first hand. We had discussed feelings of loss at length with the client during therapy and the termination process was a high-quality end, which I considered a bonus to the end of the treatment plan.

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How well did you handle disruptions, transference, countertransference, or any other issues that arose? What would you do differently in the future and why?

Since my client was involuntary, there were few disruptions and I treated them as a chance to evaluate the fruitfulness of the therapeutic relationship. Issues of transference arose but I used them as a chance to evaluate the work that we had accomplished and celebrated the milestones that we had covered. Also, we reminisced into the relationship and the client provided me with insights. I was particularly happy when he confessed that our therapy sessions helped him to understand why he often felt frustrated. All the issues that arose strengthened the magnitude of the termination period and helped us both appreciate the value held by this stage.

How well did you advance the client's human rights in this final session? If you didn't, how will you ensure that you do so in the future?

I advanced the client's rights to being treated with respect and dignity and with sensitivity to his cultural background. The client reserved the right to make any complaints as indicated by the session in which I request for the patient's feedback regarding the effectiveness of our sessions. Although these are not serious complaints pertaining my ability to uphold the rights of the client or other aspects such as torture or inhumane treatment, I offered the client a chance to point out any mistakes or improvement areas in the sessions, without reprisal. He pointed out that he really valued my therapy approach of not telling him what to do and letting him maintain the autonomy in decision making. However, he complained that I was relentless in my pursuit for answers, especially in the first few lessons before we developed a rapport and this made him very anxious. In the future, I will allow the patients who are anxious at first to proceed at a more comfortable pace by engaging them to discern their ideal pace of questioning. I believe this is important in developing a rapport between the patient and psychologist. Also, I upheld the client's human rights when I informed him of the expected results from the therapy session, to enable the client to determine the effectiveness of our sessions. He also understood that he was free to discharge himself during the termination session if he so desired.

How well did you end this final session? What might you do differently in the future with the final session? Why?

The steps for the final session helped me to end exceptionally well, considering that I had an involuntary client who is more likely to feel a sense of loss and abandonment. First, we reflected on the change process and the client acknowledged that he had improved his anger control and management skills. Secondly, I reinforced his sense of self-efficacy by evaluating whether we met the targets set at the beginning of therapy. He realized that as a result of his resilience and perseverance, the people around him were happier, which made him happier as well. I then probed about his next plans and here, he did not seem to have any idea on what to expect from his seemingly happier life. I felt inclined to make some suggestions but I figured that I should leave him to ponder over the question on his own. I advised him to give himself a timeframe to answer that question, say for the next two weeks, by the end of which he should develop an action plan and implement it. Describe likely supervision conversations or guidance that would be helpful for the final session.

The therapist should read the notes from the client's previous visit to freshen the memory and then make it clear that he or she is happy and eager to see the client. If you meet the client outside the office, you can attempt to have a small talk before the session to lighten up the mood but keep it limited and stop once you enter the office. Pre-session talks, tell a lot about the mood of the patient and one can detect problems such as poor eye contact or low energy, which you can bring up later in the therapy session. At the end of the session, ask if the client wants to summarize the session or if I should do it and put my input wherever I feel necessary. After the client leaves, I take notes to summarize the termination session with the client.