Role Play & Self Critique PC6104: Counseling Skills Argosy University, Inland Empire Megan S. Castillo June 8, 2015

Megan: Hi Stan, how are you doing today?
Shawn: I’m doing fine Megan.
Megan: That’s great to hear Stan; I am a student in counseling skills at [Argosy University] I am required to practice counseling skills with volunteers. I appreciate your willingness to work with me on my class assignments. You may choose to talk about topics of real concern.
Shawn: Sounds fine.
Megan: As a student I can’t offer any form of legal confidentiality. However anything you say to me in the practice session will remain confidential except for certain exceptions that the state law requires me to report 1) a serious issue of harm to yourself; (2) indications of child abuse or neglect; (3) or other special conditions as required by the state of [California].
Shawn: I do understand these conditions. Megan: I will be recording our session for personal listening and learning. If you feel uncomfortable at any time please let me know and I will turn off the recorder. I am an inexperienced counselor. I am learning how to do formal counseling. This practice session helps me learn to develop my skills.
Shawn: I also understand these conditions.
Megan: Your more than welcome. What would you like to share Stan?
Shawn: My Brain injury, and how it has affected me and my dreams. (He cried and paused )
Megan: Could you tell me what’s going on after your brain injury?
Shawn: I’m frustrated that I forget a lot of things and I can’t do a lot of things by myself without my family’s help.
Megan: Frustrated? …… Go on
Shawn: Well the basic things I do every day I need help, dressing, preparing my meals, tying my shoes, showering. I try to remember on how to do these things but (he pauses) without the cues it can be very hard for me. My family is very helpful but I am angry.
Megan: I sense your frustration and your anger? (Shawn broke down)
Shawn: (He wipes his tears) I remember I was running down the hall to get to the field and was so excited about the game. My fellow players and I were ready to win the game. As I was heading toward my coach I told him I was not feeling good. I was angry that I was not feeling good that day. I had just took a seat and had a drink of water. My friends and I were going over the plays. We then started to run on the field and then I then felt woozy. My family then has to remind on the events that happened because I can’t recall. Megan: As I hear it, Stan it sounded as though you were angry about what had taken place.
Shawn: It made me really angry that I had an injury. But at the same time I am happy to be alive
Megan: Could you give me any more information on your injury?
Shawn: I have been told that I collapsed on the football field and my coach ran to my aid he was a E.M.T. He gave me C.P.R, my eyes had started to dilate. My mother told me my life was almost going to end. When she told me this I asked her what was going thru her mind. The doctors told my family I had a cyst in my brain and it ruptured. The coaches called 9-1-1 and they were going to send a helicopter to fly me over but they were all in use so an ambulance came to my high school and pick me up and drove me from Rancho Cucamonga High School to Arrowhead Regional Center in Colton, Ca. All my coaches came to the hospital and my parents and my siblings came. Except my other sister was in the military the hospital contacted red cross and she was there the next day. My mom didn’t tell my grandmother because she felts that I wasn’t going to make it thru the night. The doctor operated on me for over 8 hours and finally called my parents and my sister in to come and see me and give me an update on my status. My mother said “ she was crying”, my dad was in shock. The doctor advised my parents to call the priest to give me my last rites. (Client states he needs a break).
Megan: When recovering from your traumatic brain injury was your family their to support you?
Shawn: I am truly blessed to have great parents and siblings. My mother has just graduated from college and offered a good job put she turned it down. My Dad’s company gave him the time off to look after me. My siblings were there. But one left home because she couldn’t deal with the situation of what had happened to me. Most families put their loves ones in homes and pay people to take care of them. In my culture we are family oriented we take care of our loved ones no matter what the situation is. I lived in a transitional living facility for people who had T.B.I. My family spent nights at the center and was their everyday during my recovery. I saw a lot of people in my facility who never got visits and a lot of them gave up on life. I stayed positive to keep myself going.
Megan: I see that you are a very positive and a fighter. Can you give me some examples of what steps you take to keep going?
Shawn: My family joined a support group and we went to church, and I got support from the whole community. I went to seminars with my parents. I got a letters and words of encouragement from the community and the media. That’s what kept me going. I am so happy to be alive. My sisters even took jobs abroad to help me pay for my insurance so that I could get therapy. I set goals for myself daily completing these make me happy. Learning to wake up on time, setting out my clothes, and making my breakfast daily. These little things we take for granted but I am happy I can get up and do them daily. With the exception of tying my shoes my sister does it daily for me.
Megan: I sense your desire that when you set goals you go after them. I am proud that you take the time to set your goals. This shows that you are dedicated.
Shawn: Yes I am truly dedicated, I am grateful one day I want to be a motivational speaker to help others who have TBI. (He tells me he is tired and has a headache).
Megan: Would you like to talk more about this the next time we meet. Maybe you can look into what it takes to be a motivational speaker and what steps you can take to get there. By you continuing coming to the sessions you will feel more comfortable. Keep setting goals for yourself. Stan take care and I’ll see you next week.

Self Critique: My comfort level was ok, I was little nervous when counseling the client. I took breaks with the client because he had a brain injury. He felt overwhelmed about not using the correct words when he was telling me his story but I understood what he was saying. After a while when we were talking it was flowing and my anxiety went away. I feel that if the client feels that we are nervous they will not be comfortable at all. My comfort level was better as we were moving thru the process of the role play. Buiding a rapport with your client is very essential. Overall my strengths when working with the client was that I was able to understand what he was going thru. Self disclosure was very important he spoke about TBI I had an understanding due to my brothers injury. My family and I went thru some of these same issues. My weakness was that I cried because it was so emotionally for me because it happened to my brother. The client broke down and I cried on our break. It hit close to home and brought back a lot of the feeling I was feeling when t happened to my brother. I felt that my strength also was that I knew information about TBI and the client was very impressed that I knew about the subject and was very well informed. The first thing that I would address is that using a variety of questions and listening skills will help draw out the client so being creative can help with your client. The second thing is to be able to adjust when working with a client because not all sessions will follow in a particular order we need to be flexible and prepared for anything. The third thing is to have an open mind when it comes to dealing with other cultures and to be informed of what techniques you can use in your sessions.