You will work with two partners to role-play a couple’s therapy session, using the model you have chosen for your course project. Create a hypothetical case study as a counselor or therapist working with new clients (you must use a couple), and role-play, applying the model or approach you have chosen for your course project. You can use a couple from a well-known movie, TV show, or novel, but do not use your own relationship. A description of the case, a transcription of your questions and responses as the clinician, and a self-reflection paper analyzing the interview are due as one assignment in Unit 5.
Assemble into groups of three (assigned by the instructor), in which you will take turns playing the counselor or therapist and clients. Before the group meeting, you should collaborate with your team to agree on a movie, TV show, or novel you are all familiar with that features a couple on whom you can role-play and base the case study.
Conduct the interview using Adobe Connect. Each segment of the role-play—with one learner playing the counselor or therapist—should be at least 15 minutes long and should not exceed 20 minutes. This will allow the exercise to be conducted in roughly one hour for all involved. Allow time before and after to work out technical difficulties, introduce yourselves, and share any feedback or processing you want after each interview is complete. The role-play should proceed as if it were a single session with the same couple, even though you will rotate through the roles of clients and counselor or therapist. The role-play should be recorded and the recording made available to all team members afterward. Once each team member is done with their transcription, the recording must be deleted for confidentiality purposes.
You will use the role-play to practice assessments and interventions consistent with your chosen model. It would be worthwhile, before your group meeting, to develop a list of questions or interventions that may be both model-specific and related to the Glossary of Foundational Clinical Skills. If you are not the first therapist, you will need to track what has already been said and done in the role-play and adapt your questions accordingly. You will also practice microskills that pertain to your general skills as a counselor/therapist when you assume the role of the counselor/therapist.
For this assignment, you will hand in your case study, a transcription of the part of the role-play when you were the counselor or therapist, and a short reflection paper. These may be handed in as separate attachments in the assignment area or as one single document.
In the case study, include information such as:
•Description of the individuals involved.
•Demographics including, but not limited to, gender, age, socioeconomic status, cultural background, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, religious identity, or immigration and migration status.
•Description of the current couple relationship and, if appropriate to your model, its history.
•Current life situation of the family.
•Various perspectives on the presenting issues and problems.
•Transitions that the couple are undergoing or anticipating.
•Potential ethical issues arising in this case and a plan for managing them.
Note: Keep in mind that what you focus on in your case study and the language you choose to describe your clients will be contingent on the therapy model you have selected to apply. You should relate your case study to concepts from your model.
In the next portion of the assignment, you will listen to your role-play recording and transcribe your portion of the session as the counselor or therapist, using the transcription form provided in Resources. You only need to transcribe your role as the counselor or therapist. You do not need to transcribe the dialogue of your clients. For each question or response that you transcribe, identify the microskill and then provide rationale for the question and skill that you demonstrated. Use the Glossary of Foundational Clinical Skills to help with this.
•Transcription of therapist’s half of the interview column: Record each question, response, or statement from the interviewer here. Example: “Who usually initiates sex between the two of you?”
•Identify microskill column—essentially; “What I did,” and “What I could have done.” Identify microskills you used in joining with your partner, formulating questions, and assessing as needed.
•Question/skill rationale column: The reason this question was asked. For example, “I was looking to explore how many times they fight.” The reason that you used this skill.
Delete the meeting recording when all team members have done their transcriptions.
Finally, reflect upon your experience of the role-play. Discuss your experience of utilizing your chosen model—What worked well with the chosen model? What did you find difficult with using the model? What would you do differently next time? Discuss how you did at incorporating the therapy microskills from the Glossary of Foundational Clinical Skills, and reflect on what it was like to use the microskills with a couple specifically. Reflect on any ethical issues that this case might present if you were to continue working with them as the therapist, and what some of your options would be for managing the ethical issues appropriately. A good reflection will likely be around two pages in length.
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