M2 A2Your Current Counseling Abilities
©2009 Argosy University | Counseling Skills I | Practice Session Scenarios 1
Scenarios for Practice Sessions The athlete needs to present information that covers behavior, emotion, sensory (such as pain, tension, dizziness, nausea, butterflies in her stomach, etc.), imagery (self‐image, image of self as an athlete, dreams, daydreams, etc.), dysfunctional cognitions that need to be addressed, interpersonal problems (with family, with coach, teammates, etc.), and physiological problems (autonomic nervous system arousal, injury that interferes with her sport performance, medications, diet, health, sleep etc. ). We need enough history from the athlete to be able to do a CT case conceptualization as well. Male scenario: You are a male freshman football player, at a small university, recruited out of high school and on full scholarship. Years ago your grandfather, now deceased, an alumnus of the university, was a winning quarterback for the university and it seems that everyone – the coach, your family, your faculty – is expecting you to meet or exceed his record. You are presently third string quarterback, being a freshman, and you are ready to show your abilities, but the prospect of living up to the mythical stature of your grandfather is daunting. At the same time, while you did well academically in high school, you are struggling for “C” grades at the university, and you must maintain a “C” average to be able to play. Not yet even having been played in the fall season, you feel that you’re fighting to stay alive both on the team and as a student. It’s not the roar of the crowd that you enjoyed in high school. As if these circumstances aren’t bad enough, you’ve started going out drinking at night with some older students and violating your team’s ethics code, not to mention the law against underage drinking. You know this is wrong, but you can’t seem to stop doing it. Now your girlfriend is on your case, and she says she’ll break up with you if you don’t go for some counseling and deal with these stresses. The idea of going to counseling is taboo for you. You know that the guys on the team would consider you weak, and even your family would not approve of your talking with someone about your problems. Nonetheless, you make an appointment with the counseling service on campus. Out in the waiting room, you’re afraid that someone will recognize you, and you are in high stress mode by the time your counselor calls you into the office. Your stomach is upset, and your heart is beating wildly, yet you try to look calm and in control.
©2009 Argosy University | Counseling Skills I | Practice Session Scenarios 2
Female scenario: While you have always liked to play sports, you surprised yourself when you moved away from team sports in college and got interested in marathon running. Finding that you had the inner motivation that would get you up and out in the worst kind of weather to train for your sport made you proud of yourself, and you found you could apply the same discipline to other areas of your life, as well. Currently you’re training for the New York Marathon. Even though this will be your first marathon on a national level, you are setting your sights on winning. Most of the time, you’ve been training on suburban and rural roads since you live in the country, and you know that at some point you’ll need to start training in the city to get the lay of the land so that you have the best chance of success. Your motivation couldn’t be higher, but figuring out how you can take time off work to go to New York City a month in advance of the event to train has been stressing you out. You may lose your job, which you need to support yourself, and you will need a good amount of money while you’re in New York to pay for your expenses while you’re there. You’re an inwardly motivated person, and you balk at the idea of asking others – family, friends, and colleagues – for their financial support. Yet you know that this is something you’ll have to do until you win notice on a national scale and can get corporate sponsorship. You prefer to rely on yourself, but can’t deny that you need help. Worrying about these issues has begun to affect your performance, and your motivation has started slipping. You are avoiding doing what you need to do, and you’re going off your training – eating badly, staying up too late watching TV, and even fighting with your boyfriend. You see an article in a sport magazine about the value of talking to a professional when you start sabotaging yourself. An objective look at the situation might help you work through your problems, you think. You recall someone you met briefly at a 10K race who was a sport psychologist, and you make an appointment. You are anxious, yet hopeful, that reaching out for help will get you moving again and help you through your reluctance to seek much‐needed support for your trip expenses and reign in your self‐defeating behaviors.