Discussion11
1. Provide a brief paraphrasing response to Emmanuel. Make sure to use present-tense.
“Your parents are responsible for ruining your life, because they made the decision to move from Costa Rica to St. Louis, where you have faced challenges like making new friends, going to a new school, and learning a new language."
2. Provide a brief empathy response to Emmanuel. This must be in the form of an “I” statement.
“I hear you saying how angry you feel that your parents have decided to live here instead of Costa Rica, and that their decision to live here has had a negative impact on your relationship with them.”
3. Provide a brief confrontational response to Emmanuel. Consult slide 8 in the power point for help.
“So on the one hand, you used to be close with your parents, but now since they have made the decision to move your family here, you feel like you hate them.”
The Client Change Scale (CCS) is a method for evaluating whether the counselor’s employment of empathic confrontation has led to a change in how clients think and feel about their situation (Ivey, Ivey, & Zalaquett, 2018). How effective the confrontation is can be measured by how the client responds (Ivey, Ivey, & Zalaquett, 2018). The CCS is separated into five levels: 1. Denial (the client denies or doesn’t recognize incongruity); 2. Partial examination (the client discusses part, but not all of the incongruity); 3. Acceptance and recognition but no change (the client embraces the entirety of the incongruity, but does not concede to change); 4. Decides to live with incongruity (the client discusses and is completely aware of the impact of their decision not to act); and 5. Transcendence (the client acknowledges the incongruity and alters choices) (Ivey, Ivey, & Zalaquett, 2018).
In working with Emmanuel, I might begin by asking him to tell me more about his relationship with his parents before they moved, and what ways they were close before and why. Before that I might start by first asking more general questions about life in Costa Rica, and would include questions about family relationships and personalities, so it wasn’t obvious that I was trying to get him to look at the reality of who his parents are and that he could have a positive relationship with them again, even if they continue to live here. Then I would utilize my confrontation response: “So on the one hand, you used to be close with your parents, but now since they have made the decision to move your family here, you feel like you hate them.” Depending on if and to what degree Emmanuel acknowledged that his parents are good people and it is possible to enjoy a relationship with them, even though he’s unhappy with the choice that they made, I would know where he fell on the CCS.
Reference
Ivey, A. E., Ivey, M. B, & Zalaquett, C. P. (2018). Intentional Interviewing and Counseling: Facilitating Client Development in a Multicultural Society. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.