Five concepts, including empathy, witnessing, respect, the stages of grief, and one’s relationships with grief, permeate counseling suffering clients. Empathy is a basic ability all counselors should have, so I would frequently ask myself whether my skills in communicating it are sufficient (Neff & McMinn, 2020). Next, the concept of witnessing would give rise to questions regarding my ability to witness the patient’s struggles without any disrespectful or evaluative responses (Neff & McMinn, 2020). Similarly, I would analyze if my practices, methods, and activities explore and consider clients’ unique relationships with grief instead of mirroring my coping strategies. The ACA Code of Ethics that I would emphasize requires counselors to avoid imposing any values on clients, and these guidelines give rise to the concept of respect (Kaplan et al., 2017). In an associated self-assessment, I would ask myself whether I communicate respect for another person’s unique ways of grieving and overcoming pain. Emphasizing guidelines regarding practicing within one’s boundaries of competence, I would apply the stages of grief (Neff & McMinn, 2020). Particularly, I would test my ability to instrumentalize this theory when counseling grieving patients but without setting expectations.
My response to the client would focus on ethical standards while also incorporating the key Christian values. Counselors’ self-awareness is emphasized in the ACA Code of Ethics and requires professional counselors to remain aware of their weaknesses and their role’s limits (Evans et al., 2021). In Job 34:6, Job accepts his suffering as a fact while realizing that he did nothing to deserve it (New Living Translation Bible, 1996/2021). Indeed, blaming oneself for tragedies is not conducive to psychological well-being and recovery, and lament should involve giving a voice to one’s deep feelings (Neff & McMinn, 2020). Considering these principles, I would inform the client that my role is to help them to go through pain without destructive self-accusation and attempts to suppress their actual emotions. I would explain that I am not capable of providing a simple solution to remove pain instantly. Finally, to improve the client’s understanding of pain, I would do my best to explain that their ongoing pain is part of healing that cannot be skipped.
References
Evans, C., Brown, D., & Davis, J. (2021). Professional counseling from a Christian worldview. Journal of Spirituality in Mental Health, 1-18.
Kaplan, D. M., Francis, P. C., Hermann, M. A., Baca, J. V., Goodnough, G. E., Hodges, S., Spurgeon, S. L., & Wade, M. E. (2017). New concepts in the 2014 ACA Code of Ethics. Journal of Counseling & Development, 95(1), 110-120.
Neff, M. A., & McMinn, M. R. (2020). Embodying integration: A fresh look at Christianity in the therapy room. Christian Association for Psychological Studies.
New Living Translation Bible. (2021). Bible Study Tools.