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Question description
During this week, you will become familiar with multiple factors that can contribute to the success or failure of a therapeutic encounter. Researchers pointed out that a therapists ability to apply a specific therapeutic model successfully usually accounts for only about 8 to 15 percent of a successful outcome, while a therapists ability to establish a meaningful connection with a client, will account for as much as 30 percent. Therefore, it is important to examine and apply in practice diverse factors that contribute to the development of a successful therapeutic alliance between a client and a therapist. Among many other factors, taking into consideration the diversity of our backgrounds and experiences and building our connections while accounting for the concept of diversity constitute important steps towards success. In addition, become aware of our own perceptions, belief systems, and general way of being is an important aspect of our continuous professional development as Marriage and Family Therapist. This week, you will complete your Signature Assignment, which will constitute the first step in this developmental process, which will continue throughout the program.
Be sure to carefully review this weeks resources. You will be expected to apply the information from these resources when you prepare your assignments.
This assignment invites you to engage in self-examination, which will help you to become more aware of the unique features of your experiences, beliefs, and values. Everything we see is filtered through our personal frame of reference and our very presence changes the context. Therefore, we do not discover behavior, we create it (Becvar & Becvar, 1999, p. 36). This means that we can never achieve a completely neutral stance; we can never divorce ourselves from our own biases, assumptions, and beliefs. What we can do is to take responsibility for our assumptions, biases and beliefs and recognize them as such. This process requires recurrent self-examination and self-reflection.
Part I (Adopted from Johnny Saldana): Self-examination
Divide an empty sheet of paper into three parts. On the top of the paper, please write: This is where I am today, in the middle This is how I got here, and towards the bottom This is where I would like to be. Then take a few moments and write a short paragraph to describe each statement in the framework of your professional aspiration to become a successful and culturally competent Marriage and Family Therapist.
Part II: Self-observation
Choose a public location where you can easily observe people without necessarily being noticed. Take 15 minutes to observe several people that you notice in the crowd. You can choose to take notes pertaining to the type of people that you are noticing, your reactions towards these people, and your thoughts while completing this assignment. After completing the assignment, write a 2-3 page paper summarizing your experience pertaining to these three categories (people description, your reactions [physical and emotional], your thoughts in the process of completing the assignment).
