Dialectical Behavior Therapy

As the world of mental health counselling continues to evolve, it has adopted a model of prevention from the health care professions. There have been numerous approaches which mentioned primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention. These preventions were established to improve development, promote crisis resistance, and limit crisis reactions. Primary prevention targets individuals who are at dangerously high risk for developing a disorder. These disorders can founded on biological, social, or psychological risk factors or issues.

Throughout my life, I have always had an interest in mental health and helping others who are struggling with a mental illness. As a sophomore in high school, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to attend a course provided by the organization teen Mental Health First Aid (tMHFA) which culminated with my certification in teen mental health aid. After this training, I have been able to support and

Section 1: Professional Development Plan For most of my life I have been motivated to help people so when I made the decision to continue my education at Walden University, I knew that I was ready for the journey. I am currently seeking a master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and I am expected to graduate in the winter of 2025. This paper was written on June 30th, 2023, with the intent of further understanding my motivations for seeking this degree as well as visualizing the type of counselor I want to be in the future. Throughout this paper, I also discuss what is expected of me throughout my degree program, counseling career, and overall professional development.

The text book, The Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy by Irvin D. Yalom with Molyn Leszcz begins with the preface of the fifth edition. In the preface, Irvin D. Yalom introduced Molyn Leszcz as his collaborator and how they met at Stanford University in 1980. He then discussed how they both worked hard collaboratively to combine old and new material to make this edition. Their goals for this edition were to prepare student therapists for the present-day workplace and to keep the current methods from decaying, so that students can gather wisdom and techniques of the field when they get the opportunity to utilize those methods as therapists. Yalom briefly talked about what each chapter in the text would discuss.

Richard Juman, I was genuinely surprised to learn that gambling addiction was the addictive behavior associated with the highest rate of suicide. For quite some time I had mistakenly believed that the negative physical impact caused by substance abuse and eating disorders were correlated with the poorest clinical outcomes. Although I did know that people in treatment are at increased risk of experiencing suicidal ideation, hearing this information reiterated remains disarming. When someone finally enters treatment, friends and family are often inclined to let down their guard, embrace a new sense of optimism, and redirect attention to other areas of their lives that they have neglected during the period of crisis. It is integral that as members of a treatment team, we remind significant people in the client’s life that the journey to recovery has just begun and that their love and support remain a critical component of the

I was fortunate enough to receive professional help and support from a counselor who helped me cope with my emotions, develop coping skills, and regain my confidence and self-esteem. Through this process, I realized the importance and value of mental health counseling and how it can make a positive difference in people’s lives. I decided to pursue a bachelor’s degree in psychology from XYZ University, where I learned about the theoretical and empirical foundations of human behavior, cognition, emotion, and personality. I also gained practical skills in conducting research, analyzing data, and writing reports. I participated in several extracurricular activities that enhanced my interpersonal and communication skills, such as volunteering at a local mental health center, joining the peer counseling club, and attending workshops and seminars on various topics related to mental

Keiski acknowledges that, “Individual therapy with a psychologist or psychiatrist is probably the most common form of treatment for people suffering from any sort of depression or need help through a crisis.” (95). In most cases, suicide is a result of how lonely the victim may feel since they may not fully receive the love and care they deserve. Hence, it is important that professional caretakers reach out to them since they may feel too embarrassed of their negative thoughts. Directly connecting to this idea, most times family members and friends are not too sure about how to address this with the victim since they do not really know how to help.

Functioning may be improved above and beyond this by developing new coping skills and eliminating ineffective ways of coping, such as withdrawal, separation, and substance abuse. In this way, the client is better outfitted to adapt to future challenges. Through discussing about what happened, and the feelings about what happened, while developing ways to cope and solve problems, crisis intervention aims to assist the client in recuperating from the crisis and to prevent serious long-term problems from developing. Research documents positive outcomes for crisis intervention, such as diminished pain and enhanced critical thinking.

Since stress plays a big role in triggering binges and maintaining BED, this type of psychotherapy focuses on learning behavioral skills that help them tolerate stress, and improve one’s emotions as well as relationships with others (Wiser & Telch, 1999). Targeting all of these aspects reduces the individual’s urge to binge. DBT for eating disorders is composed of three treatment components, including mindfulness skills, distress tolerance, and emotion regulation (Wiser & Telch, 1999). Each of these targets a different aspect in the overall emotion regulation. For example, mindfulness teaches the individual to be in control of their mind.

Michael Hoober Michael Hoober is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), who owns a private practice in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Before he was self-employed, he counseled sex offenders at a local agency. For his undergraduate, he achieved a bachelor’s degree in psychology. After completing his bachelor’s degree, he gained a masters of art in psychology and a masters in philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania.

Living with any form of mental illness is never an easy task for one person to deal with alone. My main reason for applying to this course is to attain the knowledge, skill set, and credentials to be able to start and maintain a fulfilling career as mental health professional, specifically a school counselor. My primary interest in counseling started with my own journey as a teenager with depression and finding out that many of my friends at the time were also suffering from stress and overwhelming mental health conditions that we did not fully understand at the time. This experience was the catalyst that encouraged me to pursue a career in the mental health field so that I could better understand the emotional and psychological conflict that

Like other professions in the mental health field and helping professions, counseling typically attracts those who are imbued with a need to help others, to make a difference in others’ lives, the community around them and sometimes even the world. There are many facets to a counselor and to counseling, some of which take on personal attributes such as personality, the values and beliefs held by counselors, and what they perceive their role in the counseling profession to be. Other facets involve ethical considerations in therapy, the importance of the profession, the value and process of change, important counseling practices and the value of necessary self-care a counselor ought to engage in. The role of a counselor is to act as a conduit to change and wellbeing in a client.

Chapter One: Irvin Yalom & his Existential model of therapy 1.1 Biographical Background Irvin D.Yalom psychiatrist, psychotherapist and bibliotherapist and a major influence in Jewish existentialism, was born in Washington D.C in 1931, the only child of Jewish parents, who left Russia shortly after World War I. His parents were not well educated and worked long hours in their grocery store, to survive financially. Their neighbourhood was poor and unsafe and so Yalom sought solace in books. His relationship was his father was close, “And Sunday mornings were mellow times, etched clearly in my mind. Usually I played chess with my father" (Yalom, 2001, p. 303) but his relationship with his mother was ambivalent, "never, not once, do I remember

A crisis is a stressor which can happen to anyone at any period of time. When an individual is faced with a situation and does not know how to handle, a crisis arises. Personal difficulties and experiences which are intolerable are some examples individuals faced in a crisis. This form of difficulty often exceeds an individual coping mechanism which can imposed danger in an individual. My client, Ms Linda is a supervisor at a prestigious hospital for over ten years.

An emphasis is placed on the importance of identifying warning signs and risk factors for depression and suicide amongst teens. According to the research conducted by King and Vidourek (2012) early detection and suicidal warning signs is seen to be crucial for effective intervention. Teenagers need to be encouraged to be more proactive when it comes to their personal mental health. Positive coping mechanisms such as problem-solving skills, effective communication skills, and good conflict resolution skills are all essential in lessening the likelihood that a teen exhibiting depressive behaviors will go forth and take their own life. As most teenagers spend most of their time in school, better prevention and intervention programs need to be in place.