Reflection of Meaning: What does it mean to you?

"We need to give clients power and control of the session whenever possible. They can often generation new interpretations/reframes and new ways of thinking about their issues."

-Ivey, Ivey, and Zalquett

To reiterate a statement from a previous post, I can feel the skills culminating, working our way up the skills pyramid. As these skills compile, I feel a little overwhelmed and anxious. Like, how am I going to remember all of these in one interview? I feel that this chapter somewhat alleviated that anxiety with the focus on meaning. The chapter reinforced that my role as the counselor is not just have all of the answers, or problem solve, or come to a conclusion through a rigid checklist. My purpose is guide the client through a journey to find their own answers and draw upon their own strengths to conclusions.

Reflection of meaning seems just an extension of reflection in feeling with just different key words that focus on purpose or vision, so that skill should come naturally. While reading the comparisons on pages 204-205, I kept thinking, "Wow, I would never say that." Perhaps that is simply comfort level as a beginning counselor or some of the answers may not be congruent with my personal theory. I can see my self reframing, as the book describes it as a gentler construct and I resonate more with the person-centered approach. However, linking, though it seems an important skill should wait for experience because it is a bold to link statements together because they could create a misunderstanding and rapport or relationship could be destroyed with a new client.

I particularly liked the section on resilience, purpose and meaning. The idea of teaching these concepts through exercises to avoid childhood depression and even to prevent adulthood depression was an idea that I feel like I would use regularly. This method would seem to be effective not only for developing minds who have difficulty with those kind of cognitive abilities, but also as an alternative for the interview where the counselor asks questions like "What does that mean to you?" in a repetitive fashion.

Multicultural issues in reflection and meaning was a great reminder to be aware that we as counselors should not make assumptions about anyone and the meaning that they attach to a particular context. I like the quote..."Individuals do not make meaning by themselves, they make meaning in a multicultural context." We must always be aware of the family, community, neighborhood and keeping the community genogram present to use as a visual and reference tool may be a helpful reminder.