Culture Reflection Paper

Reflective paper to assigned readings
Siming Xie, April 22, 2014, Session 13

The Jessica’s story in Narrative Therapy was a good example to read. Traditionally, I always think of narrative therapy being best used by letting people tell their “problem stories”. But after reading this chapter I think it could also be used by helping client transform their “sparkling events” into their stories. When Jessica mentioned her doubt about whether it possible to be healthy, normal, or helpful, the therapist asked her to think about if there were times when she had been healthy, normal, or helpful. I think this was the “turning point” in the counseling because it reminded her the happy time with her grandmother and what her grandmother felt about her. And most importantly, it completely changed how she knew herself. Narrative therapy could be a great technique to help client find their shining points and get to know themselves in new ways. This technique reminds me that most clients are coming with their problem issues and counselors should not only focus on those problems but also help client explore the “sparkling events” of their lives. I also strongly agree with the point that “the people we work with are the privileged authors.” We as future counselors should always remember that it is the client who leads the way because we don’t know where a story will go. The counselor needs to participate actively as a co-author by using different questions to help clients find the direction and explore the true self in their stories.
When I was in undergraduate school, I was been taught that our gender is determined by our chromosomes. However, after reading the chapter 7 of Counseling & Diversity, I realized that the construct of gender means much more than biological sex, and sometimes it may not be related to biological sex at all. Gender affects many walks of life, such as access to resources, methods of coping with stress and styles of interacting with others. When I...