Respond to two of your colleagues' postings in one or more of the following ways:

• Ask a probing question.
• Share an insight from having read your colleague's posting.
• Offer and support an opinion.
• Make a suggestion.
• Expand on your colleague's posting.

Colleague 1:

Post a brief explanation of one challenge you may encounter if you attempted to integrate the theory you selected with your main theoretical orientation in your future professional practice. Then, explain how you might mitigate this challenge.

Solution-focused therapy was the theory I chose. Instead of concentrating on the issue at hand, solution-focused practice aims to assist individuals in constructing the desired future and understanding how to use their current knowledge, abilities, and concepts in new and creative ways (Solution-focused Practice Toolkit | NSPCC Learning, n.d.). Solution-focused brief therapy is a strengths-based approach to working with children and families. It focuses on admirable qualities and actions and how to use them to get beyond obstacles. Some people prefer to talk about the adverse events in their lives, which could be one of my obstacles. Instead of focusing on the past, solution-centered thinking encourages you to focus on the future by urging you to concentrate on your abilities rather than your limitations. Many people would prefer to start from where they are right now rather than dwell on the past, but I am aware that if I had a client who would choose to focus on the past, I will need to adjust the theory I am applying because it will not work well for such a client. Setting goals is one way to overcome this difficulty. I would tell the client we must not dwell on the past to move forward. I would ask the client what aspect of their life they want to change. We will discuss how to show improvements once they have informed me of what they want to work on. I would ask clients to concentrate only on the things they wish to changenot whywhich is what I would do if the client worried about the why. Instead of focusing on the future, they will reflect on the wrong things of the past.

Reference

Solution-focused practice toolkit | NSPCC Learning. (n.d.). NSPCC Learning. https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/research-resources/2015/solution-focused-practice-toolkit/#:~:text=Solution%2Dfocused%20practice%20concentrates%20on,than%20focusing%20on%20the%20problem.

Colleague 2:

Posta brief explanation of one challenge you may encounter if you attempted to integrate the theory you selected with your main theoretical orientation in your future professional practice.

Narrative Couple Therapy focuses on changing a person's narrative so they can have a new identity, new opportunities for relationships and a different future (Gurman et al., 2017). Couples going through turmoil in their relationships and debating divorce rarely seek professional help. It takes an average of six years before couples are ready to participate in couples counseling (Gurman et al., 2017). A challenge I may encounter using Narrative Couple Therapy with my personal theory of self-awareness when working with couples is getting them to understand the meaning of their partners stories from the perspective of their partner while not trying to find chief complaints or reading between the lines (Gutierrez et al., 2017). These couples have many issues in their relationship and taking accountability for one's own actions and their part in their partner's narrative can be challenging.

Then, explain how you might mitigate this challenge.

A way to mitigate couples not listening to their partners stories or not being responsive to their partners intended meaning in their story is using the telling and witnessing technique. This technique requires a person to talk about their story while their partner is actively listening. The partner who was listening explains what they heard and understood. Then the person who told their story gets a chance to respond to their partner about what they said. The idea of this technique is to have couples witness their partners story and learn something new (Gutierrez et al., 2017).

Gurman, A. S.,Lebow, J. L.,Snyder, D. K. (2015).Clinical handbook of couple therapy. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.

Gutierrez, D., Carlson, R. G., Daire, A. P., & Young, M. E. (2017).Evaluating treatment outcomes using the integrative model of brief couples counseling: A pilot study. Family Journal,25(1), 5-12.