Termination
Gotta pen this down before the intensity of the emotions dissipates.
I just terminated a client.
I had intended to bring up the topic of termination just so that I could ease him into the process of cutting off our counseling relationship. I thought I'd at least have 1 more session with him and imagined him having some termination anxiety. How wrong. He was more prepared than me to terminate and was absolutely fine with it. In his words, he said he had wanted to see a counselor because he was going through a crisis. Now that the crisis has stabilised, he shares that he as always been coping and there was no reason why he will not be able to cope now. *Liren smiles a satisfied smile to himself at client's resilience*
It turned out that termination was more of MY issue. I had some anxiety about it because it was, for me, THE case. It was my most complicated case thus far, and I think for me, working with him forced me to think about many issues. And it taught me many things too. Many of the issues we learn about in school was placed before me IN MY FACE. :)
1. People can cope. But they need to come to terms with their past in order to cope with their present. That's the difficult part.
2. Just talking and having someone listen to you non-judgmentally is therapeutic.
3. Church sucks, God rocks. I hope God rocks the sucky church.
4. Life is deep. People can be super deep without counselors and without much education.
5. Reality is reality. Psychological research is academia.
6. Hiding is our greatest skill.
And some other things that I can't mention here cos they are more detailed and I don't want to compromise confidentiality.
I just terminated a client.
I had intended to bring up the topic of termination just so that I could ease him into the process of cutting off our counseling relationship. I thought I'd at least have 1 more session with him and imagined him having some termination anxiety. How wrong. He was more prepared than me to terminate and was absolutely fine with it. In his words, he said he had wanted to see a counselor because he was going through a crisis. Now that the crisis has stabilised, he shares that he as always been coping and there was no reason why he will not be able to cope now. *Liren smiles a satisfied smile to himself at client's resilience*
It turned out that termination was more of MY issue. I had some anxiety about it because it was, for me, THE case. It was my most complicated case thus far, and I think for me, working with him forced me to think about many issues. And it taught me many things too. Many of the issues we learn about in school was placed before me IN MY FACE. :)
1. People can cope. But they need to come to terms with their past in order to cope with their present. That's the difficult part.
2. Just talking and having someone listen to you non-judgmentally is therapeutic.
3. Church sucks, God rocks. I hope God rocks the sucky church.
4. Life is deep. People can be super deep without counselors and without much education.
5. Reality is reality. Psychological research is academia.
6. Hiding is our greatest skill.
And some other things that I can't mention here cos they are more detailed and I don't want to compromise confidentiality.
