Giving the Client Power…

A little birdie told me about a clinician working with a young male adolescent. She described awkward silent sessions and feeling that clinician dread of “stuckness”. She explored possible reasons for the silence and landed upon the potential of cultural differences. She bravely approached the subject with the youth, whom returned with a shocker of a story. He was being inappropriately harassed by his school counselor. The clinician sleuthed and discovered she resembled this perpetrator – ah ha!! Everything made sense. After speaking with the boy’s mother and the other things she needed and should do, she wondered if she was the best fit – do no harm – running through this wonderful brain of hers. She gave the boy a choice – imagine that – a young boy has given a choice, the power of it all. He chose her. She provided a corrective experience for this boy. And that, my friends, is what a birdie told me…