Mental Health Counseling Capstone Components



Mental Health Counseling Capstone Project

Components of an Excellent Capstone

1) Transcription of one complete counseling session (30-45 minutes) and accompanying videotape. The videotape MUST include both you and your client but can focus on your face.

2) Annotations to the transcript that describe your thinking and feelings through this session, illuminating you were trying to accomplish in different sections of the session, explaining what you think the client was thinking of feeling at crucial moments, and identifying moments where you think you may have made a mistake or didn’t live up to your own hopes or goals for the session. This section shows us that the student can be self-reflective about his or her work.

3) Signed consent form for taping. (You as the intern will keep a record of the consent in client’s file at your internship site. Do not place a copy in the materials submitted).

4) A complete psychological assessment/ case study which may include the following subsections (some of them may not apply to your client) If you do not have enough information for some of the more important sections, explain why:

• BEGIN WITH a description of the client and presenting concerns/issues/problems

• Family and developmental history

• Current living arrangements

• Psychosocial history (history of relationships other than family relationships, for example, early friendships, romantic relationships, work relationships0

• Educational history

• Vocational history

• Sexual/sexuality history if relevant

• Medical history

• Substance abuse history

• Legal history

• Psychiatric history of client and his/her family and mental status examination

• Diagnostic formulation using DSM categories

• Justification of diagnostic formulation and critique of these with regard to how they fit or may not fit with this client’s individual history; as well as a consideration of what repercussions there may be for the client (positive and negative) if given this diagnosis

5) Three clinical hypotheses using three theories (personality or counseling) to explain the clinical status of the client ant the etiology of any current disorder or life stress situation. . For example, you may use a counseling theory such as Rogerian theory to explain what lead to a client’s current state of mind or situation, or you may use a personality theory such as Object Relations to explain how the familial and relationship history of the person has led to his or her current situation. Students should briefly (in a page or two) describe the theory and make connections between the theory and the client’s current state of mind or life situation.

For example, if a student were to use Rogerian theory, the student would need to talk about unconditional positive regard, empathic understanding, and genuineness as essential components in the development of self-worth. The student could then discuss family background in relation to these components. Or, if a student were to use Kleinian Object Relations theory, the student would discuss projective identification, the process in infancy where an infant moves through several stages, from schizoid through splitting through the depressive position in relation to love objects, and also discuss aggressive feelings, guilt, and reparation as they are enacted in later relationships. Here is a list of possible theories to use. Try to avoid using theories that are simple “how to do therapy theories” to explain a person. (E.g. while “motivational interviewing is a wonderful style and evidence-based strategy, it may not have enough personality theory to explain your client.) You are better off looking for theorists who have developed theoretical models about persons as well as change: psychoanalytic (Freudian, Interpersonal, Object Relations), Person-centered (Rogerian), Existential (Yalom, May, etc.), Social-Learning (Bandura who is now more cognitive), Behavioral, Cognitive-Behavioral (Beck, Seligman, etc.), Medical Model (brain-based theories like van der Kolk’s theory of PTSD and brain transformation, or genetic theories), These are big theories. Feel free to also look at more specific theories such as Winnicott’s theory of object relations, Eastern views of the person and development, theories of stress and coping, or theories specific to abuse and neglect, like Judith Herman’s trauma theory. There are also sociological theories that may help in terms of understanding the effects of homelessness on the psyche. This is not an exhaustive list. Check out the theories you use with your internship instructor. This section should connect to the transcript given in that examples from that one session can be used to illuminate theoretical explanations. Please use original sources. Do not depend on textbooks or overall descriptions of theory in secondary teaching sources. Use these books (e.g. Corey books), to help you decide which theories to delve into.

6) Apply developmental theory and research to the life stages of the client; discuss how development and context such as urban environment, race, gender, sexuality, and ability influenced the development of this client and his/her current problems. Draw from developmental theories such as attachment theory, theories of temperament, theories of cognitive development, Steinberg’s theory on the adolescent brain, theories about friendship, theories about gender, about racial identity development, about parenting styles and their effects on children, about adolescence, moral development and emerging adulthood, about early adulthood and work experiences, and about the aging process. This section should indicate how this person fits with “normative” developmental movement and how the intersection of race, sexuality, gender, ability, ethnicity, and environment (as well as his or her clinical issues) have had an influence or impact on development. Please don’t go through Eriksonian stages unless you’ve done further research into Developmental Psychology research that has been done since these have been published.

7) CLINICAL FORMULATION: BEFORE MOVING ON TO TREATMENT, YOU WILL NEED A SECTION THAT SUMMARIZES WHAT YOU KNOW ABOUT THE CLIENT THUS FAR, YOUR CONCLUSIONS, YOUR SUMMARY, BASED ON ALL THE INFORMATION ABOVE.

8).Treatment Plan:

• Definition of the problem

• Description of behavioral manifestations of the problem

• Descriptions of reinforcers of the problem

• Barriers to reaching objectives

• Main and subsidiary goals of treatment

• Interventions needed (be specific and give a timeframe for when these might be enacted in therapy and how you as a counselor would be able to measure if they were effective)

• Identify other persons who will help client with the interventions

• Discuss the timeframe for these interventions before some other strategy will be used (even if the “intervention” is simply “listening”)

• Weekly evaluation of treatment plan, if applicable

9). Applying the ACA ethical code, describe ethical conduct of the counselor in relation to this particular client using citations from the professional literature and illustrating moments in which ethical dilemmas have arisen or could arise. Please don’t use broad theories such as “virtue ethics” or “utilitarian ethics”. Use the ethical code, speak to specific issues that arose in counseling this particular client.

10) The relationship: Countertransference and Transference

The student should describe and discuss the relationship she or he has with the client and how that has developed and changed over time. The student should show the capacity for self-reflection with regard to how her or his own history and reactions intersect with the client’s and how he or she has worked with this in terms of countertransference issues that may have arisen. Describe several times in the therapeutic relationship where the intersection of one’s own history and/or feelings in relation to the client has possibly affected the therapeutic relationship or could have affected the process during that session. Describe how those feelings and reactions were dealt with in supervision or in the following sessions. The student should also write about the client’s feelings towards him or her and how those transference reactions may have promoted feelings and/or reactions in the student. How has the client’s relationship history been re-enacted in the current therapeutic relationship and how will that help or interfere with healing? This section can and should incorporate moments from the transcript described in 1) above.

11) The Capstone should end with a reflection with regard to what mysteries and unanswered questions still exist with this case. These mysteries can stem from the literature (what we still don’t know, for example, about schizophrenia and marijuana use), or from the student’s own ponderings with regard to an ongoing relationship with the client.

WRITING STYLE:

The Capstone should follow APA style and include a reference list. There should be a minimum of 15 empirical articles, chapter, and book references combining both readings from CSP courses as well as additional readings. Websites may be used as additional sources and would not count toward these 15 references.

The capstone should be your own work, but you can ask fellow students in your internship class for feedback and editing help. Please don’t get outside help for this Capstone project outside of your course or internship because the material in it is confidential.

An example of a completed capstone will be posted by your internship professor on Blackboard. Please do not consider this sample to be flawless as the program constantly revises the criteria for this project. Do not use the example as a template. You will be asked to revise any section that uses the same framework as the model. The Capstone will be discussed in your weekly internship seminars several times and your questions will be answered in class, during office hours or through email.

All the best!

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