Learning Objectives
Critically evaluate through a biological lens a chosen issue from your own life, or made up, presented in a therapy session.
Describe how the counsellor developed aspects of the primary focus of factors both biologically and psychologically.
Discuss how the counsellor developed the therapeutic relationship.
Synthesize your understanding of the biological and psychological lens: What facilitated, what contributed, and what maintained the issue being presented.
Demonstrate a clear and effective understanding by communicating through a narrative format using APA 7th ed style.
Purpose
The purpose of this assignment is to assist students to comprehend what it is like to be a client presenting their issue and be assessed from the BioPsycho lens within the therapeutic process. It is important for counsellors to understand the aspects of biology and psychology in the therapy session with a client.
Instructions
This assignment is structured to allow you, the student, to be the client. As you become the client, write from a client’s perspective (your own personal experiences), using first person pronoun where applicable, throughout the whole paper, the expectation is for the You to recognize what the experience is like to disclose personal information and the value of what a trained counsellor brings to the experience: understanding the professional counsellor in this assignment will be your reading materials as they inform you of your topic and therapeutic relationship. The assignment is to promote your own understanding of biological and psychological aspects and their impact on you personally.
Structure
Required components: The assignment is to be a five-page paper consisting of a title page, brief introduction (purpose statement of the paper and the client’s brief story and issue presented), page three is one page dedicated to writing the biological factors presented and the counsellor’s building of the therapeutic relationship, the fourth page is one page dedicated to the writing of the psychological factors presented and the counsellor’s building of the therapeutic relationship. One page, or more, of references with a minimum of six references within the past seven years.
Length of Assignment: The text body of paper (i.e., not including references, title page,) should be three double-spaced typed pages, Times New Roman font size: 12 or APA 7th ed).
Format: Please, format your assignment in Word Doc (files with extension .doc or .docx), or Rich Text Format (files with extension .rtf). No PDFs.
References: six minimum within the last seven years.
Imagine that you are the client and will bring forth a topic to apply the weekly readings. The list below may be used to help you select a primary focus. Examples that can be used for this self-analysis project:
Communication
Stress management
Procrastination
Sleep issue
Work-Life Balance
Self-esteem
Family dynamics in the relationship
Anxiety
If you have a topic that is not on this list, then please reach out to your primary instructor for approval.
** Please be mindful not to over-disclose. Do not select anything that personally elicits strong emotional responsiveness, such as addiction, substance abuse, significant grief/loss, or trauma (i.e., violent incidents, abuse, sexual assault, etc). **
See the diagram to explain what is meant by factors!
What did the counsellor identify as biological aspects of the primary focus selected above to you?
How did the counsellor build the therapeutic session for you to disclose and be respected?
Identify at least 3 biological factors, explain what makes them biological factors and link them to the issue you presented.
Identify at least 3 psychological factors, explain what makes them psychological factors and link them to the issue you presented.
How did the counsellor build the therapeutic session for you to disclose and be respected? (minimum of two concepts for each topic).
Support your assessment with literature from your course readings and at least one outside resource.
What do we mean by Biological and Psychological Factors:
Biological — Genetic, hormonal, glands, developmental factors (neurotransmitters), pregnancy impact of chemical or hormones, medication impact on glands, hormones, other neuron activity, toxins and the impact biologically, physical environmental factors in nature that impact us biological, for example pollen.
Psychological — Cognitive, thinking, perception, self-talk, emotion/mood/feelings, behavioural, self-regulation, personality style. Developmental internal constructs from experiences in life (development of beliefs about self and self-talk that shape us). For example, Self-esteem is not a psychological factor, how I think/feel about myself or how I think/feel others perceive me would be the psychological factor. Self-esteem is developed from your internal thoughts/feelings.
Therefore you need:
1 – title page (one page)
2- introduction (second page)
3 – discussion of biological factors, through the biological framework, and how the therapist built the session for you (third page)
4 – discussion of psychological factors, through the psychological framework, and how the therapist built the session for you (fourth page)
5. reference page(s). You may have more than one page of references (fifth, and sixth page)
No conclusion is required for this assignment.
Task: This paper is to apply the two approaches examined so far in this course (biological and psychological) to you personally and your personal life.
Purpose: As a student we want you to gain self-awareness and to reflect in an elaborative manner – and more deeply – about how life domains are influenced by biological and psychological factors.
Objective: This assignment, consistent with Course Outcomes is to offer students the opportunity to think and conceptualize about life experiences multi-theoretically, from a biopsychological framework. To also reflect on what a client (you) would experience in the counselling session.
Factors Explained: What factors facilitate, what factors contribute, what factors maintain, the primary focus or issue.
How to examine each BPS/CRSJ Factor:
The goal is to examine each lens and how these factors produce or maintain the presenting problem in the client’s situation. For example, take the biological perspective, what has biologically facilitated the existence of the presenting problem?
See the visual below of what to avoid (i.e., symptoms have been created as a result of its presence).
What to avoid for Assignments:
Exploring symptoms or consequences that are a result of the presenting problem is more in line with diagnostic assessments. It does not help the counsellor explore BPS/CRJS understanding. Please avoid this thinking or discussion in your assignments.
Use the course readings and one outside source for Biological discussion, and the course readings and one outside source for the Psychological discussion. Be sure the references are within the last seven years. Be sure to use the course materials in your citations.
Course Readings & Materials:
MACP Skills Learning Lab (Yorkville University) ( login details provided in word doc)
Pinel, J. P. J., & Barnes, S. J. (2021). Biopsychology (11th ed.). Pearson. ( for book access look through doc using login and link provided)
Shebib, B. (2022). Choices: Interviewing and counselling skills for Canadians (8th ed.). Pearson Canada. (for book access look through doc using login and link provided)
Slay-Westbrook, S. (2017). Respect-focused therapy: Honoring clients through the therapeutic relationships and process. Routledge. ISBN:9781138906907 https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=sso&db=nlebk&AN=1360445&custid=s7439054 ( login details provided in word doc- this book is prvided free in course library seaarch for it once you login)
Resources
Any sources used to support your written narrative should be cited, in text, using the correct APA format. Although Wikipedia can be a useful starting place to gather very general information no Wikipedia references will be accepted as scholarly citations.
Use the Yorkville University Library and the EBSCO tool for academic search. It is important to select credible sources for assignments. This resource will assist students in determining which sources are credible: https://myyu.ca/ask/credible-source-guide/
Submission Notes
Please do not email your submissions to your professor, either before or after the due date; all coursework should be submitted through the online course (Moodle).
The system will not allow you to resubmit after the due date. In the event of an emergency situation preventing, you from submitting within this time frame, special permission must be obtained from your professor prior to the deadline. Documentation substantiating emergency is required. In such a circumstance, if the extension is granted, the professor will reopen the submission function for you on an individual basis.
Evaluation
The following rubric indicates those areas you should be focusing on in preparing your assignment, and how the professor will weigh these components relative to one another.
Criteria
% of Final Grade
Introduction purpose statement, introduction of the primary focus and appropriate selection from the list.
/10
Demonstrate your understanding of course readings/outside readings by discussing biological factors, explaining what makes them biological factors and linking to your issue through the biological framework. A minimum of three factors.
Discussion of the counsellor’s ability to develop a therapeutic relationship.
/27
/8
Demonstrate your understanding of course readings/outside readings by discussing psychological factors, explain what makes them psychological factors, and link them to your issue, through the psychological framework.
Discussion of the counsellor’s ability to develop a therapeutic relationship. (different from concepts above)
/27
/8
Clear organization/structure/general formatting (logical sections & subsections). Correct grammar, punctuation, clarity, and fluency of style, Canadian English spelling required.
/10
Compliance with the APA style guidelines for citations and references.
/10
TOTAL
Read Case of Jane (Part 1) as an example of how to apply biological concepts (this is to give you insight for your first assignment).
In Study Section Case of Jane (Part 1):
Jane (she/her) comes in for her first appointment and begins to address her primary issue:
“I work at the City in the horticultural department, primarily a male population, with just a few of us women there. I am anxious in life and worried about what people think of me all the time. The guys at work often comment on what I wear or how I look, and often those comments are very degrading. I am not going to go to my superior as I don’t want to look like a child. It reminds me of when I was a child growing up and my mother always straightened my sweater, gave me a “cold look” of disapproval, told me I looked like a hussy, or my dad would criticize my figure. I just want to please my family, boss, and colleagues. My anxiety is through the roof, I find myself not sleeping, eating more, and just lying around. I am so disappointed in myself.”
How do we examine “biological factors” with the case of Jane?
To begin, counsellors must be open-minded and hear what the client is saying without judgment. Slay-Westbrook (2017) suggests that our ability to allow the client to express and not be judged or shut down is one of the first principles toward building a respectful therapeutic alliance. We want to avoid any possible judgment. For example, when the client states that she is concerned about what people think about her, a counsellor would not ask her why that is so important or express surprise that she would worry about something like that. Instead, we would remain open and allow her to express her thoughts and experiences in order to build the relationship. The client’s primary issue may be self-esteem.
Example of Understanding Biological Factors.
The client also expresses that she is not sleeping well (circadian rhythm or perhaps adrenal gland), not eating well (research what happens to our neurons/transmitters/other hormones when we do not eat well), and has a loss of energy (thyroid or adrenal gland) (these would be biological factors (neurons, transmitters, glands, circadian rhythm to mention a few). They are pre-existing, they tend to facilitate or contribute to or maintain the primary issue in the client’s life). Pinel and Barnes (2021) discuss the importance of neural activity and how the brain functions best when we take care of it. It is important to determine the disruption of sleep, eating, and energy levels. We could also listen to what happens to the client when she experiences little sleep, appetite, and has lower energy. Therefore, we could start by focusing on one area, such as sleep, and explore paths to better address this biological factor and its impact on the primary issue.
/100
