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By: Johnna Caporuscio MA, LAC, NCC – Clinician
One of the most powerful tools a counselor can use is the ability to create a safe and non-judgemental environment in the counseling space. When working with children or youth especially, safety and comfort are of the utmost importance in laying the foundation for therapeutic work. In many spaces in their daily lives, youth often do not encounter true safety and security. Often, youth may feel criticized or scrutinized by peers or others, feeling as if they are not accepted for who they are.
The Unique Space of Counseling
The counseling space is unique because it allows for the cultivation of a sense of safety and acceptance. Using the skills of active listening, reflection of feeling, and empathy, clinicians can begin to create a sense of safety in the therapeutic environment.
Another aspect of creating safety involves clinicians meeting students where they are at in therapy. Regardless of a student’s presenting problem, clinicians must allow students to direct the nature of sessions and pace sessions.
Addressing Trauma and Grief in Therapy
Many students may present with issues involving trauma or grief. When encountering such heavy clinical issues, clinicians may feel the urge to jump into clinical work with these students, unpacking their experiences of trauma and feelings of anxiety or grief. However, in my clinical experiences working with students who present with these issues, I have found that sessions are much more powerful and effective when clinicians allow students to choose when to discuss and unpack their layers of emotions that are related to their experiences of trauma.
While a sense of safety must be created before any therapeutic work can commence, clinicians may need to spend extensive time cultivating the therapeutic relationship before students may feel ready to discuss their complex emotions and experiences. Ultimately, it is when students feel completely safe, seccure, and accepted that they may begin to discuss difficult feelings and process traumatic situations.
The Power of the Therapeutic Relationship
I am reminded of the power of the therapeutic relationship and creating safety in therapy when I reflect on my work with one of my students who presented with emotion regulation difficulties and a history of family-related trauma.
When working with this student, I dedicated most sessions to strengthening the therapeutic relationship through play therapy and art therapy techniques. Even more, I allowed the student to largely direct each session. On occasion as our therapeutic work progressed, the student would reveal emotions and underlying family issues. Yet, the majority of our sessions did not focus on these underlying issues; rather, they focused on our relationship.
At the point of termination, I felt the impact I had on this student who expressed time and time again that “the PATH is [her] favorite place,” and “Ms. Johnna makes [her] feel safe.” I learned that sometimes, we make the most impact through creating genuine connections and simply being there with our students.
Photo by cottonbro studio