Interviewing and Counseling

Interviewing and Counseling

The paper will talk on how chronic unemployment, drug use, and criminal behavior has led to the depression of a patient. The article will also discuss that the patient can improve the broken relationship between the patients with his family members. The main aim of this counseling is to facilitate the change of behavior of the patient. Additionally, at the end of the interview, the patient should be in a position to maintain and establish new relationships. The client should be guided to develop the ability and effectiveness to cope. The counselors aim at encouraging the decision-making process and promote the potential of the client. The following is a conversation between the patient and the counselor.

Counselor: Hello, John, please tell me how you are feeling?

John: Am not alright, my whole life is destroyed. I don’t have any reason to be alive.

Counselor: And why do you say that?

John: I am a big disappointment to my mom and my sister, just like my father was.

Counselor: Why do you say you are a disappointment, John? You are still a young man who has a long way to go in this life.

Counselor: I have been involved in numerous criminal activities, the community is totally against me, am a drug addict, and no one can employ me due to my condition

Counselor: When did you start taking drugs?

John: I was 12 when I first tasted drugs since then, I have been addicted to almost all kind of drugs. I try to stop taking drugs, but my body can’t function properly without the influence of the drugs.

Counselor: That’s too bad, at considering you are just 17 years, you can likely escape the habit of taking drugs. I suggest you go to a rehab where you will change in a way that your body will not need drugs to function properly.

John: Do you think that rehab can help me to stop using drugs?

Counselor: Not only do I think, but I also believe so.

John: Okay, I will have to try that.

Counselor: I can see that your hand is injured and you have difficulties in sitting down, what happened to you?

John: Nothing, I just fell on my way home.

Counselor: Come on, John, if you lie to me, you will remain with your troubles, and no one will help you.

John: My friends beat me up after I was released alone; they thought I set them up.

Counselor: Were you involved in a kind of criminal activity?

John: We robbed a man a night before the day I was to have surgery. We took all his belongings, but in the process, we were caught by the police.

Counselor: Now tell me John, those who beat you are your friends, do you think that real friends can beat and injure you?

John: No, a friend can’t beat someone that way.

Counselor: You have clearly stated that a friend cannot beat someone if, indeed, they are real friends. They want you in their company, but when things are not okay, they turn their backs on you. I would like you to avoid them from now henceforth (Ricard et al., 2018).

John: I will, I dearly regret the time I spent with them.

Counselor: All you need to do is to focus in the future, choose your friends wisely, John.

John: I feel like I should not have friends anymore, but as you have said, I will choose wisely in the future because I don’t want to fall in any trouble.

Counselor: Alright, you said that your relationship with your mom and sister is soured. What do you think could be the cause?

John: My involvement in criminal activities and the use of drugs.

Counselor: At your tender age, it is unacceptable to be in a soured relationship with your family members because of involvement in criminal activities.

John: The relationship is destroyed; I don‘t know what I can do to amend it. I have tried all means to no avail.

Counselor: Everything in this life has a solution. All I suggest you do is completely stay away from the criminal activities, and the drug abuse and the relationship with your family will come back to the way it was when you were young (Dumont, 2018).

John: I don’t think they will ever love me again.

Counselor: I believe they love you; what they don’t like is the actions that you participate in. They feel embarrassed because of your activities in the community. Tell me, John, if it were you, would you like your mom to be a criminal in society?

John: No.

Counselor: Now, you see, you also would not like to be associated with a criminal. That’s why your family members don’t want anything to do with you. Avoid criminal actions and taking drugs and all will be fine (Gilliam et al., 2016).

John: I will no longer involve myself in such activities.

Counselor: I see a lot of potential in you, John.

John: No one has ever said that to me except you. You make me feel like an important person in life, but I am not. I am just a useless person who should not exist.

Counselor: If you can keep away from crime and the drugs, everyone will like and respect you. Even the job opportunities will be available to you.

John: But I don’t think I can work, my health is deteriorating with time. I don’t think I can be cured.

Counselor: The disease you have should not prevent you from pursuing your dreams. The condition can be cured, and you have a lot to live for John.

John: Thank you so much.

Counselor: Try everything I have told you, and you will see tremendous changes in your life.

John: I will make sure I follow whatever you have said to me, I promise.

Counselor: Okay, John, see you next time.

References

Whitaker, A. K., Quinn, M. T., Munroe, E., Martins, S. L., Mistretta, S. Q., & Gilliam, M. L. (2016). A motivational interviewing-based counseling intervention to increase postabortion uptake of contraception: a pilot randomized controlled trial. Patient education and counseling, 99(10), 1663-1669.

Ratanavivan, W., & Ricard, R. J. (2018). Effects of a motivational interviewing–based counseling program on classroom behavior of children in a disciplinary alternative education program. Journal of Counseling & Development, 96(4), 410-423.

Dumont, K. M. (2018). Integrating Motivational Interviewing into Counseling Techniques and the Helping Relationship.