Gilly’s beliefs because I was doing this activity to strengthen our relationship and Gilly’s self-identity, not to challenge her and the beliefs she shares. Often Gilly puts up a defensive front to protect herself from allowing people to get too close and I found that in some of these situations Gilly was doing that. There were moments that Gilly did let her guard down and I believe that those moments were positive for Gilly. Also, through some of the defense Gilly was utilizing I was still able to learn what made Gilly who she is.
Since my last session with Gilly there have been many changes that she has gone through. Gilly has started to talk a little better about life at Mrs. Trotter’s house. I believe that she started to feel connected to Mrs. Trotter and her family. Unfortunately, when Gilly was upset she wrote a letter to her mother Courtney that made Courtney worry about her well-being. Gilly has expressed regret that she had done this. This led to a significant change in Gilly’s circumstances. Courtney contacted Gilly’s biological grandmother and she showed up to take Gilly with her away from Mrs.
Trotter. This has been upsetting for Gilly because she is sad she is no longer with Mrs. Trotter. In our most recent session Gilly shared with me that although she is missing Mrs. Trotter she is excited because her grandmother told her that Courtney would be coming to see her in a few days. Session 5: Focus: Processing feelings Objectives: • Process Gilly’s feelings after meeting her mother for the first time •Verbalize emotions and feelings Theory: Gestalt Activities: Empty Chair
Rationale: Gilly has a very hard time expressing feelings and I believe that this would be a safe and effective way for Gilly to release some of her pent up thoughts and emotions. This has been a moment she has looked forward to forever and it is important to process this experience and release feelings pertaining to it. Gilly will have the opportunity to share whatever she is feeling without any pressure or expectation of what she is going to say. Techniques: I will set up two chairs and I will ask Gilly if she would be willing to sit in one chair and talk as if Courtney was in the other chair.
I will let Gilly know that can act as if Courtney is there right at that moment and she can say whatever she desires to her. It is my hope that Gilly is able to explore her personal thoughts and feelings at this time. I will also use paraphrasing, reflections, and summaries to help Gilly process what she shared and felt during the empty chair technique. Also, I may need to utilize some encouragers to help Gilly to continue on with this technique because she may be somewhat apprehensive.
Desired Outcome: I believe that utilizing the empty chair technique to allow Gilly to express some of the feelings she is experiencing after meeting her mother for the first time. I anticipate this being very overwhelming for Gilly and I hope that this technique will help ease those overwhelming feelings. I hope that Gilly is able to feel safe and comfortable expressing her thoughts and feelings about meeting Courtney for the first time. Also, I hope that doing this will help Gilly to become better at expressing the way she feels verbally rather than acting out both emotionally and physically.
Actual Outcome: Gilly agreed to do the empty chair technique, but seemed very anxious and apprehensive. I was very shocked when the things Gilly was expressing to Courtney expressed anger and disappointment. Gilly was very eager to meet her mother for the first time and Gilly was certain that Courtney was coming to take her home. Unfortunately, after meeting Courtney, Gilly realized that her mother had little interest in knowing her and she was only there visiting because Gilly’s grandmother paid her to be there.
Gilly was overwhelmed with emotions due to this and was extremely hurt. She stated that she was certain she was going to throw up because she was so upset. I was not aware prior to meeting with Gilly that she had a very negative experience when she met her mother. I decided that I w Gilly continue on talking as if Courtney was present and then discuss what happened after she was finished. Gilly was able to express some of the thoughts and emotions that she experienced about being let down by Courtney.
Gilly was able to share the anger, disappointment, and sadness that she was feeling due to Courtney not only not wanting her, but also not being who she believed she was. This helped Gilly feel relieved of the burden of carrying around these emotions and start to process some of her thoughts and feelings. This also appeared to really overwhelm Gilly so I felt that it was necessary we further discuss this experience after completing the activity. We spent time discussing what happened when she met her mother and how she was feeling prior to doing the empty chair activity.
Although this activity did not relieve Gilly of overwhelming emotions as I anticipated I do believe that it was beneficial for her to process some of her thoughts and feelings pertaining to her experience she had when meeting Courtney for the first time. Session 6: Focus: Moving Forward Objective: • Help Gilly to move forward after a very significant change is occurring in her life • Come up with future goals for Gilly • Assist Gilly in finding direction for her life Theory: Person Centered Techniques: I will utilize encouragers, paraphrasing and open ended uestions during this activity with Gilly. I will also use both reflection of meaning and content to assist Gilly in coming up with long-term goals and the steps she will take to achieve these goals. We will focus on defining her goals and the necessary steps she will take to eventually meet these goals. We will place a focus on identifying Gilly’s strengths, as these will be critical to helping her obtain her future goals. Activities: We will be doing an activity called Moving forward.
Gilly and I will spend time discussing what she wants in her future. I will then provide Gilly with a sheet of paper and ask her to create four columns. The first column will say future goals. The following three columns will then be labeled step 1, step 2, and step 3. After allowing Gilly to select a few long-term goals we will write them in the first column. We will then discuss that goal and I will help her break that goal down into three small steps that are goals that are attainable prior to the next session.
An example of this would be that Gilly set a goal to be a supportive and loving granddaughter. We could then break that down into three steps such as help my grandma with the dishes, compliment my grandma three times, and not swear around my grandma. These are three small goals that Gilly could then work on prior to our next session so that we may discuss her progress towards this goal. After reviewing the progress in later sessions I will assist Gilly to continue to create new steps and goals to help attain her future long-term goal.
Rational: Gilly has always made it a goal to finally be reconnected with her mother and start a life with Courtney. In our last session Gilly realized that her dream of living with Courtney is not going to come true. The rationale for this activity is to help Gilly set up a plan for moving forward after her plan that she had previously did not work out. This activity will help Gilly to set goals that can lead her future in a positive direction and help her take big steps into her future with her grandmother.