My tendency I think before the class would have been much firmer with Stephen and guided him into a position. He has few genuine options and it would have been easy to push him into something. However, that would not make him happy. The perspective that I have gained in the internship class and in my previous experiences allowed me to recognize that Stephen is a more difficult case than some of my other clients have been. I decided that a softer approach would be more appropriate -- that by conditioning Stephen to accept his situation and become informed about the different options for him was the best approach to bringing Stephen into a career that he can carry for the rest of his working days. I feel that I had to work hard with Stephen to accomplish this, but I was able to recognize early in the process that I would need to be patient and persistent in this process. I think I was ultimately successful, and the fact...

What I learned with Stephen is that this skill is not always the most important one when dealing with difficult clients. There are times when other skills are going to be more important and it is useful to be able to recognize when to use those other skills. With Stephen, a lot of the work I would have done with him will be more effective if he does that work himself. My role was different than usual for that reason. Yet I feel that learning how to help clients help themselves is a highly valuable skill that will serve me well in my counseling career. For that reason, I think my experience with Stephen was very valuable for me, something I think will make me a better counselor in the future.