Summary
Value: 15% of the final grade.
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 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 the student to be the client. As the student is the client, write from a client’s perspective, using first person pronoun where applicable, throughout the whole paper, the expectation is for the student to recognize what the experience is like 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 the student’s understanding of biological and psychological aspects and their impact on understanding human thinking and behaviour.
Structure
Required components: The assignment is to be a five-page paper consisting of a title page, brief introduction, 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 PDF’s.
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
Organizational skills
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, 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.
What did the counsellor identify as psychological 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 psychological factors.
Support your assessment with literature from your readings.
What do we mean by Biological and Psychological Factors:
Biological — Genetic, hormonal, glands, diet, exercise, developmental factors (neurotransmitters), pregnancy, medication, toxins, physical environmental factors in nature.
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).
Write a maximum of five pages (you may have six pages if your reference list is longer), no further pages will be read by the instructor. This paper must include a title page, brief introduction, two pages making up the biological factors and psychological factors, and reference page(s) included in a total of five – six pages, no more than three pages of text. Introduce the primary focus in a concise presentation (your story as the client), one page, in which you will apply the framework. There should be one page of APA style (i.e., double spaced, Times New Roman, 12 pt font or your choice of APA style 7th ed., in a Word doc) dedicated to the biological discussion and 1 page dedicated to the psychological discussion. Please be sure to write a full page for each topic by fully exploring the factors and aspects. The fifth page is your reference page and should not be more than one page to adequately cover the discussions, however, you may have more than one page of references if you choose. A conclusion is not required for this assignment.
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 lens, 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)
We expect a minimum of 6 references and a maximum of 12 references. Be sure the references are within the last seven years.
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 course readings and a minimum of two additional sources outside of the course room dated within the last seven years. Use the course reading and one outside source for Biological discussion, and the course reading and one outside source for the Psychological discussion.
Considerations
Please access the course room materials to support assignment development.
Resources
Any sources used to support your written narrative should be cited using 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:
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 of primary focus and appropriate selection.
/10
Demonstration of understanding of course readings and analysis for biological factors, as well as the framework. Discussion of the counsellor’s ability to develop a therapeutic relationship.
/35
Demonstration of understanding of course readings and analysis for psychological factors, as well as the framework. Discussion of the counsellor’s ability to develop a therapeutic relationship.
/35
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
/100
Submission status
Submission status No attempt
Grading status Not graded
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