Does your essence determine your existence, or are you a product of your choices and environment? Or do you not have a solid, separate self at all? Does race/sex/gender/class/sexual orientation play a role in who you are? Is gender identity a fixed biological reality? Why or why not?

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Self I am Avacado with Artichoke tendniss

This 3-4 page Project Assignment picks up the discussion of the self in the week 2 discussion by asking you to further explore the question of who you are. If any of the philosophers we read this session might agree with your view, identify the philosopher and explain their position on the self. If any might disagree, identify and discuss the points of disagreement. Personal experience is particularly relevant to this prompt, so feel free to compare your own ideas/experiences to the philosophical theories from the readings. You might consider the following questions as you develop your response:

Does your essence determine your existence (as in the avocado view), or are you a product of your choices and environment (as in the artichoke view)? Or do you not have a solid, separate self at all (as in the non-Western views of the self)?
Does race/sex/gender/class/sexual orientation play a role in who you are? Is gender identity a fixed biological reality? Why or why not?
Remember to use supporting citations from the textbook and online lectures in correct APA citation.

Describe your workspace in detail. How would you describe it to someone who has never seen it? For instance, your description could include details about lighting, decor, sound, seating, and accessibility: Where are the doors, windows, stairways, and bathrooms? Does the space have a kitchen? If you prefer, you can provide a visual depiction of your space. Make sure that it has the same level of detail that a written description would.

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Workspace Questionnaire

Thank you for participating in our survey. Your input is important to us! We are very excited to start preparing the design of our new office space! Your response will impact our design choice moving forward. We look forward to unveiling the new space in September!

—Dr. Lee

Your Current or Most Recent Workspace

 Directions: Think about your current workspace or the workspace that you were in most recently. For this project, workspace is defined as a place used or required for your work. This includes a variety of spaces ranging from an office or library to your kitchen table or living-room couch.

Description: Describe your workspace in detail. How would you describe it to someone who has never seen it? For instance, your description could include details about lighting, decor, sound, seating, and accessibility: Where are the doors, windows, stairways, and bathrooms? Does the space have a kitchen? If you prefer, you can provide a visual depiction of your space. Make sure that it has the same level of detail that a written description would.

 

Insert your responses in these text boxes.

 

Functionality: Consider the environment. How is the space organized? For instance, are other people near you? How does the space impact how you relate to others? How does the space affect the way you work? How does it impact your productivity? For example, there may be numerous large windows in the space that let natural light in and make it easier to stay alert and focused.

 

 

 

An Artifact in Your Workspace

 Directions: Think about an artifact in your workspace. For this competency, an artifact must be a tangible object that was created or modified by a human being. It embodies the creative expression of ideas of the creator and the culture in which it was made. Following this definition, anything from a wooden cooking spoon to a computer keyboard could be considered an artifact. Select an artifact in your workspace and answer the following questions about it.

 

Artifact: What is your artifact? Identify and describe the artifact you chose.

 

 

 

Intentionality: How do you use your artifact? How do others use it? What do you think its intended use or purpose is? What was the creator, designer, or developer trying to accomplish, and were they successful?

 

 

 

Functionality: How does the artifact fit into the broader concept of the work environment? To what extent does the artifact play a role in the overall functionality of the workspace? What impact does the workspace artifact have on productivity?

 

 

 

Variance: Do similar artifacts exist? Are they equally crucial to society? Do different versions of the artifact create particular cultural dynamics? Are the various versions valued in the same way in every environment? Explain why or why not.

 

 

 

Relationship to Workplace Culture: How does the artifact reflect the workplace culture or context in which it exists? Does the environment impact how the artifact is used? Does the use of the artifact change depending on the type of work environment or the company?

 

 

 

Relationship to Society: How does the artifact reflect the broader culture? How was it used within the historical context in which it was created? How has its usage changed over time? Make sure to reference your sources.

 

 

 

Meaning to You: What does this artifact mean to you? What does it say about you and your values?

 

 

 

Provide Very detailed constructive feedback provided with recommendations for improvement, and details of what worked and what did not work.

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PEER-REVIEW OF PROJECT

1.Complete the attached rubric table (sample) of the PROJECT attached the rubric – DETAILED RURIC TABLE

2. Provide Very detailed constructive feedback provided with recommendations for improvement, and details of what worked and what did not work. (1 to 2 pages) – DETAILED CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK.

Develop an email response. Use the three-step process for being assertive. Bob is one of your first-line supervisors and has been with the company for 20 years. Mary, another supervisor tells you that Bob is just trying to bully you and that most other supervisors love the new processes.

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You have just been hired by Yummy Juicy, a national corporation that sells organic juices at most major retail stores. You have been hired as the West Coast Distribution Manager. After about five weeks on the job, you get the following email:
Sir/Ma’am,

You are hurting this company. You have continued to try to force all of us to change our ways and follow procedures that are no good. I am not sure why you got the job. You trained us on the new procedures, which wasted hours of our time. Don’t bother to reply to this email, I know nothing will change.
R/
Bob (disgruntled employee)

2. Complete the following:

a. Develop an email response. Use the three-step process for being assertive. Bob is one of your first-line supervisors and has been with the company for 20 years. Mary, another supervisor tells you that Bob is just trying to bully you and that most other supervisors love the new processes. (I realize many of you would call Bob into your office, but for this assignment, you must generate the email).
b. Do you find it difficult to be assertive in your own life (personal and professional)? Why or why not?
c. What are the risks of being assertive with Bob? Make sure you utilize common course terminology when explaining the risks.
3. Mary comes to you later in the day and says, “Boss, Bob is trying to negotiate with you, he has a target in mind, and is not flexible, so his limit is not much different than his target.” Explain what Mary is talking about (explain, in your OWN words, the concepts of targets and limits during negotiations).
1. First Peer Reply: What specifically won’t work in your peer’s email to Bob? Make a recommendation on how to reword (or use another approach).
2. Second/Third Peer Reply: Become Bob, negotiate with “boss (your peer),” and make them see your point of view. Utilize course material in your reply. The reply should be formatted as an email (don’t actually send email).

What diagnoses would you consider for this client? Explain your rationale with scholarly sources and describe information that supports these findings based on assessment information.  What are medical concerns that you have for this client?   What modes/levels of treatment would you recommend for this client?

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Co-Occurring Disorders in Addiction: Case Study #1 – Richard

Richard is a 32-year-old single man who has episodically worked part time as a computer programmer but who has been unemployed much of the time since dropping out of college a decade earlier. He was referred for a psychiatric evaluation after his parents had become increasingly frustrated by his behavior, threatening to “kick him out” of their house if he didn’t’ “get sober, get a job,, and get a life.” The patient reports he “has been a mess” his whole life, with a persistent inability to function effectively at work, at school, and with friends. He has dated “a little” but the relationships “fizzle out” within weeks or months. He believes his biggest problem is his cocaine use. Richard describes an intensifying use in the 6 months since he was most recently fired. He describes spending $200-300 (about 1-3 grams) every weekend in a binge patterns in which he would sleep most of the day and play video games at night. Since he was never moved away from home, this behavior was quite noticeable and worrisome to his parents, who insisted he seek treatment.

Richard reports a chronic history of inattention, impulsivity, and procrastination. He was diagnosed with ADHD in seventh grade. A several-month trial of immediate-release methylphenidate at that time led to significant clinical improvement (according to his Mother) and to significant side effects (according to Richard). He specifically denies recalling any behavioral improvement on the methylphenidate, adding that all he recalls was “feeling jittery” and “tunnel vision.”

Richard began to smoke marijuana during high school, increasing to daily use during college. He quit cannabis 2 years earlier and now only smokes occasionally. He also drinks alcohol socially, but “not like at college,” when he would have 10-15 drinks on weekends and 2-5 drinks every night during the week. He experimented with oral opioids such as OxyContin but never sustained a regular pattern of use. He describes some other “random experimentation” during college, including LSD, mushrooms, and crystal methamphetamine, but denies having used any other drugs in over 10 years. In his view, his only “problem drug” is the cocaine. He believes the cocaine hurt his motivation and ability to sustain school and work, but he also feels ambivalent about cutting down or staying abstinent, stating “nothing in my life is as good as cocaine.”

In regard t a more detailed social history, Richard is an only child born to middle-class parents. He and his parents agree that he graduated from high school with mediocre grades and poor attendance. He attended several semesters at a local community college before dropping out. While he had a knack for computer science he was often unable to concentrate and complete assignments even in subjects that he found interesting. He has worked part time as a computer programmer but has spent most of the last decade playing video games in his parents’ basement.

 

1. What diagnoses would you consider for this client? Explain your rationale with scholarly sources and describe information that supports these findings based on assessment information.

2. What are medical concerns that you have for this client?

3. What modes/levels of treatment would you recommend for this client? Be sure to list them in the priority in which they need to be addressed.

Identify the family’s strengths, including individual and family characteristics and resources that it can use to address the presenting problem and underlying needs. Identify at least one diversity group to which this family belongs. Describe how the family’s diversity background may relate to the family’s needs, concerns, or strengths.

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Family Psychosocial Assessment

The purpose of this assignment is for students to complete a family-focused psychosocial assessment. This will involve you watching a movie from pop culture that highlights family dynamics. Some suggested movies are: I have chosen the movie Juno

– What’s Eating Gilbert Grape
– Mrs. Doubtfire
– Soul Food
– Death at a Funeral
– Stepmom
– The Family Stone
– Juno ( I choose this movie)
– Mother and Child
– Madea’s Big Happy Family
– Jumping the Broom
– Love, Simon
– Boyz in the Hood
– Instant Family
– The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete
– Crazy Rich Asians
– Mommie Dearest

1. Be sure to indicate the movie selected, including year of release, at the beginning of your assignment.

2. Write the assessment as if you were a social worker writing about a family that you had just interviewed. In your assessment, apply systems theory to generate a better understanding of the family. Your assessment should include the following components:

a) Agency context: Identify the agency where the family is receiving services. Briefly describe its mandate and mission. (2-3 sentences)

b) Names of family members and a description of their relationships to each other. (1 paragraph)

c) Presenting Problem: Identify a presenting problem from the movie you watched. (e.g., a child who is being bullied at school for being “a sissy,” a parent who loses his/her job and can no longer support the family, a teenager who abuses cannabis, or a family that is experiencing discrimination from neighbors). Keep in mind that your movie may involve several family subsystems. Please focus on one or two specific presenting problems. Describe the presenting problem as if it were a real problem: What motivated the family to come for services? How does each family member view the presenting problem, concern, or issue? What is the history of the problem (how did it emerge, how has it changed over time, how serious is it now, and what has the family tried to do to manage this problem in the past)? (1 page)

d) Family Structure and Dynamics: Apply family systems concepts, for instance, linking the concepts of boundaries, subsystems, triangles, norms, life cycle challenges, acculturation, rules, and roles to your family of origin. (2 pages).

e) Family Stressors and Needs: Identify the family’s biopsychosocial-spiritual needs and stressors, as they perceive them (e.g., medical concerns, emotional issues, anxiety, conflict within the family, sense of meaning or purpose, lack of resources). If there are differences in their perceptions, indicate how different family members have different views of their needs. (1 page plus ecomap)

f) Family Strengths: Identify the family’s strengths, including individual and family characteristics and resources that it can use to address the presenting problem and underlying needs. Make sure that nurturing support systems are included in the ecomap. (1 to 2 paragraphs)

g) Diversity: Identify at least one diversity group to which this family belongs (e.g., culture, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, disability, socioeconomic status). Describe how the family’s diversity background may relate to the family’s needs, concerns, or strengths. Make use of at least one scholarly article related to the family’s diversity. (1 page-culturagram if appropriate)

h) Overall assessment: Provide your overall assessment of the family’s situation, from a systems perspective. Avoid blaming or judgmental language and highlight the reciprocal effects that different parts of the family system have on one another. (1 page)

i) Intervention plan: Develop an intervention plan that would help the family deal with the hypothetical presenting problem and related concerns. The plan should include at least one primary goal for work and three specific objectives. The plan should also identify what specific interventions will be used and who will be responsible for which tasks (for instance, if the family needed advocacy, who would act as an advocate and what approach would that person use for advocacy; or if the family needed parenting skills training, who would act as trainer and what model of training would be used?). Provide references for the models of intervention that will guide your interventions. Make sure your goals, objectives, models of intervention, and action plan build on one another in a logical manner. Your intervention plan should include family systems approaches (e.g., strengthening specific relationships, helping the family adapt to life cycle adjustments, fostering a better fit between the family and its social environment, or referring the family for specific types of family therapy). Although your intervention plan may include individual counseling or therapy, individual work should not be the only form of intervention. (1 to 2 pages)

j) Evaluation plan: Describe how you plan to evaluate progress towards the goals and objectives identified above: how you will gather information; what measures you will use; and how you will ensure that your measures for evaluation are feasible, valid, and reliable. (half a page).

Are you aware of how your own culture influences the way you think, feel, and act? What could you do to broaden your understanding of both your own culture and other cultures? Are you able to identify your basic assumptions, especially as they apply to diversity and culture, ethnicity, race, gender, class, religion, language, and sexual identity?

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Group Counseling: Cultural Self Portrait

Take an inventory of your current level of awareness, knowledge, and skills that have a bearing on your ability to function effectively in multicultural situations by reflecting on these questions. Summarize your reflections with a 750-1000 essay. Use APA format.

1. Are you aware of how your own culture influences the way you think, feel, and act?

2. What could you do to broaden your understanding of both your own culture and other cultures?

3. Are you able to identify your basic assumptions, especially as they apply to diversity and culture, ethnicity, race, gender, class, religion, language, and sexual identity?

4. How are your assumptions likely to affect the manner in which you function as a great counselor?

5. Can you be flexible and applying the techniques you use in your groups, depending on the specific makeup of the membership?

6. How prepared are you to understand and work with individuals from different cultural backgrounds in a group?

7. What life experiences have you had that will help you understand and make contact with group members who have different worldviews from yours?

8. Can you identify any areas of cultural bias or any of your assumptions that could inhibit your ability to work effectively with people who are different from you? If so, what steps might you take to challenge your biases and assumptions?

Consider some of the following areas in which your values and those of group members might clash. How would you respond in each of these situations that could arise in your group?

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Group Counseling Skills: Leader’s Values vs. Client’s Values

Consider some of the following areas in which your values and those of group members might clash. How would you respond in each of these situations that could arise in your group?

1. A member discloses how excited she is over a current affair and wonders if she should continue staying with her partner.

2. A woman whose cultural background is different from yours and that of the other members in the group says she’s having difficulty expressing what she wants and in behaving assertively (both in the group and at home). She says she’s been taught to think of the interests of others not to be concerned about what she wants.

3. An adolescent relates that his life feels bland without drugs.

4. A pregnant 16-year-old is struggling to decide whether to have an abortion or give up her baby to an adoption agency.

5. A chronically depressed man says that at times he thinks about suicide as a way out of a hopeless situation.

6. A man says he is very unhappy in his marriage but is unwilling to get a divorce because he is afraid of being alone.

7. A member who is from a different culture than the other members says he is having difficulty in the group because he is not used to speaking so freely or openly about family problems.

What are some things you might say to Rose? In what ways can she control the group through her silence? Can you think of some strategies for exploring her silence with her that would not lead to her becoming even more silent?

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Group Counseling Skills: Vignette Exercise

For BOTH vignettes: in 400-500 words each describe your solution to the problem. Be sure to answer the questions posed at the end of each vignette as part of your answer.

1. The Silent Member. Rose rarely says much in her group. Other members have caringly confronted her about how they were affected by her silence. Rose eventually says, “Everyone in here wants more from me than I am willing to give. It’s not that I am not interested, but I have always been more of a listener than one to speak up. I figure that if I have something to say, I’ll say it, but I don’t want to talk just to hear my voice.”

What are some things you might say to Rose? In what ways can she control the group through her silence? Can you think of some strategies for exploring her silence with her that would not lead to her becoming even more silent?

2. Dealing with Dependency. Jessica keeps pressing you as the leader to give her advice on how she should solve her problems. She seems very impatient with feedback from other group members, because she wants your “expert” help. She tells you that in her culture, she has been taught to respect authority and to seek out experts such as yourself for the answers to her problems. In spite of the fact that you have done your best to help members find their own answers, Jessica continues to rely on you for her solutions.

Knowing that Jessica has a cultural background that has rein­forced her pattern of seeking solutions from experts, how might you proceed with her? Would you interpret her behavior as dependency? Do you see her behavior as a response to her cultural conditioning, or as a defense?

Discuss your reactions to the following statement as it applies to you: “If counselors do not understand how their cultural background influences their own thinking and behavior, there is little chance they can work effectively with group members who are culturally different from themselves.”

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Group Counseling Skills: Reflection on Cultural Background

Discuss your reactions to the following statement as it applies to you:

“If counselors do not understand how their cultural background influences their own thinking and behavior, there is little chance they can work effectively with group members who are culturally different from themselves.”