Issue link: http://ncumarketing.uberflip.com/i/1271981
7 I start each new engagement with a few verbalized assumptions followed by an invitation: 1. You are almost a therapist, and you are a valued future colleague to me (as I'm able, I include personal detail regarding strength). 2. To be an efficacious therapist, one must move from being a good student to existing as an efficacious therapist; a professional. 3. Now is the time to think as if you are a therapist. 4. Today, I invite you to make a change in how you engage with your readings and assignments in this course and throughout your program. Your readings and assignments are designed to guide you in becoming a therapist. a. Take off your student hat. • Rather than asking yourself, "What does my professor want?" • Begin asking yourself, "What do I need to do be efficacious with my client(s)? How will I apply this idea? What would I say?" b. Approach every assignment question, model premise, and every reading with the burning desire to discover how you would talk with a client about that context. For example, rather than saying to yourself, "I'll deconstruct the XYZ dominant discourse with client(s)," rather: • Imagine yourself sitting across from that couple, family, or individual. • They tell you X • You reflect Y. Answer Y – for yourself. Put words to your desire to "deconstruct the XYZ dominant discourse." This concept will come alive for you when you can put words to people and apply the ideas you are learning. • Do not wait until you're in practicum, start thinking about how you would engage in therapeutic conversation, now. 5. Often the student engages in follow-up questions. Testing ideas and engaging with the shift in thinking about themselves and their work within the class and program. From there, we may or may not talk about the details of assignments or general course information. However, anecdotally, the result is an increase in students' perceptive engagement "I was thinking about quitting the program and then we talked about how to approach my assignments and my whole paradigm changed…I even shared it with my husband. I'm so excited now and can't wait to become a therapist." MFT Student, June 2020