Arkansas Oral Exam Prep May 2024/2025 (LAC/LAMFT)
Self-Awareness Section - ANS Self-Awareness Section
Tell us about yourself, your training and what brings you here today? - ANS This is my last major career change
Married for almost 7 years to My Ginny
She retired two years ago ...
Self-Awareness Section - ANS Self-Awareness Section
Tell us about yourself, your training and what brings you here today? - ANS This is my last
major career change
Married for almost 7 years to My Ginny
She retired two years ago and I left a pastorate to become an MFT.
Combined, she and I have 6 adult children.
I grew up in Oregon and Ohio until I enlisted in the Air Force in 1973 and was assigned at
LRAFB. I retired in 1993 as an O-3.
What about your training and experiences has most prepared you to be a counselor? - ANS
My previous marriage finished unraveling after 30 years in 2006. I was a broken mess. I began
attending Celebrate Recovery at FBC. Five years later, in 2011, I was asked to join the staff and
be the full-time CR pastor which I did until late 2013. CR is a great international program that
helps countless people worldwide. Yet, I saw many couples not get the kind of help they needed
right now. When FBC would not support my desire to become an MFT, I left the staff so I could
devote my full time to my education and training.
JBU offers great training~! I have also completed two rounds of EFT Training in NWA.
On a scale of 0 to 10, concerning this profession, where would you rate yourself and why? -
ANS I think a 6. Why not a five or lower number? Because I feel I do help people recover
broken relationships. Clients do tell me I am helping them. Why not a 7 or above? Because I am
just getting started and I feel it will take me at least another three years just to become really
competent using Emotionally Focused Therapy and Trauma-Focused Therapy.
What would you consider as a couple of your strengths? - ANS Compassion and empathy for
others regardless of what brought them into counseling. I do not sit in an Ivory Tower looking
down on others as being less than me. We all suffer. I have suffered great losses. Some of
those losses came from my own behaviors and some losses because of others. The difference
for me today is that there is hope. People can come out of whatever broken state they find
themseves.
What would you consider are your growth areas/weaknesses? - ANS A tendency towards
over-involvement. Working harder than the person I am trying to help
, HIPAA Compliancy and Paperwork.
Trauma Focused Competencies
What are your plans for improving your two growth areas? - ANS Following the May 2016
Family Therapy Conference at John Brown University, I have set new boundaries about how
and when I will respond to emails, texts, and calls.
I am enrolled in free online resources from Roy Huggins at Person-Centered.com, Joe Sanok's
thepracticeofthepractice.com and Dr. Maelisa Hall's qaprep.com to help me wade through
HIPAA Compliance and ethical paperwork
I just attended a two-day Trauma-Focused CBT Introductory Training hosted at UAMS. I plan to
attend the 15 Supervision conference calls between now and December and someday be a
nationally certified TF-CBT Therapist.
What factors influenced your decision to pursue an LMFT in addition to LPC? - ANS The
broken marriages I saw as people came into recovery...
Theory Section - ANS Theory
Describe systems theory and how it compares with linear theory - ANS Systems theory takes a
wholes-focused view where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Linear Individual focus vs. a Systems focus.
Linear Cause and Effect vs. Circular Causality (the more you, the more I)
Linear 1+1=2 vs. Systems view that 1+1=3
Linear thinking believes there really is a "root of the problem." vs. Systems view that the context
of the problem is the System
"I yell because you do not listen!" vs. "As I yell, you don't listen."
Describe your theoretical and philosophical approach to counseling - ANS 70% of my clients
are couples. What resonates most clearly in me about relationships is what John Bowlby wrote,
"All of us, from cradle to grave, are happiest when life is organized as a series of excursions,
long or short, from the secure base provided by our attachment figures(s)."
John Bowlby, Ph.D. in A Secure Base (1988, p. 62)
The counseling theory that makes most sense to me is Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT).
EFT Outcome studies demonstrate a 70-73% shift away from distress to recovery. 90% SHOW
SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT. 2 year follow-on studies show stable results of 60% who stay
the same or improve over time
What is the Purpose of Counseling? - ANS Help clients organize what they are experiencing,
help them determine their therapeutic goals and help them achieve their goals. My goal is to
help create "good enough relationships." Not perfect, but good enough.
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