Counseling the Contemporary Woman. Suzanne Degges-White
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stages or challenges but might present with unique “out-of-synch” struggles. It is necessary to be attentive to the client’s presentation and their perceptions of the dilemma they are facing.
3 Be familiar with relational-cultural theory. Its tenets and practices are closely aligned with women’s experiences and closely relate to women’s ways of life, in which relationship and connection are key issues.
4 Listen carefully to your client’s descriptions of her presenting problems and concerns. Encourage her to share her story in the way that she is experiencing it. Validate her feelings and her experiences.
5 Through active listening, paraphrasing, validating, and holding a nonjudgmental attitude, focus on building, promoting, and maintaining a safe space in which a client can feel comfortable expressing difficult experiences and feelings.
6 Explore further about her experiences, perceptions, thoughts, and feelings. Listen with a tentative ear, and paraphrase content and feelings to ensure you fully understand where she is coming from.
7 Pay attention to her personality and way of thinking. Not every woman prefers an emotionally focused approach to counseling. Strike a balance between a cognitive focus and a focus on feelings, as appropriate or necessary.
8 If you are a woman, do not assume that your client’s experiences or needs are the same as yours; if you are a man, do not assume that you are not prepared to meet the counseling needs of women.
9 Avoid jumping into conclusion and or interpretations. Ask for possible explanations and possible solutions first before you share your own. Through this approach, your client might feel more empowered as she is finding her own ways to handle challenges she is facing.
10 Always consider the multiple layers of identity of each client, such as gender, culture, ethnicity, race, education, religion, socioeconomic status, and sexual orientation. Acknowledge the complexity and uniqueness of intersectionality with your client.
11 Help your client establish or maintain connections to social outlets, supports, and resources; social support is consistently related to mental and physical well-being.
12 Use role-play in sessions to help your client develop confidence in her ability to hold difficult conversations or to express parts of herself that she tends to suppress.
13 Use creative counseling interventions that allow your client to explore parts of herself that she may seldom have the time and space to uncover.
14 Provide her with tools and resources to fall back on in case of a need.
Cultural Considerations
Despite the fact that our counseling focus is on emerging and young women, not all will present the same spectrum of development and challenges. However, research has suggested that the common developmental tasks occur for most emerging adults regardless of race, culture, or SES background (Arnett, 2016). It is important to consider the uniqueness of each individual client and to realize that individual experiences due to her own diverse intersectionality of backgrounds will make her unique and special. This stage of life provides women with multiple pathways they may follow or circle back through, such as establishing themselves in their careers, graduating from schools, having their first child, or going through a divorce. One major challenge for individuals in this developmental period is career development. Individuals from lower SES backgrounds are less likely to go to college and this can have a profound impact on one’s career and overall life (Arnett, 2016). Individuals will have different paths and counselors would do well to recognize the ways in which clients are diverse. It is the clinician’s job, duty, and responsibility to explore and learn about their client in order to understand their perspectives instead of relying on learned stereotypes.
Ethical Considerations
All clinical professionals need to adhere to their own professional code of ethics. Clinicians need to pay attention to the type of presenting problem and issues associated with it and act accordingly. Since emerging women are already legal adults, confidentiality is handled differently than when counseling adolescent girls. However, clinicians still can encounter parental involvement when counseling a college student or an emerging adult mom who is still living with her parents or relying on her parents for help. Clinicians need to be sensitive to such matters and comply with the code of ethics (e.g., keep confidentiality) despite parents’ involvement and potential requests for disclosure. At times, dual or multiple relationships might be at play, especially when it comes to romantic feelings for any party of the therapeutic dyad. In such cases, clinicians consult with their supervisors in order to take immediate appropriate action necessary to avoid mistreatment or negligence. There may be many other ethical concerns present when counseling emerging and young women. In any case of doubt, or just a simple question or wondering if a present issue might be an ethical concern, it is best to reach out and ask for help or consult with an immediate clinical supervisor.
Advocacy Opportunities
There are many ways to advocate for emerging and young women based on the challenges that they might be facing. The spectrum is broad and complex and beyond this chapter’s capacity to mention all possible issues and therefore advocacy components. Many specific challenges women might face are addressed in individual chapters of this book. However, advocacy at the client’s level might simply consist of empowering her to speak up or share her perceptions and help other women with similar issues. At the community level, clinicians can organize presentations, training, or in-service educational opportunities at community agencies and organizations about challenges and issues emerging adult women face. These include topics such as sexual harassment, abuse, parenting skills, divorce, motherhood, work–life balance, and so on.
Case Study Wrap-Up: Agneshka
Agneshka reached out to her counselor for support because she felt angry and depressed. After her counselor gathered a detailed history about her background and present situation, they started exploring some potential goals for counseling. Throughout the assessment process, the counselor made sure to empathize with Agneshka and validate her feelings of loneliness, anger, and relationship dissatisfaction. Considering Agneshka’s background, her counselor paid close attention to her culture and asked relevant questions to ensure she fully understood Agneshka’s cultural perspective. The counselor asked about gender and family roles in her life, the significance of family gatherings and celebrations, and family expectation of her as a child and, now, as an adult child. Agneshka clarified that their culture is family oriented and that the expectation is to stick together, help each other out, and be obedient to parents. She further stated that her Catholic religion plays a significant role in her family, and they celebrate all the holidays together with immediate and extended family. They share typical gender roles, such as the father working out of the house and the mother primarily responsible for kids, household, and some part-time work. Agneshka stated that she has no one to go to and has a hard time being at home. Her counselor asked, “How do you view such family roles, responsibilities, and family values?”
Agneshka took a deep breath and slowly started: “I like to go to church and spend time with family, but we fight most of the time. I understand that as a woman I will get married at some point and have kids, but I want to focus on my career first, get settled in my professional life, and then consider family. I know I need to help around the house and with the kids, but I want to be on my own. I don’t like coming home and being asked where I was, where I go, what time I will be back . . . and then whatever I do to help, it’s never good enough . . . so what’s the point?” Agneshka’s counselor nodded and reflected, “It must be frustrating to be treated as a child and then made to feel like you are not good enough.” Agneshka nodded as tears welled up in her eyes.
Interventions: Strength-Based Approach
Agneshka’s counselor suggested that they focus a bit on exploring her strengths and hobbies and things that might be going well in her life right now. Then she proposed they establish potential counseling goals