Content area
Full Text
Abstract
The purpose of this article is to introduce a method for utilizing reality therapy with children in a counseling setting, through a medium that is familiar, comfortable, and an effective method of communicating with children, i. e., drawing. By combining drawing with the reality therapy-based WDEP method, children and counselors should gain new perspectives for addressing wants, needs, and behaviors, while developing potential scenarios for dealing with problems through a tangible and developmentally-appropriate tool.
Reality Therapy and Children
In reality therapy, the relationship between counselor and client is paramount (Glasser, 1998: Wubbolding, Brickell, Imhof, Kim, Lojk, & Al-Rashidi, 2004). The reality therapist's primary goal is to help an individual discover alignment or lack thereof between satisfying one's quality world picture needs and behaviors (Passaro, Moon, Wiest, & Wong, 2004). In this, reality therapy is purposeful, goal -directed, and phenomenological with the motivation to change behaviors being derived from needs not being met (Nystul, 1995). The best way for the therapist to aid with this change is to develop a positive relationship with the person in a safe and accepting environment (Mason & Duba, 2009). Typically, this involves concentrating on the present, avoiding complaints, dealing with thoughts and actions, avoiding blame, exploring the client's perceptions, finding new conditions, and focusing on developing lines of communication via developmentally-appropriate means (Wubbolding, 1994; 2000).
The need for such relationship-building components holds especially true for children because they yearn to feel physically and emotionally safe and supported in their respective environments (Erwin, 2003). In addition to relationship-building, reality therapy generally seeks to avoid using the "seven disconnecting behaviors" that might destroy the development of such positive relationships, including criticizing, blaming, complaining, nagging, threatening, punishing, and bribing. Instead, the reality therapist needs to focus upon the "seven connecting habits" of listening, supporting, encouraging, respecting, trusting, accepting, and negotiating (Glasser, 1998). Through the use of such reality therapy techniques, the counselor can learn from the client aiding in their relationshipbuilding, cultural understanding, and problem-solving endeavors (Wubbolding et al., 2004). By employing such RT skills and focusing upon the seven connecting behaviors, the counselor can more readily become part of the child's quality world; thus allowing for a more productive counseling relationship (Wubbolding, 2000). Once this positive environment is established,...