Attachment and the Gospel

“Painful as it may be, a significant emotional event can be the catalyst for choosing a direction that serves us – and those around us – more effectively. Look for the learning.” – Louisa May Alcott

Wherever you are in your mental health journey, you can save yourself some heartache by learning from the experiences of others. These are some resources which have played a part in my own journey. Perhaps, they can spare you a “significant emotional event” and assist you in your journey.

Beginning in your first course (Orientation to the Counseling Profession) and ending in the final course (Capstone for CMHC) students will complete a comprehensive Bibliotherapy assignment. This assignment allows the student to review books that can be utilized as recommendations, homework assignments, or resources for clients. Students will be expected to read a minimum of 2 books per semester above and beyond the required reading for your courses. Students will write a book review for each completed book with special focus on the usability of the book for various clinical presentations.

Selected titles should reflect various worldviews and be useful for a diverse clinical population. Selected titles can be useful for a variety of clinical presentations but at a minimum should include common presentations such as anxiety, depression, grief/loss, caregiving support, healthy relationships, and specific disorders commonly diagnosed in specific stages of life (children, adolescence, aging etc.).

Students must have at least one book from each of the following categories. Students are encouraged to select a balance of faith based and secular books to maximize usefulness for future clients.

1.       Anxiety

2.       Depression

3.       Healthy Relationships

4.       Marriage/Romantic Relationships

5.       Grief

6.       Trauma

7.       Parenting or Developmental Issues

For this assignment, create the template you will use for your Bibliotherapy Assignment. This can be a webpage or handout, but it needs to be in a format you can share with clients. You can utilize “The Deepest Place” for your first book on your resource guide. You will present this outline to your class at your final Thursday night meeting.

Students will need to show their faculty advisor their completed book reviews at each Bi-Annual Review.

Meeting schedule: To ensure students are making adequate progress students should complete the number of book reviews as indicated below.

·         October of first semester:  Completed 2 book reviews total

·         April of year one: Completed 4 book reviews total

·         October of second year: Completed 8 book reviews total

·         End of year two: Completed 10 book reviews total

·         October of year 3: Completed 14 book reviews total

In total students will have 14 books reviewed for their Bibliotherapy Assignment. Failure to complete the assignment will result in a failing grade in the Capstone course.