Reflections Health Psychology April 13, 2010 Jesse Rabinovitch Reflections Health Psychology April 13, 2010

Achieving Change “Many of the worlds greatest accomplishments were achieved by individuals who kept on working in spite of their setbacks” -Anonymous “Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow” -Albert Einstein It is through our own personal experiences in life that we learn the most. Throughout this course I have learnt that change is not a process that always comes easy, and is only achieved when individuals are willing to work at it. The complexity of the change processes became vividly aware to me while completing my self-change project. At first it definitely required work and sacrifice; however, as my stress levels began to decrease exercising became an essential part of my week. The self change project was definitely one of the most memorable experiences of this course for me.

Change is a Process Change is a process, and often one that is difficult at times. Accomplishing one small step at a time is the easiest way to achieve results. Through the subjective lens which individuals’ view their world, hope plays a crucial role in the process of change. Hope can play a remarkable role in the counselling process. Throughout the discussions and projects that I participated in through this course I have come to understand the importance of obtaining a complete understanding of individuals. By understanding our clients’ worldviews, goals for counselling, and values in life, we can implement interventions that will be effective and long lasting. We can also inspire clients’ hopefulness for achieving change.

Individual Experience There is no one correct way to achieve change. Through a variety of alternatives individuals can achieve effective and lasting change. They key is finding what works for you. My self-change project comprised of engaging in a habitual exercise routine in order to combat the stress levels that I was experiencing. Through exercise I was able to reduce the amount of stress I experienced on a routine basis. However this may not be the effect of exercising regularly for everyone. Change is something that can be accomplished through various methods. Finding an effective way to promote change among clients is one of the many challenges of assisting clients to achieve their goals. From the self-change project in this course I have a greater understanding of the complexity and difficult of change processes.

Finding Hope Scale of Hope By assessing a client’s desire to change we can encourage their ability to achieve change through inspiring hope Hope is not a static quality, but rather a fluid trait that changes over time. Hope can play a fundamental role in the counselling process. Hope is an interesting quality. The degree of hope that people may experience over time can change. Even within the duration of a counselling relationship this quality may change. By assisting clients to accomplish one goal at a time and thus enable them to continually become closer to achieving their ultimate goal counsellors can witness this change in hope. Reflecting back on the content of this course has made me realize that a counsellor’s level of hopefulness is just as important in achieving change as their client’s level of hope. The counselling relationship is a mutual exchange between client and counsellor where both parties can learn from one another.

Continued Research As research continues to become compiled it will surely reveal treatment approaches that are proven to yield beneficial results for clients facing various health related concerns. One of the challenges for researchers in the field of health psychology is that they must strive to explain and understand the psychological ramifications for people living with life-altering illnesses. This is no easy task, and can be an extremely difficult one for even the most astute researcher. As researchers continue to accumulate data, practitioners working in the field will be able to more effectively aid clients in dealing with the challenges of living with life-altering illnesses. Establishing a connection between physical health and psychological health is one of the largest challenges for health psychologists.

Closing Thoughts Health psychology is composed of an accumulation of information from a variety of disciplines. As such, peoples’ opinions are influenced by numerous sources which all may exert an influence on their choices and beliefs. As counsellors we must accommodate our clients beliefs and assist them in achieving change throughout the process of counselling. Gaining a complete understanding our clients, introducing the concept of hope, and using the counselling relationship as a means to encourage change are three notions that I now recognize as instrumental to the counselling process as the result of completing this course.