What should i do? can you help me please?
Ben is a 21 year old homeless male, who is currently sleeping rough on the streets of London. Sometimes, after finding a good spot to bed down for the night, Ben is reluctant to abandon it the next day in case somebody else takes it, so he sits and begs on the same spots for most days.
Ben feels that everyone else is better than he is, as a child he never lived up to his fathers expectations of him or had the same interests as his father. His father would fail in life so Ben feels he has. Before he left home he enjoyed drawing and painting and although his teachers said he had a talent in this area, his father said it was not a suitable career for a son of his
Sometimes Ben visits daycentre for the homeless and has been offered an appointment with a humanistic counsellor.
What is stopping Ben from self actualising?
How would a humanistic counsellor work with Ben to help him towards achieving self actualisation?
I am confused- i had written this up but wasn't sure if it was right- could you help me out please =D
Thanks
Amy
Posted in counsellor london
content rss
April 30th, 2009 at 8:56 am
Choices! Ben is getting choices where one or many are the wrong choice for him. For instance… I have a place where you can sleep tonight without bother, and I have a different place that is guaranteed to set you up to find a job and get back on your feet but it is a bit crowded. Ben will always choose the worst case scenario. So, what he needs is to be given choices where both are winners and none are losers. He gets to choose, but we never let him fail. After he has a job and an apartment, we give him some much needed free therapy. After which the lite comes on! He finally gets it! He will always need a financial advisory. He will always need a relationship coach. He is always going to need to be given choices where both are positive gains.
April 30th, 2009 at 8:56 am
Unfortunately, Ben has to want to change before true help can be given. One cannot force self esteem upon someone.
These are his problems to deal with, not yours. Entangle yourself within his life won't help him in the long run, just hurt you.
April 30th, 2009 at 8:56 am
Ben doesn't remember how to be on track and doing things he'll feel good about. He doesn't even probably think he deserves happiness or can ever get over the stigma socially from where he is now to where life can be pleasurable once again. It just might seem unsurmountable and in thier mind sure to fail. Just a good empathizer, I don't know for sure.
Continue to be that person's friend. They might even subconsciously test your friendship by being a jerk…keep at it.
April 30th, 2009 at 8:56 am
I have seen something like this before Amy…………I stopped responding to these, sorry.