Chapter 5 - Flagging the Minefield

Chapter five dealt with the applying concepts that clients learned during counseling sessions to future situations that they may encounter. In using the flagging the minefield technique, counselors and clients can mark future situations in which the client has learned to avoid setbacks. The situation in this chapter revolves around parents who are having trouble with a particularly difficult child. The counselor helps the parents identify a situation where they may encounter difficulties with the child, and talks them through the process of using the techniques they learned during their past counseling sessions while solving the possible problem. This technique can be used in a number of situations. Counselors can use this technique with clients who have had past behavioral issues, helping them to identify when they may have a problem and talk them through the process. This can also be applied to clients who have suffered from depression or other low emotional states. I think it is incredibly helpful for clients to be able to identify where they may have problems in “real-life” situations and get help figuring them out before they are actually in the situation. A lot of the time when a person is in a heightened emotional state, it is difficult to remember techniques to handle a particular situation, so I can see how identifying and talking through a difficult situation would help people to remember the problem-solving skills they learned during counseling.