Please respond to each peer separately..Responses should be 1-2 paragraphs  each with 2 references. Main Discussion Post: The Martinez Family (L.F-peer response 1)  Gabby is a 19-year-old who is in the “figuring it out stage” in her life.  She lives with her parents and thinks this is okay as long as she does what they tell her to do. Gabby does not attend college and does not have a steady job because she has not found a job that interests her enough to stay. Her parents are pressuring her to settle down and get married and Gabby does not know what she wants to do at this point in her life. In Gabby’s situation, Schaie’s Theory best describes the developmental period she is experiencing. This theory will help the counselor build a good and strong rapport with Gabby and guide her to make the best decisions for her future. Promoting Positive Development  It is important to guide Gabby in the direction that she feels is best for herself because as Dr. Kailla Edger states, “young adults aren’t cemented a lot of times, is this where I really want to be (Laureate, 2013f, 0:34)” stage in her developmental stage in her life. A clinical mental health counselor should keep this in mind when working with young adults are transitioning from adolescence into young adults and who are trying to find their niche in life rather it's going to college or finding employment. It also seems confirmed subjectively by emerging adults’ reports that during the 18–25 age period most of them feel not like adolescents and not like adults but somewhere in between, on the way to adulthood but not there yet (Arnett, 2007).               Just like the past transitions from an infant to child and child to adolescence, our cognitive skills into adulthood have not developed due to lack of experience and our environment. Each stage in life comes with a learning process and the experiences and knowledge from the last stages only get build upon as we go through new experiences in life. For Gabby, Schaie’s theory will help her through this new transition into young adulthood.  Schaie’s theory emphasizes the importance of new roles, needs, and responsibilities in determining adult intellectual functioning (Broderick & Blewitt, 2015, pp. 417). Shaie’s theory consists of seven stages of how young adults mentally function and they are the achieving, responsible, ill-structured, executive, reorganizing, reintegrative and the legacy-leaving stages. This theory helps with accommodating the client by helping to set realistic goals that are tailored to the client’s cognitive development and skills they have in each stage. Gabby has not decided what path she wants to embark on at this point in her life and as a counselor guiding their young adult client, they must know the importance of two key processes of identity formation: the exploration of alternatives and commitment to choices (Smits, Doumen, Luyckx, Duriez & Goossens, 2011). Based on Shaie's theory Gabby is in the ill-struct ...

1. Please respond to each peer separately..Responses should be 1-2
paragraphs each with 2 references.
Main Discussion Post: The Martinez Family (L.F-peer response
1)
Gabby is a 19-year-old who is in the “figuring it out stage” in
her life. She lives with her parents and thinks this is okay as
long as she does what they tell her to do. Gabby does not attend
college and does not have a steady job because she has not
found a job that interests her enough to stay. Her parents are
pressuring her to settle down and get married and Gabby does
not know what she wants to do at this point in her life. In
Gabby’s situation, Schaie’s Theory best describes the
developmental period she is experiencing. This theory will help
the counselor build a good and strong rapport with Gabby and
guide her to make the best decisions for her future.
Promoting Positive Development
It is important to guide Gabby in the direction that she feels is
best for herself because as Dr. Kailla Edger states, “young
adults aren’t cemented a lot of times, is this where I really want
to be (Laureate, 2013f, 0:34)” stage in her developmental stage
in her life. A clinical mental health counselor should keep this
in mind when working with young adults are transitioning from
adolescence into young adults and who are trying to find their
niche in life rather it's going to college or finding employment.
It also seems confirmed subjectively by emerging adults’
reports that during the 18–25 age period most of them feel not
like adolescents and not like adults but somewhere in between,
on the way to adulthood but not there yet (Arnett, 2007).

2. Just like the past transitions from an infant to child and
child to adolescence, our cognitive skills into adulthood have
not developed due to lack of experience and our environment.
Each stage in life comes with a learning process and the
experiences and knowledge from the last stages only get build
upon as we go through new experiences in life. For Gabby,
Schaie’s theory will help her through this new transition into
young adulthood. Schaie’s theory emphasizes the importance of
new roles, needs, and responsibilities in determining adult
intellectual functioning (Broderick & Blewitt, 2015, pp. 417).
Shaie’s theory consists of seven stages of how young adults
mentally function and they are the achieving, responsible, ill-
structured, executive, reorganizing, reintegrative and the
legacy-leaving stages. This theory helps with accommodating
the client by helping to set realistic goals that are tailored to the
client’s cognitive development and skills they have in each
stage.
Gabby has not decided what path she wants to embark on at this
point in her life and as a counselor guiding their young adult
client, they must know the importance of two key processes of
identity formation: the exploration of alternatives and
commitment to choices (Smits, Doumen, Luyckx, Duriez &
Goossens, 2011). Based on Shaie's theory Gabby is in the ill-
structured stage where she does not have pre-established
answers to solve her problems such as career choice and
deciding to marry. As Gabby’s counselor, it is important to
guide her into behavioral approaches that consist of establishing
time-oriented goals and having a wide range of solutions that
will not overwhelm her.
Summary
The importance of the use of theories when working with a
client is that is beneficial to both the client and the counselor.
For the client, theories help process who they are and help

3. explain the feelings and emotions they are experiencing. For
counselors, it helps to understand their clients mentally and
understand the development stage they are in to receive
appropriate treatment.
Main Discussion Post: Reeves Family (T.H-Peer response 2)
John returns for therapy at age 21 because he believes therapy
was beneficial for him in working through his adolescent issues.
Since his adolescence, John has turned his life around. John has
distanced himself from negative influences, finished high
school in the top 20% of his class, and completed a college
degree in history in only three years (Laureate Education,
2013m). Although John has been successful in his academics, he
discloses that employment is overrated, has returned home to
his fathers, and rather explore and experience more of life
before committing to life’s obligations. John states he wants to
embark on a journey of personal development to find his true
self. John is hoping to find help in figuring out where he is in
life. After listening to John, it is clear that he is struggling with
transitioning into work life and is confused with his path in life.
John may still be in the exploratory stage of Super’s
Developmental Theory. Although John has stepped into the
crystallization and specification stage, I believe he is not able
to enter the implementation stage because he may have started,
what Super’s calls, the mini cycles of reevaluation because his
personal characteristics do not match with the demands of the
job he has chosen.
Promoting Positive Development
When John returned to counseling after many years, he
disclosed that he has come to see me because I was very helpful

4. during his adolescence. This disclosure shows me that half the
work is completed because he believes in the process of therapy
and is committed to working hard to improve his life once
again. This is not a failsafe by no means, and work must be
done to maintain John’s commitment and trust. Counselors must
center on rapport building as the main focus rather than
information gathering (Sharpley, Fairnie, Tabary-Collins, Bates,
& Lee, 2000). Many strategies have been tested on efficacy, and
many stand true in promoting rapport between counselor and
client. Studies show the use of paraphrases, reflection of
feelings, and minimal encouragers during the initial stages of
therapy were the most effective at establishing rapport but were
not so effective as the therapeutic process proceeded (Sharpley
et al., 2000). Research shows that effective counseling that
promotes rapport comes down to being a good listener and a
counselor that responds effectively while implementing silence
and open questions (Sharpley et al., 2000). During therapy with
John, I will promote the maintenance of rapport by using the
suggested techniques and tools which are supported by
empirical research.
In addition to the utilization of techniques and tools for
promoting rapport, the use of Super’s Developmental Approach
Theory will allow me to maintain rapport and increasing my
understanding of johns presenting and underlying issues which
will promote positive development as he embarks on self-
discovery. The central component to Super’s theory is the
vocational self-concept which helps a person evaluate their
qualities and characteristics to help match a person match with
the requirements of an occupation (Broderick & Blewitt, 2015).
Further work with John may reveal why John is unable or
unwilling to enter into the implementation stage where he can
utilize his education to find employment. One prediction is that
the occupation or field of study does not match with Johns
vocational self-concept which is why he feels lost. Further work
may also reveal that John has, in fact, matched his occupations

5. or field of study with his vocational self-concept but has not
reached career maturity. John may not be ready to cope with the
developmental tasks and expectations that are placed on him
(Stead & Watson, 1998). This dilemma between looking for
jobs, the pressures from his father to not being a “bum” and his
desires to explore and experience life are weighing heavy on
him.
According to Jung, adolescents and young adults develop a
persona that maintains an acceptable image that reflects the
expectations of others, and as adolescents approach adulthood,
the persona must be modified to match the roles and demands a
person takes on (Robinson & Smith, 2010). An approach that
will help John reflect and find direction is evaluating the pros
and cons of the different choices he has in front of him and to
also explore other paths. Helping John work through the
possible options during this confusing time of not knowing what
is next and seeing how they may work out will allow him to
gain a better picture of what role he wants to take on in
adulthood (Laureate Education, 2013f). Processing these ideas
may also increase his career maturity and help cement him, or
as Super would say, bring him to stabilization. Helping John
answer questions like “whom am I becoming and how will I
express this emerging self?” and finding better ways to
conceptualize career issues will give John the tools to be more
confident with his vocational self-concept and career decision
making (Broderick & Blewitt, 2015).
Summary
Theories, in general, give clinicians a frame or guide to practice
by which allows a more structured and tailored process to occur
in therapy. Developmental theories are especially helpful in
conceptualizing clients because development is an extremely
complex concept to comprehend and the different facets that
arise throughout a personals life are tricky (Broderick &

6. Blewitt, 2015). Developmental theories provide a sort of
scaffolding for clinicians as they conduct therapy, explore
concerns, and develop goals and treatment plans. Clinicians who
can incorporate the impacts of development when working with
clients significantly increase case conceptualization and bring
understanding to a three-dimensional platform. A greater
awareness from these theories and how they apply to client
issues allows clinicians to assist clients in formulating realistic
and attainable goals which fit the client's developmental
framework.
References:
Broderick, P. C., & Blewitt, P. (2015).
The life span: Human development for helping professionals
(4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.
Chapter 11, “Physical and Cognitive Development in Young
Adulthood” (pp. 408-437)
Chapter 12, “Socioemotional and Vocational Development in
Young Adulthood” (pp. 438-476)
Arnett, J. J. (2007). Suffering, selfish, slackers? Myths and
reality about emerging adults.
Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 36
(1), 23–29.

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