The Video Interview Part 1

Ronald conducted a video interview with his brother, Marc for his psychology class. The topic they were discussing for the video was his views on the difference between high school and college and how his transition from school led an impact in his life, as Marc is the client and Ronald is the interviewer.

During the first stage of the interview, the brothers began by introducing each other and Ronald asked Marc "What would you like to talk about today?" He then responded "I would like to talk about my experience in college and the differences between high school and college." While being the client, he felt at ease with the question and made sure that Ronald understood the topic. We worked together to build an alliance with each other for him to feel comfortable with the subject.

During the second stage of the interview, Marc went on more with his story after "could you tell me more about that?" Ronald listened as he discussed how he felt about being a student. He shared his thoughts about his early college days and was concerned about how the instructors at college and the teachers at high school were different. He believed that most of them have a different way of teaching the students. He also realized he showed his strengths working in both.

During the third stage of the interview, Marc then discussed how things were changing upon graduating from high school and then going to college. He felt the atmosphere was different from what he experienced. Because the curriculum was more different, he felt more stressed due to the work being more complicated than in high school as he was dealing with the difficulty of exams.

During the fourth stage of the interview, he went on to explain how he was able to develop more relationships with his peers in and out of college, and being less stressed about the exams and consulting with his instructors about it. He had found the time in high school to work with his teachers and peers as he saw them throughout the week, while in college he feels that he has limited contact because he sees his instructors and fellow students for a couple of days.

During the fifth and final stage of the interview, he decided to take action with his plan on working more with his instructors and being stress free with exams and interacting more with his peers. Upon realizing this, he understands how he will use his skills and continue to do so.

In the interview, they used many of the microskills patterns. With focus, they had the main theme, which was the difference between high school and college and it was person centered. In basic listening skills, there was the open question, which was delusional counseling. In influencing skills, they used interpretation/reframe, which was both brief counseling and person centered.

The effective areas Ronald could have used in the interview were paraphrasing and summarizing. With paraphrasing, he could have used key phrases as a way of comprehending what the client was saying about college life. With summarizing, Ronald would have been able to mentalize the client, but also maintain boundaries with him.

Eventually towards the end of the interview, the brothers talked about their early school years and their interactions with their teachers were much different than later in high school. While Ronald barely had a positive mentor in a teacher during elementary school, Marc would seek advice from a couple of teachers. Then came high school, where they had many teachers who were inspirations to them.

In general, Ronald felt that the interview was successful as he and the client were in depth about the difference between college life and life in high school.