TPC Journal-Vol 9- Issue 4-FULL ISSUE

The Professional Counselor | Volume 9, Issue 4 373 After reading the article, students illustrated a guided metaphor that could be used to inform their model of neuroscience-informed counseling practice. Students were provided with the prompt, “Neuroscience-informed counseling is _________” and then asked to fill in the blank with a noun. Students included a paragraph explaining their choice in metaphor and how they came to make that decision. Students were asked to share their metaphors with their peers in class. A student’s illustration could be a visual representation, in writing, or a combination of both. Metaphor is, simply put, the practice of describing one thing in terms of another (Tay, 2017b). More specifically, the use of metaphor increases understanding of a less well-understood concept or idea by describing it in terms of something that is better understood. In the assignment described above, students generated metaphors such as “neuroscience-informed counseling is the first mission to the moon,” “neuroscience-informed counseling is a penlight in a dark maze,” and “neuroscience-informed counseling is a puzzle” to be solved. Lawson (2005) extolled the virtues of metaphors in counseling, noting that they “can help the counselor connect to the client’s world” (p. 135). The use of neuroscience metaphors, whether generated by the client or the counselor, can aid in promoting empathy and therefore trust (Luke, 2017) and can aid in learning neuroscience concepts (Michael & Luke, 2016). For example, in the wildly popular “I Had a Black Dog, His Name Was Depression” World Health Organization video on YouTube (over 9 million views as of this writing), depression is compared to a black dog that affects every facet of an individual’s life (World Health Organization, 2012). The metaphor works by comparing an abstract concept like depression with something concrete like a black dog. It enables the client to experience their depression as something happening to them, not emerging from their core self. When incorporated with relevant neuroscience information, the metaphor takes on increased significance. This black dog hijacks a person’s will, leaving them with diminished options for meaningful action. Developing metaphors for the counselor’s roles when using neuroscience-informed counseling can clarify and strengthen counselor identity. When introducing this assignment, it is important to note that neuroscience-informed counseling is not its own therapeutic orientation. Whereas many graduate counseling programs have courses focused on advanced therapeutic orientations, such as solution- focused therapy or motivational interviewing, a course in neuroscience for counselors can strengthen a counselor’s current theoretical framework (Luke, 2017). For example, counselors practicing cognitive behavior therapy who learn about Hebb’s rule (1949), which states that “neurons that fire together wire together,” along with the concept of neuroplasticity, have another avenue of support for clients working to make positive behavioral changes. In this example, neuroscience can help the client gain awareness of the neurological structures that reinforce their behavior and also provide hard evidence that change is possible (Li et al., 2019). Neuroscience-informed counseling is one of many tools in the counselor toolbox. In addition to conceptualizing neuroscience-informed counseling as part of their professional identity, students also learn content knowledge of the brain’s structures, systems, and functions. Brain structures, systems, and functions book . This assignment required students to research the basic structures, systems, and functions of the human brain and design their own book. The instructor provided students black and white images of various structures of the brain discussed in the class textbook. Images included lateral and dorsal views of the brain, the two hemispheres of the brain, the three divisions of the brain (i.e., forebrain, midbrain, and hindbrain), the four lobes of the brain (i.e., frontal, temporal, occipital, and parietal), the anatomy of a neuron, and a stem chart of the nervous system tasks, including the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system functions. This approach is supported by works such as the Wammes, Meade, and Fernandes (2016) investigation of the neural processes of storing and retrieving memory. The authors found that drawing important words and phrases improves one’s ability to remember important concepts. Students were asked to use various mediums, including colored pencils, crayons, and markers, to label and highlight the