Edwards Mentoring & Social Services (EMSS)

 

 

We are committed to facilitating positive personal development in Children, Youth and Families – strengthening each through mentoring, counseling and education. Largely informed by Family Systems and Cognitive Behavior Theories, Edwards Mentoring & Social Services’ field of practice understands that individuals cannot be understood in isolation from their interactive family or social systems. As such, EMSS incorporates Narrative Therapy and Reflective Thinking Practices in working with individuals, wherein Narrative Therapy is a respectful, non-judgmental method of counseling which centers the individual seeking services as the expert in his or her life. The approach aims to see “life challenges” separate from the individual experiencing them. Further, Narrative Therapy operates from the premise that people have many abilities, beliefs, competencies, skills and values that can assist them to minimize the impact of challenges in their lives.

 

Through telling their story, individuals reconstruct and diagram historical and current interactions and relationships. As one begins to gain deeper understanding from the reconstructed story, there is opportunity to reflect or think about the lived experiences: what happened, why it happened and how could it have been different? From the reflective process, one considers how to move forward as a result of the gained understanding…. Reflection allows individuals to step outside the lived experience, conceptualize the lived experience as an outsider and reframe thoughts, feelings and ideas about lived experiences in a manner to predicate a more desirable outcome. Simply stated, Reflective Practice is “learning from experience” and proceeding with life accordingly.