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Title of Paper [Please see APA About an Appropriate Title]

Your Name

MACP Program, Faculty of Behavioural Sciences, Yorkville University

PSYC XXXX-XX – [Course #, section #] A Biopsychosocial Approach to Counselling

Dr. Firstname Lastname

[date of submission goes here: either Month dd, yyyy OR yyyy mm dd]

Your Appropriate Title That is Identical to the Previous One on the Title Page
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[Note that APA does not use the heading of Introduction after the title. Just jump into the

introduction content below after the title line].

Remember that the first part of the paper is always assumed to be the introduction for it.

Introduce the primary focus in a clear sentence (i.e. In this paper I explore….) followed by

further introductory information (e.g. one sentence about the case), then information about the

steps you take in this paper (i.e. explain that you will first present/describe the case, discuss BPS,

then CRSJ approach, perhaps discuss the therapeutic relationship, then discuss the case from the

bio psycho social and wider socio-cultural concerns). State that you will provide concluding

comments about the therapeutic relationship.

First Heading

Overview of the Metatheoretical Lens

Describe the CRSJ Metatheoretical Lens in your own words. Reference the course

readings and other scholarly resources.

Overview of the BPS Framework

Describe the BioPsychoSocial Model, including a description of the interconnection

between biology, psychology, and socio-environmental factors. Support your writings with in-

text citations of scholarly reference sources.

Overview of the Disorder or Topic

Describe the key concerns that have brought the client, in the final case scenario, to

counselling at this time. For example, if the counselling issue is depression, describe some

common characteristics of depression and its prevalence in the general population. Do not write

at length about BPS factors. This step is the part of academic writing where you make sure the

reader understands important concepts for your essay, early on.

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Case Description

This is the section in which you give the reader all the information about your case (the

scenario provided in the assignment instructions): Include demographic and social locating

/identifying facts (i.e., age, racial minority/majority, marital status, current occupation, living

situation), the problem the client is presenting with for counselling, the client’s situation in life

and participation in various cultures (e.g., ethnicity, linguistic, rural/urban, generation, religion,

and other relevant cultures.

You need to also include some basic information about the history of this or similar

problem in the client’s life (i.e., previous episodes of depression, or diagnosis of GAD), as well

as the key symptoms and their impact on the client’s life.

Application of the BPS and CRSJ Approaches

Biological Factors to Counselling

Identify, describe, and analyze the biological factors for the client in the case scenario

(disorder/issue). Assess and explore layers that would impact the client and the treatment process

(i.e., layers outlined in BPS). Support your writings with in-text citations of scholarly reference

sources. Remember that biological factors can include epigenetic discussion, but do not

accidentally launch into a discussion about personal developmental experiences or challenging

events in detail, since those are better placed in the next two sections.

Sample Third Layer Heading

APA 7 Level 3 headings are flush left, bold, title case, and italics. Your introductory

sentence for this section begins as a new paragraph underneath it as shown here.

Psychological Factors to Counselling

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Identify, describe, and analyze the psychological factors for the client in the case scenario

(disorder/issue). Remember that psychological topics are those that involve what goes on inside

the client: thoughts, emotions, behaviours (i.e., low self-esteem, ruminating, catastrophizing,

self-talk, sadness). Support your writings with in-text citations of scholarly

reference sources.

Social Factors to Counselling

Identify, describe and analyze the first-layer interpersonal social factors for the case

client (i.e., family interactions, personal experiences of interactions with others). This is not the

section to discuss cultural concerns such as discrimination, values, messaging, or to discuss

social determinants of health (impersonal, positionality facts that are statistically correlated to

health/mental health outcomes or for example, the fact that anxiety is higher in women, or that

another identity feature may be tied to lower access to resources). This section is for more

personal, micro layer social experiences, such as abuse, trauma. You may include interactions

related to family context and culture here. Wider cultural aspects belong in the next section.

Support your writings with in-text citations of scholarly reference sources.

CRSJ Approach to Counselling

Identify, describe, and analyze the socio-cultural considerations for the client in the case

scenario (disorder/issue). This section is for social determinants of health (impersonal,

positionality facts that are statistically correlated to health/mental health outcomes or for

example, the fact that anxiety is higher in women, or that another identity feature may be tied to

lower access to resources), and for cultural aspects outside the client’s immediate relationships,

such as their participation in mainstream culture, an ethnic/religious/sport/workplace … or sub-

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culture. Support your writings with in-text citations. You are expected to include at least one

social determinant in your social and cultural factors discussed in this section.

Counsellor Role in Therapeutic Relationship

Counsellor’s Professional Role

Describe the counsellor’s professional role in building a therapeutic relationship,

conceptualization, and other relevant actions for the client in the case scenario that were not part

of your earlier section (i.e., the earlier section looks more at the counselling session introduction

and context, while this one looks at approaches and considerations for counselling through the

counselling session and with regard to how the counsellor’s approach could be appropriate as the

case is treated ongoing). Support your writings with intext citations of scholarly reference

sources.

Ethical Considerations

Briefly explore ethical considerations for the counsellor when providing counselling for

the client in the case scenario. Make specific reference to ethical codes that were reviewed in

Unit 7. Remember to cite the code # as well. Support your writings with in-text citations of

scholarly reference sources.

Case Conceptualization

Briefly develop the case conceptualization for this scenario up to, not including treatment.

Provide references for your outline and structure for the case conceptualization. See the Case of

Geri (Sperry & Sperry, 2020 p. 93) for an example.

Conclusion

Write a concise conclusion and support your main points with some of the references that
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you found. A good conclusion summarizes the key points from your BPS factors that influence

this case, and makes a statement about learning from this examination of this case, for

counsellors to consider when working with such a case.

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References

Adams, A.B. & Smith, C. L. (2021). A guide to a busy day in New York (6th ed.). Pearson

Publishing Press.

Jones, A.L. (2018). A sample article for graduate students: A primer for formatting. The

Journal of Made-up Research, 14(2), 17-21.

(see notes on next page)

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Notes:

 The references above are made-up and are just to illustrate the basic hanging indent

format for a basic book and a basic journal reference. This means that the first line is

flush left, but all subsequent lines of the same reference are indented ½ inch (6 spaces).

 Refer to Chapter 10 (APA, 2020) of the APA Publication Manual (7th ed.) for guidance in

formatting of other issues (such as double-spacing and alphabetizing references).

 [Remember to cite original sources unless they are not accessible in the Yorkville

library. See the APA manual for how to cite original work from secondary sources if you

need to do this.]

Page Count Recommendations:

Introduction [0.5 page max] Remember to use your title from the title page for the title of your
introduction, and do not use the word introduction, see APA 7th ed.

Overview of the BPS Framework [0.5 page max]

Overview of the Metatheoretical Lens [0.5 page max]

Overview of the Disorder/Topic [0.5 page max]

Application of the BPS and CRSJ Approaches [6-8 factors total in this section]

Biological Approaches to Counselling [2 pages max]

Psychological Approaches to Counselling [2 pages max]

Social Approaches to Counselling [2 pages max]

CRSJ Approach to Counselling [1.5 pages max]

Counsellor Role in Therapeutic Relationship

Counsellor’s Professional Role [0.5 page max]

Ethical Considerations [0.5 page max]

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Case Conceptualization [0.5 page max]

Conclusion [0.5 page max]