Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM), also known as Complementary and Integrative Health
Practices, covers a wide range of therapies and supplemental practices that can complement or integrate with
the counseling process.
Alternative therapies refer to a wide range of therapies regularly used in conjunction with the counseling
process.
Choose three from either list (CAM practices or alternative therapies) below and engage in each one for 1-2
days. If there is a practice you want to do for this assignment not on the list, email the professor for approval.
You will reflect on the experience as part of the assignment.
CAMs options:
Yoga
Meditation
Hypnotherapy
Biofeedback
Homeopathy, including aromatherapy
Acupuncture
Specific nutrition or dietary practice, such as particular supplementation
Alternative therapy options:
Equine therapy
Music therapy
Art therapy
Dance or movement therapy
Sand tray therapy or other play therapy
Animal-assisted therapy
Horticulture therapy
Start your paper with a brief introduction of the topic, ending with a strong thesis statement.
The first section of the paper needs to describe CAM and/or alternative therapy (depending upon what you
chose to do as your activities), including background, principles, and goals/purpose. This section must be in
third-person.
The second section of the paper must first identify which of the CAM practices and/or alternative therapies
you engaged in and then describe the process you undertook, including how many days you completed each
activity and how you completed each activity over the duration of the assignment.
After describing your process, you will then analyze your experience in light of the principles and
goals/purpose of CAM or alternative therapies, especially any noted goals or benefits of the specific activities
you completed, such as benefits presented in published research on the specific activity you practiced.
Discuss the strengths and weaknesses or the costs and benefits of your experience with these CAM practices
and/or alternative therapies. This section should be in first-person.
The conclusion of the paper should include an analysis of the potential usefulness of the different CAM
practices and/or alternative therapies you completed with your current and future clients.
Logistical requirements:
The content of the paper (i.e. not including title page or reference list) needs to be 1100-1600 words. You are
required to use level 1 headings: title of paper as the heading for introduction, CAM/Alternative Therapy
section heading, Personal Experience section heading, Conclusion section heading). I also want you to
organize the personal experience section with a level 2 subheading for each of the CAM practices/alternative
therapies you completed. Write everything in the introduction and CAM/Alternative Therapy sections in thirdperson. The Personal Experience and Conclusion sections should be in first-person.
You must cite sources for each of the CAM practices or alternative therapies you completed, including any
websites you accessed. Normally websites are not accepted as sources for assignments, however, with this
topic, some of the CAM practices and alternative therapies are not easy to find published scholarly literature.
While published research on CAM practices and alternative therapies is preferred, for this assignment,
websites will be accepted if the publisher of the website and information is credible such as the NIH and APA websites provided in Moodle.
Level 1 heading – title of paper
Introduction paragraph with thesis statement
Level 1 heading – CAM/Alternative Therapies
Explain what CAMs and/or alternative therapies are, especially how they relate to psychotherapy and can be
utilized as part of a treatment plan (note specific types of issues or populations that CAMs or alternative
therapies target)
Level 1 heading – Personal Experience
Level 2 heading – Name first activity
Paragraph that describes how you did the activity
Paragraph that analyzes the strengths/weaknesses, effectiveness of the activity
Level 2 heading – Name second activity
Paragraph that describes how you did the activity
Paragraph that analyzes the strengths/weaknesses, effectiveness of the activity
Level 2 heading – Name third activity
Paragraph that describes how you did the activity
Paragraph that analyzes the strengths/weaknesses, effectiveness of the activity
Level 1 heading – Conclusion
Summarize your analysis of CAMs and alternative therapies
Would you recommend any of them for current clients (or see them as useful for future clients) – why or why
not