ABSTRACT
Existential theory promotes choices to clients based on the belief that people form their lives and have free will. Existentialists believe people are responsible for their decisions, and that some choices are healthier than others. The goal of existential counseling then is to help clients, at any age, take more responsibility for their lives. As existential theory promotes self-awareness, children can be verbally prompted to raise awareness about behaviors that are "working" and "not working" in social situations. The group member may state they felt everyone was present in the group, which "was working", but felt that a member who was not looking at them, but instead playing with a piece of paper, was "not working". This allows other members who are part of the group to plan to receive positive feedback. It may also raise self-awareness for the student that is off-task—thereby raising their self-awareness to the socially inappropriate behavior. The group then continues in a round fashion.
