Untitled Quiz

Basic Counseling Skills

• Counseling is providing assistance to resolve personal, social, or psychological problems, particularly by a professional.
• In 1997, the American Counseling Association (ACA) defined professional counseling as "the application of mental health, psychological, or human development principles through cognitive, affective, behavioral, or systemic interventions." These strategies address wellness, personal growth, or career development, as well as pathology.
• Each client is treated as an individual, even if their behavior isn't approved of.
• Counseling is a permissive relationship where the client can express freely without judgment.
• Decision-making is solely the client's responsibility.
• Counseling focuses on the client's difficulties and promotes behavioral change through learning.
• Effectiveness is largely influenced by the client's readiness for change and the counselor-client relationship.
• This relationship is confidential.

Factors influencing Change

• The counseling process is influenced by various characteristics that create a productive time for client and counselor.
• The main factors are Structure, Setting, Client Qualities, and Counselor Qualities.

Physical Setting

• Counseling can occur anywhere, but professionals usually operate in environments that ensure privacy, confidentiality, quiet, and comfort.

Basic Counseling Skills

• Active listening, Teaching, Processing, and Responding are essential counseling skills.

Active Listening

• Active listening encourages the client to share information through verbal and nonverbal cues of interest.
• Focus on all aspects of the client's expression and resist distractions.
• Pay attention to the client's tone of voice and cues for feelings.
• Identify generalizations, deletions, and distortions in their statements.
• Notice common cognitive and emotional themes.

Verbal Listening

• Show interest to gather information.
• Encourage the speaker to elaborate ideas.
• Express understanding of ideas.
• Request clarification for understanding.
• Build the therapeutic alliance.

Nonverbal Listening

• Maintain eye contact.
• Minimize distracting movements.
• Lean forward to face the speaker.
• Maintain open posture.
• Allow few interruptions.
• Signal interest through expressions and encouragers.

Processing

• Processing is when the counselor thinks about the client's observations and communicated information.
• The counselor mentally catalogues the following: client's beliefs, knowledge, attitudes, expectations, information from family, and counselor observations.

Responding

• Responding involves sharing information with the client.
• Includes providing feedback, emotional support, addressing concerns, and teaching skills.
• Explaining the situation.
• Practicing empathy: understand, be aware, be sensitive to, and vicariously experience the feelings, thoughts, and experiences of another.

Probing

• Probing is the use of open-ended questions to encourage exploration and greater depth in the client's situation, feelings, and behaviors.
• It helps to focus the client's attention on feelings, situations, or behaviors.
• Encourages elaboration, clarification, and illustrations of what the client is saying.
• Helps enhance client awareness and understanding regarding their situation and feelings.

Interpreting

• Interpreting is the counselor's explanation of the client's issues after observing their behavior and gathering other information.
• It involves three main parts: determining and restating basic messages; adding ideas for a new frame of reference; and validating ideas with the client.

Silence

• Silence can encourage reflection and encourage further sharing by the client, allowing them to express themselves.
• It can encourage clients to express their thoughts and feelings and to absorb what was said.

Understanding

• Advanced empathy refers to attending to feelings and thoughts that may not have been stated by the client.
• It helps the client to see the bigger picture and to look at areas they may be unaware of.
• It is used to identify themes of the client's stated feelings and behaviors.

Self-Disclosure

• Sharing personal information with the client—benefits the client, not counselor.
• Can help model self-disclosure behaviors and not take the focus from the client.
• Used sparingly and carefully to enhance the therapeutic relationship.

Confrontation

• Confrontation is a form of advanced empathy aiding the client in recognizing self-defeating or harmful behaviors.
• It is a form of challenge, avoiding verbal attacks.
• It needs a high level of empathy.
• Commonly involves inconsistencies or discrepancies in the client's statements or actions.

Immediacy

• Immediacy is the counselor's ability to use the present situation to encourage the client to critically examine the relationship between them.
• It creates a sense of immediacy and uses present-tense communication, creating a strong counseling relationship and intimacy.
• The counselor should take into consideration their view of the relationship.

Directives

• Directives are instructions given to the client.
• Counselors tell clients what to do, but the timing is crucial.
• Some therapeutic models utilize directives to different degrees.

Advising

• Advising is a type of directive.
• Presented as advice/suggestions, not strict commands/demands.
• Counselors need to take responsibility for their advice.
• Should be presented in a way that leaves decision-making with the client.

Feedback

• Feedback describes how others perceive the client.
• Helps the client view themselves from a different/objective perspective.
• Feedback works best when requested and when positive and concise.