Basic Processes, Essentials, Strategies, And Techniques Of Counseling PDF

BASIC PROCESSES, ESSENTIALS, STRATEGIES, TECHNIQUES OF COUNSELING Presented by: Carlo A. Valencia  CONTENTS 1. SETTING THE STAGE/COUNSELING PROCESS 2. COUNSELING STRATEGIES 3. COUNSELING TECHNIQUES  BASIC PROCESS OF COUNSELING Process influenc...

BASIC PROCESSES, ESSENTIALS, STRATEGIES, TECHNIQUES OF COUNSELING Presented by: Carlo A. Valencia  CONTENTS 1. SETTING THE STAGE/COUNSELING PROCESS 2. COUNSELING STRATEGIES 3. COUNSELING TECHNIQUES  BASIC PROCESS OF COUNSELING Process influences the outcome. The process of counseling – what the counselor and a client do and experience in session – affects the outcome, the success of counseling. To master the process, beginning counselor must develop a repertoire of helping skills as well as a theory of counseling that directs their application.  13 APPROACHES TO COUNSELING 1. Make Personal Contact – making contact means being with the client, touching someone emotionally, communicating. 2. Develop a Working Alliance – the task of the counselor is engage the client in such a way that both are working together to resolve the issue that brought the client to counseling. 3. Explain Counseling to Client – Client frequently approach counseling to misconceptions about the process. Counselors also considered it an ethical obligation to employ and explain informed consent forms when beginning with new clients.  13 APPROACHES TO COUNSELING 4. Pace and Lead the Client – pacing and leading refer to how much direction the counselor exerts with the client. 5. Speak Briefly – in general, counselor should talk less than their client. 6. When You Don’t Know What to Say, Say Nothing – particularly in counseling, silence is golden. 7. You May Confront as Much as You’ve Supported – confrontation or challenging in counseling does not mean opposing the client but pointing out discrepancies between clients goal and their actions.  13 APPROACHES TO COUNSELING 8. If You Want to Change Something, Process It – Counselors also employ the word process to describe the act of talking about something that is happening in the session. 9. Individualize Your Counseling – each counselor eventually develops a personal style of counseling. 10. Notice Resistance and Avoidance – resistance refers to an obstacle – presented by the client – that influences the process of the client. 11. When in Doubt, Focus on the Feelings – Counselor trust clients feelings – particularly as expressed on the nonverbal level – as indicator as salient issues.  13 APPROACHES TO COUNSELING 12. Plan For Termination at the Beginning of the Counseling - begin laying the groundwork for successful termination from the very first session by describing therapy as a time-limited process. 13. Arrange the Physical Setting Appropriately - A well-designed and comfortable space can help clients feel more relaxed and open to sharing their thoughts and feelings.  COUNSELING STRATEGIES As human beings we are often troubled by harmful thoughts, uncomfortable feelings and emotions because of which we may end up in behaviors that have negative consequences. The central goal in counselling is to help people those in problems feel better and function more adaptively so that they can lead more satisfying lives.  COUNSELING STRATEGIES We could use any of the strategies mentioned below or a combination of the strategies. Symbolic Strategy Creative Strategy Behavioral and Creative Strategy Psycho Educative Strategy  SYMBOLIC STRATEGY Symbolic strategy can be particularly useful in cases where the issues troubling a client are so distressing or personal that they find it difficult to talk about the problem directly. By using symbols the client may be able to share his or her thoughts about issues which are difficult for them to discuss without directly talking about these issues. The five symbolic strategies are as follows: A. Use of Metaphor D. Use of Sand and Tray B. Use of Ritual E. Use of Miniature Animals C. Use of Symbols  SYMBOLIC STRATEGY A. Use of Metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech containing an implied comparison: it expresses one thing in terms of something else. Rather than directly explaining some specific aspects or situations that has happened in a client’s life, the metaphor provides an alternative description. Metaphor can be used in: 1. Exploring and extending clients own metaphor 2. Inventing a metaphor to describe a particular event or situation 3. Using a metaphor to tell a story  SYMBOLIC STRATEGY B. Use of Ritual Rituals form part of the lives of everyone. They are used to mark occasions an events. Letter-writing can be used as a ritual. This is a process of putting down on paper thoughts and feelings which have not been openly expressed. This letter does not have to be sent. The ritual will be completed just in writing the letter.  SYMBOLIC STRATEGY C. Use of Symbol Symbols that are used in counseling are specific physical objects which can be used to represent feelings, thoughts, beliefs, people, relationships and a range of other things. Symbols can be used to: 1. Access and disclose information 2. Get in touch with and explore feelings 3. Come up with alternatives for comparison 4. Represent people 5. Represent something which may need to be discarded  SYMBOLIC STRATEGY D. Use of Sand and Tray Sand-tray work has traditionally used with children, but can be very useful when working with adolescents and even when working with some adults. Generally the Sand and Tray can be use to help the client to: 1. Tell their stories 2. Explore feelings, thoughts, situations and events 3. Explore past, present, and future situations and events 4. Gain an understanding of the elements or events occurring in their life  SYMBOLIC STRATEGY E. Use of Miniature Animal It involves the use of miniature animals which are used as symbols to represent people in the client’s family or social setting. The Method Involves Four Stages: 1. Choosing Animals 2. Arranging the Animals in the Picture 3. Exploring Various Configurations or Positions 4. Rearranging the Animals in a New Picture  CREATIVE STRATEGY Some counselors automatically assume that the phrase creativity in counseling is limited to art therapy, drama therapy and certain other experiential techniques. These are the four types of Creative Strategy: A. Art B. Role Play C. Journal (Diary Writing) D. Dream Logs  CREATIVE STRATEGY A. Art Visual arts are non-threatening for most adolescents and this provides a way for them to express innermost thoughts, feelings or ideas. Art can be used in counseling to: 1. Understand Current Issue and Problem 2. Explore Feelings 3. Develop Insight (Gain More Depth)  CREATIVE STRATEGY B. Role Play Role play is a learning process where the participants take on the role of specific individuals in order to meet particular learning objectives. Role play can be used for the following purposes to: 1. Gain an understanding of roles and responsibilities 2. Get in touch with feelings 3. Explore parts of the self 4. Make choices 5. Externalize beliefs and feelings 6. Practice and experiment with new behaviors.  CREATIVE STRATEGY C. Journal (Dairy Writing) Serves as a running record of the clients subjective experience of daily life. The headings may be as follows: 1. What I did 2. How I viewed the day 3. How I felt emotionally 4. Relationships or lack of relationships 5. Things learnt from today  CREATIVE STRATEGY D. Dream Logs Dreams can be a very useful way of helping clients access important personal information. For this the client can be asked to keep a log of their dreams. The log preferably should be written in three parts – the content of the dream; the emotional feelings experienced during the dream; thoughts about the dream. BEHAVIORAL AND COGNITIVE STRATEGIES Behavioral and Cognitive strategies have been successful to varying degrees, when working with adolescents who are anxious, depressed, aggressive and unmotivated and with adolescents who have difficulty with interpersonal and social skills. BEHAVIORAL AND COGNITIVE STRATEGIES A client who has self-destructive beliefs can be helped if these beliefs are challenged. Below are some examples: Self-Destructive Beliefs Constructive Beliefs I must confirm to my peers I can be an individual and do my own thing. Other people should live up to my Other people won’t live up to my expectations expectations. I never succeed in anything Sometimes I succeed and sometimes I fail. I am human and I am OK.  PSYCHO EDUCATIVE STRATEGIES Here we will discuss a range of educational strategies which teach clients about life and also help them to gain more control over their behaviors. Two simple psycho-educative strategies which can be used to enable clients find out and share information about themselves are : A. Rating Scale B. Inventory  PSYCHO EDUCATIVE STRATEGIES A. Rating Scale Rating scales can be used to rate and monitor intensity, severity or frequency of behaviors. A rating scale is an instrument that requires the rater to assign the rated object that have numerals assigned to them. Example of a self-rating scale: My hand writing is –  PSYCHO EDUCATIVE STRATEGIES B. Inventories Inventories or questionnaires are used to collect both quantitative and qualitative information. A questionnaire refers to a device for securing answer to questions by using a form which the person or respondents fills himself or herself. After the questions are answered, the scores will be mentioned in the questionnaire from which one can understand how s/he has fared in the assessment.  COUNSELING TECHNIQUES Means the application of basic counseling and psychotherapy skills and theories in the counseling process for the purposes of establishing and maintaining the counseling relationship; diagnosing the problem; formulating a preventative, treatment, or rehabilitative plan; and facilitating appropriate interventions.  COUNSELING TECHNIQUES There are three major techniques used in counseling The techniques are: A. Directive Counseling B. Non-Directive Counseling C. Eclectic Counseling  DIRECTIVE COUNSELING In this counseling the counselor plays an active role as it is regarded as a means of helping people how to learn to solve their own problems. This type of counseling is otherwise known as counselor-centered counseling.  DIRECTIVE COUNSELING It has the following features: 1. During the interview attention is focused upon a particular problem and possibilities for its solution. 2. During the interview the counselor plays a more active role than the client. 3. The client makes the decision, but the counselor does all that he can to get the counselee or client makes a decision in keeping with his diagnosis. 4. The counselor tries to direct the thinking of the counselee or client by informing, explaining, interpreting and advising him.  DIRECTIVE COUNSELING Steps in Directive Counseling: 1. Analysis: In this step data is collected from a variety of sources for an adequate understanding of the client. 2. Synthesis: This step implies organizing and summarizing the data to find out the assets, liabilities, adjustments and mal-adjustments of the client. 3. Diagnosis: Formulating conclusions regarding the nature and causes of the problems expressed by the client is the major concern of this step. 4. Prognosis: This step implies predicting the future development of the problem of client. 5. Counseling: This step indicates taking steps by the counselor with the pupil to bring about adjustment in life. 6. Follow-up: This step implies  DIRECTIVE COUNSELING Role of the counselor in Directive Counseling: The counselor does most of the talking problems and individual is not the focus. The counselee in fact, works under the counselor and not with him. The counsellor tries to direct the thinking of the counselee or client by informing, explaining, interpreting and sometimes advising also.  NON-DIRECTIVE COUNSELING In this type of counseling the counselee or client, not the counselor is the pivot of the counseling process. He plays an active role and this type of counseling is a growing process. In this counseling the goal is the independence and integration of the client rather than the solution of the problem.  NON-DIRECTIVE COUNSELING Steps in Non-Directive Counseling: 1. The client or individual comes for help as the counselee. 2. The counselor defines the situation by indicating that he doesn’t have the answer but he is able to provide a place and an atmosphere in which the client can think of the answers or solutions to his problems. 3. The counselor is friendly, interested and encourages free expression of feeling regarding the problem of the individual.  NON-DIRECTIVE COUNSELING 4. The counselor tries to understand the feeling of the individual or client. 5. The counselor accepts and recognizes the positive as well as the negative feelings. 6. The period of release or free expression is followed by a gradual development of insight. 7. As the client recognizes and accepts emotionally as well as intellectually his real attitudes and desires, he perceives the decisions that he must make and the possible courses of action open to him.  NON-DIRECTIVE COUNSELING 8. Positive steps towards the solution of the problem situation begin to occur. 9. A decreased need for help is felt and the client is the one who decides to end the contract.  ECLECTIC COUNSELING Eclectic counseling is a combination of directive and non-directive technique depending upon the situational factors. This approach in counseling is best characterized by its freedom to the counselor to use whatever procedures or techniques seem to be the most appropriate to any particular time for any particular client.  ECLECTIC COUNSELING Features/Characteristics of Eclectic Counselling: 1. Methods of counselling may change from counselee to counselee or even with the same client from time to time. 2. Flexibility is the key note of this counselling. 3. Freedom of choice and expression is open to both, the counsellor and the client. 4. The client and the philosophical framework are adjusted to serve the purposes of the relationship. 5. Experience of mutual confidence and faith in the relationship are basic. 6. Feelings of comfort are essential.  ECLECTIC COUNSELING Competence of the Counselor in Eclectic Counseling: Eclectic counselling assumes high level competence and should never be used as a rationalization by the counsellor for indiscriminate use or neglect of particular procedures advocated in other philosophies The competent eclectic counsellor is well acquainted with all other major theories of philosophies in counselling and uses this knowledge in choosing techniques and in the establishment of a positive working relationship with the client.  REFERENCES THE ELEMENTS OF COUNSELING: EIGHT EDITION BY SCOTT MEIER & SUSAN DAVIS NELSON-JONES RICHARD, INTRODUCTION TO COUNSELLING SKILLS, 3RD EDN.