7-C16 Basic Counselling Skills PDF

BASIC SKILLS IN COUNSELING 1. Active Listening/responding skill. Paying acute attention to the client’s verbal disclosure, non- verbal cues and feelings. Maintaining and communicating active involvement with the client while listening through non-verbal communication such as eye-to-eye contac...

BASIC SKILLS IN COUNSELING 1. Active Listening/responding skill. Paying acute attention to the client’s verbal disclosure, non- verbal cues and feelings. Maintaining and communicating active involvement with the client while listening through non-verbal communication such as eye-to-eye contact and nodding of the head. Involvement of the worker is measured not by the number of words spoken or the issue covered, but by the time s/he spends actively listening. 2. Paraphrasing. Restating the client’s message. Making sure that the client has understood what the worker just said vise versa. This will encourage the client continue speaking. Examples: I heard you say that you are concerned about the…Repeating client’s statement and ask “Is that correct? 3. Clarifying. Making an educated guess about the client’s message for the client to confirm or deny. To clear up confusion if a client’s responses are vague or not understandable. Examples: Let me see if I understand you… I do not think I understand what you are trying to say… 4. Asking Appropriate Questions. To obtain specific information: facts, feelings and opinion, to encourage the client to communicate, elaborate on his/her thoughts, knowledge or feelings and to make the client feel that the worker is interested in what he/she has to say. Asking the right question at the right time and right way. o Open-ended questions. Requires the client to express his/her feelings, beliefs, knowledge and gives more than a yes or no answer. (Use question statement starting with what and how). o Open-ended questions. Requires the client to express his/her feelings, beliefs, knowledge and gives more than a yes or no answer. (Use question statement starting with what and how) o Closed questions. Have a limited number of responses; usually yes or no, a number or a few words. Close questions may discourage discussion or exploration. 5. Identifying and reflecting feelings. help client identify and clarify their ideas, feelings and reactions by listening to how the feelings are described. 6. Problem Clarification. Allowing the client to state the problem and, helping the client clarify and define it. The worker should not make assumptions on what is problematic to the particular client, nor should they attempt to solve the problem for him/her. 7. Confronting. May be an effective response when an issue is being denied or has not come into the open. 8. Focusing help the client focus on the most important issues at hand and not get sidetracked. 9. Appropriate use of silence. Silence in counseling session is important at times. It gives the client an opportunity to reflect, integrate feelings, think through an idea or absorb new information. 10. Providing information. Presenting information in a clear, concise and understandable manner at a point in the session in which it is appropriate and helpful. 11. Refreshing statements for accuracy of feelings expressed by the counselee. Giving honest feedbacks on messages. 12. Non-Critical Acceptance. The tendency to believe generally positive or flattering descriptions of oneself. An accepting attitude involves respecting clients as separate human beings with right to their own thoughts and feelings. Though an accepting attitude involves respecting others as separate and unique human beings, this does not mean that you agree with everything they say. However, you respect they say their version of reality. 1|Page 13. Reflecting Back. Reflecting is showing the client that you have not only ‘heard’ what is being said but what feelings and emotions the client is experiencing when sharing their story with you. This is sometimes known in counseling ‘speak’ as the music behind the words. It is like holding up a mirror to the client, repeating what they have said, shows the client they have your full attention, it also allows the client to make sure you fully understood them and if not they can correct you. 14. Summarizing and checking. In a summarization, the counselor combines two or more of the client's thoughts, feelings or behaviors into a general theme. Summarization is usually used as a skill during choice points of a counseling interview in which the counselor wants to draw connections between two or more topics. Otherwise, when the client appears to be jumping from one topic to another without any particular focus or direction, a summarization can help the client to decide which topic is most important. Summarization is also used as a way to close a session. 15. Confrontation. Generally speaking, the term confrontation means challenging another person over a discrepancy or disagreement. However, confrontation as a counselling skill is an attempt by the counsellor to gently bring about awareness in the client of something that may they may have overlooked or avoided. 16. Challenging is about bringing into focus discrepancies in the other person’s feelings, thinking or behaviour that they are tending to overlook or ignore. Fritz Perls, founder of Gestalt Therapy, used to say “the neurotic is the person who is unable to see the obvious”, and where our own blind spots and distortions differ from the client’s, we are in a position to feed back to them discrepancies that we notice from our different perspective. Challenging discrepancies is best done sensitively and respectfully 17. Immediacy - is the ability of the counselor/helper to use the immediate situation to invite the client to look at what is going on between them in the relationship. It often feels risky and unfamiliar. It implies the use of the present tense Being immediate, being able to respond in the moment, is an essential part of the skills needed by counselors, and is valuable in helping to identify feelings, both in ourselves and in others. It focuses on using the here and now and on the therapeutic relationship to explore what the client may be communicating about his or her world. 18. Goal Setting. A very powerful tool for all areas of life. Hill (1975) emphasizes that establishing goals is crucial in providing direction. Rule (1982) states that goals are the energizing fabric of daily living but are often elusive. 19. Avoidance of Judging and Moralistic Responses. The common mistakes of any person who are dealing with people through counseling is judging and moralizing. Too often, a counselor have the tendency to think that he or she knows better and can think many possible ways to help people with their problematic situations. 20. The Ability to Offer Feedback. Feedback is a useful tool for indicating when things are going in the right direction or for redirecting problem performance. Your objective in giving feedback is to provide guidance by supplying information in a useful manner, either to support effective behavior, or to guide someone back on track toward successful performance. 21. Boundary Awareness. In a profession such as counseling there must be lines drawn between personal and professional life, just as there must be lines drawn between oneself and the client. The trick to maintaining such a delicate boundary without overstepping the line, or over- compensating for the need to separate one's personal and professional life, is to set up realistic guidelines for personal and professional relationships. Boundaries denote the limits of acceptability in the therapeutic relationship. They outline the expectations in the therapeutic space and mark the point beyond which neither party is expected to go. Boundaries also allow the counsellor to get close to the client, developing trust and respect, without the social costs associated with friendship. 22. Structuring Technique. Structure is a significant, but often neglected, component of the therapeutic relationship. Structure is establishment of a joint understanding and agreement between the counselor and client regarding the characteristics, conditions, procedures, and parameters of counselors. It should be used to help accomplish counseling goals. 23. Working with Defenses. Manners in which we behave or think in certain ways to better protect or “defend” ourselves, defenses and resistance are seen as “natural” ways of avoiding discomfort, 2|Page  anxiety and threat in practice, using some counseling skills can lower resistance and build a more cooperative relationship. QUALITIES OF A GOOD COUSELOR AND TECHNIQUES IN COUNSELING QUALITIES OF A GOOD COUNSELOR 1. Empathy - understanding a person with an intent to understand his unique situation and feeling; sensing accurately the client’s world, seeing the way the client does and verbally sharing his understanding. 2. Respect and positive regard - Appreciate the client as unique individuals regardless of who they are. 3. Genuineness - Honesty; shedding one’s expected role or image; does not use disguises or mechanical responses to fool or manipulate client. Is appropriately spontaneous, non-defensive, open and congruent in thoughts, feelings and actions. 4. Concreteness - Accurate, clear and specific. 5. Training/intellectual completeness/good communicator - professionally trained: produce a counselee who will be autonomous not dependent. 6. Strength to do counseling - counseling is “emotionally demanding”, saps up the energy, adds up to your problem so that it is important for the counselor to be emotionally stable. 7. Supportive of another person - gives the client the opportunity to talk-encouraging opinions, describing anxieties and fears without concern for verbal retaliation or rejection. 8. Sense of humor - helps client to become relaxed and enjoy the incongruities in his environment and the foolish aspects of his behavior. TECHNIQUES IN COUNSELING 1. Being comfortable with silence. 2. Establishing rapport and eye contact. 3. Having clear objectives. 4. Conditioning one’s self by coming prepared and not bringing personal problem to the situation. 5. Asking questions in an appropriate and time fashion. 6. Considering the physical (privacy) and the psychological (readiness) of the client. 7. Using verbal and non-verbal communication as well as active listening. 8. Giving the person affirmation. 9. Imposing emotional distance when needed 10. Considering the frequency, duration and intensity of the problem before making an assessment. 11. Always end the session by indicating a desire to see the client again at a time convenient for him/her. CHECKLIST OF DESIRABLE COUNSELOR 1. Intelligent 20. Creative 2. Energetic 21. Flexible 3. Caring 22. Hardworking 4. Trustworthy 23. Insightful 5. Genuine 24. Hardworking 6. Emotionally stable 25. Nonjudgmental 7. Resourceful 26. Knowledgeable 8. Unselfish 27. Ethical 9. Curious 28. Friendly 10. Good listener 29. Sense of Humor 11. Realistic 30. Comfortable with intimacy able to 12. Dependable express self cle 13. Hopeful 14. Respectful of individual differences 15. Maintain balance in own life 16. Emphatic 17. Optimistic 18. Self-confident 19. Self-aware 3|Page 4|Page