Counseling Process Lecture Notes PDF

have the tools to continue managing your anxiety effectively. THE COUNSELING PROCESS Some client’s fears: a fear of abandonment, a fear of rejection, a fear of not being enough “Counselling is a process with a beginning, a middle and an end, where the counsellor facilitates an individual to...

have the tools to continue managing your anxiety effectively. THE COUNSELING PROCESS Some client’s fears: a fear of abandonment, a fear of rejection, a fear of not being enough “Counselling is a process with a beginning, a middle and an end, where the counsellor facilitates an individual to consider the aspects of their life they wish to change.” The counseling process involve people in: gaining recognition for their skills and experience being confronted, from a caring position, by the ways they used to discount themselves and others re-experiencing, in the present, any relevant events from the past. The length of treatment depends on a number of variables: the severity of the problem, the motivation of the client, the type of problem and the age of the client. The more focused and limited the problem being addressed, the shorter treatment can be. The more the treatment addresses healing emotional injuries, the longer it is likely to take. STAGES of the Counseling Process (Nystul, 2016) Stage 1: Relationship Building Stage 2: Assessment and Diagnosis Stage 3: Formulation of Counseling Goals Stage 4: Intervention and Problem Solving Stage 5: Termination and Follow-up Stage 6: Research and Evaluation The Six Stages of The Counseling Process Stage 1: Relationship Building Stage 2: Assessment and Diagnosis Stage 3: Formulation of Counseling Goals Stage 4: Intervention and Problem Solving Stage 5: Termination and Follow-up Stage 6: Research and Evaluation Stage 1: Relationship Building Laying foundations for trust Establishing the structure and form the relationship will take Informed consent process Articulating roles of counselor and client and developing a collaborative working alliance The “getting to know you” phase is the most critical stage of the relationship. The counselor should work on the following things during this stage: 1) Developing Rapport and Building Trust 2) Create core conditions necessary for counselling  Rogers (1957) identified what he believed were core conditions for successful counseling: empathic understanding, unconditional positive regard, and congruence Later, Carkhuff (1969, 1971) expanded the core conditions to include respect, confrontation, concreteness, and self- disclosure EMPATHIC UNDERSTANDING CONFRONTATION UNCONDITIONAL POSITIVE REGARD CONCRETENESS CONGRUENCE SELF-DISCLOSURE RESPECT IMMEDIACY Empathic Understanding Empathy is considered the most important core condition in terms of promoting positive outcomes (Orlando & Howard, 1986) Unconditional Positive Regard This concept has been referred to by several other terms, including non-possessive warmth, acceptance, prizing, respect, and regard. Congruence Congruence involves counselors behaving in a manner consistent with how they think and feel. this condition has also been referred to as genuineness. Respect Respect is similar to unconditional positive regard in that it focuses on the positive attributes of the client. Immediacy Immediacy involves communication between the counselor and client that focuses on the here-and- now. Confrontation The core condition of confrontation involves the counselor pointing out discrepancies in what a client is saying. Concreteness Concreteness refers to the counselor helping clients discuss their concerns in specific terms. Clients can feel overwhelmed by their problems and have difficulty putting things into perspective. Self-disclosure Danish, D’Augelli, and Brock (1976) differentiated two types of self-disclosure statements. In Self-disclosing statements, counselors disclose factual information about themselves. In Self involving statements, counselors describe what they are experiencing in relation to the client in the counseling process. Danzer (2019) highlights several possible risks from inappropriate self- disclosure, including: Lack of attentiveness: Overly intimate self-disclosure can interfere with the therapy process, potentially leaving clients overwhelmed. Too frequent: When disclosure is too frequent, it can become ineffective and damage clarity surrounding role boundaries. Disclosing for personal reasons: When used by the therapist to get things off their chest, self-disclosure may serve their personal agenda, not their client’s. Lack of attunement: When communication from the therapist is not attuned to what the client is saying, it can leave the latter feeling that the therapeutic relationship and process are unfolding or unproductive. Disclosure as a competency: Disclosure should be seen as an intervention, and failure to perform it well suggests a lack of skill or poor competency. Unless it serves the client’s needs at that time, it may be unhelpful or even harmful. Source: https://positivepsychology.com/self-disclosure-in- counseling/#guidelines Stage 2: Assessment and diagnosis  Assessment can be defined as the systematic process of gathering information about an individual in order to make decisions or inferences about that person. (cited by Monica Leppma and Karyn Dayle Jones) https://www.counseling.org/docs/default-source/vistas/multiple-assessment-methods-and-sources-in-counseling-ethical- considerations.pdf Assessment and diagnosis contribute to several important aspects of the counseling process. They can help a counselor develop an in-depth understanding of a client and identify mental disorders that require attention.  Assessment procedures can be divided into: standardized and non-standardized Standardized measures include a psychological tests that have a standardized norm group. Non-standardized measures do not have a standardized norm group and include strategies such as the clinical interview and assessment of life history.  Stage 3: Formulation of Counseling Goals  Formulation of Counseling Goals George and Christian (1995) Identified five types of outcome goals: Facilitating behavior change Enhancing coping skills Goals serve three functions in the Promoting decision making counseling process (Cormier & Improving relationships Hackney, 1993): Facilitating the clients’ potential motivational educational evaluative  Stage 4: Intervention and Problem solving Intervention and Problem solving Once the counselor and client have formulated a counseling goal, they can determine what intervention strategy to implement. they may choose from a variety of interventions, including individual, group, couples, and family counseling. PROBLEM SOLVING STRATEGIES Heppner, Witty, and Dixon (2004) have identified the following variables associated with problem solving and adjustment: Effective counseling is associated with resolving client’s problems and enhancing problem solving. Effective problem solvers are flexible and adaptive and can handle stress. Ineffective problem solvers have difficulty solving problems and coping with environmental stressors. Problem-solving appraisal is related to how well clients are able to address a wide array of life’s challenges.  Stage 5: Termination and Follow up Stage 5: termination and follow-up ➔The ultimate goal in counseling is to witness a client progress on his/her own without the assistance of the counselor. ➔There are four components of termination which were identified by Quintan and Holahan: 1. Discussion of the end of counselling 2. Review of the course of counselling 3. Closure of the counselor-client relationship 4. Discussion of the client’s future and postcounselling plan A formal termination serves three functions: Counselling is finished and it is time for the client to face their life challenges. Changes which have taken place have generalised into the normal behaviour of the client. The client has matured and thinks and acts more effectively and independently. Timing of Termination There is no one answer when termination is to take place. Questions the counselor may wish to ask concerning termination include: Have clients achieved behavioral, cognitive, or affective goals? Can clients concretely show where they have made progress in what they wanted to accomplish? Is the counselling relationship helpful? Has the context of the initial counselling arrangements changed?  Stage 6: Research and Evaluation ➔Research and evaluation can occur at any time during the counseling process or after termination. ➔Research and evaluation are an integral part of the counseling process. They contribute to the science dimension of counseling by promoting an objective understanding of what is occurring. ➔Counselors can also use research and evaluation to communicate accountability.  ACTUAL/ COMMON PROCEDURE COUNSELORS DO 1 ) Background information collection 2) Identification of core issues 3) Case formulation 4) Goal setting for the therapeutic process 5) Implementation of intervention 6) Evaluation of intervention 7) Closure ✓ no further counselling is required at this time, if during the initial interview the client has been able to clarify his concerns and plan and appropriate course of action. ✓ further appointments are needed to continue to explore the issues beforereaching a decision. A second appointment will be made with the clienteither by the counsellor or by reception. ✓ alternative services are appropriate and the counsellor will assist the clientto identify specific resources to consider and REFERENCES (WILL UPDATE THIS SLIDE) THAT’S ALL FOLKS!