Applying Counselling Skills in the Session

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The Profile of the Client

The client’s affect is agitate as the counselling reveals how her past has induced pain in her love story. Affect is felt by the client in the form of mood and feelings. Mood refers to the happy or bad sentiments that lurk in the shadows of our daily lives (Corr, 2017). The client is generally in a good mood, and a good mood has some favourable repercussions. It motivates her to do what has to be done and to make the best of the circumstances she is in. When she’s in a good mood, her cognitive processes become more open, and she’s more willing to approach others, such as the therapist. She is friendlier and more cooperative with the therapist because she is in a good mood than if she were in a poor mood, and she thinks more imaginatively. When she is in a foul mood, on the other hand, she is more likely to want to keep silent rather than communicate with people, and her creativity decreases as a result.

Affect refers to the sentiments we encounter in our daily lives. We may feel joyful or unhappy, jealous or appreciative, proud or ashamed as the day goes on. Although uncontrolled or unchecked affect can be damaging, our emotional experiences usually help us function efficiently and in a way that promotes our chances of survival (Olry-Louis, 2018). On the other hand, social cognition entails actively interpreting events. As a result, the client reaches different judgments regarding the same occurrences in the past. The client’s cognition reveals how she interacts with social activities, which aids the session in understanding and predicting the client’s conduct (Olry-Louis, 2018). The behaviour of the client is friendly and readily shared with the counsellor. She easily helps the counsellor to understand her underlying needs and issues.

The Basic Counselling Skills Employed During the Session

During the session, three fundamental counselling methods were used: open-ended questioning, introspection, and empathy. The first ability that stood out during the training was empathy. The counsellor understood the client’s reality in the same manner that the client does. He treated what the customer brought up for conversation with respect and reacted in such a way that the client felt understood (Barnett & Johnson, 2018). Empathy is a circle that can only be completed when the counsellor expresses their understanding back. In this manner, the client is aware that they have been comprehended. When the client feels that the counsellor understands her, the advantages of empathy are attained. This ability aided in the development of the client-counselor connection.

When the counsellor was able to interpret the client’s verbal and nonverbal communication, reflection occurred. The counsellor was able to elicit a deeper meaning of the client’s remarks in the same manner that the client views them. The counsellor was also able to listen to and respond to their clients’ feelings rather than the words they used to express (Etherington, 2017). To do this, the counsellor listened to how his client spoke, whether it was quick, slow, loud, or whether there were any emotions in their speech. The counsellor should also pay attention to the client’s word choice throughout the dialogue. The client’s choice of words during the conversation provided the counsellor with information about the severity of the client’s difficulties (Tanana et al., 2019). The counsellor was able to listen to the client’s feelings. When the client speaks, the counsellor must be able to hear both the words and the emotions. The words utilized are only a small percentage of the overall message. They must pay attention to how the customer says the words. These may include how the person is breathing, if she is stammering, flushing, or sighing, the pace with which the client is speaking, whether it is rapid or slow, the client’s loudness, and other signals. Thus, the counsellor listened to the words that expressed the client’s feelings.

In the therapy session, open-ended questions were employed. They elicited the client’s ideas and thoughts. Open-ended inquiries allowed the client to express herself without being affected by the question itself. They helped the counsellor to obtain a more detailed response to the inquiries. In contrast to closed questions, the customer determines the direction of the replies. These open-ended questions show the counsellor’s desire to elicit replies directly from the client’s comprehension of the questions (McFadden et al., 2019). They are significant to the therapist because they provide insight into how the client thinks, allowing the counsellor to provide appropriate assistance. The counsellor must listen to the client’s response and participate in a dialogue with them. Because the counsellor understood the client well, these open-ended inquiries aided in the development of bonds between the counsellor and the client (Bailin et al., 2018).

The Best Specific Skill-Related Areas in the Session

In the therapy session with the client, I believe that reflection, empathy, and open-ended inquiries worked effectively. With open-ended inquiries, the client was able to express themselves without being influenced by the question itself. They assisted the counsellor in obtaining a more complete response to the questions (Geldard et al., 2017). In counselling, it was vital to reflect on the client’s past. The counsellor did not have to respond verbally every time. He may choose to utilize nonverbal cues such as a grin or a nod until he is certain that he understands the client and wants to dwell on the client’s sentiments. He regarded the topic of conversation that the consumer brought up with care and replied in such a way that the client felt understood. Empathy is a circle that can only be closed when the counsellor expresses their own comprehension.

The Worst Specific Skill-Related Areas in the Session

Even though the counselling session focused on empathy, open-ended inquiries, and introspection, these abilities might be improved. For example, one restriction of open questions is that responding to them requires more work from the client; it may also be difficult for certain customers to convey their ideas and beliefs, and the clients may use a lot of time while attempting to explain themselves (Odaci et al., 2017). Empathy, on the other hand, lacks the time and energy required between the therapist and the client. The counsellor may not have enough time with the client to fully comprehend what the client is attempting to express. According to the National Institute of Health, one strategy to overcome this barrier is to allow the client a few minutes at the start of each session to voice their worries. Another hurdle is the disparity between the client and the counsellor. Gender, race, and age are examples of these. Due to gender, racial, or age disparities, the therapist may be unable to grasp what the client is saying. Another impediment to good empathy is negative emotions. This is where the counsellor has a bad attitude toward the client (Gilmore et al., 2019). This can be reduced if the counsellor acts professionally and forgets about prior conflicts with the client. Furthermore, inequalities in age, gender, and ethnicity are a constraint of reflection in therapy (Teo et al., 2019). Because of differences in gender, colour, or age, the therapist may be unable to clearly and properly express the thoughts of a client.

The Summary of the Case and Specific Intervention at the End of the Session

The case presented in this session is that the client is agitated over past events that have happened in her life. Even though she is not happy, her effect, behaviour, and cognition have significantly created a good rapport and interface between her and the counsellor. An appropriate intervention that could best work for this counselling session is for counsellors to have a solid grasp and mastery of the fundamental techniques of counselling (Cooper & Sadri, 2018). Counsellors can develop their practical abilities in a variety of ways. Working on their micro-skills is one method, and they must be eager to learn more through practical sessions with customers. They can also enhance their abilities if they accept flexibility. This intervention includes dealing with a variety of people in areas such as addictions, group therapy, and loss and grieving.

Experience as a Counsellor-in-Training

Performing a short therapy session with a client as the counsellor was not only highly valuable to my learning experience, but it was also an eye-opening experience to perform and assess oneself as a real counsellor. At first, I imagined the procedure would be exceedingly awkward and strange, such as “pretending” to be a professional counsellor or acting out a simulated therapy session. To my amazement, the procedure became incredibly natural, with nothing seeming forced or strange. In fact, the discussion appeared to flow since we never ran out of subjects to discuss or had to pause to laugh. Nonetheless, when I view and analyze my video, I identify several defects and strengths that I may work on as I develop in offering counselling services.

I leaned towards the client at the start of the session, my legs crossed and my hands on my knees or folded together in my palm. However, as the session went on, I became more comfortable in the chair, fully reclining back and resting my elbows on each side of the chair. I didn’t think much about my body language and how it would affect my client and therapy sessions at first, but after reviewing my film, I saw that as I relaxed more into the chair, my client seemed to relax more, such as she stopped fidgeting with her hands and hair. This has taught me that body posture may have a significant impact on the client and treatment session. By presenting my body in a comfortable yet relaxed manner, I am able to provide the client with a sense of welcome or ease to therapy, allowing the atmosphere to be more pleasant and the client to become more comfortable and open to chat. In contrast, one of the first issues I experienced with my body posture was the movement of my hands. Before seeing the movie, I had no idea how frequently I moved my hands, especially while explaining or informing someone. As a result, I must be more conscious of my hand motions and how I depict certain scenarios, knowing that any movement might shock a client or disrupt a treatment session by taking a client’s focus away from the presenting concerns.

Furthermore, by watching the film, I was able to evaluate myself as the client, examining how specific things the counsellor said or did influenced my therapy session and reactions. My client’s body posture and calm movements were two qualities I believed she excelled in. My companion sat in an erect, though comfortable, position throughout the film, with her legs on the floor and her arms folded together. This made the counsellor look more open and grounded in the talk, allowing me to be more open.

References

Corr, P. J. (2017). Clarifying problems in behavioural control: Interface, lateness and consciousness. European Journal of Personality, 24(5), 423-457.

Olry-Louis, I. (2018). Expression and management of emotions in career counselling interactions. British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 46(5), 616-631.

Barnett, J. E., & Johnson, W. B. (2018). Integrating spirituality and religion into psychotherapy: Persistent dilemmas, ethical issues, and a proposed decision-making process. Ethics & Behavior, 21(2), 147-164.

Tanana, M. J., Soma, C. S., Srikumar, V., Atkins, D. C., & Imel, Z. E. (2019). Development and evaluation of ClientBot: Patient-like conversational agent to train basic counseling skills. Journal of medical Internet research, 21(7), e12529.

Geldard, D., Geldard, K., & Foo, R. Y. (2017). Basic personal counselling: A training manual for counsellors. Cengage AU.

Odaci, H., Değerli, F. I., & Bolat, N. (2017). Emotional intelligence levels and counselling skills of prospective psychological counsellors. British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 45(5), 622-631.

Gilmore, A. K., & Ward-Ciesielski, E. F. (2019). Perceived risks and use of psychotherapy via telemedicine for patients at risk for suicide. Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare, 25(1), 59-63.

Cooper, C. L., & Sadri, G. (2018). The impact of stress counselling at work. In Managerial, Occupational and Organizational Stress Research (pp. 613-625). Routledge.

McFadden, A., Siebelt, L., Marshall, J. L., Gavine, A., Girard, L. C., Symon, A., & MacGillivray, S. (2019). Counselling interventions to enable women to initiate and continue breastfeeding: a systematic review and meta-analysis. International breastfeeding journal, 14(1), 1-19.

Teo, I., Krishnan, A., & Lee, G. L. (2019). Psychosocial interventions for advanced cancer patients: a systematic review. Psycho‐oncology, 28(7), 1394-1407.

Etherington, K. (2017). Personal experience and critical reflexivity in counselling and psychotherapy research. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, 17(2), 85-94.

Bailin, A., Bearman, S. K., & Sale, R. (2018). Clinical supervision of mental health professionals serving youth: Format and microskills. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 45(5), 800-812.

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