Skills Of A Trained Counselor For Effective Therapy

Skills that a trained counselor should possess for effective therapy

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Counseling is a kind of talking therapy, where the client who is having any psychological or any personal problems tells their experience, view points and feeling to the counselor. The counselor in turn tries to explore the distress experienced by the client and helps the client to solve the problems by making them see things more clearly. The counselor helps the client to get over the negativity they have and overcome the issues they have. Counseling is often confused with giving advice to client, solving their problems, telling the appropriate behavior for different situations. It is more of guiding and assisting the client to understand more about their problems and their feeling. And helping them out to find out, which is the best thing for them and how they can overcome the stress (Mandrusiak, 2007). A person who is professionally trained usually holds counseling sessions. Everything expressed by the client and the report of the client is confidential unless required by law for legal issues.

Attending – A counsellor should be patient with the client and use physical gestures such as nodding, smiling, making the eye contact with the client etc. By doing so, it suggests the clients that the counsellor is interested in them and is listening to their problems carefully. This creats a sense of faith among the clients towards their counsellor (Hall, 2009).

Observing– Listening and understanding both the stated and unstated information (like expressions, body language, words and patterns etc.). It is possible that the client may intentionally or unintentionally does not communicate all the information. The counselor through observation and analyzing the information provided should extract all these information.

Interpretation – Counselor should be able to find links and pattern in the isolated statements given by the client. The same should be communicated to the client. This will help client see connections between the statements and will be able to see the problem in a different way.

Open questions – By asking more open-ended and seeking detailed explanation, the counselor will be able to get more insights and gather more information about the client. Questions will help the counselor to get more clarity on the though process and better understand the feelings and apprehensions of the clients. But it is very important to ask the right questions.

Showing empathy – It is very important skill that is required by a counselor. It is very important that the counselor is able to put themselves into the clients’ shoe to understand his problems. While the counselor is able to understand the feelings of their client, it is equally important to see things objectively (Bell, 2006).

Genuineness – The counselor themselves needs to be comfortable with the issue/ problem they are helping client to deal with. If the counselor is uncomfortable themselves with the issue then it will be obstacle to the counseling session. It will also lead to lose in faith towards the counselor.

Non-Judgmental – The counselor should be non judgmental, understanding, impartial and should not be emotionally involved with the client

Paraphrasing – This means that the counselor is using some words to describe the condition or the problems and feelings of clients in most non-judgmental manner. This will help client know what the counselor has understood about the perspective of the client. It was also give the client a chance to rectify any misunderstanding about the client, the counselor must be having. The counselor can also exercise the practice of reflective listening in which they will listen and recall what the client has said. This will ensure that the counselor has understood the client and also bolsters the faith of the client by displaying empathy, understanding and interest in this manner (McLeod, 2009).

Transcript of a counseling session with a student client

Specific communication – The communication with the client should be concrete and focused towards their issues and feelings. A counselor should avoid unnecessary talking and information gathering. Should help client to focus and work on specific problem rather than various problems mentioned. Counselor should be able to define the intent and the structure of the session.

Self-Awareness – The counselors, during the counseling session, should be aware of their own attitudes and biases. This may affect the effectiveness of the counseling sessions (Rosenthal, 2008). The counselor should be able to keep their personal beliefs, perception, emotions and biases aside during the counseling session and provide unbiased understanding and support to the client.

Coping up with the intensity – The counselor should be able to deal with the clients who are emotionally intense or too depressed. The counselor should be able to make clients express themselves as clearly as possible and help them to deal with the challenging issues and try to comfort and calm them.

Respecting client’s feeling – The counselor should be able to communicate to the client that each person has the capability to rise in life and each person has the right to make his or her own decisions in life. Also the counselor should convey their acceptance to their client’s feelings without being biased and judgmental. The counselor should be caring and compassionate towards the client.

Flexibility – Understanding multi cultural issues is a quality possess by a good counselor (Sue, & Sue, 2012). Every client will have a different background and experience. It is also very important for a counselor to recognize if they are a good fit with client or not. This is very crucial for the progress of the client. If things are not working out, client should be referred to another counselor.

Alice: Hi Bob, nice to meet you.

Bob: Nice to meet you too.

Alice: So what brings you here today?

Bob: I am feeling a little stressed out because it’s coming towards the holidays and my teachers have decided to load us with everything in next couple of weeks. So I am just overwhelmed with it all.

Alice: Yeah, I can imagine.

Bob: Also, I am going to my parent’s house and my boyfriend is coming to meet my parents. I have lot of stuff to do and I want to do it well.

Alice: So basically you are saying that you have plans for holidays and you have a lot of work at school. Apparently that mix is a lot on your plate.

Bob: Yeah, it is definitely a lot. If it were just the work at school it would have been fine. The meeting is important and I want it to go well. I should be completely focusing on scoring well but still I am worried about that.

Alice: So, talking about this semester, do you think you have done so far?

Bob: Yes, I have done a lot better in this semester and because of that I want to keep doing well.

Alice: Have you tried any thing that might have worked in past, that will help you concentrate more?

Bob: I used to do a fasting thing of electronic devices and no Internet. Because it was a goal with god, I was able to do it. That week I did a lot more homework then I have ever done.

Alice: That sounds like a good idea.

Bob: People say that why are you taking so much stress but I believe this is the thing I am really good at and I always want shine in that area and want people to recognize it.

Alice: So, you are putting a lot of pressure on yourself because it is your forte. I believe this stress is primarily for this week only since you have done well previously, correct?

Bob: Yes, I think I should relax a bit.

Alice: Do you think that the things you mentioned earlier like a to do list, fasting all electronic devices can still help?

Bob: Yes, I think that they will be of great help and I should just do it instead of talking about it.

Alice: How will you feel about going home for holidays after this stressful week?

Bob: It’s always good but I believe it would not be totally relaxing. But I am still excited about it.

Alice: You have a lot going on this week but you seem motivated to complete your assignments and have holidays to look forward to. You are almost there and you are going to make it. It was nice hearing you. Have a great holiday.

Bob: Thanks. It was great talking to you.

Attending – The student client was properly attended. Proper gestures were made to make the student feel important and that his feelings were carefully listened to.

Observation – The observation was made that the student was very sincere and good at their work at school and wanted to excel in that field but was not able to cope up the pressure to balance their personal and college life (Gysbers, & Henderson, 2012). It was also observed that the stress is temporary, just matter of a week or two.

Interpretation – It was interpreted that the student has the ability to work things out properly but due to stress they are unable to do so (Cilliers, 2006). The student has deployed practices in past, to help their studies. These may help the student today as well.

Open Questions – The counselor asked wide range of questions to do the observation and to interpret the behavior and feeling of the student.

Empathy, Genuineness and non judgmental – The counselor was successful in showing empathy to the student and the student was very comfortable in talking to the counselor and displaying their emotions

Paraphrasing – The counselor was constantly telling the student what they understood from their statements and also was constantly providing reasons as to how they arrived at their observations/ conclusions. This really helped both the counselor and the student to clear the picture and work out the solutions to the problems.

Specific Communication – The counselor asked specific questions to the student which was required to study the behavior of the student. No unrelated questions were asked and suggestions were made.

Coping with the intensity – The counselor was able to handle the stress of the student and was successful to calm them down. The counselor helped the student understand his own feelings and find out a way to deal with the situation (Bryant, Sackville, Dang, Moulds, & Guthrie, 2014).

Challenges faced during the counseling session:

Finding out the root problem and possible – It was challenging to find out the actual problem as why the student was taking stress when she had done well previously and had strategies to help with the studies, which have worked well in past.

Re-enforcing self confidence – It was important to bring back the self confidence of the student because the student was capable of working through the situation only die to stress she was not able to do so. So, a lot of reasoning was needed to give to the students and help her understand and believe their potentials were essential.

Streamlining the tasks – The student was overwhelmed with so many tasks coming up in next few weeks. So, the student was not able to think clearly as they think they have so many tasks in hand with less time. It was challenging to make them see one task at a time and believe they will be able to do that.

Conclusion

In order to become a good counselor, one has to be empathetic and patient with the clients. The client should be able to trust the counselor completely that they will be empathetic to them and will help them without any bias. Counselor needs to spent time with the client and ask all the questions necessary to understand the stated and unstated issues and behavior of the client (Barkham, 2008). They should be able to help clients understand their feelings and work out the solution themselves for the situation.

References:

Arambewela, R., & Hall, J. (2009). An empirical model of international student satisfaction. Asia Pacific journal of marketing and logistics, 21(4), 555-569.

Bryant, R. A., Sackville, T., Dang, S. T., Moulds, M., & Guthrie, R. (2014). Treating acute stress disorder: an evaluation of cognitive behavior therapy and supportive counseling techniques.

Bell, E. (2006). Student counselling. The SAGE handbook of counselling and psychotherapy, 554-560.

Connell, J., Barkham, M., & Mellor-Clark, J. (2008). The effectiveness of UK student counselling services: an analysis using the CORE System. British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 36(1), 1-18.

Gysbers, N. C., & Henderson, P. (2012). Developing & managing your school guidance & counseling program. American Counseling Association. 5999 Stevenson Avenue, Alexandria, VA 22304.

McLeod, J. (2009). Counselling: a radical vision for the future. Therapy Today,20(6), 10-15.

Morrison, J. M., Brand, H. J., & Cilliers, C. D. (2006). Assessing the impact of student counselling service centres at tertiary education institutions: How should it be approached?. South African Journal of Higher Education, 20(5), 655-678.

Russell, J., Thomson, G., & Rosenthal, D. (2008). International student use of university health and counselling services. Higher Education, 56(1), 59-75.

Sue, D. W., & Sue, D. (2012). Counseling the culturally diverse: Theory and practice. John Wiley & Sons.

Stewart, D. W., & Mandrusiak, M. (2007). Social phobia in college students: A developmental perspective. Journal of College Student Psychotherapy, 22(2), 65-76