Free Essay

Counseling Techniques

In:

Submitted By leeparke2
Words 561
Pages 3
Counseling consist of more than just asking a client “how they are feeling” or “can you tell me more about that.” There are many factors that play a role in a good counselor. Many times a counselor can find out the most information about a client by simply being quiet and using nonverbal communication. Every counseling session is made up of open-ended questions, close-ended questions, and active listening. Although, all sessions use these types of skills, they can differ depending on the type of session. In individual counseling, the counselor is solely focused on the client in the room. The main goal in individual counseling is to let that client know they are being heard. Ivey (2012) states, “ Attending and giving clients talk-time demonstrates that you truly want to hear their story and major concerns.” Having good eye contact during individual sessions helps that client relax and see that you are really interested in what they have to say. The counselor might use nonverbal communication in individual sessions as a way to discover what direction the client is going in during conversation. The counselor being silent gives the client a chance to think about what they are saying without the counselor having to point it out for them. The counselor could use reframing in individual counseling by asking open-ended questions to see how the client interprets what they have just said. In individual sessions, the counselor only has to discuss how one person views what is being said. In individual sessions the counselor only has to pay attention to one person, while in couples or family sessions the attention has to be shared. Counselors use these skills differently for couples counseling settings. With the skill reframing, counselors have to be careful to not stick to letting one-person express how the feel for the duration of the session. Counselors also have to be careful to make sure they are not agreeing with one person over the other when one client is expressing how they feel. Also with couples counseling, there is more than one view of an issue or topic that is being discussed. With individual counseling the counselor only has one view to hear and get feedback on. When performing the skill “reframing” the counselor needs to make sure that both sides are being heard and given the same amount of attention. The reframing skill also allows the client to have a “deeper exploration” and understanding of the issue so the counselor can help them move forward (Cooper, 2014). For example, say a husband and wife came to you for counseling. They had been fighting a lot due to the husband not being faithful to his wife. As the counselor, you would have to be making sure both sides of the story are being heard. The counselor would have to make sure they were giving the same amount of eye contact to both parties and not siding with one person over the other.

References

Cooper, J. B. (2014). Counseling microskills. In B. T. Erford (Ed.), Orientation to the counseling profession: Advocacy, ethics, and essential professional foundations (2nd ed.).(pp. 194–214). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

Ivey, A. E., Bradford Ivey, M., & Zalaquett, C. P. (with Quirk, K.). (2012). Essentials of intentional interviewing: Counseling in a multicultural world (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Christian Counseling Techniques

...Christian Counseling attempts to provide encouragement and guidance for those who are facing losses, decisions, or disappointments. Counseling can stimulate personality growth and development, help people cope more effectively with the problems of living, with inner conflict, and with crippling emotions, assist individuals, family members, and married couples to resolve interpersonal tensions or relate effectively to one another and assist persons whose life patterns are self-defeating and causing unhappiness. The Christian counselor seeks to bring people into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and to help them find forgiveness and relief from the crippling effects of sin and guilt. Therapist Characteristics A Christian counselor has beliefs about the attributes of God, the nature of human beings, the authority of Scripture, the reality of sin, the forgiveness of God and the hope for the future. The counselor seeks to help counselees change behavior, attitudes, values, faulty thinking and/or perceptions. We attempt to teach skills, including social skills, to encourage recognitions and expression of emotion, to give support in times of need, to teach responsibility, to instill insight, to guide as decisions are made, to help counselees mobilize inner and environmental resources in times of crisis, to teach problem-solving skills, and to increase counselee competence. The Christian counselor also seeks to stimulate spiritual growth, encourage confession of sin and...

Words: 3209 - Pages: 13

Premium Essay

Person-Centered Therapy

...PERSON-CENTERED THERAPY Most important person and what they believed: Carl Rogers created Person-Centered Therapy in the 1940’s. Rogers humanistic approach was revolutionary in shifting the mainstream ideology of psychoanalytic and behavior counseling modalities to a client-based approach. Although this counseling modality was initially called nondirective counseling and underwent four main development/evolutionary stages, Rogers maintained his belief that it is ultimately up to the client, not the therapist, to become the agent needed for self-change. Rogers was a humanist who believed that people are ultimately trustworthy, they have the potential to understand themselves and resolve their own problems, and much of the clients’ ability to change lies in the relationship found between they client and the counselor. Philosophy: The main philosophy behind Person-Centered Therapy is that the client is capable of becoming fully functioning individual, whom is responsible for creating change to help resolve issues they face in their lives; people can worked toward self-awareness and self-healing, without the direct influence and techniques used by a therapist. Person-Centered Therapy treats every client as a unique individual and has respect for the client’s subjective world. This approach also believes if a person enters into a positive, genuine relationship with a counselor, every person attains a natural potential to actualize and finding meaning in their life. The client-therapist...

Words: 1298 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Resistance To Counseling

...Clients seek counseling for help with dealing with issues in everyday life, sometimes the client look to the counselor for relief from his or her issues. Some clients that goes to counseling are not so certain if they are willing to change or not. It is not unusual for some client to participate or cooperate with the counselor and the plan of treatment. Resistance is a technique a client use when he or she avoids or do not want to disclose any information about himself or herself to the counselor to make the counselor feel anxious. Resistance from clients such as talking to much, talking to little, being unprepared and etc. (Sommers-Flanagan & Sommers-Flanagan, 2017). When resistance derive from clients, they are usually in the stage where they are not interest to change or they have considered a temporary change....

Words: 479 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Mental Health Counseling Plan

...Mental Health Counselor-Licensure Plan Jeremy J. Love Keiser University Dr, Catherine Longa Foundation of Counseling October 10, 2015 Mental Health Counselor-Licensure Plan According to the Florida Department of Health (2015), in order for an prospective counselor to become a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) they must first complete a CARCREP accredited mental health counseling master’s program with academic course work in each of the in each of the following areas: normal human growth and development; abnormal human behavior; assessment or appraisal techniques; counseling theories and counseling methods or techniques for individuals and groups, must have accumulated at least 1,500 hours of supervised psychotherapeutic treatment with clients, Passed the NCMHCE, Completed 8 hours of laws and rules courses (from approved providers) and be willing to complete a three hour course on Human immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency (AIDS). The therapist will also be required to complete two hours of domestic violence training within six month of licensure. First I hypothesis in 2017 I will have earned my master’s in clinical mental health from Keiser University. By this time I’ll have also completed my university-sponsored supervised clinical practicum accumulated the required 1,500 hours via perhaps the Orlando V.A outpatient clinic. I have already begun volunteering with the staff and inquired about possible internship...

Words: 588 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Christian Counseling

...A Review of McMinn’s Text: Psychology, Theology and Spirituality in Christian Counseling Ashley Pasquale Liberty University Online Christian Counseling Summary Written by Mark R. McMinn, Psychology, theology, and spirituality in Christian counseling (2011) contains a vast amount of information regarding the use of prayer, scripture and spirituality in counseling; beginning with the explanation of interdisciplinary integration versus intradisciplinary integration. Interdisciplinary integration includes the integration of psychology and theology in order to provide better counseling. Intradisciplinary includes both of those as well, but goes further to include spirituality within the scope of Christian counseling (McMinn,...

Words: 1066 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Psychopharmacology and Mental Health Counseling

...Psychopharmacology and Mental Health Counseling Samantha Jackson Walden University Psychopharmacology and Mental Health Counseling Kaut and Dicknson (2007) states “a growing challenge for mental health counselors is to understand the potential benefits and limitations of many different types of drugs “(.p204-205). Drugs are prescribed to have an effect on the brain and behavior of clients. Mental health counselors are advised to be trained in how psychotropic medications can benefit and be at risk for their clients and to develop a collaborative approach to treatment (Kaut & Anderson, 2004; King & Dickinson, 2007). While mental health counselors cannot prescribe medication, they can recommend medication and educated their clients about them. A mental health counselor must stay within legal and ethical boundaries, while doing what’s best for the client. Recommending or Prescribing Medication A mental health counselor has no legal right to prescribe, dispense or administer any medication. When recommending medication it is important for a mental health counselor to stay within ethical and legal boundaries, while working with prescribing doctors. When a mental health counselor is informed about pharmacological interventions it benefits the client, the counselor and the prescribing professional (King& Anderson, 2004). Legal Limitation Mental health counselors can recommend any medication that they are educated on. Legally a mental health counselor cannot...

Words: 726 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Counseling

...Introduction to Counseling Written Assignment # 1 I. What is professional counseling? Discuss the most recent trends in counseling. Professional counseling is a service provided voluntary and confidential with the focus on the developmental, situational problems of individuals of all ages and culture. Professional counselors help individuals to make decisions and resolve conflicts. Counselors provide service on different settings like the workplace, schools, colleges and other places as well. They also provide this service to families, groups or individuals. The most recent trends in counseling are through the internet and counseling in the community. These trends cover different parts of the community like business, career centers, religious organizations, and local neighborhood comprehensive health care centers. For instance, many organization provide counseling assistance through an employee assistance programs (EAP), employment enhancement programs (EEPs), career development counseling within the companies and outplacement counseling (EAPs). Employee assistance program were created with the purpose of helping employees who have alcohol problems. However, the service of these programs has been expanded to provide counseling to employees in regards interpersonal and personal family problems that may affect their job performance. Career counseling centers were created during the 1990s to help individuals to explore career opportunities and receive basic...

Words: 993 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Effective Counseling

...Characteristics and Behaviors of Effective Counseling Adam Dollen Characteristics and Behaviors of Effective Counseling So you want to be a counselor. Well, being a counselor is not necessarily about having the desire or education to help people. Being a counselor is about utilizing that desire and education in such a way to teach people how to heal (Erford, 2014). Effective counseling is not some award which is given upon receiving a degree from a university. Effective counseling is the proper usage of your characteristics and attained skills to bring out the best in your clients (Erford, 2014). Effective Characteristics Effective characteristics are vitally important to the success of the counselor. They are a means of motivation and connection with a client (Erford, 2014). Without such the counseling relationship is ineffective and the client is left in the same state of wanting as they were before they came to see you. Let’s briefly look at a couple of effective characteristics in order to see the impact they have on the counseling relationship. Characteristic One Most people enter the counseling profession for a variety of reasons. Perhaps the greatest reason for becoming a counselor is the desire to help people (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010). For one circumstance or another, their many experiences in life have led them to desire to seek out people needing help. This desire to help is one characteristic of being an effective counselor. In our case study it is...

Words: 878 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Ethics Paper

...Ethics Paper: Individual or Group Therapy HSER 511 Liberty University Abstracts The paper researches the ethical issues faced in group counseling. It also shows a comparison of individual and group counseling. The paper discusses issue of confidentiality, and how it affects group counseling. Confidentiality is considered cornerstone to counseling (Kocet 2006). It is very important for the counselor to reinsure that the client understands confidentiality policies. When dealing with adolescents, confidentiality rules and regulations are the same as adults. Counselors are bound by the same rules and regulations to keep the client’s (the minor) records privileged, but in cases of immediate danger or harm to others the counselor can disclose information to the minor’s parent. I think that I was direct leader, and I utilize several of the qualifications and skills that I learned in the class. Ethics Paper: Individual or Group Therapy When seeking help, it is very difficult to decide what type of therapy to choose. Because we have different situations and problems, the decision to choose individual or group therapy could be a very hard one. Many clients choose to benefit from both individual and group therapy. Groups can be a valuable resource to clients and helping them work out their...

Words: 3832 - Pages: 16

Premium Essay

Counselors as Companions and Ethics in Human Services

...Counselors as Companions and Ethics in Human Services Human Service and the Environment Counselors as Companions and Ethics in Human Services In this article of from tragedy to triumph: counselor as companion on the hero’s journey, the counselor gained a lot of knowledge about himself and his counseling techniques during the time that he had Steve as a client. I believe the counselor was trying to come up with a solution to Steve’s problems and make his journey easier. By taking the longer, rougher road, Steve learned more about himself, his limitations and his strengths. This allowed for even bigger better possibilities in Steve’s life. The counselor can’t be responsible for Steve’s personal journey and guide him down the easier path. The counselor should only be along for the ride with Steve and help Steve through the difficult moments. Steve had to come to the realization that he had to choose a different path and create different goals. I think that the counselor will now change the way he tries to “fix” a client’s problems, and instead allow him to experience and overcome some of the rougher more challenging things in their life. I believe that there are people that we come into contact with that teach us life lessons and change us and the way we think and do things. As we meet extraordinary people, we learn from them and in many instances strive to be like them, or maybe to be the total opposite from them. Just like an infant, we are always seeing new things and...

Words: 566 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

This Is a Test

...Why a Clinical Mental Health Counselor uses Theory According to Sheperis and Ellis (2014) professional counselors must practice from a foundation rooted in theory (pg178). Professional counselors have an obligation to build their foundations upon theories that are already in place. The individual personalities of counselors determine which theories fit their personal philosophies, and best serve their clients. Theories also help counselors to explain their practices to their clients. Theories also provide a foundation that helps counselors to create treatment plans for their clients (Levitt, Darnell, Erford, Vernon, 2014). Theoretical Orientation as a Clinical Mental Health Counselor Because I want to work with preschool aged children after completing this program, there are two theories that seemed to fit best for me as an adolescent counselor. Most of the problems that are occurring in the classroom are due to behavior, and it seems best to match the intervention to the behavior (Hackney, 1992). It has been my experience that 3 and 4-year-olds are under stress due to their environments and other factors upon entering the classroom causing a need for Behavioral Intervention. Sometimes children enter the classroom never being exposed to other children or never being a part of a larger group of children. Children who are displaying undesired behaviors must be taught how to act in their new environments. The goal of Behavioral Intervention is to weaken or eliminate...

Words: 700 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

My Reflections

...Reflections on Counseling Counseling Reflection I have to say that before this experience, the longest counseling session I had with any client was only 10 minutes long, and even with that I would use the word success loosely . Therefore, after discovering that we would be having a 30 minute session with a new client, I became extremely anxious. A tornado of worries swept through my mind, “What if I say something wrong? What if the client says nothing? What if the strategy I go in with doesn’t work? And what can we talk about for 30 minutes?” But, as those worries sprang to life, I remembered some wise advice that helped alleviate my anxiety. Within the assigned readings for my psychology class, I have learned that in order to succeed you have to fail, and that I believe goes with everything in life. As blunt as that may sound, it is an accurate statement in regards to becoming a counselor. I will not instantly become a great counselor and I will inevitably fail and make many of mistakes during my training, but these mistakes will help pave my way towards becoming a successful counselor. Prior to beginning my 30 minute counseling session, I repeated this phrase over and over again while practicing some deep breathing to calm myself down. This mind set and relaxation process helped me appear calm and collected, even though on the inside I was a nervous mess. After a few moments of pulling myself together, I began the counseling session by...

Words: 846 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Abc Model of Crisis Intervention

...ABC Model of Crisis Intervention ABC Model of Crisis Intervention Introduction Every person ultimately experiences crisis moments that may differ in content but tend have specific shared characteristics. Usually, crisis entails loss, threat, as well as the unexpected. There have been various theoretical techniques provided for assisting those functioning through crisis. Generally, the most effectual techniques tend to follow a short therapeutic model which stresses the episode isolated from other problems and seeks an action plan to mitigate the crisis. The ABC model provides a useful instrument to enhance the counseling procedure. “A” stands for basic attending skills, “B” stands for the identification of problem and healing intervention, while “C” represents coping skills (Grice, 2010). This paper employs the ABC model to attend, indentify, intervene and assist in coping in Jones crisis. ABC Model of Crisis Intervention The case study involve a report from Mr. John who claims that his neighbor who they have been sharing coffee and chats has stayed for about two months without being seen outside the house. According to Mr. John, his neighbor Mr. Jones failed to turn up for their usual morning coffee in the neighboring restaurant, since his son started coming on daily basis to check on him. The last time when Mr. John saw him, Mr. Jones had bruise on his face and Mr. John feels that something is amiss. With this regard he decided to report the matter to crisis workers...

Words: 1738 - Pages: 7

Free Essay

Effective Counseling

...their opinions. Counseling is the application of mental health, psychological or human development principles, through cognitive, affective, behavioral or systemic intervention strategies, that address wellness, personal growth, or career development, as well as pathology. Thus counseling focuses on helping people make changes unlike guidance that focuses on helping individuals choose what they value most. Therefore a counselor is a person who gives counsel or advice. Counselors work in diverse community settings designed to provide a variety of counseling, rehabilitation, and support services. Their duties vary greatly, depending on their specialty, which is determined by the setting in which they work and the population they serve. Although the specific setting may have an implied scope of practice, counselors frequently are challenged with children, adolescents, adults, or families that have multiple issues, such as mental health disorders and addiction, disability and employment needs, school problem or career counseling needs, and trauma. Counselors must recognize these issues in order to provide their clients with appropriate counseling and support. As a counselor you need to have patience with your clients as they process the discussion. It may take them time to accept certain things and to move towards positive changes. Some people need to discuss something many times before they are prepared to make a move in any particular direction. Keywords: counseling, characteristics...

Words: 2063 - Pages: 9

Free Essay

Online Interviewing

...Online Interviewing Online interviewing has been proven to be an effective means of counseling in areas such as obesity, generalized anxiety, and PTSD symptoms (Sommers-Flanagan & Sommers-Flannagan, 2014). There are several benefits to the use of online interviewing. Online interviewing allows for the extension of clinical resources beyond geographical or physical boundaries. Like our online courses, online interviewing also allows for flexibility in scheduling. Because interview sessions are conducted online, I also feel that online interviewing has the potential to reduce stigma that others may feel as a result of having to go to a counseling office. I personally have mixed emotions about the use of online interviewing. As mentioned above, I feel that the greatest benefit of online interviewing is the versatility of where and when it can be used. Essentially, anyone who has access to computer and internet has the possibility of engaging in counseling. However, I feel that there are a lot of risks to using online counseling. There are obvious concerns such as security, knowing who you are talking to, or what to do in an emergency situation. However, I feel that more subtle nuances found in face to face interviewing are lost as well. For example, I am the kind of person who overanalyzes what I write or say. I tend to erase and retype information often. In asynchronous online relationships, this would allow me the opportunity to edit the information that I shared based on...

Words: 425 - Pages: 2