Microskills: Application Within this paper, I will discuss and analyze examples of counseling microskill applications
The microskills demonstrations that will be discussed include attending behavior, encouraging, paraphrasing, and reflection of feeling. This paper will also discuss why these examples appear to be effective within the given scenario.
Attending Behaviors Attending behaviors demonstrate care and interest in the client through body language, facial expressions, tone of voice, eye contact and attention to the topic at hand (Ivey, A. Ivey, Zalaquett, & Quirk, 2012). This is demonstrated quite well by the first counseling demonstration with a married couple, Aaron and Robin, and their adolescent daughter, Michelle. The counselor conveys warmth and care with good eye contact with each person, a relaxed but attentive posture, and good use of gestures throughout the session. His presence indicates concern and empathy.
Encouraging
Encouraging behaviors are used to help the client continue talking and elaborate on the topic at hand. Encouraging behaviors include verbal and non-verbal cues from the counselor. Verbal encouragement can be as simple as a verbal utterance such as, “uh-huh” or a restatement with the tone of a question such as, “So you were really angry” (Ivey, A. Ivey, Zalaquett, & Quirk, 2012). The counselor meeting with Aaron, Robin and Michelle does this very effectively, throughout the session (Laureate Education, 2010). He says, “uh-huh” and “yes” multiple times along with open gestures that seem to be an invitation to open up and continue. They are very nuanced but seem very effective in keeping the conversation moving forward.
Paraphrasing with Check In Paraphrasing in an active listening skill in which the counselor reflects back, with empathy and openness, what the client has said, in the counselor’s own words (Erford, 2010). The counselor then checks in with the client to see if they captured the meaning the client was trying to convey. Within the case study, the counselor starts the interview with a paraphrase of what she knows of their situation. Upfront, the counselor invites the clients to let him know if within the paraphrase there is something that he doesn’t seem to understand. This seems to be particularly effective in ensuring that there is a shared reality and staying open to more information. This is a basis of building solid trust and strength in the therapeutic relationship.

Reflection of Emotion
Reflecting the emotions and feelings of a client requires a counselor to recognize and convey understanding of how the client has been affected (Young, 2013). The counselor is identifying the underlying emotions of what a client is saying and then reflecting this back as a statement. Within the given case study the counselor shares his reflection and impression of her feelings at earlier sessions along with what feelings came up for him in this process. Watching this exchange, we see the client’s body language e.g. positive head nods and facial expressions e.g. smiling indicate a sense of connection with the counselor. My impression of this from my own experiences is that the counselor has done a good job in building a strong therapeutic relationship with the client.
Conclusion
Microskills, no matter what theoretical orientation exists, help create an environment in which a therapeutic relationship can be created and maintained. The microskills of attending behaviors, encouraging, paraphrasing and reflection of feeling can be valuable tools in opening a client up to get in touch with their own feelings, ideas, and potential solutions. What I found most intriguing about this particular assignment is in seeing the nuances of which each counselor used the microskills. The subtlety of use, seems to increase the effectiveness and natural nature of the session and conversation. References

Erford, B. T. (2010). Counseling processes and approaches. In Orientation to the counseling profession: Advocacy, ethics, and essential professional foundations (2nd ed., pp. 202-203). Boston: Pearson.
Ivey, A. E., Ivey, M. B., Zalaquett, C. P., & Quirk, K. (2012). Attending and observation skills. In Essentials of intentional interviewing: counseling in a multicultural world (2nd ed., pp. 55-57). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning.
Ivey, A. E., Ivey, M. B., Zalaquett, C. P., & Quirk, K. (2012). Encouraging, paraphrasing and summarizing. In Essentials of intentional interviewing: Counseling in a multicultural world (2nd ed., pp. 103-104). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning.
Young, M. E. (2013). Reflecting skills; reflecting feelings. In Learning the art of helping: Building blocks and techniques (5th ed., pp. 120-123). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill.