counseling principles

7/31/2019 Counseling Principles

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Tony Thampi 1

The Counseling Relationship

Introduction to the Counselling

Profession



Tony Thampi

Quick Review

What is Counseling?

According to the American CounselingAssociation, counseling is:

“The application of mental health, psychological or

human development principles, through cognitive,

affective, behavioral or systemic interventions,

strategies that address wellness, personal growth, or

career development, as well as pathology.”



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Quick Review

What is Guidance?

“Guidance is a process of helping people

make important choices that affect their

lives, such as choosing a preferred lifestyle”

(Gladding, 2000, pg. 4).



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Quick Review

What is Psychotherapy?

Traditionally focuses on serious problems

associated with intrapsychic, internal, and

personal issues and conflicts. It deals with

the “recovery of adequacy” (Casey, 1996, p. 175 asquoted in your text).



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Our Focus

While the boundaries

between counseling,

guidance, andpsychotherapy are

changing and blurring,

we are going to focus

our efforts on theapplication of

counseling.



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Factors that Influence

Change

The counseling process

is influenced by several

characteristics that help

it become a productivetime for the client &

counselor. Not all

characteristics apply to

all situations, butgenerally, the following

help bring about

positive results.

Structure

Setting

Client Qualities

Counselor Qualities



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Factors that Influence

Change

Structure .

The “joint understanding between thecounselor & client regarding the

characteristics, conditions, procedures, andparameters of counseling” (Day & Sparacio, 1980,

p.246).

This give form to what the formal process

will look like. Many clients come tocounseling with no idea what to expect.Counseling moves forward when client andcounselor know the boundaries of the relationshipand what is expected.

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S.O.L.E.R.

When working with a

client, you want to send a

message that you are

listening.This can be done by being

attentive both verbally

(responding to the client) and

nonverbally.

SOLER is an acronym

which serves to remind us

how to listen.



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S: Face the client squarely; that is, adopt a posture thatindicates involvement.

O: Adopt an open posture. Sit with both feet on theground to begin with and with your hands folded, oneover the other.

L: As you face your client, lean toward him or her. Beaware of their space needs.

E: Maintain eye contact. Looking away or down

suggests that you are bored or ashamed of what theclient is saying. Looking at the person suggests thatyou are interested and concerned.

R: As you incorporate these skills into your attendinglistening skills, relax.



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Factors which influence

change

Client & Counselor Qualities.

Counselors generally like to work with clientswho are most like them. We are influenced by

the physical characteristics of the client. It is

important to be aware of how you work with all

clients and offer your best work to all clients.Clients, depending on culture, initially like to

work with counselors who are perceived as

experts, attractive, trustworthy.

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Some Basic Principles

Each client must be accepted as an individual and dealtwith as such (the counselor does not necessarilyapprove of all behavior, but still accepts the client as aperson).

Counseling is basically a permissive relationship; thatis, the individual has permission to say what they pleasewithout being reprimanded or judged.

Counseling emphasizes thinking with; not for theindividual.

All decision-making rests with the client.



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Some Basic Principles

Counseling is centered on the difficulties of the client.

Counseling is a learning situation which eventually

results in a behavioral change.

Effectiveness in counseling depends largely on the

readiness of the client to make changes and the

therapeutic relationship with the counselor.

The counseling relationship is confidential.



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The Initial Session

There is always an initial session. It is

during this time both the client and the

counselor are assessing one another to see

if the relationship will work. It is here

the subject of the subsequent sessions will

be discussed and determined.

There are several skills which are useful

during this phase of counseling.



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Gathering Information

Types of Questions:

Open — allows the client to answer the

question in a free-flowing or narrative style.Used when you want more detailed andelaborate answers.

Tell me how this is working for you?

Closed — this type of question requires only aone or two word response. Usually…Yes orNo.

Do you enjoy that type of work?



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Gathering Information

Types of Questions:

Probes — a questions which begins with a who,what, where, how, or when.

What do you plan to do to complete your project?

Requests for Clarification — Asking the client

for more information.

Help me understand what this relationship is for?



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Gathering Information &

Building the Relationship

When you can take the time to build the

relationship with the client & gather

information, there are other skills which youmust possess and develop. In efforts to

build the relationship, you would

concentrate more on the client‟s attitudesand emotions. The skills you need include

the following:



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Restatement/Content Paraphrasing.

A re-statement of what you heard the client sayin slightly different words.

Reflection of Feeling.

Similar to a re-statement, but you areconcentrating more on the emotional aspect &

the non-verbal communication.





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Summary of Feelings.

A simple summary paraphrase of several

feelings which have been verbalized (non-verbal

and verbal).

Acknowledgement of Non-verbal

Behavior.You are noting to the client what you are

seeing. You are not interpreting the non-verbal

content.





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A Touchy Subject — Touching

Touching a client is very

problematic in today’ssociety. Touch

appropriately is a major

concern for counselors. Itis a powerful way to

communicate caring and

empathy. It can also be

easily misunderstood,

misconstrued, and

damaging to the counseling

relationship.



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Some Non-Helpful Behaviors

There are severallists of non-helpfulbehaviors. Most

common among theminclude: Advice Giving

Lecturing

Excessive Questioning

Storytelling

Asking “Why?”

Asking “How did that

make you feel?”



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A Word About Goals

Goals within counseling help to set the

tone and direction one travel’s with their

client.

Without goals, the sessions will wander

aimlessly.



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Goal Guidelines

Goals are mutually agreed on by the client

and counselor.

Goals are specific.

Goals are relevant to behavior.

Goals are achievement & success oriented.

Goals are quantifiable & measurable.

Goals are behavioral & observable.

Goals are understandable & can be re-

stated clearly.



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Perceiving Reality

“Perception is Reality”

As you move past the initial stage of

counseling, you begin to gain an

understanding of the client’s world view.

How they perceive reality is considered

true by the client, and often seen only one

way. As you work with a client, you may

offer new frames to their pictures of reality (re-framing) and fresh ways to look

at things.



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Important Skills/Tools for the

Counselor

There are several

important skills

which we will cover

briefly. Each isconsidered a “micro-

skill” which you will

need to develop

during the clinicalsequence of the

counselor training

program.

Empathy

Leading

Responding

Self Disclosure

Immediacy

HumorConfrontation



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Empathy

You want to build

the relationship with

the client through allthe previously

mentioned skills. Yet

all these skills will behindered without the

use of empathy.



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Empathy

According to Rogers (1961)…

This is the ability to enter the client‟s

phenomenological world, to experience the

client‟s world as if it were your own withoutever losing the „as if‟ quality.

It involves two specific skills:

Perception/understanding of what is takingplace emotionally.

The ability to communicate your understanding

of that to your client.



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Empathy

According to Martin (1983)…

Empathy is communicated understanding of the

other person’s intended emotional message. Everyword counts in this definition. It is not enough to

understand what the person said; you must also

hear what they meant to say; the intended message.

It is not enough to understand, even deeply; you

must communicate your understanding somehow.

It is absolutely essential the other person “feel”

understood — that your understanding is perceived.



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Two Forms of Empathy

Primary Empathy:

Responding in such a way that it is apparent to

both the client & counselor the counselor has

understood the client‟s major themes.

Advanced Empathy:

This takes the relationship one step further.You are exploring themes, issues, meanings,

and emotions that are below the surface of what

is being shared by the client.



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Levels of Empathy

Throughout your time with a client, you

will be using different levels of empathy.As the sessions progress, empathy will

deepen as you know more about your client

and their story. You also use an appropriate

level of empathy for the stage of

counseling.



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Levels of Empathy

1. The verbal & behavioral expressions of thecounselor either do not attend to or detract

from the verbal & behavioral expressions

of the client.

2. Although the counselor responds to the

expressed feelings of the client, they do soin a way which subtracts noticeable affect

(emotion) from the communications of the

client.



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Levels of Empathy

3. The expressions of the counselor in

response to the expressions of the client are

essentially interchangeable.

4. The response of the counselor add

noticeably to the expressions of the clientin a way that expresses feelings a level

deeper than the client was able to express.



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Levels of Empathy

5. The counselor‟s responses add significantlyto the feeling & meaning of the expressions

of the client in a way that accurately

expresses feeling levels below what the

client is able to express.



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Moving the Client — Leading

Restatement of content

Reflection of content

Reflection of feelingMinimal Encouragers: “I see” or “uh huh”

General Encouragers: Direct client talk moreon a specific topic, e.g., “Please say some more

about…” Encouragement/Support

Therapeutic Silence



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Responding Styles

Counseling is often perceived as just

focusing on feelings. This is not true.

While counseling helps people work

through feelings; how one responds and

communicates with others will effect how

the counselor responds to the client.



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Responding Styles

Affective Responding.

Focusing on feelings.

Behavioral Responses.

Focusing on actions and behaviors.

Cognitive Response.Focusing on thoughts and cognitions.

You will balance these throughout the session with a client.



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Self-Disclosure

Self-disclosure is making oneself knownto another person (the client) by revealing

personal information.

Counselors self-disclosure is only

necessary as it relates to the therapeutic

process. Too much self-disclosurehinders the counseling process, while not

enough, may inhibit the client from

forming a bond with the counselor.



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Immediacy

This involves a counselor’s

understanding and communicating of

what is going on between the counselor

and client within the helpingrelationship. There are 2 types:

Relationship immediacy. (Between client &counselor)

“Here & Now” immediacy focuses on some

particular event in the session.



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Humor

Humor can have apositive effect on the

counseling process when

used properly.

It must be used with

sensitivity and timing. It

does not demean and is

supportive.

A session is not a time to

try out a new joke heard

at lunch.



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Confrontation

Before you confront someone you want tomake sure the relationship is strong andable to withstand the challenge of theconfrontation.

Example: “You have said you want tochange this behavior but it seems you

keep doing it over and over again. Helpme to understand what is going on andhow repeating this pattern is helpful to

you.”

T f & C t



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Transference & Counter-

transference

A concept as old as

Freud, transference and

countertranference areissues that affect all

forms of counseling,

guidance, &

psychotherapy.

T f & C t



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transference

Transference.

This is the client’s projection of past or

present feelings, attitudes, or desires onto thecounselor. It can be direct or indirect and

will cause the client to react to you as they

would in the past or present relationship.

T f & C t



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transferenceCounter-transference.

This is the counselor’s projected emotional

reaction to or behavior towards the client. It

can take on many forms, from a desire toplease the client, to wanting to develop a

social or sexual relationship with the client.

When this happens, supervision or

counseling for the counselor is called for.



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Termination of a Session

There is no great secret toending sessions. Thereare some guidelines:

Start and end on time.

Leave 5 minutes or so for a summary of the

session.

Introduce the end of the session normally (“Ourtime is coming to a close.”).

Assign homework.

Set up next appointment.



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Timing of Termination

There is no one answer when termination is to

take place. Questions you may wish to ask

yourself 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 counseling relationship helpful?

? Has the context of the initial counseling

arrangements changed?



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Resistance to Termination

Clients & Counselors may not want

counseling to end. In many cases this

may be the result of feelings about the

loss and grief or insecurities of losing the

relationship. For clients, this is

something to process. For counselors,this is an issue for supervision.



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Premature Termination

Client.

Many clients may end counseling before all

goals are completed. This can be seen by not

making appointments, resisting new

appointments, etc… It is a good idea to try

and schedule a termination/review sessionwith the client so closure may take place. At

this time a referral may be in order.



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Premature Termination

Counselors.

At times, counselors have to end counseling

prematurely. Whatever the reason for the

termination, a summary session is in order

and referrals are made, if appropriate, toanother counselor.



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Referrals

At times, a counselor needs to make areferral. When this is done, specificissues need to be addressed with theclient:

Reason for the referral.Note specific behaviors or actions which

brought the need for a referral.

Have the names of several other counselorsready for referral.

You cannot follow up with the newcounselor to see if the client followedthrough (Confidentiality issue).



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Follow-Up

At times, a follow-up may be scheduled

for various reasons including evaluation,

research, or checking-in with client.

Follow-ups need to be scheduled so as to

not take the responsibility of change

away from the client.



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