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Counseling Prepracticum Skills Packet Part 1

COUN 6696 - Prepracticum Counseling Techniques - 3 credits

(Fall Semester, 2015, Pocatello)

1DEPARTMENT OF COUNSELINGIDAHO STATE UNIVERSITYPOCATELLO, IDAHO 83209

Monday 11:00am to 12:30pm

Wednesday 11:00am to 12:30pm

Aug 24, 2015 - Dec 18, 2015

Room: Garrison Hall 726

Instructor: Chad Yates Ph.D.Phone: (208) 282-3158Email: [email protected]: Garrison Hall 718Office Hours: TBD

Instructor: Leslie Stewart Ph.D.Phone: (208) 282-3769Email: [email protected]: Garrison Hall 723Office Hours: TBD

Doctoral Instructors:Heidi McKinley, M.S., [email protected] DeLeon, M.A., [email protected] Tribitt, M.Ed., [email protected],M.A.,[email protected] Bland, M.Coun., [email protected] Rapp, M.A., [email protected] DeMeyer, M.A., [email protected] Howells, M.A., [email protected]

Adopted from the work of Rebecca Koltz, Ph.D.

mailto:[email protected]



Let’s start at the beginning... what is counseling?

Counseling is a professional relationship that empowers diverse individuals, families, and groups to accomplish mental health, wellness, education, and career goals. Additionally, Counseling is often a short-term, theory-based, non-directive, non-judgmental process. During this process the client is invited to express their concerns. The counselor works towards empowering the client to gain awareness of self; as well as, awareness of situations in their lives, to inform decisions and goals for counseling. The client is able to do this through the support and assistance offered by another person, the counselor.

During this class, we ask that you put aside what you may think or know about counseling. This class is about learning how to listen and facilitate meaning making (or promote self-exploration, or increase insight). Students sometimes come into this profession saying they chose it because they are “good listeners.” This class is about fine-tuning those listening skills, especially during the first half of the semester. Active listening is about using counseling skills very intentionally. You have a purpose, a reason for using the skills. You may be tempted to do other things, you may be uncomfortable, you may feel frustrated at times, and you might wonder about the process; however, we ask that you lay aside any preconceived notions and begin to learn how to sit and actively listen and facilitate exploration with someone for fifty minutes Not just listen and say nothing, not listen and give advice, but how to actively listen to someone’s concerns.

What are we listening for? (Egan, 2010)

-Client’s experiences, and in that you will find their beliefs, values, attitudes, and convictions. They will tell you personal and meaningful experiences in their lives, and you will need to listen and understand what points are most relevant to their concerns (Egan, 2010). When listening to client experiences, we are listening for their point of view, not their mother’s or other people in their life. For example, what is the difference between these two statements?

• Your mother thinks that you should move home during these rough economic times.• You are struggling with the thought of moving home right now.

-Client’s feelings, emotions, and moods. Recognizing key feelings and emotions is important for three reasons (Egan, 2010):

-Emotion pervades life-Emotion affects quality of life-Emotion often is a driver of behavior

Understanding key feelings, emotions, and moods in client’s problem situations is central to the counseling process.

-Listening to the client’s patterns of thinking; these may be shared in the form of points of view, proposals, plans, or decisions. You will learn to “hear” the patterns.


-Listening to the client’s behaviors and patterns of behavior; some clients talk freely about their behaviors, and others are more reluctant. Understanding behaviors is a complicated process that counselors assist clients in understanding. Counselors must be conscious of not assigning judgment to a client’s behavior and should instead model empathetic understanding and non-judgment. The key is to help the client make their own meaning/interpretation of their behaviors

-Listening for strengths and opportunities; you could listen for only problems with clients; however, every client has strengths. Your job is to listen for these strengths in connection with their issues at hand and to invite them to see these strengths..

-“Listening” for the client’s nonverbal messages; Clients send a lot of messages and clues through their nonverbal behavior. Nonverbal behavior punctuates a verbal message through facial expression, bodily motions, and voice quality. Nonverbal behavior can confirm a message, deny or confuse a message, strengthen or emphasize a message, add intensity to a message, or control a message.

-What are some examples regarding of how this happens during counseling?

Questions for Reflection: As you read through this list what do you notice? What is a potential theme? Is there anything not addressed that you think is important?

*Please address in your reflection journal the questions for reflections you read in this manual. While these are not graded they are intended for your self-reflection, and completing them demonstrates willingness to self reflect and engagement.


A 15 Skill Process

Throughout this semester you will learn 15 basic skills of counseling to assist you in listening. Some of these skills are explicit, and some are more implicit. You will have an opportunity to practice these skills this semester with each other.

Your time in this class comprises the following three roles:

All three of these roles are integral to your development as a counselor.

The client role may be difficult at times. You may have mixed emotions about it given the fact that you are observed. When you are the client, feedback is focused on the counselor. Any discussions that ensue are for the benefit of the counselor. This does not mean that we do not care about you. This experience is much like the training that nurses go through when learning how to draw blood, administer medicine, etc. In training programs that are skill-based, it is necessary to practice on peer clients before seeing practicum clients. With regard to feedback, it is your choice to give feedback. We understand that this can be a vulnerable role for you, and to give feedback might put you in an awkward position.

The counselor role may be difficult, as well, because you are being observed and given feedback. However, how exciting to be in the counselor role! Use this as an opportunity to get comfortable, to ask questions, and to stretch as a person. Please do what you can to be open to the feedback and embrace this opportunity to be observed before you have practicum clients. Also, please be patient with yourself and with the supervisors. This process of learning counseling skills is very experiential, so it takes patience. The self-awareness that results is


essential to your growth as a counselor, and increasing self-awareness is critical to maintaining wellness.

In the observer role you observe your peer counselor and give feedback. We never give feedback to the client with regard to how he/she did. Feedback after the session is always focused on the counselor. At times, particularly during live supervision we might conceptualize what is happening in the room between the client and counselor as the session is occurring, but we do this with respect for the individuals being observed. You will be expected to be an active participant in the observer role whether it is during live supervision behind the mirror, or taking notes while in the room.

Questions for Reflection:

1. Which of the three roles are you most excited for, and nervous about trying?2. What strengths do you believe you can bring to each role?

What is a personal goal you want to set for yourself as you begin to engage in this process?


Feedback

Feedback given during this class uses a 3-point model of supervision (Bernard, 2004): conceptualization, intervention, and personalization.

Conceptualization: This is what is happening in the relationship. Initially, you will be working on building a relationship with your client. Feedback will be focused on whether or not this is being observed. Are you being too pushy? Are you moving too fast? Are you missing opportunities for feeling reflection? What was the primary feeling that session? Are you focused too heavily on either feelings or cognition, versus balancing the exploration of both? Are you accurately picking up on feelings, or what the client is trying to tell you about their experiences?

Intervention: Interventions are the 15 skills that you will need to exhibit. You will be given feedback on the skills utilized, as well as ones that might have been helpful to implement in session.Feedback will be given to you verbally, as well as in a written narrative. All written feedback will be kept in your personal binder/journal. This folder is kept by the instructor of the class, but is available to you for review. You are encouraged to take notes on your feedback, so that you have it handy during practice outside of class.

Personalization: Personalization refers to the “stuff” that personally gets in the way of you becoming an effective counselor. For example, you might struggle with a certain emotion that emerges in the room. The client might be exhibiting anger (clenched fists, raised voice, rapid


What is your relationship like with the client?What is going on on in the client's personal process? What blindspots or defenses do you see the client exhibiting? What strengths do you see the client possessing?

Conceptualization

15 SkillsWhat skills are most natural or difficult for you to use?What skills were you being intential with?What others skills might you have utilized ?

Intervention

Focus is on you.Feelings that get in the way.Unfinished personal business.Moral judgements.Anything that takes you away from being present from your client and more focused on your own experience/history/process.

Personalizatioon

speech); yet, the counselor is not reflecting anger. This is a potential personalization if you are uncomfortable with or avoiding what is coming up in the room. On the other hand, some personalization’s can be beneficial because they can increase your empathy towards clients, and help you use feeling reflections. You may personally relate to what the client is going through. The task then becomes to utilize your parallel experience to access compassion toward your client, while at the same time not assuming their experience is just the same as yours.

Johari Window: A window to your soul? Not really, just great insight!

The hope is that feedback in these three areas will increase the open/free area. Feedback is never easy, but growth is not easy either. Opportunities for growth often involve encountering something painful or uncomfortable



1. Reflect on what it makes it easier and challenging for you to accept feedback from others. How can you challenge yourself to encounter this resistance or discomfort?

2. How comfortable do you feel giving constructive feedback to others? What makes this easy or challenging for you?


Practice makes perfect? No, but it will definitely help you with this class.

You will need to practice outside of class. This class can be difficult to get an “A” in even with practice. If you do not practice on your own, all of the feedback you will be receiving in class will not serve you well. The doctoral instructors will show you how to schedule time in the clinic rooms for practice. If you do not practice, you will have a difficult time getting a good grade in this class. These skills are only learned and maintained through practice. It is not expected that you be perfect, but that you show progress.

Class time may not be used for mid-term and final tapes. These sessions must be recorded outside of class time. Also, you may not use tapes for the mid-term and final that you have reviewed with the instructor or doctoral supervisor. You will learn more about taping and the midterm and final from your doctoral instructors over the time of the course.

Counseling Model for this class

The counseling process can be viewed simply as a three-stage process: initiating/building a relationship, working in the relationship, and terminating the relationship. Please observe the phrase relationship building during stage 1. Relationship building is also is infused into stage 2 and the termination stages. The presence of a healthy relationship is crucial to counseling.


Journal Reflection:

How might a counseling relationship be similar and different from other relationships in our life?

How might viewing the counseling relationship like other relationships in my life be problematic?

For the purpose of this class we will be focusing on the first two stages: building a relationship and working in the relationship. Building a relationship will be the focus for the mid-term grade. The final tape will be focused on building a relationship and adding the working stage. There are specific skills that we will be focused on for each stage. Toward the end of the semester we will discuss termination, so that you will be prepared for practicum.


Establishing a Therapeutic AllianceYou will not “cure” your clients, but the relationship itself can be extremely therapeutic (Egan, 2010).

Outcome research attributes client change to the following four factors (Lambert, 1992):

-30% The Therapeutic Relationship

-40% Client Extratherapeutic Factors

-15% Hope or Expectancy about the helpfulness of counseling

-15% Specific techniques or theory

The Four Common Factors and their percentages

40%

30%

15%

15% Extratherapuetic 40%Relationship 30% Technique 15%Hope, Placebo 15%

Establishing a therapeutic alliance simply means that you have established an agreement to work on some goals and tasks, as well as experience safety and an emotional bond in this mutual act, counseling.

Establishing a working alliance means that you “mirror” a client, you do not “fix” a client. This involves facilitating their exploration and helping them draw their own conclusions about what they need to encounter and work on. You mirror back to them what you see, but leave the interpretation and action up to them. You will be tempted to offer advice, to direct the client, to offer your opinion; however, all of these are not useful in building a working, therapeutic alliance. Often clients do not really “hear” what they are saying, and this is why we are there.


Establishing a working alliance (Egan, 2010):

1. Develop a collaborative working relationship with the client (Stage One Skills).

2. Use the relationship as a vehicle for social-emotional re-education (Learn to trust your instincts).

3.Do not do for clients what they can do for themselves; if you are working harder than your client something is wrong (Foster autonomy).

Initiating/building a counseling relationship involves:

• Meeting the client• Setting limits and guidelines, e.g., goals, meeting times, session duration, etc. for the process.• Discussion of surface or presenting issues• Revelation of deeper issues & emotions

*For the purpose of this course we are skipping the setting of limits, intake/ information gathering portion. This will be addressed as you prepare to see clients in practicum. We are just moving toward beginning to listen.

Working in the counseling relationship involves:

• Ownership of feelings and possible emotional release • Generation of insight• Client Directed Problem-solving and future planning• Action by the client

Termination of the counseling relationship involves:

• Review and reflection; what has been discovered, what has changed, and what the client needs to focus on moving forward?• The honoring and closing of the therapeutic relationship


The 15 skills

For the first half of the semester we will be focused on skills for relationship building, which includes 8 skills. Some of these skills are explicit and concrete while others are more implicit and less concrete. Please try to not let this frustrate you; it is all a part of the process. While it would be tempting to move forward and at times you may think you are ready, you can only use the first 8 skills until mid-term. After midterm, we will be ready to integrate the rest.

You may ask, why? The purpose of breaking them down in this way is twofold: 1. So you really learn them well, and 2. So you learn how to really listen. The second one is really important. While you may think that you know how to listen, you will learn that there is more to it than you think.

8 Skills to learn by mid-term

Warmth

Genuineness & Congruence

Positive Regard & Respect

Empathy

Attending & Silence

Reflection of Feeling

Paraphrasing

Summarizing: end

Skills for the working stage: 7 skills

• Skill set from Stage 1

• Skill set for Stage 2

o Pattern Recognition

o Advanced Empathy

o Immediacy

o Self-disclosure

o Confrontation (Reflecting Discrepancies)

o Focusing the Counseling Session

o Probes and Open-ended Questions


Skill set from Stage 1

1. Warmth

What is warmth? How do you know someone is expressing warmth? Warmth is a condition of friendliness and considerateness manifested by smiling, eye contact, and nonverbal attending behaviors (Brammer & MacDonald, 1999). Freud and some of his followers emphasized warmth as a key factor in therapeutic power. Warmth in a helper conveys a psychological closeness, rather than a professional distance. Lack of counselor warmth can have detrimental effects: communication problems, client getting “worse,” or dependency developing between the counselor and client (Brammer & MacDonald).

Question for Reflection: What is your current comfort level/ability to demonstrate warmth? Is your perception consistent with the feedback you are receiving in class?

Conveying warmth is more than a smile, it is a condition, an environment in your counseling sessions. Some things to think about with regard to warmth are (Brammer & MacDonald, 1999):

-The client; for some clients who have been so hurt by life’s circumstances they cannot deal effectively with warmth when offered. A perceptive counselor will be aware of this and adjust their approach, and will not feel rejected if their clients respond with cool detachment.

-How much warmth to exhibit at different stages in the counseling process. Okay, so we cannot turn warmth on and off like a light switch, but counselors need to be aware of their impact on their clients. For example, showing warmth early might be helpful when first building a relationship with the client, or when the client is going through a crisis.

-Counselors must gauge their level of warmth expressed according to their client’s comfort level. From a multicultural perspective, overt expression of emotion must be used sensitively. A perceptive counselor will take this into consideration, and adjust their display of warmth accordingly.

2. Genuineness & Congruence

This is a state in which the counselor’s words are congruent or consistent with their actions. If you say to your client, “It’s nice to see you,” this sentiment is reflected in body language, and voice quality (Brammer & MacDonald, 1999). Counselors demonstrate sincerity, authenticity, and honesty when they are genuine (Skovholt & Rivers, 2007). In addition, counselors are comfortable with themselves, non-defensive, open-minded, and flexible.

Questions for Reflection: What allows you to be genuine with your client? How can you tell that you are exhibiting signs of this?

3. Unconditional Positive Regard & Respect for the client


Counselors accept and respect their clients without judgment or criticism. It does not mean that you always agree with your clients, but rather you accept and value your clients as individuals you respect (Skovholt & Rivers, 2007). In counselor training, this is often a blind spot. You might think that you are hiding your reaction; yet your client or supervisor sees it.

Question for Reflection: In what scenarios have you encountered or do you imagine would be difficult for you to express unconditional positive regard and respect? What can you do to further understand and adjust your response to the client?

4. Empathy

The counselor views the client’s life and issues through the client’s eyes. This is often referred to as phenomenological perspective (Skovholt & Rivers, 2007). This type of perspective conveys a deep understanding of clients and their concerns, and this concern is demonstrated through verbal and nonverbal understanding of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Empathy is not to be confused with sympathy. Sympathy is pity or compassion, and empathy is about understanding and being present with the client as they are experiencing something.

Dr. Brene Brown Video: The Power of Empathy

Watch this short video above:


What do you understand as the difference between shame and guilt? Reflect on moments or times in your life where you experienced each? How did they affect you differently?

What is your current comfort level with being vulnerable? Who are you most willing to be vulnerable around? Less willing? What might allow you to become more vulnerable in this course?

These aforementioned skills were identified by Carl Rogers in the 1950’s and research has indicated that they are positively correlated with client change (empathy and unconditional positive regard are the most highly related). One might ask, why? What would it be like to be in a situation in which someone criticized you, looked bored when you spoke, made little or no effort to understand your experience from your point of view? Would you want to build a relationship with that person? The environment created by this type of safe, supportive environment has been referred to as a “holding environment” (Teyber, 2000). Counselors “hold” a client’s feelings instead of distancing themselves from those feelings, thus this type of environment is much different from the dismissing and shaming that clients may have previously experienced. Your role is to “hold” those feelings with clients; therefore, communicating to clients that you can accept their feelings and it is safe for clients to experience and express them.

5. Attending, Silence, &Active Listening – SOLER (Egan, 2010)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Evwgu369Jw&feature=kp

Effective listening is key to being an effective counselor. It consists of various skills, which are covered with the acronym, SOLER:

S. If it suits them, face the client Squarely (Directly facing the client).

Some clients prefer chairs to be angled up to 45 degrees.

O. Maintain an Open posture with the client.

Relaxed Arms at your side, on your legs, in your lap, etc (Not crossed) Both feet on the ground Sitting up straight

L. Lean towards the client (as appropriate) and nod your head.

E. Maintain appropriate Eye Contact with the client.

Always consider the age and culture of a client when maintaining eye contact. Watch for signs of stress or discomfort.

R. Be a Relaxed counselor, by doing so you greatly improve the quality and comfort of the sessions.

Attending also includes verbal encouragers like “hmm” or “oh,” in addition to nonverbal encouragers like nodding your head or leaning in. These are some examples of active listening.

Silence is also a powerful tool to use in counseling. However, pauses can have many meanings and during this class you will learn to recognize and respond to them (Brammer & MacDonald, 1999). Some pauses are resistive acts because clients don’t feel comfortable revealing themselves further, clients may be thinking about something you said, or experiencing a feeling. Silence is not a skill if you are employing it because you don’t know what to say. Learning how to be comfortable with silence takes time for some individuals.

6. Reflection of Feeling

Reflection of feeling: is an attempt to portray an accurate understanding of a client’s emotional state. Why is this important? Recent research suggests that emotion is critical to understanding what motivates behavior (Atkinson, 2007). In fact, many people think that the best decisions are made from a logical standpoint. Research suggests, however, that even when someone believes that they are making decisions “logically,” emotions enter in and the best decisions include an emotional component. We are working to help clients see the relationship between their thoughts, behaviors, and feelings.

With regard to the skill of feeling reflection, the purpose is two-fold: to convey that you heard what the client is saying and to help the client become more aware of their emotional state. It


is one skill that can be useful to convey empathy for the client. If we, as listeners, miss the feeling content we have missed a major part of the speaker's reaction and experience. Reflecting feelings also give the speaker an opportunity to evaluate how he or she is responding to a problem situation.

“You feel scared.”

“Scared...” (just using the word can be effective and powerful) “You’re feeling angry”

An example:

Client states: “It is to the point where I don’t even want to walk alone at night”

Counselor: “You feel scared”

Client states: “Yes, I feel scared to go out alone”

An example:

Client states: “I can’t live under their rules anymore!”

Counselor: “You feel angry”

Beginning counselors-in-training often seem to have difficulty in reflecting feelings. The unspoken rules of behavior that structure relationships in the social setting are often thought to work well in the counseling relationship. In social settings the boundaries are different, reflecting another person’s emotion by pointing it out could be considered intrusive and impolite. What is appropriate socially and what is appropriate therapeutically can be different. In the counseling setting clients are “stuck” when they are unable to identify how they feel about what is happening in their lives. Effective use of reflection of feeling helps clients gain the self-awareness needed to get “unstuck.” The most important point is that you must learn how to do this.


The 5 Basic Feeling Words

Emotions play an important role in how people think and behave. They are continually present in an individual’s mental processes and heavily influence motivation, decision-making, and behavior (Izzard, 2007). All emotions include 3 components (Hockenbury & Hockenbury, 2007):

1. Subjective: How we experience the emotion2. Physiological: How our bodies react to the emotion3. Expressive: How we behave in response to the emotion

People are capable of highly complex range of affective experiences, but current literature asserts all emotions can be traced to a small set of basic emotions, which are universal and recognized across cultures. Thus, most emotions are understood to be varieties of a small number of basic emotions. Theorists have yet to reach a consensus specifying which emotions or how many emotions are basic. For the purposes of this course, the following list of feelings will be considered basic emotions:

1. Happiness: A pleasant state of well-being characterized by enjoyment, satisfaction, and contentment.

2. Sadness : A painful state characterized by feelings of disadvantage, loss, despair, helplessness and sorrow.

3. Anger: An uncomfortable response to a perceived provocation or threat to self, loved ones, self-image, or identity.

4. Fear: A distressing response to perceived imminent or impending danger or pain. 5. Loneliness : An unpleasant response to perceived isolation or lack of social connection.


Basic Emotion Vocabulary Chart

EmotionIntensity

Happiness Sadness Anger Fear LonelinessH

igh

Delighted Ebullient EcstaticElatedEnergetic Enthusiastic EuphoricExcited Exhilarated Overjoyed ThrilledVibrantZippy

AlienatedBarrenBeatenBleakBleedingDejected DepressedDesolate DespondentDismalEmptyGloomyGrievedGrimHopelessIn despairWoeful

Affronted BelligerentBitterBurned upEnragedFumingFuriousIncensedInfuriatedIntenseOutraged ProvokedSeethingStorming Truculent Vengeful Vindictive

AlarmedAppalledDesperate Distressed Frightened Horrified IntimidatedPanicky Paralyzed PetrifiedShockedTerrifiedTerror-stricken Wrecked

AbandonedCut offDesertedDestroyedEmptyForsakenIsolatedMarooned Neglected OstracizedOutcastRejectedShunned

Med

ium

AglowBuoyant Cheerful ElevatedGleeful High spirits JovialLight-hearted LivelyMerrySparklingUp

AwfulBlueCrestfallen Demoralized Devalued Discouraged DispiritedDistressedDowncast DownheartedFed upLostMelancholy MiserableRegretfulRottenSorrowfulTearfulUpsetWeepy

Aggravated Annoyed Antagonistic CrabbyCranky Exasperated FumingGrouchyHostileIll-tempered IndignantIrateIrritatedOffendedRattyResentfulSoreSpitefulTestyTicked off

Afraid Apprehensive Awkward DefensiveFearfulFidgetyFretfulJumpyNervousScaredShakySkittishSpinelessTautThreatened TroubledWired

AlienatedAloneApartCheerless Companionless Dejected Despondent EstrangedExcludedLeft outLeftoverLonelyOppressed Uncherished

Low

ContentedCoolFineGenialGladGratifiedKeenPleasantPleasedSatisfiedSereneSunny

BlahDisappointedDownGlumLowMoodyMoroseSomberSubdued Uncomfortable Unhappy

Bugged Chagrined DismayedGalledGrimImpatientIrkedPetulant ResentfulSullenUptight

AnxiousCarefulCautious DisquietedShyTenseTimidUneasyUnsureWatchfulWorried

BlueDetached Discouraged DistantInsulated Melancholy RemoteSeparate Withdrawn


Useful Methods for Reflecting Feeling (Phillipsen, 2004):

1. Step into the client's shoes.

This approach involves the counselor stepping inside the client's reality and attempting to experience it. As the client describes the unexpected end of an important relationship, the counselor silently asks, "How might I feel if this were going on in my life?" Whatever emotions occur to the counselor can be then verbally reflected to the client.” There is a danger in this, it cannot come simply from what the counselor imagines they would feel in that scenario, it’s a combination of empathizing, listening to the content, and paying attention to nonverbals.

Example: The client describes being nervous about experiential experiences like this class. You ask yourself, “How would I feel if this were going on in my life? If I were nervous about this?” Now bring it into the room... “Your nervousness in the past is affecting you now” or ”You feel scared.”

2. Use personalization therapeutically

Many individuals have common reference points--past experiences that are similar. One example of this is that most people have experienced a romantic relationship end before they


were ready for it to end. When a client begins to discuss being "dumped," counselors may recall how it felt when it happened to them, and verbally reflect to the client: "You feel angry” or “You feel sad." However, do not make assumptions!!!!

3. Attend to the client's vocal intonation

When people are experiencing emotion it often affects the way they communicate non-verbally as well as verbally. Vocal modulation may be absent or extreme, intonation may be flattened, sighs or unusual pauses in verbalization may occur. Eyes may be tearful or downcast, shoulders may be slumped, teeth may be clenched, or arms crossed. These clues to what a client may be feeling can be reflected by the counselor to the client.

Example: A client begins to speaking about a family gathering they attended. As the client begins speaking, their voice increases in volume and rate of speech. This might indicate that the client has begun to experiencing an emotion. This change as well as other indicators you are noticing might lead you to reflect a feeling: “You feel happy,” You feel sad,” “You feel angry,” etc.

4. Use a synonym for a feeling the client has identified.

Clients may use feeling words to describe their internal reality (Phillipsen, 2004). They might share with the counselor that the abrupt end of an important relationship leaves them feeling "unhappy." When the counselor reflects a feeling that has a meaning similar to the emotion identified by the client (for example, "You feel sad "), the self- awareness of the client is enhanced.

Often clients will tell the counselor how they don't feel. They will make statements such as, "Well, I don't feel good about it." In cases like this, the counselor may simply reflect any emotions that are the opposite of the emotion the client has rejected. An example would be, "You feel scared."

Following a reflection of feeling, one of two things will happen: The client will or will not accept the reflection. If the reflection fits, the client will usually endorse it. If it does not, the client will deny it, and usually follow up by telling the counselor what he or she believes the feeling to be. Knowing this about client behavior allows the counselor-in-training to acquire a comfort level with the reflection of feeling skill more quickly and this, coupled with the understanding that what the client is not feeling may be as important as what is being felt, guides the counselor in facilitating the client's emotional self-discovery.

Common Mistakes:

-The use of minimization, “You’re feeling a little scared.” Sometimes, it might be appropriate to use “little”; however, at this stage in training it is often used because the counselor is unsure. Pick another feeling if you can, but stay away from “little.”

-Sometimes a beginning counselor believes if the client doesn’t resonate with the feeling they have failed. However, you have gained valuable information either way. You know more about your client’s world. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you were wrong. Your client might not be ready to hear “angry,” rather than “not happy.”


-Using a questioning tone with the feeling reflection, “You feel scared?”

-Confusing think/feel language. I feel like I should have said something to him. This is an example of a common language error we use in everyday language. It should state- I think I should have said something to him.

At Home Activity: Practice with someone telling you a two or three sentence statement and try making a feeling reflection.

One responsibility of the counselor is to create the therapeutic space within which safety exists for the client to risk thinking about doing things differently. This safety is a consequence of trust, and can be compromised if the counselor uses the reflection of feeling skill inappropriately. When the counselor uses the reflection of feeling skill to enhance the client's self-awareness too quickly, the client may feel threatened, become defensive, and abandon treatment.

Reconnecting clients to their feelings, and helping them develop the ability to express emotion in healthy, satisfying ways, is an essential counselor skill. It is an effective and genuine tool for drawing out truth. A feeling reflection can also be a way to keep the client in “process” vs. “content” and to help them to go “low and slow”, such as if they are story-telling. (Phillipsen, 2004).

7. Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing is restating what the client says in such a way that the basic message is similar, but more concrete. The main purpose is to convey understanding to the client, and to communicate that you are trying to understand the client’s world (Brammer & MacDonald, 1999). Usually, a paraphrase is focused on the content, but be aware that you are focusing your comments on the client, not the other people in their life (not present in the room).

Client: I just don’t understand. One minute she tells me to do this, and the next minute to do that.

Counselor: She really confuses you.

OR: Counselor: It seems you often don’t know what to do in this situation.

The second one focuses more on the client. This may seem like a simple change of words, but the meaning is different. One conveys more ownership. Paraphrasing seems a bit artificial at first, until the helper experiences some encouraging responses from the client. After a while it will seem more natural. Be careful of repeatedly using the same type of responding, “What I hear you saying...” Often, you do not need to preface your paraphrases like this.

At Home Activity: Practice with someone telling you a two or three sentence statement and try saying a paraphrase.

8. Summarizing (end).


Summarizing includes: the content of what the client said, the feelings, and the process (here and now experiencing) about what was discussed between the client and counselor. Summarizing is piecing together into one statement several ideas and themes that were discussed during the session. It is much broader than a paraphrase. Think of it as a statement in which you have a long paragraph, as opposed to a short one-sentence message (paraphrase). The purpose of a summary is to give the client a sense of movement in the session, increase awareness with regard to progress in learning and problem solving, to finish a session, clarify scattered or unfocused ideas, or to shift in session (if this shift is from the client). For the counselor, it is an effective check on the accuracy of the client’s story. Summarizing the previous sessions at the beginning of a session can provide needed continuity, as well (Brammer & MacDonald, 1999).

Some counselors ask their clients to summarize the session. While this is a great tool, for the purpose of this class, you will be expected to summarize at the conclusion of the session. If every now and then you ask the client to do that, it would be fine; however, we need to know that you can do them.

Some guidelines for summarizing (Brammer & MacDonald, 1999):

-Attend to various themes and feelings as the client speaks

-Put together the key ideas in a broad statement-Do not add new ideas

-Decide if it would be more helpful to state your summary or ask them to summarize.


Tips for being successful in this class:

1. Begin to accept ambiguity

2. Be open to feedback from us and from your peers.

3. Practice, Practice, Practice.

4. Focus on the skills you have used well not only the skills you are working to improve.

5. Tuck away what you thought you knew about counseling and be open to a new way being with people (Empty your cup!).

6. Be collaborative; help each other out

Closing Reflections:

Counselor education research indicates that during your first year, and particularly during this class is a time of much self-doubt. Do not let this surprise you, and do not feel like you are alone.


• How will you handle this doubt and ambiguity?

• What challenges will this class present for you? How will manage those challenges?

• You will learn a lot about yourself during this class. What will you do with all of it?


Stage One: Skills for Building a Relationship

Warmth

Genuineness & Congruence

Positive Regard & Respect

Empathy

Attending & Silence

Reflection of Feeling

Paraphrasing

Summarizing: end


Starting each session:

-You will open with a basic question (Your one and only question prior to mid- term)

-What would you like to talk about today?

-How could I be most helpful today?

You will not direct the session. You will not tell the client where to start. The session is about the client.

-You will use all 8 skills where and when they are appropriate. If you simply summarize, reflect feelings, and paraphrase for 20 minutes this is fine. This is all we are working on until mid-term. This first 6 weeks is meant for you to get comfortable, learn some things about yourself, and learn how to listen. This is why there are no questions allowed for the first 6 weeks.

-It is “interviewing,” not “interrupting.” The reality is that we have to see you use these skills in class and on your tapes to do well.

-End your session every time with a summary.


Midterm Tape Evaluation

A = Excellent, no room for improvement.

A- =Excellent demonstration of the skills. Student is competent to use this skill set in practicum with clients with some small places for improvement.

B+/B =Good demonstration of the skill, skill is almost mastered except for minor details. Student may be competent to use this skill set with clients, yet still has some areas for improvement. Committee chair may be notified.

B- = Fair demonstration of the skills, skills are not mastered. Questionable whether student will be consistently competent to use this skill set with clients, several places for improvement. Committee chair notified.

*If you receive a B- you may be required to do extra supervision. This is at the discretion of the instructor and subsequent consultation with your major advisor. “It is not abnormal for students to receive a B-. In fact, some that have and have received additional supervision, have been thankful for it in the long run. Try not to let this grade discourage you too much

C/C- =Fair demonstration of the skill, skill is not fully mastered, additional knowledge is needed, and extra supervision is required. The student’s program chair will be notified of progress. The student understands this skill but is not competent with this skill and is not ready to use it with a real client in practicum. Committee chair will be notified.

D/D- =Poor demonstration of the skill, skill is not mastered and critical parts are missing, a lot of additional knowledge is needed, and additional individual supervision is required. Committee Chair will be notified of progress. Student lacks full understanding of this skill and needs more instruction, plus more practice with this skill in simulation and under supervision. Committee chair will be notified.

F =Completely inadequate demonstration of skill and knowledge base. Additional individual supervision is required, and committee chair will be notified of progress.


Midterm Tape Review Requirements

1. Required Skills on Tape:• Warmth • Genuineness & Congruence • Positive Regard & Respect • Empathy • Attending & Silence • Reflection of Feeling • Paraphrasing • Summarizing: end

We must see the above skills on your tape, and we must see them more than once during a 20 minute tape.

Also, quality of skill will be taken into consideration when grading the tapes. You may receive feedback on how to use the skills you are demonstrating more effectively.

Stay focused on the client, not others…..

You need to use them appropriately, particularly in relationship to being warm, congruent/specific, respectful, empathetic, concrete & genuine.

You may use clarifying, encouragement & silence, but demonstration must be appropriate. Do try to include it just to have an “extra” skill on your tape.

2. Summary: You must do a summary at the end that succinctly captures

what transpired in session.

Do not forget to include the most salient feeling in the final summary.

3. Transcription: Accurately labeling the skill, as well as appropriately

choosing an alternative statement that is more appropriate, if you did not like the one you used on the tape.

Transcribe your entire 20 minute session Some of your statements might have more than 1 skill you


you are utilizing. For example, you might say that in one statement you are doing a paraphrase and include a feeling reflection.

After transcribing the tape please indicate your best 10 min section with the time it starts and ends. Please highlight your transcript as well, to show where your chosen 10 min begins and ends.

4. Professional Dress: Consider this professional/casual dress No hats, jeans, workout clothes, tank tops, flip flops, etc. Dress as if it were a casual Friday.

Grade________________ (10% of the final grade)

*In addition to the above, you may also lose points if you ask questions on your tape, or try to problem solve. An example of problem solving is… “I wondered if you have tried talking to that person.” The purpose of this tape at midterm is to demonstrate your relationship building skills. At this stage of the relationship, you do not problem solve, and unless you were doing an intake you would not inundate the client with questions.

*See Syllabus for Pre Prac Skills Rubric


References

Brammer, L.M. & MacDonald, G. (1999). The helping relationship: Process and skills (7th ed.). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Egan, G. (2010). The skilled helper: A problem management and opportunity development approach to helping (9th ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole

Phillipsen, Ed. (2004, July 1). Reflection of feelings: an essential counseling skill; Skill can be particularly difficult for recovering counselors The Free Library. (2004). Retrieved June 26, 2009 from http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Reflection of feelings: an essential counseling skill; Skill can be...-a0128440782

Skovhold, T.M. & Rivers, D.A. (2007). Helping skills and strategies. Denver, CO: Love Publishing Company

Teyber, E. (2000). Interpersonal process in psychotherapy: A relational approach (4th ed.). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.


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