Counselling as Interactive Process - Essay Example

?Counselling Skills: Exploring and Questioning Counselling consist of an interactive process between at least two parties: counsellor and client/clients (Corsini & Wedding, 2008). The purpose of counselling is to identify and treat the cause of discomfort or suffering. The counsellor is usually guided by a theory of counselling in attempting to identify and treat the causes of discomfort or suffering (Corsini & Wedding, 2008). In this regard, the exploring and questioning phase of counselling guided by Roger’s Client-Centred Therapy also known as person-centred therapy will be analysed. Using Rogers’ Client-Centred Therapy the exploring phase of the counselling sessions are aimed at achieving self-actualization and positive outcomes (Kensit, 2000). Self-actualization and positive outcomes are achieved via client-centred therapy when counsellors are authentically engaged with their client. (1946) explained that the counsellor should create a “warm and permissive atmosphere” so that the client feels “free to bring out any attitudes and feelings” that he/she might have (p. 416). The client must also feel equally free to hold back feelings. The counsellor must therefore ensure that it does not convey judgment during the exploration phase. As Rogers (1946) states, “this means” that the counsellor must not probe, blame, interrupt, advise, suggest, persuade or reassure (p. 417). A person-centred theory of counselling assumes that individuals have an inherent ability to achieve their optimal potentials. An individual’s own experiences and perspectives can create obstacles to realizing their fullest potential. This is especially so when the individual’s history of feeling loved is only connected to positive personal outcomes. Thus as a result of the human need to feel valued by others, there is a tendency to hold back those feelings and experiences that might not be accepted by others (Mearns & Thorne, 2000). The counsellor guided by the person-centred understanding of human nature, adapts an approach in which the client does not feel judged or threatened in any way. By taking this approach, the client can be more open to who he/she is and can identify and adhere to his/her own sense of self-value and self-worth. As a result, the client is able to determine a way forward for themselves. The counsellor attempts to gain an understanding of the client’s attitudes and experiences from that client’s perspective. The counsellor in turn looks upon the client as a human being while at the same time remaining objective and authentic as a human being. The idea is to ensure that the client and the counsellor develop and maintain a personable, yet professional relationship (Rennie, 1998). LeBeauf, Smaby, and Maddux (2009) explain that the exploring stage of counselling is used to aid clients in their identification of “where they are in relationship to the problems they are facing” (pp. 34-35). Attending skills are a major part of the exploring and questioning phase and is particularly important for person-centred approaches to counselling (Wilkins, 2003). Attending skills include, “eye contact”, “body language, and verbal tracking” (LeBeauf, et. al., 2009, p. 35). In applying attending skills to person-centred counselling, the counsellor communicates that involvement and care. Moreover, attending skills help the counsellor to look for non-verbal cues and to “respond more appropriately to immediate client needs (Ivey, Ivey, & Zalaquett, 2010, p. 62). Attending skills are important for facilitating person-centred approaches to counselling for three main reasons. Attending skills ensure that the counsellor communicates to the client that he/she is interested in what the client is saying. It also heightens the counsellor’s “awareness of the client’s pattern of focusing on certain topics” (Ivey, et. al., 2010, p. 62). Attending skills also help the counsellor “modify” attending methods so as to “establish rapport with” the client (Ivey, et. al., 2010, p. 62). Questioning and reflecting are also part of the exploring phase and it involves asking “open-ended” questions, “paraphrasing, and summarizing” (LeBeauf, 2009, p. 35). In the person-centred approach to counselling reflecting in the exploring and questioning phase allows the counsellor to establish an understanding of the client’s feelings and attitudes and avoids misinterpreting the client’s feelings and attitudes. Moreover, reflecting in the exploring phase of person-centred counselling helps that client to focus more intently on their feelings (Gillon, 2007). Open-ended questioning is an effective method for facilitating that exploring phase because they invite the client to offer meaningful narratives. Open-ended questions allow clients freedom of expression and do not box them into inflexible options the way that closed questions often do. For example an open-ended question would ask the client “why are you here? Or “How do you feel about that?” (Nelson-Jones, 99). Thus the client is able to explore certain points of inquiry. Paraphrasing and summarizing is important for it demonstrates that the counsellor understands what the client is saying and shows “active listening” (Nelson-Jones, 2005, p. 102). Paraphrasing and summarizing is important because it avoids verbatim repetition of what the client stated which can be frustrating to the client. In this regard paraphrasing and summarizing “means rewording speakers’ verbal utterances” and while the counsellor may “sometimes use the client’s words” they must do so “sparingly” (Nelson-Jones, 2005, p. 102). Skilled paraphrasing and summarizing can leave the client with the impression that the counsellor understands him or her and the counsellor is paying attention or actively listening (Nelson-Jones, 2005). LeBeauf et. al., (2009) advise that the exploring stage should be characterized by a significant degree of client speaking and that the counsellor should keep the interruptions to a minimum. During the exploring phase, it is important for the counsellor to “communicate acceptance, empathy, and positive regard” (LeBeauf, et. al., 2009, p. 35). According to LeBeauf, et. al., (2009) when the exploring phase comes to an end, the client: ...should feel fully and completely supported to explore issues from their own viewpoints (p. 35). Empathy is one of the most important elements for achieving the client’s freedom of exploration (Corey, 2009). Person-centred counselling is responsible for introducing empathy into the realm of counselling skills. According to Corey (2009), person-centred therapeutic approaches have shown that a counsellor’s empathy has a significant role to play in steering “constructive change in the client” (Corey, 2009, p. 189). A counsellor’s empathy has been shown to be among the most effective ways for predicting how a client will make progress during counselling (Corey, 2009). The exploring phase of a person-centred method of counselling seeks to capitalize on the main tenets of person-centred counselling as developed by Rogers and subsequently modified (Rennie, 1998). The person-centred approach emphasizes the experiences, options and “personal freedom” of the client (Rennie, 1998, p. 1). Exploration within the paradigm of person-centred counselling is reflexive and organized around heightening the client’s self-awareness and “agency within that self-awareness” (Rennie, 1998, p. 1). In this regard, both the counsellor’s and the client’s reflexivity is important. The counsellor’s reflexivity is achieved by remaining open and objective. In this regard, the counsellor is open by ensuring that the client knows what the counsellor is doing and thus does not “detract from the focus on the client” (Rennie, 1998, p. 1). The exploring phase of the person-centred approach to counselling should engage the client in a thinking process. This thinking process should encourage the client to them about the self, to think about the client’s thoughts, feelings and attitudes and to treat the self as an object of “attention” and to “use what” is discovered “as a point of departure in deciding what to do next” (Rennie, 1998, p. 3). Exploring that produces reflexivity is particularly important to the person-centred approach because it results in bringing unconscious elements of the self into the consciousness which in turn leads to positive action. The client is put in a position where he or she can decide how and when to make positive changes for positive outcomes. The path toward achieving this kind of self-sufficiency is through the exploring phase of the counselling process (Rennie, 1998). Essentially, person-centred therapy or counselling is a method for self-exploration (Corey, 2009). In this regard, the counsellor gently and objectively steers the client on a journey of self-exploration and by doing so permits the client to identify and articulate his or her own inner concerns and issues. By doing so, the client becomes more profoundly aware of the obstacles to achieving fulfilment and happiness. Or the client becomes aware of the barriers to healthy coping and dealing with stressors. The person-centred counsellor encourages exploration rather than directs appropriate responses to stressors (Corey, 2009). The person-centred approach to exploring in counselling is based on the concept that all human beings are able to self-actualize and that self-actualizing leads to the development of the client’s fullest potential. Person-centred counselling is based on the idea of freedom, options, values, purpose, meaning via self-empowerment and self-actualization (Kensit, 2000). Counselling sessions are therefore permissive as opposed to directive and the client is encouraged to self-explore. As such, the exploring and questioning phase is an integral part of the person-centred counselling approach. The counsellor must therefore establish a interpersonal environment in which the client feels free to explore his or her own feelings and thoughts. In the meantime, the counsellor brackets his or her own feelings and judgments and acts as an objective and active listener (See Appendix for a transcript sample of the exploring and questioning phase of a counselling session using a person-centred approach). Appendix Sample Transcript of a Counselling Session During the Exploring and Questioning Phase of a Person-Centred Approach to Counselling a) A soldier returning back from Afghanistan - who has decided to leave the army and is just "down". Counsellor: Tell me about your decision to leave Afghanistan. Client: I never really wanted to go in the first place. I didn’t like being so far away from my family and friends. But I felt that if I didn’t go I would let my family, friends and my country down. Facing the prospects of death everyday made it even more unbearable. Eventually, I just couldn’t do it anymore. Counsellor: So, you went to Afghanistan because you felt it was your duty and not because you wanted to go? Client: Exactly. Counsellor: You are back with your family and friends now. How does that make you feel? Client: I am happy to be with my family and friends now. But I also made a lot of friends in Afghanistan. We became close as a result of the war and everything we went through together. So now I feel down about leaving them over there and now I am home and free of the hardship while they are still over there enduring the hardships. Counsellor: So you still feel a sense of duty to friends and now you find yourself in an impossible situation. No matter what decision you make, you always seem to be letting someone down? Client: Yes. That’s exactly how I feel. Counsellor: So what do you think is the solution? Client: The only solution is for the mission in Afghanistan to end and for all the soldiers to return home safely. If not I can go back to Afghanistan. Counsellor: So the only thing you can do personally is to reverse your decision to leave? Client: That’s it. Counsellor: And what about facing death every day and missing your family and friends? Client: I guess that’s not a solution because I’ll end up feeling down all over again and it will probably be worse this time around because I have now been reunited with my family and friends. Bibliography Corey, G. (2009). Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy. Belmont, CA: Thomson Higher Education. Corsini, R. J. and Wedding, D. (2008). Current Psychotherapies. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole. Gillon, E. (2007). Person-Centred Counselling Psychology: An Introduction. London, UK: SAGE Publications, Ltd. Ivey, A. E.; Ivey, M. B. and Zalaquett, C. P. (2010). Intentional Interviewing and Counselling. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole. Kensit, D. A. (2000). “Rogerian Theory: A Critique of the Effectiveness of Pure Client-Centred Therapy.” Counselling Psychology Quarterly, Vol. 13(4): 345-351. LeBeauf, I.; Smaby, M. and Maddux, C. (2009). “Adapting Counseling Skills for Mulicultural and Diverse Clients. In Walz, G. R.; Bleuer, J. C. and Yep, R. K. (Eds.). Compelling Counseling Interventions: VISTAS 2009. Alexandria, VA: American Counseling Association, 33-42. Mearns, D. and Thorne, B. (2000). Person-Centred Therapy Today: New Frontiers in Theory and Practice. London, UK: SAGE Publications, Ltd. Nelson-Jones, R. (2005). Practical Counselling & Helping Skills. London, UK: SAGE Publications Ltd. Rennie, D. L. (1998). Person-Centred Counselling: An Experiential Approach. London, UK: SAGE Publications Ltd. Rogers, C. R. (1946). “Significant Aspects of Client-Centered Therapy.” American Psychologist, Vol. 1: 415-422. Wilkins, P. (2003). Person-Centred Therapy in Focus. London, UK: SAGE Publications Ltd. Read More