Counselling and Counselling Skills - Term Paper Example

Abstract This paper discusses Counselling and Counselling Skills. The paper also discusses the similarities and the differences between Counselling and Counselling Skills. The paper also looks at the three main approaches to Counselling, i.e. the Psychodynamic approach to Counselling, the Humanistic approach to Counselling, and the Behavioural approach to Counselling. Counselling Counselling can be defined as the service offered to an individual who is undergoing some problem, for instance emotional, or psychological problems, and needs professional assistance in order to overcome the problem (Ladany, 2008). The kind of problems that requires counselling services are normally the problems that keep a person distressed, and the person is unable to overcome the problem. Unless these kinds of problems are solved through professional counselling, the problems will hamper the healthy development of the person distressed person. As a psychological specialty, counselling employs various research and applied work in several different areas. Counselling employs research and applied work in the following areas: supervision and training, counselling process and outcome, and carrier development and counselling. Counselling skills on the other hand refers to the techniques that are used in counselling. Counselling skills actually refers to the effective communication skills that are used in counselling. This paper discuses counselling and counselling skills in details, in an attempt to show the similarities and the differences that exist between Counselling and counselling skills. The paper also summarizes the different approaches to counselling and their differences. As we have seen in the introduction, Counselling covers the areas of supervision and training, counselling process and outcome, and carrier development and counselling. And as very important profession, the field of counselling is guided by a clear code of Ethics. For clear understanding of the field of counselling, it is imperative to look at the various aspects of the field of counselling and the code of Ethics that guides the counsellors. Supervision and Training All over the world, professional counsellors must undergo a standardized training in counselling, and accredited by the psychological association of a particular country; different countries have different psychological organisations that accredit counselling programs and grant licences to those who successfully go through the training program. The main counselling programs in USA are graduate programs and the post-graduate programs. The counselling course content that is covered in USA must be accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA). After going through the counselling program successfully, the counselling candidate must first be licensed by APA before starting the counselling carrier. As a serious profession, counselling therefore requires standardized training and supervision; the standardization of training and the supervision is done by the counselling psychological organisations of different countries. The psychological organisations in different countries rely on the tested and proven methods of counselling in their supervision and control of counselling training in different countries. Counselling Process and Outcome Counselling psychologists are concerned with questions on the process and outcome of counselling (Gelso, 2001). Questions on the process of counselling revolves around how and why counselling happens and progresses in a particular way. Counselling outcome on the other hand addresses the questions of whether or not counselling is effective, the conditions under which counselling is considered effective, and the outcomes which would be considered effective, for instance, change in the symptoms or behaviour. Studies in counselling process and outcome therefore seeks to ensure that counselling is effective and achieves its intended goal, and that the methods used in counselling are effective and result in the expected outcome. Carrier Development and Counselling Besides having been well trained, carrier counsellors should constantly be updated on the latest breakthroughs in the counselling field. The counsellors should be provided with the relevant occupational information, and modelling skills. This will help the counsellors to develop in their carriers and to be more effective in their counselling work. Counselling Ethics Although the counselling Code of Ethics may vary from one country or religion to the other, the main principles of counselling code of Ethics are universal. Counselling code of Ethics are centred on the principle of “doing no harm”. Counsellors therefore are required to desist from any behaviour that may jeopardize their relationship with their clients, in other words, to avoid anything that may cause harm to their clients. For instance, counsellors should never reveal to anybody else what their clients confide in them. Doing so is against the counselling code of Ethics. Having looked at Counselling as a fully-fledged psychological specialty, let us now look at the counselling skills and on the similarities and differences that exist between counselling and counselling Skills. Counselling Skills As I stated in the introduction, counselling skills refers to effective communication skills that make counselling effective. Counselling skills therefore revolve around effective listening and assertive skills in communicating with the client. These skills are taught in counselling programs and the skills are central in effective counselling. Listening Skills in Counselling In counselling, the counsellor should attentively pay attention to what the client says, and the counsellor should behave in a manner that assures the client that he or she is the centre of attention. The counsellor therefore should position themselves in a manner that makes their client feel that they are listened to attentively and respected. Some of the ways in which the counsellor can position themselves to gain their clients confidence include, eye contact, body position, or even bending the head towards the client, giving the client your ear, as it were. These positions make the client to have confidence in the counsellor and to open up to the counsellor on the problems that they are undergoing. The counsellors should realize that the way they behave before their clients is critical in gaining the confidence of their clients. For this reason, the counsellors should strive as much as possible to ensure that their attention doesn’t drift away from what the customer is saying. And in the event that the attention of the counsellor drifts away from the client, the counsellor should quickly reset his intentions and be attentive again to the client. As part of listening skill, the counsellors should also concentrate on the nonverbal communication by their clients, i.e. the body language of the client. Examples of nonverbal communication include, becoming animated when explaining one thing, or even becoming very angry and crying and while explaining a painful experience. Counsellors can gain a lot of insights into their clients’ problems, by paying attention at their client’s nonverbal communication. Empathy Skills in Counselling Empathy simply put is trying to put oneself into the shoes of another person so as to understand their feelings and their situations well. Counsellors should try as much as possible to understand the problems of their clients from their clients’ perspective, rather than from their own perspective. The counsellor should try to make their clients feel like the counsellor is himself/herself experiencing what the client is going through. Empathizing with the client makes the client to feel listened to and respected; this makes the clients to cool down, for realizing that their problems are well understood and that they are respected. Genuineness/Congruence Skill in Counselling The counsellor should try as much as possible to develop a cordial relationship with their client. One of the best ways of developing a cordial relationship with the client is trying not to put up a professional front or personal facade. This will make the client to feel comfortable and ready to share their innermost feelings. The counsellors therefore should ensure that there is congruence between the reassuring words that they use in counselling the customers, and the nonverbal language of their bodies. This will make communication between the counsellor and the client quite effective. Unconditional Positive Regard The counsellor should internally acknowledge that the client is acceptable irrespective of their situation or condition. Without feeling accepted and respected, it is unlikely that the client will open up to the therapist. The counsellor should therefore never be judgemental towards the client. The counsellor therefore should seek to assure their client that they are accepted in whatever condition that they are in. The acceptance is conveyed to the client through both verbal and nonverbal communication. From the above discussion on the meaning of and the differences between Counselling and Counselling skills, it is clear that the main difference between Counselling and Counselling skills is that while Counselling refers to the whole field of Counselling, Counselling skills refers to the skills that the counsellors use in helping their clients to overcome the problems that they are undergoing. Counselling and Counselling skills are however related in that counselling skills is part of Counselling. Summary of Different Counselling Approaches and their Differences The three main approaches to counselling are Psychodynamic Approach to Counselling, Humanistic approach to counselling, and Behavioural approach to counselling. Psychodynamic Approach to Counselling Psychodynamic Approach to counselling was originated by Sigmund Freud. In course of his work as a medical doctor, Freud realized that some of the medical problems that his patients were going through could not be explained in terms of physical cause. For this reason, Freud concluded that these kinds of medical problems could have their origin in the unconscious minds of the patients. According to the Psychodynamic approach to counselling, true knowledge of people’s problems can be achieved through understanding three areas of the mind, i.e. the conscious part of the mind, the subconscious, and the unconscious part of the mind. In Psychodynamic counselling, the ultimate aim is to bring the unconscious into our consciousness. This is what is known as the psychoanalysis (Rogers, 200). As a counselling method, psychoanalysis helps the client to examine their childhood experiences that may be causing them problems that they are going through in life. This counselling approach is based upon the assumption that unless we unravel and resolve the childhood dilemmas that we repressed in our unconsciousness, because of their painful associations, we cannot make progress in our psychological development. In Psychodynamic counselling therefore, the counsellor lead their client to discover and resolve the childhood dilemmas that may be causing them problems in their adult lives. Humanistic Approach to Counselling Unlike the psychodynamic approach to counselling, humanistic counselling is not based on the childhood experiences that may be having bearing on our adult lives. Humanistic approach to counselling recognizes the uniqueness of each person, something that is not recognized in the psychodynamic approach to counselling. According to this approach to counselling, every individual person has an inborn ability to develop emotionally and psychologically towards self-actualization and personal fulfilment. According to this theory therefore, since each human person is unique, it is not life events per se that causes problems in our lives but how an individual experiences the life events. And how we experience life events relate to how we feel about ourselves, this influences our self-esteem and our self-confidence. Humanistic approach to counselling therefore aims at encouraging the client to realize how negative responses to life events can lead to psychological problems. The ultimate aim of humanistic approach to counselling is to make the client to accept both the positive and the negative aspects of one’s life. Humanistic approach to counselling therefore is mainly a client-centred counselling that encourages the client to explore their experiences in life and to work out their own solutions (Sanders, 2006). Behavioural Approach to Counselling Unlike the psychodynamic and the humanistic approaches to counselling, the behavioural approach to counselling is based upon the assumption that an environment, where one grows up, determines one’s behaviour later in life. According to this approach to counselling, how one responds to life events depend on the behaviour that one acquired as a child. According to this approach to counselling, behaviour is learned, and it is possible therefore to unlearn it. This is obviously in contrast with the psychodynamic theory of counselling that holds that our behaviours are driven by our unconscious instincts. The behavioural theory of counselling therefore aims at helping the client to the change the behaviour that is causing them problems in life. In a behavioural approach counselling, the counsellor helps the client to realize the unwanted behaviour in the client’s life, and together, the counsellor and the client work to modify the unwanted behaviour in the client. References Gelso, C.J., & Fretz, B. (2001). Counseling Psychology, (2nd ed.): Brooks Cole. Print Ladany, N. & Inman, A. (2008) Handbook of Counseling Psychology, (4th ed.). John Wiley & Sons: New York.Print Rogers, C. (2005). The Carl Rogers Reader edited by Kirschenbaum & Henderson. London: Counstable and Robertson. Print Sanders, P. (2006). The Person Centred Counselling Primer. Trowbridge, UK: Cromwell Press. Print Read More