The Background to the Recording Counseling Session - Essay Example

Counseling Skills Insert Name Course, Class, Semester Institution Instructor Date Introduction The counseling sessions are always meant to help individuals to overcome the problems facing them. Most of the problems faced by the individuals may result to stress and hence impacting negatively on their health. In some instances, the individuals may fail to perform certain duties and others end up giving up completely. It is thus important to note that counseling plays an important role in terms of ensuring that the individual is able to combat the problems and continue living a normal life. The stress always results to poor performance and various factors always contribute to the stress. It is thus important to understand the factors causing the stress and tackling the stress requires different strategies. On the other hand, it is also necessary to ensure that the information regarding the individual is confidential. Wining the trust of the client is also important and hence the need for being free with the client (Nelson-Jones, 2012). This will also ensure that the client is able to discuss openly the problems that they are faced with. An example of such session is one that involved a client who was stressful about assignments and hence affecting her academic performance. She was thus nervous and anxious about her academic performance as she had scored low marks in the previous assignments. Being the first session with the client it was necessary to create a friendly environment in order to obtain more information about the client. The paper thus discusses the concepts of guidance and counseling in relation to the session with the client. Evaluation of the session The session was the first with the client and vital information was obtained that could help the client overcome the stress brought about by assignments. The fist session was successful as some of the factors contributing to the stress were identified. Time management was one of the factors that were identified as contributing to the stress faced by the client. Although the client was strict with time, she was not good in times of managing it and hence the failure to allocate adequate time to some assignments. On the other hand, the client was also anxious and nervous. This contributed to the poor performance of the client in some of the assignments that she score low marks. It is also important to note that being nervous can be fueled by other external factors and hence leading to the stress. The state of mind of the client may also contribute to the stress (Lambert, 2010). It is thus necessary to determine whether the client has some other pressing issues apart from the obvious ones that are directly linked to the problem. During the session it was established that the client had other external problems that also contribute to the poor performance in terms of managing time and assignments. The client had problems with the family regarding her relationship with her boyfriend. Her parents do not approve her relationship with her boyfriend and this contributes to the stress facing her. The openness during the session was useful in terms of obtaining the personal information. The counseling skills used were thus important in terms of obtaining the information. During the session, several counseling skills were used for the purpose of obtaining information from the client. The information obtained was for the purpose of establishing the factors contributing to the problem. The listening skills were important during the session and it was useful in terms of obtaining the information. Active listening to the client was involved. Enough time was given to the client to respond to questions and issues. At no time was the client interrupted and hence ensuring that the client is comfortable when answering questions. Interrupting the client is not proper as it may seem more of an interrogation as opposed to a counseling session. The listening skills applied during the session also involved monitoring the non verbal information. This involved monitoring the physical position of the client when responding to questions. The non verbal information was used to establish the levels of trust of the client and also the openness of the client. The empathy skills were also applicable during the session. This was for the purpose of monitoring the emotions of the client. The emotions of the client always determine the mood of the client and hence the ability to answer the questions and respond to the issues raised. In order to avoid any issues caused by emotions, the client was asked to be comfortable raising any issue during the session. Reflection of the statements of the client was also important in terms of dealing with the emotions. This plays an important role in terms of determining the approach to use when asking questions (Miller, 2011). During the session, the use of unconditional positive regard was important in terms of ensuring that the client is confident when responding to issues and questions. The use of unconditional positive regard ensured that the session was non-judgmental to the client. This was also important to the client as it created an a free atmosphere where the client did not feel judged because of her actions regardless of whether they were right or wrong. It was also necessary to help the clients to identify and work on specific on the problem that she was facing. This was for the purpose of solving the problems faced by the client. It is through this that the client as able to respond positively to any of the issues raised. This was achieved through the use of concreteness skills of counseling. This counseling skill also plays an important role in terms of ensuring that the client is kept on track (Shapiro, et al, 2009). Encouragement was also important in terms of ensuring that the client remains positive despite the problem that she was facing in terms of managing her assignment. Through encouragements, the client became confident and open when responding to issues. It is also important to note tat encouragement plays an important role in terms of creating a feeling of concern. The client is only able to move on and deal with the problems facing them once they realize that the counselor is concerned about the problems facing them. The skills used during the session therefore played an important role in terms of solving the problems faced by the client. It was also possible to establish the problems that contributed to the stress in managing the assignments. The counseling skills used had major strengths which contributed to positive impact that it had on the client during the first session. Establishing trust and confidence of the client during the first session is important in terms of creating a free and open environment for counseling. On the other hand, the counseling skills played an important role in terms of ensuring the success of the counseling process. Useful information was also obtained through the counseling techniques used. Obtaining information regarding the problem is a vital step in terms of ensuring the success of the counseling process. Using the wrong counseling methods may lead to the failure of the whole process and hence not achieving the goals and objectives of the counseling. The client was also able to give personal information which is also confidential. This is due to the trust and confidence that the client had on the process and the techniques used. It is always difficult for the client to reveal confidential information during the first session. This is because most of the clients will always want to ensure that the counselor is worth their trust and confidence. The ability to encourage the client in order to obtain information and ensure that the solution is found is also useful during the session. Encouraging the client also played an important role during the session and it contributed to the success of the session. It is thus evident that winning the trust and confidence of the client is a major strength during the counseling session (Jordan, 2010). However, it is also important to note that despite the strengths that the counseling skills had, there were few weaknesses. However the weaknesses did not have a major impact on the client. Through the listening skills that were used, more questions than answers were directed to the client. This led to the client contributing much in the session. It is evident that the client was the one speaking for more than three quarters of the time. Expressing the feelings of the client depending on the information was also one of the weaknesses of the counseling skills. This is because more questions were asked and hence the lack of time expressing the feeling to the client. Although the confidence of the client was won, a few issues may be raised by the client in the next sessions. Some of the questions were also complex at the stage of counseling. This is because good questioning techniques require the client to give only brief answers. However, during the session most answers required a lot of explanations. This also gave a little time for reflection. Proper counseling requires a lot of reflection in order to help the client to overcome the problems being faced (Wampold, 2010). Theories of counseling skills The person centered theory is one of the theories that influence the counseling skills. According to this theory, it is believed that each individual has an inner strength and it places a lot of emphasis on the experience of the client together with the interpretation of the situations. Empathy and unconditional positive regard are also emphasized in this theory as they greatly influence the counseling process. This theory also emphasizes the importance of the building a good relationship between the client and the therapist. This theory was practical during the counseling session as it applied most of the concepts of person centered theory. A good relationship with the client was established and hence leading to the openness during the session. During the session, the client was not judged and hence leading to the establishment of the good relationship with the client. This also contributed to the confidence of the client when answering questions. On the other hand empathy with the client also played an important role and hence leading to the success of the session. This created an atmosphere of understanding during the session. The counseling session therefore played an active role through involving the concepts of the theory. The person centered theory is thus useful in terms of creating confident among the clients in order for them to deal with the problems facing them (French, 2010). The attachment theory is also an important theory of counseling and it helps the therapists to understand the problems faced by the clients. The attachment theory compares the attachment between the mother and the child. This theory suggests that the children are attached to their mothers at the early stages. However, some people always develop problems during their adult stage. The understanding of this theory therefore enables a therapist to start the counseling process with the concepts in mind. During the session, this theory was useful in terms of tackling the problem of the client. It was evident that the client had problems with her parents. It was thus important to use the concepts of attachment theory which provided information relevant to the problem being faced by the client. The cognitive theory also plays an important role in terms of encouraging the clients. This theory recognizes the fact that behaviors are experiences which are learned and can be unlearned. Although the client was not involved in any negative behavior, the concepts of this theory were important in helping the client to open up for counseling. It is through this process that the client was able to gain confidence of the process. It thud evident that the theories of counseling plays an important role in terms of ensuring that the client receives proper guidance and counseling (Craske, 2010). Conclusion In conclusion, the counseling skills used is always influential to the clients and it determines the outcome of the process. The problem facing the client required counseling so as to address it. Understanding the client also plays an important t role in terms of solving the problem faced by the client. During the counseling session, it is important for the counselor to be in the shoes of the client. This is for the purpose of clearly understanding the problems being faced by the client. It is evident that the counseling process was successful due to the consideration of the problem of the client. The session was also non judgmental and hence resulting to the trust from the client. Creating a friendly atmosphere for the client is also important in terms of wining their trust. This was also applicable during the session and it resulted to the success of the session. It is also evident that the theories of counseling are important during the process of counseling. The concepts can be used to establish the problems facing the client. The attachment theory played the role of establishing the personal issues facing the client. The cognitive theory also ensured that the client was encouraged to participate in the session. The person centered theory on the other hand was useful in terms of building a good relationship with the client and hence gaining the trust of the client. List of References Craske, M, 2010, Cognitive-behavioral therapy, American Psychological Association. Nelson-Jones, R, 2012, Introduction to counseling skills: text and activities, SAGE Publications Limited. Miller, L, 2011, counseling skills for social work, Sage Publications Limited. Shapiro, S, et al, 2009, The art and science of mindfulness. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Payne, R, 2010, Payne's handbook of relaxation techniques, Churchill Livingstone/Elsevier. Lambert, M, 2010, Prevention of treatment failure. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Jordan, J, 2010, Relational-cultural therapy. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Wampold, B, 2010, The basics of psychotherapy: An introduction to theory and practice, Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. French, A., 2011, Developing counseling skills to support bereaved children, An educational initiative. Read More

On the other hand, the client was also anxious and nervous. This contributed to the poor performance of the client in some of the assignments that she score low marks. It is also important to note that being nervous can be fueled by other external factors and hence leading to the stress. The state of mind of the client may also contribute to the stress (Lambert, 2010). It is thus necessary to determine whether the client has some other pressing issues apart from the obvious ones that are directly linked to the problem.

During the session it was established that the client had other external problems that also contribute to the poor performance in terms of managing time and assignments. The client had problems with the family regarding her relationship with her boyfriend. Her parents do not approve her relationship with her boyfriend and this contributes to the stress facing her. The openness during the session was useful in terms of obtaining the personal information. The counseling skills used were thus important in terms of obtaining the information.

During the session, several counseling skills were used for the purpose of obtaining information from the client. The information obtained was for the purpose of establishing the factors contributing to the problem. The listening skills were important during the session and it was useful in terms of obtaining the information. Active listening to the client was involved. Enough time was given to the client to respond to questions and issues. At no time was the client interrupted and hence ensuring that the client is comfortable when answering questions.

Interrupting the client is not proper as it may seem more of an interrogation as opposed to a counseling session. The listening skills applied during the session also involved monitoring the non verbal information. This involved monitoring the physical position of the client when responding to questions. The non verbal information was used to establish the levels of trust of the client and also the openness of the client. The empathy skills were also applicable during the session. This was for the purpose of monitoring the emotions of the client.

The emotions of the client always determine the mood of the client and hence the ability to answer the questions and respond to the issues raised. In order to avoid any issues caused by emotions, the client was asked to be comfortable raising any issue during the session. Reflection of the statements of the client was also important in terms of dealing with the emotions. This plays an important role in terms of determining the approach to use when asking questions (Miller, 2011). During the session, the use of unconditional positive regard was important in terms of ensuring that the client is confident when responding to issues and questions.

The use of unconditional positive regard ensured that the session was non-judgmental to the client. This was also important to the client as it created an a free atmosphere where the client did not feel judged because of her actions regardless of whether they were right or wrong. It was also necessary to help the clients to identify and work on specific on the problem that she was facing. This was for the purpose of solving the problems faced by the client. It is through this that the client as able to respond positively to any of the issues raised.

This was achieved through the use of concreteness skills of counseling. This counseling skill also plays an important role in terms of ensuring that the client is kept on track (Shapiro, et al, 2009). Encouragement was also important in terms of ensuring that the client remains positive despite the problem that she was facing in terms of managing her assignment. Through encouragements, the client became confident and open when responding to issues. It is also important to note tat encouragement plays an important role in terms of creating a feeling of concern.

The client is only able to move on and deal with the problems facing them once they realize that the counselor is concerned about the problems facing them.

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