The Interaction between a Counsellor and a Client - Case Study Example

Institution : xxxxxxxxxxx Course : xxxxxxxxxxx Title : Helping the rose Tutor : xxxxxxxxxxx @2010 Introduction The interaction between a counsellor and a client requires adequate application of the codes of ethics in counselling. Extracts from counselling sessions can be useful in the analysis of the application of the stages and skills of counselling. The interventions used by the counsellor to solve the client’s problem can be evaluated using the range of counselling strategies applied during the session(Gerald, 2001 ).Rose’s psychotherapy session highlights these fundamental aspects. An overview of the session The counselling session involves Rose a first time mother with a five year old daughter. Rose’s daughter is problematic, she seems to throw tantrums every night through her unstoppable cry. Rose feels that the behaviour is getting out of hand due to the fact that her daughter doesn’t seem to quite. Rose has tried out several strategies to resolve the issue however it seems impossible. Dr Berenson listens carefully to Rose as she explains how her daughter takes over her nights with the endless crying which she definitely responds to by taking her from her room to their bedroom however she still seems impossible to control. The session progress’s as Rose reveals how the various techniques she’s used have just gone down the drain. She tried reinforcing her through making her comfortable during the night, she also tried using conditional reinforcement such as if she doesn’t cry Santa will come during Christmas, talked to teachers and even watched her during schooling hours hover every approach did not work. Dr Berenson keenly evaluates her situation and engages her in an reflective analysis of the problem and helps Rose identify what was missing in her struggle to solve the situation, for instance she reveals that she was actually not following her heart concerning the way to go. The councillor concludes the session by recommending that Rose should listen to herself, work with her daughter some understanding level in small steps and finally create some sort of partnership. Skills used by the counsellor Counselling skills can be referred to as the interpersonal skills used by councillors for various purposes such as helping the client tell their story , assist the councillor effectively communicate with the client, help the client in change implementation and identify dysfunctions that they may not be conscious of ( Ivey 2003). Dr Berenson, Rose’s councillor applies various counselling skills as he interacts with his client in order to come up with a workable solution for solving Roses daughter crying tantrums. One of the counselling skills used by the councellor includes the use of verbal encouragers. He uses the encouragers in form of a phrase or a single word utterance. For instance as Rose continues to narrate her experience the councillor makes simple utterances to support what she feels and is trying to express, like when Rose when rose highlights that she finds difficulty in relating with her daughter, the councillor utters words such as “ and yet you would very much want your relationship to be intense” The counsellor also uses verbal encouragers that use single words for instance Words like mmmm and boom! The second counseling skill applied by the councilor is mirroring whereby the councilor repeats the clients phrase or word just stated by the client. For instance from the statement highlighted below, Rose; I was wrong in doing many of those things and just reinforcing that all the time. Counselor: And then you went onto a reinforcement schedule that tried to break that habit The reinforcement aspect has been repeated in order to enhance emphasis. The councillor also makes use of the questioning skills for instance Counselor; what do you really want to do? Rose: It’s got to be stopped. The form of question highlighted above is clarification question, which is asked in order to get more information form the client. Another counselling skill applied the councillor is the reframing skill is concerned with changing a clients perspective in a positive and constructive manner which can still fit within the individual framework of life. For instance in the statements highlighted below; Rose: No, I thought we had the love sharing and the hugging was there. Counselor: Mmmm. Rose: And I, maybe I just did not realized it but um, so I didn’t come back on that. Counselor: You had to take some of that away. Rose: I’m sure I did. Counsellor: You had to take some. The type of reframing highlighted above whereby the counsellor changed the perspective of Rose thus she comes to the realization that she had stopped showing all affections of love toward her daughter, she feels regretful however the counsellor assures her that she had to do that, considering the her daughter had persisted with the uncontrollable behaviour. The counsellor additionally applies the paraphrasing skill which involves repeating a client’s statement in Order to understand an important statement or point for instance Counsellor: Cause you don’t do that because it’s only giving her more reinforcement. Rose ; and that’s frustrating to me because I don’t want to do that, I don’t want to give in, but at the Same time I don’t want to spend all night, and I don’t like to see her upset, that’s what upsets me. Counselor: You’re really torn between reaching out to her… The councilor stresses the aspect of Rose being torn (confused) which Rose has stated in her statement. The counsellor uses the confrontation skill to introspectively engage the client in giving more information concerning obvious incongruence’s that the client is not able to see or identify for instance; Counsellor: You’re not in compet…What you’re saying is you’re asking me right now. Am I really in competition with my daughter, giving or not giving in. It’s become a battle and you don’t want it to be a battle. Rose: No (laughs) No. Counsellor: It hurts, the battle hurts. (Laughs) Clarification of advice was also evident in the session when terminating the counselling, the counsellor used precise steps that Rose would use in order to resolve the problem with her daughter for instance the first step involved Counsellor: So the first step is listening to yourself and not censoring your response as much as you felt you had to. Clarification can be identified from the following statement; Rose: Right. Counsellor: And the second step is, is, is, work out with her, some level of understanding in small pieces. Counsellor’s application of skills and their impact The counsellor’s application of various counselling skills brought great impacts on Rose’s counselling process. The uses of verbal encouragers were useful in order to make Rose continue narrating her story without interruption. In addition the verbal encouragers helped in establishing a relationship that is positive towards the councillor. This is because Rose continued to narrate her experience more openly. Any sort of a counsellor’s response was sufficient in giving the client encouragement that someone is actually listening to them. Dr Berenson uses verbal encouragers in a tactful manner because they assist in keeping Rose focussed on the present issue for instance when he uses single words such as (mmmm) and (Boom). The second counseling skill applied by the councilor is mirroring whereby the councilor repeats the clients phrase or word just stated by the client. This skill is essential in that it also part of the verbal encourager which makes the client feel safe with the councilor (Wampold 2001).In addition mirroring is a useful tool for emphasizing a certain statements that are significant. Mirroring was useful in assisting Rose to recognize the main were he had actually missed a point when applying various strategies to solve her daughter crying habits. The use of reframing skills were well applicable is assisting the Rose not feel that she has actually not done enough to tackle the situation. The reframing skill is concerned with changing a client’s perspective in a positive and constructive manner which can still fit within the individual framework of life ( Roth 2005).For instance from the statement highlighted below the counsellor tries to remove that negative view that she had withdrawn showing affection to her daughter. The counsellor encourage her that that was bound to happen. This strategy assisted Rose to focus on what she has so far achieved and remain with a positive attitude as she moves forward with the counselling session. Rose is also reminded that she is only human and is bound to react in certain ways. Rose: No, I thought we had the love sharing and the hugging was there. Counselor: Mmmm Rose: And I, maybe I just did not realized it but um, so I didn’t come back on that. Counsellor: You had to take some of that away. The use of the clarification skills was also well applicable in enhancing the termination of the session, Rose was able to have an effective closure and understanding of the source of the problem and how she could actually tackle the issue without having a feeling of being tightened up (Mcleod 2003). In general the integration of various counselling skills, as used by the counsellor were useful in solving Roses situation. Improvement in the Application of Skills The application of verbal encouragers was useful in making Rose continue with then narration of her experience; however the use of one word verbal encourager (mmmm) at the beginning of the session was to prolonged. The effect of this is that if the councillor used excessive encouragers then they would turn into minimal encourager because the client will think that the councillor is just making utterances rather than listening. Evidence of familiarity with relevant literature and theory Counselling is a framework of the psychological field which involves the application of various principles. The councillor who helps Rose solve her problem applies empathy, the fitting ones self in anther persons fit. As Rose continues to narrate her problem, the councillor tries to comment what she basically feels as if he has at one time experienced the same , for instance as highlighted by the statements below; Counsellor: You can really get almost angry with this. Rose: Yes. Counsellor: And angry with yourself. Evidence of integration of theory and practice The integration of theory and practice by the councillor is depicted by the use of the applicable steps of counselling in solving Roses problem (Gerald 2001).For instance within the initiation stage the counsellor allowed Rose to express her experience without interruption. In the second stage he interacts with the client through the use of various counselling skills. At the termination level, the counsellor gives Rose the fundamental steps for resolving her problem. The counsellor also uses the application of the three principles of the person centred approach for instance the utilization of the first element which involves realness and genuines, whereby the therapist does not view himself as a professional but rather he basically intends to develop a constructive type of relationship with the client in order to enhance transparency of the counsellor. This particular principle is essential in constructing a free and relaxed environment for the client (Corey 2005). The counsellor also uses the principle of working collaboratively with the client in order to identify the real problem. In most cases councillors tend to let the clients narrate their incidences; they afterward give their recommendations, without engaging fully with the client to identify the source of the problem. What is evident from the helping Rose context, the councillor gave Rose a chance to express her incident and then later interacted with her fully in order to make her understand why all the strategies she had used to stop her daughter crying had failed (Bionna 2005). Conclusion The basic question that many ask is; does therapy really work? Studies which evaluate the behaviour of clients have indicated that the behaviour of the clients after the session shows signs of a difference in motivational level. As highlighted in the case study above, Rose seems to have come out of the session more composed and ready to face the challenge. This is because she finally understood were she was failing. With such motivation, it is possible for a client to solve a problematic situation. Bibliography Bionna, R, 2005, Health Counselling; A microskills approach, Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Sudbury. Brems, C, 2001 Basic skills in psychotherapy and Counselling. Pacific Groove, California. Cooper M, 2008, Essential research findings in counseling and Psychotherapy: the facts are friendly, Sage, London. Corey, G, 2005, Theory and practice of counselling and psychotherapy, Brooke/cole, California. Chung, R & Bemak , F, 2002, The relationship between culture and empathy in cross cultural counselling, Journal on counselling development . Gerald, D, 2001, Basic personal Counselling; A training manual for councillors, Person Education Gendlin, E, 1978, Focusing, Everest House, New York. Goldstein, K, 1984, Human nature in relations to psychotherapy, Harverd University Press, Cambidege. Ivey, E& Galvin, M, 1984, Micro counselling: A metamodel for Counselling. Brooks/Cole, California. Ivey , M.B,2003, International Interviewing and Counselling, Facilitating Client development in a multicultural society. Pacifica Groove Maslow, A, H, 1954, Motivation and Personality, Harper and Brothers, New York. Macquarie University, 2004, Macquarie’s dictionary, Macquarie library, Wales. Mcleod, J, 2003, An Introduction to Counselling, Open University Press. Berkshire; Prigogine, I, 1979, From being to becoming, Freeman, San Francisco. Nicholson RA, Berman JS, 1983, Is follow-up necessary in evaluating psychotherapy? Psychological Bullet, 93(2):261-278. Rogers, C, R, 1959, A theory of Therapy, personality and interpersonal relationship, McGraw, New York. Roth A, 2005. What works for whom? A critical review of psychotherapy research. New York: Guilford. Wampold E, 2001, The great psychotherapy debate: models, methods and Findings. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum Read More

One of the counselling skills used by the councellor includes the use of verbal encouragers. He uses the encouragers in form of a phrase or a single word utterance. For instance as Rose continues to narrate her experience the councillor makes simple utterances to support what she feels and is trying to express, like when Rose when rose highlights that she finds difficulty in relating with her daughter, the councillor utters words such as “ and yet you would very much want your relationship to be intense” The counsellor also uses verbal encouragers that use single words for instance Words like mmmm and boom!

The second counseling skill applied by the councilor is mirroring whereby the councilor repeats the clients phrase or word just stated by the client. For instance from the statement highlighted below, Rose; I was wrong in doing many of those things and just reinforcing that all the time. Counselor: And then you went onto a reinforcement schedule that tried to break that habit The reinforcement aspect has been repeated in order to enhance emphasis. The councillor also makes use of the questioning skills for instance Counselor; what do you really want to do?

Rose: It’s got to be stopped. The form of question highlighted above is clarification question, which is asked in order to get more information form the client. Another counselling skill applied the councillor is the reframing skill is concerned with changing a clients perspective in a positive and constructive manner which can still fit within the individual framework of life. For instance in the statements highlighted below; Rose: No, I thought we had the love sharing and the hugging was there.

Counselor: Mmmm. Rose: And I, maybe I just did not realized it but um, so I didn’t come back on that. Counselor: You had to take some of that away. Rose: I’m sure I did. Counsellor: You had to take some. The type of reframing highlighted above whereby the counsellor changed the perspective of Rose thus she comes to the realization that she had stopped showing all affections of love toward her daughter, she feels regretful however the counsellor assures her that she had to do that, considering the her daughter had persisted with the uncontrollable behaviour.

The counsellor additionally applies the paraphrasing skill which involves repeating a client’s statement in Order to understand an important statement or point for instance Counsellor: Cause you don’t do that because it’s only giving her more reinforcement. Rose ; and that’s frustrating to me because I don’t want to do that, I don’t want to give in, but at the Same time I don’t want to spend all night, and I don’t like to see her upset, that’s what upsets me. Counselor: You’re really torn between reaching out to her… The councilor stresses the aspect of Rose being torn (confused) which Rose has stated in her statement.

The counsellor uses the confrontation skill to introspectively engage the client in giving more information concerning obvious incongruence’s that the client is not able to see or identify for instance; Counsellor: You’re not in compet…What you’re saying is you’re asking me right now. Am I really in competition with my daughter, giving or not giving in. It’s become a battle and you don’t want it to be a battle. Rose: No (laughs) No. Counsellor: It hurts, the battle hurts. (Laughs) Clarification of advice was also evident in the session when terminating the counselling, the counsellor used precise steps that Rose would use in order to resolve the problem with her daughter for instance the first step involved Counsellor: So the first step is listening to yourself and not censoring your response as much as you felt you had to.

Clarification can be identified from the following statement; Rose: Right. Counsellor: And the second step is, is, is, work out with her, some level of understanding in small pieces. Counsellor’s application of skills and their impact The counsellor’s application of various counselling skills brought great impacts on Rose’s counselling process.

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