Helping Interaction

The foundation of therapy starts by building rapport with the client and applying strategies when necessary to overcome a variety of barriers. It is imperative to have rapport with a client and to be aware of barriers to facilitate a good treatment outcome. This will take practice and the use of methods and strategies ready to be implemented when needed. There are many components to building a good client rapport such as: intimacy, vulnerability, exploration of inner challenges, self-awareness, staying present; inner resiliency, empathy, anxiety management, and self-integration, and relationship acceptance. The two types of barriers are internal and external and this is for both the client and the therapist. The common barriers to rapport are countertransference and transference. Strategies for overcoming barriers are: Pause Moment and self-awareness. It also requires skills such as being genuine, sensitive, open, and

When I discovered with the client was going through I realized that the client was in a needy situation where he needed some guidance. I am not a day that I was sorry about what the client was experiencing in and I was going to have the client in any way that I could. I offer the client local referrals to pharmacies and shelter because my client was homeless and suffer from previous history of schizophrenia. Compared to my previous video I noticed lots of improvement. In the first video I was being repetitive I realized that I kept saying “Um”. When interviewing my client I don't recall saying “Um” as I did and the first time. The first time I felt as if I was convincing the client more than trying to help the client resolve the problem as I did in the second video. I remembered to give the client good feedback and express the empathy I felt for the client in terms of the situation he was dealing with. My voice has changed since the first time I interviewed a client, I noticed in the beginning I was speaking low and it was hard for the client t understand what I was saying. From my knowledge of interviewing my client as a social worker I’ve learned to respect client’ and the different

The counselling process is based on the exchange of emotions between the client and the counsellor which aims to form an alliance (Hough, 1998). It involves the counsellor using skills in which they possess in order to communicate effectively with clients (Hough, 1998). This reflective essay clearly articulates my application of counselling skills used in this practice session and suggestions for improvement. It will provide a summary of the session, identification of a range of skills used and a brief explanation of the reasons for using the skill. It will also provide an evaluation of my application of the skills chosen, including verbatim examples, suggestions for improvement, also including verbatim examples to demonstrate what could

To be able to help a client to access their deepest thoughts and open up for discussion that is both helpful and meaningful, there are several specific microskills to know about to enhance the communication with the client (Australian Institute of Professional Counsellors, 2009). These communication skills are built through different stages and may feel a little unnatural at the beginning. However, counselling is not about giving advice, but about supporting and helping the client to find his/her own solutions. This makes counselling challenging on many levels as you need to be aware of your own behaviour (Perinatal Mental Health Project, n.d.).

Before doing this log, I did not realize how much of this I did every day. Empathic listening occurred in my days while doing this log when I listen to my roommates talk about if they were physically hurting from a workout and how they hoped it would get better. These conversations occurred typically while icing and we would discuss our pains and give each other the support that we needed at the time. The other times when I caught myself empathic listening was when I was talking to someone who was stressed out about school. It may just be that they are struggling in one class but I listened to them because that is what they needed at the time. Again, from doing this log I learned that empathic listening is crucial and every person needs someone to listen to them empathically. As the listener you do not always have much input but just being there is typical all the person

Due to Marks very depressed state, the initial interaction required a great deal of empathy and high degrees of compassion. When first engaging a client, it is important to be compassionate and empathetic and listen without interrupting, prompting or advising (Berg-Weger, 2013). Reflecting and summarizing content delivered in the session is a valuable way to let the client know that you are actively listening to what they are saying

Counseling skills has provided me with a valuable insight into the helping relationship and how it is both created and maintained in order to encourage growth and development in the client. The factors involved within the helping relationship include considering Roger’s core conditions, congruence, unconditional positive regard and empathy as the three main characteristics necessary in a helping relationship. In order to fully incorporate all three of Roger’s core conditions, I as the counselor must be self-aware, as a lack of self-awareness may inhibit truly listening and understanding the client; self-awareness can be enhanced through exercises such as Johari’s window. Counseling skills such as body language and active listening also

Before this assignment, private practice counselling was not a future goal of mine, now that this assignment is complete, it is still not a future endeavored I wish to embark on. Throughout this assignment I learnt that I need to watch my body language while conversing with clients. Through watching recordings of our sessions I noticed I tend to talk with my hands too much. Talking with my hands can be distracting to clients. I also noticed that I need to work on asking simpler questions to my clients. Too complex of questions may be overwhelming to clients and difficult for them to answer. Simpler questions enable better conversation flow and allow for better answers from the

The presenting problem is parental relational problems for a variety of reasons Involved in this is they lost their son/brother 10 months ago. The model approach for this mother and child is person-centered therapy. I have provided both of the clients with congruence by being relatable and transparent through their situation. I have been using unconditional positive regard towards acceptance of their current situation and their feelings without imposing any judgements. I am also demonstrating a tremendous amount of empathy with the clients. One of my strongest skills that I have been told by my fellow professors and colleagues is that I empathize and join well with the client. Therefore, I use this to my advantage and have seen it help in

As I mentioned before, the only thing that I would have fixed would have been the level of “minimal encouragers”. Saying this, its just something that I believe is highly important in the helping field. Just allows us to reconnect throughout the long sessions with our clients. Doing this shows our clients that we acknowledge them, and are interning to what they have to

Therapists can help clients feel their feelings more fully by creating an environment where the client feels safe. Helping client’s feel their feelings rather than talk about them intellectually opens an opportunity for the client to enter their own experience more fully. Using open-ended questions to explore the client’s feelings can be effective. Therapists should clarify what the affective word the client uses means; not just assume they understand. Angry can mean many different things to many different people. Getting clarification not only helps the therapist understand more but protects them from overidentifying or misperceiving the client’s experience as being the same as they have experienced. It allows the therapist to enter the client’s subjective world. Entering the client’s subjective world, having the client feel respected and understood, increases the trust in the relationship. It gives the client the opportunity to learn more about themselves and possibly have a corrective emotional experience because they are met with empathy and validation from the therapist rather than the judgement, disdain, and invalidation they may have experienced with others in their lives. Another way a therapist can help a client experience their feelings is by speaking to the incongruence they perceive between what the client is sharing and the accompanying affect. This intervention starts

However, I may have not used all the skills necessary to draw out the client’s feelings and meaning in a therapeutic way (Ivey & Ivey, 2007). I used open ended and closed questions to gather more in depth information from the client. For example, “What are your expectations?” and “Would you be satisfied with your grades if your parents do not pressure you?” I also used encouragers such as head nods and repetition of key words stated by the client. I also summarized her story several times to clarify with the client that I was hearing her correctly. I felt that she was motivated to elaborate (Ivey & Ivey, 2007, pg 231). I also used some observation skills such as observing the client’s verbal and non verbal behaviours, e.g. her voice tone, eye contact and the way she was sitting at certain point in the session. While I listened to the tape, I realized that I had empathized and reflected on the client’s feelings a few times and this was done later in the interview. Not reflecting empathy earlier led the client to think that I did not understand her situation. Also, I imposed my values on the client by telling her that eighty percent is good even though she clearly stated that it is really bad for her. I thought this would have made her feel better but it did not. If I were to meet this client again for the same issue I would reflect empathy by saying the following: “Getting good grades means a lot to you. I can see

Understanding the counseling session from the client’s perspective is a very important aspect in the development of a therapeutic relationship. A clinician must be an excellent listener, while being to pay attention to the client’s body language, affect and tone. The dynamics in the counseling session that is beneficial to the client include the recognition of the pain that the client is feeling. The detrimental part of this includes a misunderstanding of the real issues, a lack of consideration of the cultural aspects of the client, and a lack of clinical experience or listening skills. In this presentation, we will discuss the positive and negative aspects of the counseling session from the client’s perspective which

By discussing this particular experience in detail, I can begin to understand the specific skills a counsellor may use in many different situations in order to help others (Egan, 2007, p. 13). In this reflective

Another important skill I have learnt is reflective responding. It is a back and forth process between a client and counsellor; which simply aids to clarify meanings, summarise and to help the client to delve deeper into the issue (Egan, 2010). I illustrated this virtuosity during a conversation with Nathan were I respond with “Correct me if I am wrong but are you saying that there is no point to life if you do not have someone”? Responding reflectively allowed him to clarify my understanding of his original statement; and also confide in more depth about his worries. Equally important, Egan has confirmed (2010) that “effective helping is a mixture of support and challenge”, and one with out the other can seem harsh and counterproductive (p. 211). In saying this I felt there was a need to challenge; to test the reality of one