Mr X case study

In my opinion the beginning of the counselling session is one of the most important stage of the process, the client will be very nervous and will not fully trust the process they are about to embark on, their unknown journey they will be nervous. The Client may hold back what they are feeling until they have gained the trust of the counsellor, and know they are safe and in a confidential environment.

The nature of therapist-client relationship and understanding the therapist’s role is vital in making sure that the client’s rights are not jeopardized. The client must be willing to trust the therapist. The therapist can earn the trust of the client will confidentiality guidelines that are established by requiring informed consent. The therapist-client relationship is based on counseling approach as well as relationship with the client. The therapist’s role is to understand the client’s needs, help them get their needs met mentally, and to develop the proper plan that fits the client’s needs. The therapist must fully

The process involved in establishing a counselling relationships includes many factors to ensure that a client feels safe and comfortable with a counsellor to explore his or her feelings with them.

This essay intends to introduce the reader to the most important skills involved within developing and maintaining a therapeutic relationship between a client and the therapist or counsellor. The onus will be on Humanistic counselling but many of these skills are central to all counselling types.

Allowing for our ethical codes of conduct, if the client is someone we feel we can proceed with, then as always, the first stage would be to develop a good rapport and gain the clients trust to develop an honest and open relationship with them. The client centred approach as always is the best method for this – to put the client at ease in a non-judgemental space where they can express their emotions and explore what it is they want to achieve with therapy. In giving the therapist an

From the moment the client meets the therapist opinions are formed and assumptions are fashioned so first impressions are key. Appearance, speech pattern and body language are all areas to consider.

Why is the initial consultation so important? What factors will an ethical therapist cover at this time?

The relationship with the therapist then can become something like a ‘re-parenting’ or a re-learning of how a trusting relationship should/could have been with one’s parents. Most people will agree that parents should (in a perfect world) give their children unconditional positive regard, empathy and be relatively non-judgemental with them, also show them respect and allow them to keep their dignity. Unfortunately this is not always the case. It is therefore even more important that the therapeutic relationship between counsellor and client show all these things to the highest of degrees.

In this essay I am going to look at the importance and purpose of the initial consultation between the client and the therapist and what happens during this preliminary session. I will also cover the ethical definitions that will need to be explored and established, to ensure the safety and wellbeing of both the client and therapist.

During this essay I will be discussing ethics and what ethical issues the therapist faces in relation to initial consultation with the client. What an initial consultation is and why it is so important that one is completed without exception. I will also explore what the process is, what happens at the initial consultation, and how the therapist will gather the required information. I also aim to explore what benefits and contra indications there are for having an initial consultation.

With these attributes, they will have the fundamentals of creating a strong therapeutic alliance with their clients. The therapists should be encouraged in “treating new cases as unique and constructing new theories to fit them, rather than depending on categories of established theory and technique” (Safran & Muran, 2000). Although this does not mean that standard techniques are useless, flexibility and creativity in application of these theories is considered the most important skill of a good therapist.

It is his responsibility to provide a safe and secure environment for the client. The more comfortable the client will feel, the more the therapist will be able to solve the issues at hand. "Therapy is a relationship between the patient and the therapist in which both are expected to change through their interaction in the process of therapy." The patient is supposed to change more than the therapist. Also, the therapist needs to have a genuine relationship with the client. It should be apparent that the therapist truly cares about his client's growth. (n.d.). Retrieved October 22, 2017, from

Therapist met with client at school for individual therapy. Therapist checked in with client in regards to mood, thoughts, coping skills, the best moment of the week, the lowest moment of the week, school, home, symptoms, behaviors, any legal issues, and overall week since last week session. Therapist used open-ended questions to ask client about her feelings and thoughts about feeling distress and unfairness due to the other two girls that they are annoying her and no one believes her. Therapist facilitated therapy session by playing sentence completion; "I feel-----when-----" and Doing therapeutic game. Therapist used open-ended questions to inquire further on her responses to questions. Therapist gave the client positive praise every time

An important question to ask when meeting with a couple for the first time is if the couple had ever been to therapy before? The couple’s response will provide Dr. Heitler with an understanding as to why the couple is seeking therapy as well as provide her with a reason(s) why their previous counseling sessions were unsuccessful.

i asked her brief questions about her name and how she was to get acquainted with her and build rapport. Asking questions helps facilitate a dialogue and encourages the client to talk and tell their story Miller (2006). The client seemed tense and uneasy and spoke with a very high tone of voice when she greeted me and introduced herself. When asked about the main reason for turning to therapy, she started fidgeting and looked unsettled; this could be because of the unfamiliar environment or she was not sure if she trusted me enough to tell me her story. Either way, I remained silent whilst maintaining eye contact to give her the space, time she needed in order to settle down and work out what she wanted to bring to the session.