Lesson 5. Counseling Techniques Flashcards
Benefits of Counseling
- Improved communication
- Enhanced relationships
- A happier family
- Peace of mind
- Improved self-esteem
- More satisfaction out of life
- Personal growth
- Improved job performance
Counseling may be helpful in any of the following areas:
- Adult relationships
- Career change
- Dealing with loss of a loved one
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Adjustment to family changes
- Parent-child relationships
- Sibling relationships
- Divorce
- Cooperative parenting between divorced parents
- Abusive relationships
- Learning Disabilities or Attention Deficit Disorder
- Trauma
Essential Counseling Techniques: Some Qualities of a Good Counselor
- Empathy (the ability to understand the view of another person)
- Respectful
- Warm
- Confidential/discreet
- Honest
- Attentive/listening
- Unbiased
- Understandable/clear
- Unhurried
Elements of Counseling Skills
- Effective Counseling
- Active Listening
- Paraphrasing, Summarizing, and Clarifying
- Reflecting and Validating Feelings
- Giving Clear Information
- Arriving at Agreement
Effective Counseling
Use questions to elicit facts or feelings about the client’s health
True or False
Use open-ended questions to quickly gather factual, non-sensitive information (e.g., name, age).
False. Use closed-ended questions (yes/no) to quickly gather factual, non-sensitive information (e.g., name, age).
Active Listening
In order to get the information needed to help a client, listening actively is a must
Paraphrasing, Summarizing, and Clarifying
involves repeating, synthesizing, or summarizing in other words what the client has told you
Reflecting and Validating Feelings
involves clarifying the feelings the client expresses in order to help understand his or her emotions
Giving Clear Information
Before giving any information, it is helpful to ask questions to determine how much the client already knows
involves clarifying and summarizing the decisions that a client has made during the counseling session
Arriving at Agreement
Inappropriate Responses in Counseling
- Judging
- Attacking
- Denial
- Pity
Counseling Technique Tools
- Asking Questions
- Active Listening
- Encouraging Body Language
- Paraphrasing
- Summarizing
important tool in the counseling kit
Open and closed-ended questions
Open-ended questions
used in order to gather lots of information
OEQ are great for:
- Starting the information gathering part of the session
- Keeping the client talking
“Why” questions imply?
implies judgment and it can be asking an unanswerable question
Closed-ended questions
used in order to gather specific information
CEQ may sound a little harsh, but are needed for:
- Getting necessary information
- To get bring a chatty client back on track or interrupt her/him
In Active Listening, the listener says…
The listener says very little but conveys empathy, acceptance and genuineness.
Steps in Active Listening
- Before the session, make sure your physical needs are taken care of (thirst, hunger, bathroom, stretching).
- Look at the speaker
- Watch your body language!
- Encourage the speaker to continue with short, gentle comments like “uh-huh”, “really!?”, “tell me more”, etc.
Some Inappropriate Body Languages
- Arms crossed
- slumped
- bored expression
- looking offside
SOLERF Method
S - Squarely face person vs. sitting kitty-corner.
O - use Open posture vs. crossed arms and legs
L - Lean a little toward the person vs. settling back in your chair
E - use Eye contact vs. staring off into deep space
R - Relax, keep it natural vs. sitting like a board
F – look friendly vs. neutral or scowling
Tone of Voice
- High/low
- loud/soft
- fast/slow
- accomodating/demanding
- light-hearted/gloomy
Summarizing
Focusing on the main points of presentation or session in order to highlight them
What is Beginning Summary and Ending SUmmary
Beginning Summary - recalling what happened at the last meeting
Ending Summary - attempting to condense what has happened over 40 minutes into a few minutes worth of material
