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Essay on Counselling Skills

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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 …show more content…

A good way to let a client know you are listening is by the use of minimal responses including expressions and non verbal responses that occur in our everyday conversations (Geldard & Geldard, 2001). For example at the beginning of the session my client said “..., Sometimes I feel I choose my job or something else in my life over my uni...” I replied by nodding and made use of the expression “Mm-hmm”. I demonstrated this skill to allow the client to speak without interruptions and to verbally express my interest in her issue. Another skill I used within this session is a technique also known as paraphrasing. Paraphrasing refers to stating in one’s own words what they think the client means helping to ensure their understanding and interest in the client (DeVito, 2010). I felt that I demonstrated this when the client said “As the term progresses I get lazier, but at the beginning of the semester I am productive, and it feels rewarding when I do, do well and I feel better about myself and everyone is proud of me as well when I get the results and stuff, but there’s this thing that comes into my mind that said I can’t do this and maybe I start rethinking about staying in uni and I start considering dropping it, so I can have more free time.” I reply by saying “Ok so you are saying that it is kind of a relief when the work is done, however you are finding it hard to kind of keep up, and maybe you don’t

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