SayPro BASIC COUNSELLING TECHNIQUES

Description

BASIC COUNSELLING TECHNIQUES
Counselling like any other profession calls for special tools for the professionals to effectively deliver the required service. Since counselling is an interpersonal helping procedure which begins with client exploration for the purpose of identifying client’s problems, the counsellor uses special techniques to help the client solve his/her problems.

Counselling skills or techniques refer to the art which the counsellor must develop to effectively conduct a counselling session. It is these skills and techniques derived from behavioural sciences that distinguish counselling from many other communication oriented professions. The skills can be grouped into four broad categories namely: relationship building, information gathering, information giving and specialised skills.

1. Relationship building skills

Relationship building skills are skills that enable the counsellor to build a positive relationship with the client. The positive relationship is an important pre-condition for the counselling process to be effective

1. Information gathering skills

Information gathering skills are those that enable the counsellor to explore and understand all the details about the client’s problem.

1. Information giving skills

Information giving skills are those that help the counsellor to give, repeat, reinforce and explain information to the client in simple and clear language. The skills also enable the counsellor to give client time to process the information and to check whether the client has understood the information.

1. Specialised skills

Specialised skills are those that help the counsellor to deal with a specific client’s need e.g. para-suicide, marital problems etc.
The following are examples of some of the techniques and how they are used in a counselling session: 

1. VERBAL TECHNIQUES

1. Information giving– this refers to the counsellor’s act of sharing timely and meaningfully verbal information for behaviour change and self-improvement of the client.

Example: Client: Everything is going wrong at once; I was found HIV positive, and when I told my husband he kicked me out of the house. Furthermore, my son is also very sick. What can I do with all these problems and no money? Is there any help anywhere?Counsellor: There are several places that may give free service such as Social welfare. I will be happy to assist you in getting help from these organisations.

2. Questioning – this is a technique that requires either a closed-ended answer or an open-ended answer. It is one of the most popular and essential counselling techniques and is applicable to a wide variety of counselling situations. Where and when appropriate, the counsellor should use open-ended questions introduced by words such as “how” and “what” for the purpose of getting a generous amount of information while giving the client the flexibility of response.

Example: Closed-ended questionCounsellor:      Are you suspecting that you might be HIV positive?Client:  No Open-ended questionCounsellor: What happened after you told your wife that you were HIV positive?Client: She didn’t believe me. She thought I just wanted her to leave me so that I could marry another woman that I have been going out with.

3. Reflection – this is the technique wherein the counsellor mirrors what the client is feeling or saying during that moment. This could be reflection of feeling, content, general theme of comments made by client. Reflection allows the counsellor to be a sounding board or reflecting mirror whereby the client can receive feedback in the process of integrating disorganised or incongruent behaviour and gain self-understanding.

Example:Client: I’ve literally led a reckless life and now I have nothing to show for it.Counsellor:      I sort of sense that you have a feeling of regret and shame

4. Reassurance – this is a counselling technique that communicates a tone of support, comfort, encouragement, acceptance, and/or reinforcement to the client. It helps the client to relax, reduce anxiety, and assure the client that life will return to a normal state again.

Example:Client: I just can’t go on in this condition. What is there to live for when I am HIV positive and have just lost one of my children?
Counsellor: You can, being HIV positive does not mean the end of the world. You can live for many years, there are others you must live for and others who are living for you – your other children)

5. Restatement – this refers to an actual restating of the meaning or feeling of the client as the client has expressed it. Restatement is a specific form of reflection which uses verbatim language of the client.

Example:Client: Come what may, I am not going to tell my husband that I am HIV positive.Counsellor: You are saying, “Come what may, I am not going to tell my husband that I am HIV positive”.

6. Clarification – this is a technique that calls for the client to clarify his/her position by providing additional information or rewording the comment.

Example:Client:  I am stuckCounsellor:      When you say you are stuck, what exactly are you saying?

7. Probing – this is the use of a series of questions and/or statements that elicit specific answers.

Example:Counsellor:      How are things now? What does your mother in-law say?

8. Confrontation – this is a verbal technique that raises questions or presents feedback in order to bring the client face-to-face with a denied feeling, resistance, or personal conflict

Counsellor: You say you have two wives and have been engaging in casual sex without condoms on your trips to Botswana. Do you realise that you are being selfish and placing yourself and your two wives at risk of HIV infection?

9. Teaching – Providing information, understanding and re-education in regard to illogical beliefs; helping the client to re-think and meet his/her needs in realistic and responsible ways

10. Role reversal – client is asked to play the role of another person or one that is opposite to that of his/her natural behaviour e.g. Suppose you were the wife, how would you relate to your HIV positive husband?

11. Summarising – this technique is used by the counsellor to bring together relevant, fragmented material that has been disclosed by the client during the counselling session to provide feedback to the client in terms of feelings and thoughts. It can be used;
12. At the opening of the counselling session to summarise the previous meeting and thus provide continuity between counselling sessions
13. at any appropriate point in the counselling session in order to put things into perspective, and
14. At the end of a counselling session to bring the session to a close.

12. Paraphrasing – means restating in your own words what the client has said

13. Partialisation – counsellor separates presenting problem into parts to be focused on

14. Leading – refers to the extent to which counsellor guides the client

15. Questioning Skills, this refers to tone of voice, timing, frequency types: closed, open, leading.

16. Relationship building: this requires skills such as physical gestures, the welcome, the introductions etc.

 

1. NON-VERBAL TECHNIQUES

1. Listening – this is a skill that requires attentive use of sense of hearing along with support of other senses. Listen to what is said, what is hinted and what is not discussed and give the client feedback to let the client know that you are accurately listening to and perceiving the conveyed message.

2. Para-linguistic cues – these are non-verbal behaviours that qualify how a word or verbal message is sent or received e.g. tone of voice, spacing of words, emphasis, inflection (pitch/loudness, pauses, and various uttered sounds). The counsellor should pay attention and comment on them to get client to clarify the meaning.

3. Silence: sometimes silence can mean more than a thousand words. It is really important to pay attention.

4. Posture or body position: The client maybe shy to tell everything. Try to understand what the client is saying using body posture or position. For example, if the client bows down his head it may means the client is ashamed or shy to say things out. Give the client time.

5. Facial expressions: facial expressions can also tell you volumes about the client and his/her situation. It is important to pay attention.

 

QUALITIES OF A GOOD COUNSELLOR  While counselling techniques enable the counsellor to help the client resolve his/her problems, this is only possible when a good therapeutic relationship has been established. For best therapeutic relationship counsellors should have the following qualities.1.    Self-confidence: this needs no explanation; it is simply a function of one’s knowledge and skills of the process as well as a sense of “together”. This attribute comes with training and practice. 2.    Empathy: this can be defined as the counsellor’s ability to assume in as far as is possible, the internal world of the client i.e. to perceive the world as the client sees it and to perceive the client as he/she perceives himself/herself. This must not be confused with sympathy which means that one person identifies with and shares the feelings of another. 3.    Acceptance: this means that there are no reservations, conditions, evaluations and judgments of the client’s feelings, but rather a total positive regard for the client as a person of value. Note: acceptance does not imply approval of specific behaviours. 4.    Genuineness: being at one with oneself. It is synonymous with realness, honesty or authenticity i.e. a genuine counsellor employs no facades. Counsellors are not “salespersons” portraying a front of friendliness in order to sell their goods. 5.    Trustworthiness: trust is the first step toward establishing an effective relationship. When clients believe in and trust the counsellor, the client shares more and gets more involved in the counselling relationship. 6.    Confidentiality: this is the cornerstone of any counselling relationship. No genuine therapy can occur unless clients trust the privacy of their revelations to their counsellors. Counsellors should however define the degree of confidentiality that can be promised, as there are times when confidential information can be divulged. 7.    Competence: training and education in counselling principles and skills influences the client’s perceptions of the counsellor. Research shows that counsellors perceived as experts in their field (counselling) are viewed as more competent and more effective than those perceived as non experts. When these qualities are perceived in the counsellor, then the client feels secure and trusts the counsellor enough to engage in self exploration.