Effective Counselling Sessions and their Importance to Clients (Essay Sample)

Effective Counselling Sessions and their Importance to Clients
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Effective Counselling Sessions and their Importance to Clients
1 Give two specific examples of paraphrases in the first session. After each example, include a discussion of what you believe the intent of the paraphrase was and what affect it had on the client.
Counselling sessions should be interactive. Clients need to know that their counsellors are listening to them. To assure them about it, counselors came up with the paraphrasing technique.
In counselling session number one, these techniques have been demonstrated many times. Thus, the counsellor occasionally repeats what her client says, some examples being when she asks about the latter’s life again and again. Later on, the woman inquires about her school and social life as well as whether these aspects are challenge to her. It comes after the client has told her that she has stress dealing with these walks of life. Thus, the client has to go to school and make sure that her work is attended to.
The client is a relationship, and she tells her counsellor that she engages in constant fights with her partner. To confirm her attentiveness, the counsellor then asks the woman about her relationship and inquires how she finds it a challenge. The two mentioned cases of paraphrasing are meant to confirm to the client that her counselor is indeed listening. They are also used in this case as confirmatory tools, where the specialist uses them to make sure that she heard everything correctly. Despite its being confirmatory tools, paraphrasing has an effect on the session between the counsellor and her client. With it, there is trust built between the two parties. In addition, the counsellor and her client create a stronger professional bond.
2 Give two specific examples of reflections of feelings in the first session. After each example, include a discussion of what you believe the intent of the reflection was and what affect it had on the client. Do you believe the counselor got the feeling and intensity correct? Why or why not?
During the counseling session, the counsellor occasionally reflects on the client’s relationship, social life with friends, work, and school. From time to time, she also refers to the stressful life of the woman through school and the challenges that she has with her partner. With the periodic reflections, the counsellor is passing the message of empathy and companionship. It is a tool that she uses to inform her client that she feels for her. With reflections in the conversation, the client feels that it is likely that a solution will be achieved. Sharing her issues with the right response and reactions, the client feels that they are half solved.
In conclusion, the counsellor reflects on the client’s life again and tries to suggest the best way forward in dealing with it. It is a recap of the entire session. To the client, the concluding reflection serves as an indication of the counsellor’s attentiveness, the latter being now able to rank her counsellor as a listening one, who is out to provide applicable suggestions. With such a reflection, the woman finds solace and comfort. Finaly, there is an emotional attachment to what the counsellor reflects on, and it is a demonstration of respect for the client’s feelings and concerns.
3 Give two specific examples of the use of reflection of feeling and content in the first session. After each example, include a discussion of what you believe the intent of the reflection was and what affect it had on the client. Do you believe the counselor got the feeling and intensity correct? Why or why not?
In the conversation between the counsellor and her client, stress is mentioned. Thus, the counsellor asks the woman how school stresses her and what effect her education and work has on her emotions. The counsellor uses reflection of feelings to show her understanding of the client’s situation because she wants the woman to be sure that the specialist empathizes with her. Another reflection of feelings occurs in the context of the relationship between her client and her partner, where the counsellor uses this technique of repeatedly talking about her client’s relationship just to let her know that she understands the pain involved.
In my own opinion, I believe that the counsellor does understand the feeling and their intensity correctly. She seems attentive and carried away during the narration. More so, she manages to shift between tones, a clear indication of the above mentioned aspect. Finally, she remains composed and does not seem to enjoy her client’s narration – it happens because the woman takes on a professional composure, which to me is another indication of her professionalism.
4 Give two specific examples of summaries in the first session. After each example, include a discussion of what you believe the intent of the summary was and what affect it had on the client.
The first narration in the counseling session is on the terms of engagement. This summary makes the client aware of the nature of agreement in which they are in with the counselor. It then helps to inform the client about some aspects of the session. Among the peculiarities mentioned therein is the expected corporation. The counsellor lets her identity known to her client during this summary narration. On the other hand, the second narration is based on the troubled life of the client, the latter narrating her version of life. She mentions school, her social life with friends, and work. The woman then summarizes the stressful situations that she has undergone. Finally, the narration informs the counsellor about the issues to tackle in their sessions. With the two summaries, a bond of understanding is created, the relationship rules are set, and the topics of discussion are introduced.
5 Give at least one example of the use of silence. After each example, include a discussion of what you believe the intent of silence was and what affect it had on the client. Do you believe the silence was effective? Why or why not?
During the counselling sessions, the client talks about her poor social life, saying that she struggles with finding time for her friends. At this time, the counselor is quiet since wants to give her client all the time to finish what she has to say. This silence ensures that the woman is not interrupted. It is also a moment when the counsellor takes to listen more to this person. During this pause, the expert can think about the next move as well as reflect on the best advice and recommendations to give afterwards.
With the counselor being silent, the client is encouraged to speak because there is much time and minimal interruption on part of the counselor. More so, silence creates an open communication forum, where the client feels free to speak up. An effect of transparency is also created in the process. That being the case, I believe that the silence was indeed effective: from the reference video, I noticed that the client kept on speaking, as the counsellor listened in silence. Their bond and trust seem to be establishing fast.
6 Give two specific examples of clarifications in the first session. After each example, include a discussion of what you believe the intent of the clarification was and what affect it had on the client.
Clarification is provided in the introduction. Then, the rules of engagement are stated, which makes the client aware of the dos and the don’ts during the session. She also has time to learn her counsellor. The second clarification occurs in the context of the life scenarios of her client, who clearly clarified on her education, work, and social life. It seves as a way of letting the expert know her better. The client manages to finish this session exceptionally well, without hiding any details; and by doing so, a warm relationship between the two parties is created.
7 Give specific examples of continuing/following responses the counselor used. Were they effective? Why or why not?
Continuing and following responses are used during client narrations, where the counselor encourages her client to continue narrating her story as she nods her head. The technique turns out to be effective and is used, during this session, asis as an information mining method. All in all, it works just fine because the client speaks her heart out, and all her issues are well known to the counsellor.
8 Give two specific examples of empathy. What level of empathy was demonstrated (less than the client communicated the same as the client communicated, or more than the client communicated)? Were they effective? Why or why not?
The counselor shares in the troubled life of her client, whose story is really touching. She is troubled, and there is the need to help her. Her client’s life seems...