Skills in Human Services Research Assignment (Essay Sample)

Skills in Human Services
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Guidance and counselling is an art that involves motivating clients and spurring them to open up and share their predicaments for absolute purposes of obtaining perfect problem-solving strategies. Experts in this art often deploy elements such as encouragers, paraphrasers, and summarizations owing to effectively comprehend the challenges faced by their clients and hence offer excellent, accurate feedback in response (Cook, 1999).
Encouragers also referred to as intentional listening, entails paying complete attention to the customer (or client), thus permitting them to probe and examine the clients thoughts and feelings more effectively. Encouragers encompass both verbal and non-verbal options to urge clients to keep the continuum of the talk in momentum. Encouragers include three subclasses namely brief invitations, verbal minimal responses and no-verbal minimal responses. Brief invitation phrases to prompt the client to keep the talk alive include words such as “kindly expound on that...” On the other hand, verbal minimal reactions entail phrases like “Uh-huh” or “And..” or “Go on…”
Besides, Non-verbal minimal reactions entail positive, encouraging facial expressions such as smiling, head nodding, maintaining eye contact and leaning forward. Encouragers are objectively deployed to spur the client to keep the conversation alive. When human service workers such as counsellors, psychologists or life strategists deploys encouragers effectively, they are likely to gather more information of the key challenges ailing the client and hence be at a better vantage point to provide more viable, practical solutions in return. Also, clients will specifically expound on the topic of discussion when encouragers are deployed in conversations (Milne, 2011).
Human service workers such as counsellors often deploy paraphrasers to clarify, shorten or expound on the topic of discussion by using the clients fundamental ideas or words. Paraphrasers act like feedback to the client in a questioning mode. Counsellors simply rephrase the client’s key idea upon which the client may respond in the affirmative or confirm that the rephrase is a reflection of the information they had passed on. The main objective is to enhance the clients’ clarification and exploration of concerns (Bor, 2002).
The key attributes of paraphrasers is that they demand the use of one’s words other that those communicated by the client. However, the central ideas, notions (or concepts) of the rephrased statements should mirror the client’s perceptions or point of view. Paraphrasers entail using a sentence stem with a summarised form of the key words coupled with construct systems as deployed by the client to explain the topic of discussion. Besides, paraphrasers are often used to crosscheck the accuracy of the information offered by the client.
When human service workers such as psychologists effectively deploy paraphrasing devices, their customers feel heard and hence are spurred to avail more information void of repeating the exact explanation. Also, if a paraphrase is erroneous, the client will have a chance to rectify the psychologist or counsellor. In addition, accurate paraphrase proofs that the human service provider (such as a counsellor) was paying attention and has a sense of the customer’s vantage point. This can be an effective tool to demonstrate accurate empathy. The essence of the paraphrasing tool is to spur the discussion or elevate understanding or comprehension of the elements of the topic of discussion. Effective paraphrasing phrase commences with words such as “it sounds like…” or “Let me see if I’ve got that right…”
Example: I have left school for good. School work was such an eyesore since most of the time I was to do complex assignments which had nothing to do with my passion. I’m now pursuing acting career which has been my dream job. I feel so excited and relieved now.
Paraphrase: You feel more excited and relieved after finally tracking down your dream acting passion.
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