Rapport Building an Important Part of Counselling (Essay Sample)

BUILDING RAPPORT IN COUNSELLING
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BUILDING RAPPORT
Engaged clients often result in successful counseling sessions. Counselors should always seek to build rapport as an important part of counseling. This is because developing a sense of understanding, friendship, and trust with clients helps them feel safe and respected thus allowing them to face their difficult to face problems. Whenever those involved in counseling are connected with shared feelings, two-way communication is established. However, building two-way communication during counseling remains a challenge because emotions can complicate the communication process at first when trust and understanding have not been achieved. Here, counseling skills such as active listening, use of silence, reflecting and paraphrasing and, thoughtful use of questions alone may not be enough to achieve engagement. Therefore, counselors engage their clients through creating a warm and respectful environment, providing core conditions, and allowing flexibility during counseling.
Creating a warm and respectful environment
The counseling environment determines the quality of counseling outcomes. Counselors should ensure that a safe, warm and respectable environment is created to ensure the client is comfortable physically, socially, and emotionally ADDIN CSL_CITATION {"citationItems":[{"id":"ITEM-1","itemData":{"author":[{"dropping-particle":"","family":"Nor","given":"Mohd Zarawi Mat","non-dropping-particle":"","parse-names":false,"suffix":""}],"container-title":"Counseling and Therapy","id":"ITEM-1","issued":{"date-parts":[["2020"]]},"publisher":"IntechOpen","title":"Counselling: What and How","type":"chapter"},"uris":["http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=ac867b25-2368-498c-aac9-8111c15b1e5d"]}],"mendeley":{"formattedCitation":"(Nor, 2020)","manualFormatting":"(as cited in Nor, 2020,pg.208)","plainTextFormattedCitation":"(Nor, 2020)","previouslyFormattedCitation":"(Nor, 2020)"},"properties":{"noteIndex":0},"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"}(as cited in Nor, 2020, pg.208).In this case, the woman is not comfortable because the environment is not favorable; a crowded place and a chair might not give her the comfortability she deserves to be relaxed for the session. Moreover, carrying a sleeping baby with the six-year-old on her feet is tiresome physically and emotionally. As a counselor, it will be necessary to make the setting appealing by offering a comfy seat to both the mother and the six-year-old and perhaps a cup of tea; and ensuring that there are no distractions to disrupt the sleeping kid allowing plenty of time for concentration. By doing this, this woman will be energized and feel free to talk of her problems knowing that the counselor is caring and she won’t be heard and judged by others. Consequently, trust is gained through this positive counseling environment and feelings will be shared and a lasting solution established.
Offering core values
Empathy, congruence, and unconditional positive regard form important core values that help build rapport in counseling. The counselor must ensure that he understands the client’s thoughts and feelings just as the client experiences them that is, ‘walking in someone else’s shoes’. Furthermore, showing empathy demands the counselor’s congruence; being real and honest to help overcome the negative attitudes that may be directed to the client that will make him feel unworthy and lose self-esteem ADDIN CSL_CITATION {"citationItems":[{"id":"ITEM-1","itemData":{"author":[{"dropping-particle":"","family":"Nor","given":"Mohd Zarawi Mat","non-dropping-particle":"","parse-names":false,"suffix":""}],"container-title":"Counseling and Therapy","id":"ITEM-1","issued":{"date-parts":[["2020"]]},"publisher":"IntechOpen","title":"Counselling: What and How","type":"chapter"},"uris":["http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=ac867b25-2368-498c-aac9-8111c15b1e5d"]}],"mendeley":{"formattedCitation":"(Nor, 2020)","manualFormatting":"(as cited in Nor, 2020,pg.207)","plainTextFormattedCitation":"(Nor, 2020)","previouslyFormattedCitation":"(Nor, 2020)"},"properties":{"noteIndex":0},"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"}(as cited in Nor, 2020, pg.207).
The displaced woman goes through a lot in her mind and lacks the next course of action. This can be told from the way she speaks and looks down and away. Perhaps, she is seeing herself as a failed mother who has done nothing to provide good shelter for her kids. Her situation requires the counselor to be real to engage her otherwise by her looking away signals disengagement, and unconditional positive regard is further needed to allow her to open up and speak about her plights without fear of being criticized and judged. By offering empathy, congruence, and unconditional positive regard, this woman can speak up with no fear of being questioned and judged, ‘Why did you do this?' or 'Do you think that was a good idea?' As such, the client becomes flexible in discussing her problems and a trusting relationship is built with the counselor which further erects robust rapport in counseling ADDIN CSL_CITATION {"citationItems":[{"id":"ITEM-1","itemData":{"author":[{"dropping-particle":"","family":"Nor","given":"Mohd Zarawi Mat","non-dropping-particle":"","parse-names":false,"suffix":""}],"container-title":"Counseling and Therapy","id":"ITEM-1","issued":{"date-parts":[["2020"]]},"publisher":"IntechOpen","title":"Counselling: What and How","type":"chapter"},"uris":["http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=ac867b25-2368-498c-aac9-8111c15b1e5d"]}],"mendeley":{"formattedCitation":"(Nor, 2020)","manualFormatting":"(as cited in Nor, 2020,pg.210)","plainTextFormattedCitation":"(Nor, 2020)","previouslyFormattedCitation":"(Nor, 2020)"},"properties":{"noteIndex":0},"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"}(as cited in Nor, 2020, pg. 210).
Allowing flexibility
Flexibility is critical both to the counselor and the client. To the client, it relieves one as one is free to communicate without fear of judgment while to the counselor, being flexible helps in counseling people with different cultural backgrounds, experiences, and engagement. Flexibility also helps to know when to refer a client. Some clients demonstrate rigidity even after numerous attempts to engage them, therefore counselors should always show flexibility by referring them to other parties ADDIN CSL_CITATION {"citationItems":[{"id":"ITEM-1","itemData":{"ISSN":"2055-6365","author":[{"dropping-particle":"","family":"Aydin","given":"Fatih","non-dropping-particle":"","parse-names":false,"suffix":""},{"dropping-particle":"","family":"Odaci","given":"Hatice","non-dropping-particle":"","parse-names":false,"suffix":""}],"container-title":"Journal of psychologists and counsellors in schools","id":"ITEM-1","issue":"2","issued":{"date-parts":[["2020"]]},"page":"202-215","publisher":"Cambridge University Press","title":"School Counsellors’ Job Satisfaction: What is the Role of Counselling Self-Efficacy, Trait Anxiety and Cognitive Flexibility?","type":"article-journal","volume":"30"},"uris":["http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=c54c02b6-c382-46c7-8243-0d5df1724f91"]}],"mendeley":{"formattedCitation":"(Aydin & Odaci, 2020)","manualFormatting":"(as cited in Aydin & Odaci, 2020)","plainTextFormattedCitation":"(Aydin & Odaci, 2020)","previouslyFormattedCitation":"(Aydin & Odaci, 2020)"},"properties":{"noteIndex":0},"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"}(as cited in Aydin & Odaci, 2020).
In the case of this woman, she is depressed and her emotions are high. This requires a counselor to incorporate a sense of humor in the discussion to engage her. The counselor can opt to sing, play and make fun with the six-year-old to keep