Reflective essay -Counselling session Essay

In this reflective hear I stupefy appear provide an compend of the counselling academic sitting I conducted and recorded. This will include a summary of the session. I will a identical describe the micro and advanced counselling skills utalised, as easily as a critical valuation of their utilizableness. A discussion of my application of these skills, as easily as areas of possible advantage will supported by eccentric to relevant literature.Summary of the session.Leesa is a 37-year-old adult female who I see seen around quadruple months introductoryly. At the previous session Leesa rundle of her frustrations at fake and of her hopes of securing a promotion. Leesas presentation was one of lethargy consistent with individual who was suffering opinions of depression. I began the session by welcoming the invitee and reminding her of the confidentiality agreement. Leesa had previously laped in the hospitality industry but condoneed that had dogged to terminate her exercise after organism overlooked for a promotion. She as well condoneed that she had tangle a lack of fairness and abide by from her employer and fellow employees. Since leaving her position in hospitality Leesa had sought employment by an federal agency that provides office work opportunities. Leesa explained that she had had quatern different jobs in the past cardinal months and that she was experiencing a similar smelling of cosmos dis regard.Leesa spoke of experiencing a lack of arrogance at the signifi burnce and a ghost of being stuck as well as frustration and diffidentty around her afterlife oversight. further the customer was able to mark that she would give care to be much financi completelyy secure, feel respected at work and to achieve a greater smell out of confidence. Leesa spoke of a eon when she enjoyed her work and private life to a greater extent than, and was able to yoke few of the key differences that contributed to her feeling more respected and confident in general. The invitee set that she would like to seek alternating(a) employment that allowed her to take on grater business and that involved less travel. Leesa believed that her employment agency may be able to countenance her, but admitted that she had not been discerning well-nigh the kinds of roles that she took recently out-of-pocket to her financial bit.She similarly dis close that she had been isolating due to her on- breathing out state of mind. Accepting a preparation dispute Leesa concord to burn down some friends to see if she could catch up with them at the next weekend. She in any case concord to garner a tend of the sorts of jobs that she mat up she was adequate for and believed that she could achieve a greater feeling of responsibility and respect. Leesa said that she would feeler her employment agency to see if they could stand by, and that she would bring her list to the next counsellor session. management ski lls application.Reflecting upon the counseling session it is clear that I utalised a honk of conversational micro skills. attention BehaivourHackney & Cormier (2009) & McLeod (2007), explain that a counsellor leads by succeeding(a) the lymph node, which is done by encouraging the customer to control their story using verbal and non-verbal furtherrs. Another way to explain what attendance is that it allows the client to continue talking with nominal interruption (Armstrong, 2006). When watching the recorded session I could observe numerous occasion where examples of attending behaivour are present. For example my military strength was relaxed and I leant forward. My tone of voice was lower and consistent, and I maintained eye contact. I constantly nodded my head and aid mm hmm or, oh really. This combination of skills trained that I was fire and empathetic to what the client was saying. Similarly Egan (2010) describes an effective guideline for turning into client s as represented by an acronym SOLER, which is important in the low gear of any counselling session. This meansS face the client squarelyO maintain overspread postureL lean towards the otherE skinny eye contactR relaxed and inseparable in these behavioursMinimal solvents.Throughout the session I used a range of negligible responses that let the client agnize that I was raise and engaged in what she had to say. It also conveyed that I was empathetic towards her situation. Geldard and Geldard (2009) explain that minimal responses not only convey that the proponent is comprehend, they can also be used to convey a message, such(prenominal) as surprise, agreement or still to challenge what has been said. The meaning of these minimal responses is also influenced greatly upon the delivery of them. Tone of voice, nervus seventh cranial nerveis expression, posture and eye movement all abet to determine the way in which these messages are received. An example of a minimal response I made that conveyed empathy would submit been when the client was describing her feelings of not being respected in her workplace and I replyed by saying sounds horrible. This short response did not interrupt the flow of conversation, and advance the client to continue. My tone of voice and facial nerve expressions were also congruent with someone who empathized and was interested in what was being said.Reflective Listening.Summarising, paraphrasing and verbalism of feelings are all examples of counselling micro-skills that let the client know that the counselor is earreach and understanding them correctly. Although it is important to try to respond accurately it is not essential as an incorrect response can encourage the client to re-think what they put on said and because clarify it, possibly resulting in a dampen understanding for both fateies. Geldard and Geldard (2009) explain that these reflections also serve as heighten the therapeutic affinity. And that the most important to be genuinely your egotism and aim to create a real, trusting, caring empathetic birth with the someone seeking champion. Examples of when I utalised reflective listening techniques would include When the client had explained the reasons why she had go away her previous employment, I reflected back by saying So youve left there you werent happy with that job, you felt like you were unfairly treated, is that..? Another example would have been after the client had explained that she had experienced a number of electronegative employment situations indoors a short period of time. I reflected back Would I be even out to suggest that perhaps you are feeling a bit stuck, youre not really sure what you are doing? . speculative Techniques and AdvancedCounselling Skills.During the session I used a range of open and closed heads. I opened the session by referring back to the subject of her difficulties at work covered in the previous session and then asked H ow has that been going? later(prenominal) I asked the client Can you tell me a little more close the situation, what was going on for you? Overall I was happy with the mix of open and closed questions. It felt like I was getting the information I needed, without interrupting the client. The counseling mood I used was solution focused. I tried to structure the session with Egans Three Stage Model in mind. Egan (2010) provides a structured and solution focused approach that can be bewildered into 3 major sections. The initial part of the session saw me ask a range of questions designed to ascertain what was going on? For the next section What do I want instead? I used a range of unbelieving techniques. For example scaling questions. At a point in the session it had been identified that the client had become stuck and was unsure of what direction to take due to a serial publication of negative experiences at work.The client had concord that a pattern had emerged she felt disres pected at work. At this point I also felt a little stuck. It felt as if I should explore this as a theme and try to help the client to rate her blind spots. However I also felt like it might be counterproductive to challenge the client at that grade, as she appeared to have a low self-image. At the time, although uncertain it felt a little mordacious to examine her role in the situation. In order to firstly establish that the clients self esteem was low, and to then help her to tell what would have to swap for her to feel better I asked her to rate her level of self-esteem, or confidence on a musical scale of one-to-ten. Her response was a three. This strategy was useful in establishing that the client was unhappy and felt stuck in her situation, and therefore provided a plan to work with.However it was not sure-fire in helping the client to identify what she wants instead (Egan 2010). I was unsure at this point as to weather the client was genuinely uncertain of what she wo uld like to change or if she was reluctant to say. It was this feeling that light-emitting diode me to self-disclose. This gave me the chance to express empathy indirectly and to help the client feel like the relationship was equal. Geldard and Geldard (2009). It was also useful in clear up that she felt frustration and not the anxiety that was present in my disclosure. In an stew to move to Egans second stage I chose to ask a adaptation of the miracle question. De Jong and Berg (2008), propose that the miracle question allows the client an opportunity to step out of their current situation for a moment and consider the possibility of something better (as cited in Corey 2013). Although the clients response was not neighboring(a) she could identify that she wanted to be more financially stable, to have more confidence, and to be respected.I then asked the client Has there ever been a time in your working like, that you can toy with where you felt respected and happy at wor k? This question had an almost immediate positive reaction, as evidenced by the clients change in posture and facial expression. This coincided with what might have ordinarily been the negative situation of a refrigerator devising a loud noise. However this situation added a useful element of sense of humor that would probably not been possible. Both clients and counselors can enrich a relationship by dint of humor (Corey 2013 p.31). Having identified that there was a time when things were different, coupled with the comfortableness achieved through humor, it felt like I had liberty to ask what was different in her ain life at that time. The responses gave me the information I needed to begin to help the client look at Egans (2010) deuce-ace stage of how do I get to what I want? This also gave me the opportunity to work with the immediacy that was evident in the change of mood when the client reflected upon a time when her life was going well. This person-centered approach ad ded a real sense of genuiness to the relationship and allowed the client to identify emotionally unite with the difference in her life at that time (Corey 2013).During a summary of what was different, when the clients life was going well new information was disclosed that the client had not been discerning about the jobs that she took due to her financial situation. I made the rumourmonger that that was understandable, we all have to pay our bills, frankincense normalizing the clients experience, Normalising a clients experience can help them to look at their situation more positively Geldard and Geldard (2009). This was useful as the session moved into the third stage of the mannikin provided by Egan (2010). During this stage we brainstormed ways in which the client could access alternative employment, and also how to achieve greater life labyrinthine sense throughrecreational activities. The client agreed to continue to develop this list and to approach some employment agencie s. She also agreed to contact some friends socially the pastime weekend as a training tasks. Tompkins (2006) suggests that there are clear advantages to the counselor and client working in a collaborative manor in negotiating inversely agreeable homework tasks. (as cited in Corey 2013). I felt that overall the session went well. At times I think I could have injected more energy into my responses. It is strange, as I felt more passionate inside than what was conveyed. I was happy that I could work to a framework and I found that I enjoy the lucrativeness of the solution-focused modality. It did seem a little too perfect at times, which is difficult to subjugate in a role-play situation.References.Armstrong, P. (2006). The practice of counselling. Melbourne Thomson higher(prenominal) Education Corey, G (2012). Theory and radiation pattern of Counselling and Psychotherapy. 9th.Ed. Melbourne. Canage Learning. Egan, G. (2010). The Skilled Helper 9th Ed. Belmont, the States Brooks /Cole, Cengage Learning.Geldard, G & Geldard, K (2012) 7th Ed. Basic Personal Counselling A Training manual for counsellors. N.S.W Australia. Pearson.