Process and Main Components of Counseling - Essay Example

? Counseling is a very delicate job as it requires development of trust and mutual understanding between the client and the counselor. It isalways important to provide a sense of security to the client on the first visit in order to ensure that future sessions remain result oriented. Transactional analysis provides theoretical framework and offers a relatively different view about a counselor should approach the clients and their problems. I believe that I will not be able to deal with the clients who are old age because of my lack of experience and the unique requirements of older population. My own limitations as an individual will also may result into not delivering the right kind of counseling to different clients and may restrict my ability to deal with such clients. Definition of counseling and the most essential characteristics of a helping relationship It facilitates the process of personal and interpersonal functioning related with the lifespan of an individual. It specifically focuses on the emotional and other related issues which actually helps an individual to improve the overall well-being. It is however important to understand that is not just limited to the improvement of an individual’s well-being but it also encompasses various other activities which have to be performed in order to effectively deliver the results. (Baker,.& Ray, 2011). Individuals looking for the help from the counseling are those who face certain challenges in their personal and social life. Having someone who is not directly related to the situation involved provides an added layer of confidence for the persons involved in difficult and challenging situations. A counselor’s job therefore becomes relatively more important and critical because a person specifically approaches her for the resolution of issues or some sort of emotional comfort provided by a therapist involved in counseling. One of the key and most essential components of the overall relationship between a counsellor and client is the ability and skill of counsellor not to impose her own beliefs on the client. Remaining impartial and unbiased during whole process of counseling therefore is one of the critical aspects of a mutually beneficial relationship between the two. The process of development of the relationship itself is also critical because if client feels uncomfortable or not a ease during the counseling sessions, the overall outcome of the relationship may not be as helping as it should have been.( Hanley, Cutts, & Scott, 2012). A detailed explanation of the key elements that must be covered in the first session with a new client and why they must be covered One of the key elements of the first session with a new client is to provide a sense of safe environment. Become welcoming and making client at ease one of the primary elements which a counselor has to ensure in order to ensure that future sessions remain productive and that the client actually participates into the process. The overall environment should be private and client must generate the feelings that the personality of counselor is actually not imposed on the client. This is necessary in order to actually help the client to get over the initial hesitation and fear and make the client at ease in order to establish a mutually cooperative relationship for future sessions. It is also important to understand that during the first session, counselor need to open up the client to talk. It is important for the professional to actually cover the basic points during her discussion with the clients. These basic points may lead to the actual problem being faced by the client and what expectations client may have from the counselor. This stage is also called data gathering as during this, counselor actually attempts to assess the overall problem and the background of the problem. During this process, counselor can actually use personal questions inventory, marriage questions inventory or other related and more intensive questions which can actually establish the problem. While establishing the problem and its causes, it is also important to establish the involvement of the both the client and the counselor. Establishing involvement can also actually help counselor to provide hope to the client and firmly establish that the problem faced by the client could be resolved through better and more coordinated involvement. The theory or theories of counseling which I will seek to learn more about and use in my own practice One of the key theories of counseling which I would like to learn more about and practice in my profession is the Transactional Analysis. This theory is critically important because it provides an optimistic view about human nature and that all the decisions made in the life can actually be re-decided. The overall approach taken in this theory therefore is relatively important for me as a counselor because it would support the level of motivation I will be providing to my clients. Transactional analysis actually sees what is happening between two persons and attempt to establish the link between the two. Since we live in a society with other peoples making significant contribution in our lives therefore there are different egos and issues which we carry forward from others. Various techniques which can be used under this theory include forcing the client to actually answer the questions from ego state to identify the ego state which is actually the source of confrontation. Counselor however needs to be more skillful in administering the questions as it may result into further inciting the clients. (Gillon, 2007). The overall role of the counselor in this theory is to work as a teacher and contract with the client in order to help the client to achieve the desired change. The overall goals for the counselor therefore are not just limited to the achievement of changes but also to achieve the required autonomy and freedom. Client can live a life free from any scripts or games provided the right techniques and tools are used by the counselor in achieving the overall change for the client. I believe that this theory is relatively more important for a person like me who wants to see real change in the attitude of clients. Helping clients to actually achieve the desired level of freedom and enabling them to become emotionally self-reliant again can really add more value to the overall outcomes for a counselor. At least two techniques from this course and an explanation of how and for what type of client issues I will use them for in treatment Various techniques have been discussed during the course in order to equip the students to actually understand the process of counseling and how it can help improve the lives of the clients. The overall range of techniques was so diverse and rich that it may become difficult to actually choose to discuss. Psychoanalytical techniques are one of techniques which are being used by the counselors over the period of time. One particular technique which I would like to use is free association. The key importance of this technique is that the clients or the patients speak of themselves and by verbalizing thoughts regardless of their importance, clients actually tend to express themselves openly. Clients are actually invited to relate whatever is emerging in their mind without actually censoring them.( Colbert, Jefferson, Gallo, & Davis, 2009). This type of technique would be more beneficial for clients who are more interested in knowing about themselves. This technique can also further help the clients who are looking forward to find more meaning in their life and are willing to find out the associations and linkages between different factors. As a counselor I would use this technique to help my clients to understand themselves better. Confrontation is another technique which can be effectively used to actually challenge the logic and rational beliefs of the clients. Through confrontation, a counselor can actually divert the attention of the patient to the factual contents of the statements made by the patient or actions taken by him. The overall purpose is to basically force the patient to look into his own words and dig out new avenues which can offer a better insight into the overall state of the patient. Confronting technique can be best applied to the clients who require immediate attention and require provoking an immediate response. The clients or patients who are relatively more disturbed and are unwilling to challenge their long held views can be put through confrontation in order to actually understand about themselves in more effective manner. Life experience(s) that will help you as a counselor work effectively with a wide range of clients Over the period of time, I have gone through various life experiences which have actually strengthened my ability to challenge myself and dig deeper into understanding my own personality. Various life experiences have actually helped me to grow as a better person and taught me to direct confront with and challenge my views about life, society and other aspects of my life. One of the key life experiences that I believe would help me to work effectively with my clients is my troubled childhood. I have been through different experiences which have created certain memories for me regarding how I was treated and what were the roles of different persons in creating such experiences for me. Though I would not say it was an abusive experience however, it was troubled experience which has actually forced me to do lot of soul searching. In order to overcome the feelings generated by these experiences, I have confronted myself through self-scrutiny and questioning myself. I believe this experience has actually allowed me to ask better questions and become a better listener of my inner feelings.( Pellitteria, 2010). Some limitations in my own life experience that might hinder my ability to understand and relate to certain clients Each individual passes through various stages of life by having experiences which are unique to that person. The uniqueness of the experiences however, also put limitations on the ability to understand the true feelings of other persons. These limitations may restrict the ability of the counselor to actually understand and relate to the clients. One of the key limitations which I believe I can experience and which may restrict my ability to understand my clients is my inability to actually negotiate with grief. I feel more out of control when dealing with situations involving grief and as a result of this, may actually not been able to keep that professional attitude while dealing with the clients. I feel that my experiences in the past can put me in a grief like situation where it may be difficult for me as an individual to deal with grief easily. It is also important to note that I’m still young and passing through a period of my life where self-awareness for an individual is not matured. Self-awareness grows as an individual experiences different real life situations. Due to lack of self-awareness and my relative inexperience of developing the kind of self-awareness required in dealing with clients, I feel that I may be limited in providing effective counseling sessions to my clients. It is however, important to understand that self-awareness skills can be learned and even without the experience of facing diversified situations in real life, self-aware can be improved. Client populations I do not believe that I would be able to work with and why I may not be able to work with client population which is above the age of 60. Older population has relatively complex problems to deal with and pose significant challenges to a counselor in terms of their motivation to achieve same level of freedom as desired by young or middle aged client population. It is also important for a counselor to actually have experiences which this population has already gone through. Being young, I believe I might not have gone through such personal experiences which can better equip me to handle older clients easily. Servicing such clients therefore may not result into optimal outcomes for population. Client populations I do believe that I would be able to work with and why I believe that I will be able to easily work with the teenagers and mid-aged clients because my personal experiences combined with my skills would add more value to the overall counseling sessions. As I m still young and motivated, therefore I would naturally like to see young and teen to actually more responsive towards life and don’t fall into the trap of life’s tough situations. It is also important to note that teens and youngsters face greater economic uncertainty therefore their chances of drifting towards negative attitude in life may be higher. This tendency of the teens may de-motivate them about life. Since I have myself gone through certain phases in my life which put me through a strong negative influence of de-motivating factors therefore I believe that my personal experience combined with my skill and training as a counselor could help me to better process various counseling sessions with the teens. It is also critical to note that teens often get the support of their parents therefore liasioning with parents and developing a program where other family members can also help individuals to come out of the difficult situation can actually help me to broaden my overall scope of skills. Conclusion Counseling is an interesting field of psychology which involves direct involvement of counselors in helping the clients to get over different challenges in life. It is however, not just limited to interacting and helping the clients as it requires effective planning and coordination of other activities also. I believe that one theory which I would love to improve upon and learn is transactional theory because it involves giving hope to the clients to look for change. It is also based upon the promise that decisions which have been made in the past can be remade and re-assessed to achieve the desired level of change. I believe that my personal limitations may not allow me to work with certain clients and as such I may not be able to effectively work with older population. I will however be able to easily work with teens and middle ages clients. Bibliography Baker, K. D., & Ray, M. (2011). Online counseling: The good, the bad, and the possibilities. Counselling Psychology Quarterly, 24(4), 341-346. Colbert, L. K., Jefferson, J., Gallo, R., & Davis, R. (2009). A Study of Religiosity and Psychological Well-Being among African Americans: Implications for Counseling and Psychotherapeutic Processes. Journal of Religion and Health, 48(3), 278-289. Gillon, E. (2007). Person-Centred Counselling Psychology: An Introduction. London: SAGE Publications. Hanley, T., Cutts, L., & Scott, A. (2012). Where does all the research go? Reflections on supporting trainee-applied psychologists to publish their research. Counselling Psychology Quarterly, 25(3), 201-210. Pellitteria, J. S. (2010). Emotional intelligence in the context of adaptive personality: Implications for counselling psychology. Counselling Psychology Quarterly, 23(2), 129-141. Read More