Lesson 4

• Settings in Counseling:

  • Government: counselors can work in hospitals, government agencies, private practices, or healthcare environments
  • Private Sector: run by private individuals or groups for profit
  • Civil Society: includes non-governmental organizations and institutions
  • Schools: mandated in the Philippines for middle and high schools
  • Community: counseling in the Philippines has evolved from multiple influences
• Processes of Counseling:

  • Stage 1: Exploring - getting the client to start talking about the presenting problem
  • Stage 2: Understanding - identifying themes in the client's life, dependent on client engagement and counselor support
  • Stage 3: Deciding and Planning - collaboration between client and counselor for the ideal solution
  • Stage 4: Acting - taking action based on the counseling process
• Methods/Techniques in Counseling:

  • Spheres of Influence: assessing areas of life impacting the individual
  • Clarification: counselors should ask clients to clarify to avoid misconceptions
  • Client Expectations: clients should communicate their expectations for counseling
  • Confrontation: self-examination by the client during counseling
• In counseling, the client should be able to self-examine themselves during counseling
• The speed at which self-examination happens should be discussed between the counselor and the client
• Congruence in counseling involves counselors being genuine with their feedback and beliefs about their client’s situation and progress
• The more authentic and true counselors are with their counseling, the more their client can grow and benefit from their help
• Core Conditions in counseling include:

  • Positive regard
  • Empathy
  • Congruence or genuineness
  • Warmth
• Being an encouraging counselor for your client is essential for facilitating confidence and respect between both parties
• Encouraging counselors focus on the client’s strengths and assets to help them see themselves in a positive light, aiding in the client’s progression
• Engagement in counseling involves therapists having a good, yet professional relationship with their clients
• Difficult moments in counseling sessions may require influential engagement on the counselor’s behalf
• Focusing in counseling involves the counselor demonstrating understanding of what their client is experiencing through non-judgmental attention without words
• Focusing helps the counselor determine what the client needs to obtain next from their services
• Immediacy in counseling involves the counselor speaking openly about something occurring in the present moment
• Immediacy helps the client learn from real-life experiences and apply this to their reactions for other past situations
• Listening skills in counseling are essential to show that the counselor understands and interprets the information that their client gives them correctly
• Counselors show attentiveness in non-verbal ways, such as summarizing, capping, or matching the body language of their clients
• Open-ended questions in counseling encourage clients to give more details on their discussion
• These questions help counselors help their clients answer how, why, and what
• Paraphrasing in counseling shows clients that the counselor is listening to their information and processing what they have been telling them
• Paraphrasing is also good to reiterate or clarify any misinformation that might have occurred
• Positive Asset Search is a technique used by counselors to help clients think up their positive strengths and attributes to get them into a strong mindset about themselves
• Reflection of Feeling is a technique used by counselors to show their clients that they are fully aware of the feelings the client is experiencing
• Counselors use exact words and phrases that their client is expressing to them
• Miracle Question is a technique used in counseling to help the client see the world in a different perspective
• A miracle question could be something like: “What would your world look like if a miracle occurred? What would that miracle be and how would it change things?”
• Trustworthiness in counseling involves the counselor creating an environment where the client feels they can trust their counselor
• A therapist must be congruent, warm, empathetic, and speak with positive regard to their client
• Capping in counseling involves changing a conversation’s direction from emotional to cognitive if the counselor feels the client’s emotions need to be calmed or regulated
• Working Alliance in counseling involves creating a collaborative relationship between the counselor and the client
• The client and therapist agree upon goals of treatment and how to achieve those goals
• Proxemics in counseling involves the counselor studying the spatial movements and conditions of communication their client exhibits
• By studying the client’s body orientation, the counselor can determine mood, feelings, and reactions
• Self-Disclosure in counseling involves the counselor noting when personal information is disclosed and using this information to benefit the client
• Structuring in counseling involves the counselor discussing the agenda for the day with their client, the activities, and the processes they will go through
• This technique helps the client understand the counselor’s train of thought and establishes comfort and trust in counseling
• Hierarchy of Needs in counseling involves the counselor assessing the client’s level of needs based on the progress they are making
• The needs considered are: physiological needs, safety needs, love and belongingness needs, self-esteem needs, and self-actualization needs
• Tools used by counselors include:

  • ‘The Empty Chair’
  • ‘The Letter’
  • ‘Identification with Characters from Literature’
  • ‘Fantasy’
  • ‘Personal Construct Theory’
  • ‘Sculpting’
  • ‘Gilmore’s Square’
  • ‘Visual Metaphors such as “The Shield”’
  • ‘Visualizations or Guided Imagery’