Guidance and Counseling (Midterms)

• Counseling Environment - Through a careful assessment of this, we can reduce or eliminate any external irritation that could increase defensiveness.
• These are the three (3) important components in a counseling relationship:

  1. Office
  2. Non-verbal Behavior
  3. Counselor Presentation
• Office - This will be the place a counselor needs to establish in order to have a proper relationship with the client.
• These are the factors that is required to be present in the office of a counselor in order to develop strong relationship between the two parties:

  1. Quiet
  2. Comfort
  3. Safety
  4. Confidentiality
• True or False

  
  

  True - Counselors can also build relationship outside their office.
• True or False

  
  

  True - The arrangement of office can be crucial to eliciting positive attitudes from people and yo building the therapeutic alliance.
• These are the factors that should be considered in order to attain proper arrangement of an office:

  1. Soundproofed
  2. Soft Lighting
  3. Relatively Uncluttered (Absence of too much objects)
  4. Proper storage of client records.
  5. Distraction free
  6. Comfortable sits
• True or False

  1. The arrangement of the office should be appealing to the vast majority of the clients. True
  2. It is possible to not offend somebody. False
• Non-Verbal Behavior - A number of this can possibly affect our relationship with our clients.
• These are the non-verbal behaviors that we should look out for:

  1. Posture
  2. Eye Contact
  3. Voice Tone
• Personal Space - It is an additional non-verbal factor that affects the counseling relationship.
• These are the elements that affect the comfortability of an individual with personal space:

  1. Culture
  2. Age
  3. Gender
• Touch - It is the final aspect of non-verbal behavior that is important to the counseling relationship.
• Brammer and MacDonald - They suggested that whether one has physical contact with a client should be based on several factors such as:

  1. The assessment of the helper regarding the needs of the helpee.
  2. The awareness of the helper with his or her own needs.
  3. What is the helpful behavior within the counseling relationship.
  4. The risks that may be involved such as agency policy, customs, personal ethics, and law
• True or False

  1. Counselors have been taught to lean forward, make good eye contact, speak in a voice that meets the affect of the client and rarely touch them. True
  2. Culture cannot mediate the expression of non-verbal behaviors. False
• The counseling skills of a counselor includes the following:

  1. Foundation skills
  2. Commonly used skills
  3. Commonly used advanced skills
  4. Advanced and Specialized skills
• The foundation skills of a counselor includes the following:

  1. Listening skills
  2. Empathic skills
  3. Use of silence
• The listening skills of a counselor helps to:

  1. Build trust
  2. Convinces the client that you understand them.
  3. Encourages them to reflect on their behavior and their words.
  4. Ensures that you are on track with your understanding of the client.
  5. It is an effective way of collecting information
• A good listener does all these:

  
  

  1. Talks minimally
  2. Does not interrupt
  3. Concentrates on the client
  4. Does not give advice
  5. Gives and does not accept to receive
  6. Accurately listens to the content of the words of the helpee
  7. Capable of telling the helpee that they are being understood
  8. Asks clarifications
  9. Does not ask other kinds of questions
• These are the hindrances to listening:

  1. The presence of preconceived notions about the client that interfere with the ability of the counselor to hear the client.
  2. The anticipation of what the client is about to say.
  3. The thought of having idea of what the counselor should say therefore blocking what the client is actually saying.
  4. The personal issues that interfere with the ability of the counselor to listen.
  5. The presence of strong emotional reaction the content of the words of the client.
  6. The distraction caused by factors such as noises, temperature of the office, or hunger.
• These are the factors that should be considered in order to be prepared for listening to the client:

  1. Calming oneself prior to meeting the client.
  2. Maintaining proper eye contact with the client
  3. Exhibit an open body posture
  4. Be sensitive with personal space
  5. Clear the mind off of extraneous thoughts
  6. Concentrate on the client
  7. Do not talk except to gently encourage the client
  8. Listen
• Theodor Lipps - He/she coined the word "empathy" from the German word "Einfuhlung" which means "to feel within".
• Rogers - He/she stated that "The state of empathy, or being empathic, is to perceive the internal frame of reference of another with accuracy and with the emotional components and meanings which pertain thereto as if one were the person, but without ever losing the “as if” condition".
• Truax and Mitchell - They developed a nine-point rating scale to measure empathy.
• Carkhuff - He/she revised the empathy scale that was developed by Truax and Mitchell into a five-point scale.
• Carkhuff Scale - It became a mainstray of counselor training during the 1970s and 1980s, and although it is no longer used as extensively, it set the stage for similar micro-counseling skill training methods in counselor education.
• The scale ranges as follows:

  
  

  1.0 - below 3.0 = non-empathic

  3.0 - 5.0 = empathic
• Silence - It allows the clients to reflect on what has been said and gives the counselor time to process sessions and to formulate the next responses.
• Silence - It shows the clients that communication does not always have to be filled with words and that words sometimes can be used as a diversion from feelings.
• These are the commonly used skills that is required to become a proper counselor:

  1. Use of questions
  2. Self-Disclosure
  3. Modeling
  4. Giving affirmation and encouragement
• Questions can serve a multitude of purposes such as:

  1. Finding historical patterns
  2. Revealing underlying issues
  3. Gently challenging the client to change.
  4. Encouraging the client to deepen his or her self-exploration.
  5. Helping the clients move toward preferred goals.
• There are several types of questions. These are:

  1. Open and closed ended
  2. Tentative
  3. Solution-focused
  4. "Why"
• Open questions - A type of question which allows the clients to respond in a myriad of ways.
• Closed questions - A type of question that is focused on a particular topic or a point of view and force them to pick among the choices given.
• Tentative questions - These are the questions that are not yet answered but are being considered.
• Benjamin - He/she notes that a question can be made even more open if it is asked indirectly or tentatively.
• Solution-focused questions - It is a type of question that is used in brief treatment.
• Preferred goals questions - These are questions which are generally asked near the very beginning of counseling to assess what the goals or hope of counseling can be.
• Evaluative questions - These questions help clients distinguish behaviors that have led to preferred goals from those that have not.
• Coping questions - These questions focus on past behaviors that have been successful in dealing with problems.