Microskills

Question:

Jim called in for his second appointment. Last week, on his first appointment the counsellor noted that Jim would like to control his anger. Jim was physically abusing his intimate female partner, Julie, who is 22 years of age. The couple has no children but his partner has recently expressed a desire to have a child with him.

The client is 28 years old and a labourer by occupation. He has only had seasonal employment and has been subject to periods of unemployment, the longest being three months. At the time of beginning counselling Gary was unemployed and renting with his partner in a shared house with another couple.

Using your knowledge, write a short transcript of how the second counselling session took place. (20 marks)

Name and define the micro-skills used by the counsellor by supporting with examples. (20 marks)

Answer:

Transcript (20 marks):

Each student is expected to write a transcript using their own imagination of how the session would be and insert in the transcript all the micro-skills which are important for a successful session. The skills to be shown:

• which build rapport

• which support the building of rapport

• which may challenge the client

• involved in managing the circumstances of the counselling relationship

One way of examining and understanding what takes place in counselling is to identify the skills, micro-skills and competencies involved. Each of these skills, micro-skills and competencies, usually termed counselling skills, can be learned and improved. Counselling skills do not replace effective counselling.

Building rapport

Attending

The manner in which a counsellor communicates as clearly as possible that full attention is being paid to the client. The key features of full attending behaviour are:

appropriate proximity; appropriate body posture (SOLER position); positive head movements; good eye contact; friendly facial expression; minimal distractions; suspension of value judgments....