Initial Counseling Session

Beginning an Initial Counseling Session

During the initial stages of meeting a client, the counsellor has the obligation of ensuring that the client understands that they are interested in helping and listening to them (Ivey A., Ivey B., Zalaquett, & Quirk, 2012). Essentially, I will in the beginning ensure that I encourage the client to open up and talk about their issues. This is, first, through creating an eye contact, which in the western culture can be interpreted as being polite and indication of genuine interest. To further facilitate relaxation, I would include repertoire initially before resting back into a comfortable position.

During the session, there are two micro skills that I would use. They include the use of questioning and encouraging, paraphrasing, and summarising. The questions asked will be both open and closed questions. Open questions require an explanation while closed ones prompts a yes or no response. Encouraging, paraphrasing and summarising are vital counselling tools since it indicates to the client that they are being listened (Ivey A., Ivey B., Zalaquett, & Quirk, 2012).

Questioning will be important in the counselling process. This is because asking questions facilitates the opening up of new discussion points. In addition, questions will help me to clarify ambiguous points. For instance, “You do not understand your parents? Go ahead” will encourage my client to speak me and be more specific. I will use encouraging, paraphrasing, and summarizing to give the right responses. This will be important because responding using this method will inform the client that I have heard them in the correct manner. The tool allows the client to assess the events and issues accurately.

References

Ivey, A. E., Ivey, M. B., Zalaquett, C. P. & Quirk, K. (2012). Essentials of Intentional Interviewing. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning.