WORK WITHIN A STRUCTURED COUNSELING

FRAMEWORK

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3

Microskills used and their effectiveness..........................................................................................3

Theoretical perspectives..................................................................................................................4

Analysis of effectiveness of the session..........................................................................................4

Relevant legislation and policies.....................................................................................................5

Strengths and weaknesses................................................................................................................5

Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6

References........................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
Counseling is a process in which an individual has the freedom of expressing their current
situation that has hampered their daily life (Patel, Flisher, Hetrick & McGorry, 2007). The
process of counseling involves certain clinically structured questions that aim to acquire
information about the mental and emotional status of an individual. Recover Counseling
Service is an organization that is concerned with providing mental health counseling service. The
client in the present role play example is a twenty five year old woman named Jocelyn who has
come to seek advice for the problems she is facing in her life. I tried to implement the
psychoanalytic type of counseling to her. I tried to get a perspective snapshot of her physical,
social, emotional and spiritual status. A detailed analysis about the role play has been provided
below. The theories, microskills used and the strengths and weaknesses of the approach are
described in the following sections.

Microskills used and their effectiveness

At the time of attending the clients, a basic set of microskills are employed by the counselors.
These microskills help the counselors to develop a positive therapeutic relationship with the
individual. These microskills also prove to be beneficial in the establishment of a foundation that
can help in communicating with the client (Barnett, Roach & Smith, 2006).

Attending skills are the behaviors that help in encouraging the client to tell about their situations
and problems. These also demonstrate the interest of the counselor in the problem of the client.
These are important because they help in establishment of rapport between the counselor and the
client. These were demonstrated in the role play by the fact that I gained information about the
current position and the family of the client. I also made and kept constant eye contact with the
client (Kuntze, Molen & Born, 2009).

Questioning skills are those that help in guiding the conversation during the counseling session
because they help in enrichment of the story of the client. These were demonstrated by the
amount of information I could gather about the emotional as well as social aspects of the client.

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Responding skills are the ones that help in the confirmation of the actual facts that are given by
the client because it leads to the clarification of the facts and also serve as an encouragement to
the client. These were demonstrated in the role play by my timely cross evaluation of the
information provided by the client.

Noting and reflecting skills are used to bring out the hidden feelings of the clients because the
client may not always find it easy to convey all his feelings to the counselor. These were
demonstrated in the role play when I asked the client about the reasons behind her problems.

Client observation skills are utilized for the identification of incongruities in the information
provided by the client. These were demonstrated in the role play by the fact that I made detailed
observations about the voice tone, body language and facial expressions of the client.

Theoretical perspectives
The reason I used psychoanalytic or psychodynamic type of counseling is because I wanted to
make the client completely aware about her present situation. These involve therapies that lead to
an increase in self- understanding and also help to deepen the insights of the client into their
emotional issues (Hardt, 2006). These also make the client aware about the conflicts that are the
cause of their present difficulties. The main focus is on exploring the thoughts and the feelings
that are restricted to the unconscious mind of the patient (Rizq, 2007). An evaluation of the
emotional conflicts and the factors that can lead to the obstruction of the process of emotional
awareness is also made (Mackenzie, Gekoski, & Knox, 2006). The counseling technique
involves three sessions. The first session is the self- reflection, the second session is the
assessment session and the third session is the counseling session. The main purpose is to make
the client aware about their physical, social and emotional states.

Analysis of effectiveness of the session

The process used was effective because the client showed active interest and participation in all
the three sessions. The client provided clear and appropriate information regarding her mental,
social, emotional as well as spiritual state. The effectiveness of the session is demonstrated by
the fact that the client showed a high level of understanding about her mental condition. She also
helped in highlighting the major causes behind the development of her condition. She was able to

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assess the positive and negative qualities of her behavior. She clearly defined the level of the
mental, social and emotional problems that were faced by her. She even identified the main
causes of conflict and her personality traits that are not suitable for her.

Relevant legislation and policies

The policies that are relevant to the current role play are the policies defined by the National
Association of Social Workers (NASW) and the guidelines provided by the American
Counseling Association (ACA) ('ACA: American Counseling Association', 2009). The policy in
an organization that can be used to support this legislation are the policies defined by the
California Association for Licensed Professional Clinical Counselors.

Strengths and weaknesses

The role play demonstrated effective use of the psychoanalytic or psychodynamic type of
counseling. It highlighted the effectiveness of the method which is based on self reflection of the
social and emotional underpinnings of the situation of a client. The usefulness of the method is
highlighted by the correct evaluation of the mental condition of the client. The client shows an
awareness of her mental condition and also shows an understanding of the major causes that
result in the development of these conditions. The role play also demonstrated the correct use of
the microskills. The attending skill was correctly used because I listened intently to the client and
was very careful regarding my posture and the way in which I addressed the client. I made sure
that there was constant eye contact between the client and me. My noting and reflecting skills as
well as questioning skills were also good because I questioned the client in a very calculated way
so that the client is not offended and can trust me completely. But the areas that need
improvement are my responding and client observation skills. Though the client provided a clear
picture about her mental condition and the social and emotional underpinnings of her situation,
further insights into her condition are required. I was not able to cross validate all the facts
provided by the client because she refused to explain certain questions in details. Though I made
observations about the body language of the client, I cannot be certain about the validity of
certain aspects of the clients profile.

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Conclusion
Counseling is a process in which an individual has the freedom of expressing their current
situation that has hampered their daily life. The process of counseling involves certain clinically
structured questions that aim to acquire information about the mental and emotional status of an
individual. At the time of attending the clients, a basic set of microskills are employed by the
counselors. These microskills help the counselors to develop a positive therapeutic relationship
with the individual. This role play was based on the psychoanalytic type of counseling. The
method proved to be successful and effective because the client showed a clear understanding of
the social and emotional underpinnings of her situation. The usage of attending, questioning and
noting and reflecting skills was good. However, my responding and client observation skills need
to polished.

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References
ACA: American Counseling Association. (2009). Choice Reviews Online, 46(12), 46-7091-46-
7091. http://dx.doi.org/10.5860/choice.46-7091

American Counseling Association. Office of Professional Affairs. (2006).Licensure requirements

for professional counselors. American Counseling Association.

Barnett, S., Roach, S., & Smith, M. (2006). Microskills: Advisor Behaviors that Improve
Communication with Advisees. NACADA Journal, 26(1), 6-12.
http://dx.doi.org/10.12930/0271-9517-26.1.6

Hardt, J. (2006). Psychoanalytic and therapeutic training in Germany: After Freud.

European Journal Of Psychotherapy & Counselling, 8(4), 375-385.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13642530601038261

Kuntze, J., Molen, H., & Born, M. (2009). Increase in counselling communication skills after
basic and advanced microskills training. British Journal Of Educational Psychology, 79(1),
175-188. http://dx.doi.org/10.1348/000709908x313758

Mackenzie, C. S., Gekoski, W. L., & Knox, V. J. (2006). Age, gender, and the underutilization of
mental health services: the influence of help-seeking attitudes. Aging and Mental
Health, 10(6), 574-582.

Patel, V., Flisher, A. J., Hetrick, S., & McGorry, P. (2007). Mental health of young people: a
global public-health challenge. The Lancet, 369(9569), 1302-1313.

Rizq, R. (2007). On the margins: a psychoanalytic perspective on the location of counselling,

psychotherapy and counselling psychology training programmes within universities. British
Journal Of Guidance & Counselling, 35(3), 283-297.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03069880701418763

Shanley, E., & Jubb-Shanley, M. (2012). Coping focus counselling in mental health nursing.
International Journal Of Mental Health Nursing, 21(6), 504-512.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1447-0349.2012.00817.x

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Wilson, C. J. (2007). When and how do young people seek professional help for mental health
problems?. The Medical Journal of Australia, 187(Supplement), S35-S39.