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Final Micro-counseling Skills Recording and Reflection Paper

Sarah Meyer

Department of Counseling and Higher Education, Northern Illinois University

HESA 562: Helping Skills for Student Affairs Professionals

Dr. Katy Jaekel

November 29th, 2022

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In my final helping skills roleplay, I was an academic advisor working with a first-

semester freshman who was experiencing difficulties transitioning to the university. The student

disclosed to me that they were considering transferring out of the institution but were hesitant to

make the decision. While the student enjoyed some aspects of being away at college, she was

feeling isolated and homesick which was impacting her happiness and general sense of

wellbeing. The student was also experiencing several concerns including fears of letting herself

and her family down, feeling ashamed that she was struggling to adjust, and worrying about what

others would think. Therefore, they wanted to meet with their academic advisor to work through

these concerns and gain a different perspective to help them make their decision. In this paper I

will be reflecting on the roleplay, micro-counseling skills I used well, micro-counseling skills I

could improve on, and student development theories I used when working with the student.

When working with this student, it was first important to me to structure the meeting

since the student was coming in with several concerns and conflicting emotions. Nelson-Jones

describes structuring skills as explaining the helping process to make it more comprehensible for

the helpee, to establish time boundaries, and to give the helpee permission to talk (2015). As the

student wanted to discuss many topics and options to make the best decision for herself, I knew

that it the meeting would be more productive if we worked through one topic at a time. In the

roleplay I spent time briefly structuring the meeting by asking the student if they preferred to talk

about their educational options, talk through how they were feeling at the moment, or talk about

how to improve life on campus (1:44). Although we ended up talking about each of these topics

in the meeting, it was still helpful to take a moment to recognize all the topics of discussion to

ensure that I provided adequate time to work through each of these issues. Therefore, structuring

is a micro-counseling skill I felt that I used well in this roleplay.

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Another micro-counseling skill that I felt I used well in this roleplay would be exploring

feelings and helping the student feel like they are not alone in their situation. While this micro-

counseling skill may not have a label or a definition, I still believe it is key step in the helping

process to connect with students and help them feel genuinely cared for. The student had stated

that they were feeling badly about themselves for having a difficult time adjusting to college and

missing home. They felt as if they were the only one feeling this way and disappointed that their

college experience was not going as expected. After the student described their feelings, I took a

moment to respond by reassuring them that they were not the only one feeling this way and that

their difficulty transitioning to college was actually quite common. (1:53) As Reynolds, et. al

(2009) states that “an effective way for helpers to validate students is to demonstrate that they are

receptive and willing to listen to the topics that concern students most” (p. 166), I feel that I

helped to normalize their experience and validate their emotions.

While I used several micro-counseling skills well in this scenario, there are some areas

for improvement. One temptation that I feel I gave into would be premature problem solving.

Reynolds et. al (2009) describe this as “quickly moving to goal setting or action before

adequetley exploring students’ emotions or thoughts” (p. 164). This can lead to students feeling

overwhelmed by the advice or opinions of helpers and does not always get to the root of the

problem. In the roleplay, I feel like I might have prematurely given out advice to the student

when I began telling them that I could assist with applying and enrolling at another institution

(5:17). While I was trying to ease the students fears about their credits transferring to another

college, looking back I wonder if this might have made the student feel like I made a decision for

them or was encouraging them to leave the university. To improve in the future, I might want to

consider spending more time exploring emotions and thoughts before solving problems.
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I also used several student development theories to guide my interaction with the student

in the roleplay scenario. The first student development theory that I used with this student would

be Baxter-Magolda’s theory of self-authorship. Self-authorship can be described as the “the

ability to know yourself, know what you know, reflect upon it, and base judgments on it”

(Davidson, 2011). In the scenario, the student was describing their fears of letting themselves

and their family down by leaving the institution and their worry about what other people might

think. While these were valid concerns, it was important to me to ensure that the student was not

making a decision based off what other might think as this might ultimately leave them unhappy.

Therefore, I had a conversation with them about the importance of making decisions for

themselves and reflecting on what they value and believe will make them happy (6:32). This

decision may be a crossroads for the student and beginning to make their own choices is a key

step in their overall development.

Another student development theory I used when working with the student would be

Scholossberg’s transition theory. This theory describes the steps an individual must take to

successfully go through a transition process, including moving in, moving through, and moving

out. As the student was struggling to adjust to life on campus, Scholossberg’s model suggests

that the student is in a new situation with a lack of support and strategies to cope. Therefore, I

attempted to help the student brainstorm ways to help them feel more connected on campus to

improve their adjustment. During the roleplay, I spent time discussing student organizations and

a peer mentoring program which might help the student branch out (7:47). Even if the student

decided to transfer out at the end of the semester, it was important to help them take steps to feel

less alone as they continued through the remainder of the semester. Therefore, the transition

theory was an appropriate development theory to use in this interaction.

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References

Davidson, D. L. (2011) Teaching Tip #2: Self-Authorship and the Learning Partnerships

Model. Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania.

https://www.apscuf.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/bu_teaching_tips/

TT_APSCUF_selfAuthorship_1.1.pdf

Nelson-Jones, R. (2015). Basic Counselling Skills: A Helper’s Manual. Sage

Publications.

Reynolds, A. L., Mueller, J. A., Clark, M. R. (2009). Helping College Students:

Developing Essential Skills for Student Affairs Practice. Jossey-Bass.