Introduction

There are numerous counselling methods available to aid in problem-solving and aid in helping
people become more conscious and insightful. If a qualified counsellor understands how and
when to use these communication skills, commonly referred to as counselling tools, they can be
quite effective. The counsellor’s self-awareness is crucial because they must be able to recognize
how their client impacts them and vice versa. Timing is crucial while applying counselling
methods. According to McLeod (2007), in addition to counselling skills, a counsellor needs to be
conscious of their own feelings and thoughts during sessions in order to respond appropriately.
In this essay, I take on the role of a counsellor for a client who presents a problem at work,
allowing me to use some of these counselling techniques to successfully assist her in raising
awareness, defining the issue, gaining understanding, and considering potential next steps to fix
it. I observed these abilities when watching a video replay of the session. I evaluate the
effectiveness and inefficiency of the abilities I used in this role-play and suggest ways I could
apply them more effectively in the future.

Counselling Session Overview

Counselling Skills Application
Here are some counseling techniques I've seen in action and my assessment of their efficacy;
I. Attending
According to Hackney and Cormier (2009), a therapist follows the client by using verbal and
nonverbal cues to assist the client to share their narrative. Another way to describe attending is
that it permits the clients to express themselves without being interrupted (Armstrong, 2006).
The non-verbal cues I employed were; I leaned forward to project an interested gaze, I
maintained regular eye contact and moderated my vocal tone and distance. My verbal motivators
were; ‘mmm’ I nodded my head a couple of times and I responded ‘I see’ a number of times.
These small effects I observed to encouraged the client to continue talking and let her know I
was interested.
II. Listening
As with Egan (2010), who instructs a counsellor to listen not just to verbal experiences and
words but also to their feelings and on verbal signals, listening is an active activity that entails
being both physically and psychologically present (McLeod, 2007). With the exception of the
beginning of the session, when my mind wandered with other thoughts and I was not entirely
there, I carefully listened for meaning throughout the counseling, as well as to her words and
nonverbal cues. According to McLeod (2007), presence necessitates whole concentration on the
other person and what they are saying.
 III. Paraphrasing
According to Armstrong (2006), paraphrasing is a shortened version of what the client has said
that reflects the counsellor’s knowledge of the client's perspective on a crucial topic or statement.
Additionally, this helps the counsellor comprehend the client's situation accurately. What do you
want to talk about? I asked the client at the start of the session, paraphrasing what I believed she
wanted to talk about and her presenting issue. This was done to ensure that I had correctly
understood the issue and what she wanted me to do. This was agreed upon verbally by the client,
who agreed that this would be the main topic of our session.
IV. Challenging
According to Egan (2010), this is a method of identifying the client's untapped skills and
resources with the main objective of challenging clients to do some reality testing and employ
what they learnt from this in the future. "If you were to say something to your colleague, what
would you say?" was a challenge given to the client. I used this to encourage her to think about
what she wanted to say and to help her visualize expressing it. She replied that she wasn't ready
to do this right away and that she would need to give it more thought. Without first doing more
research into the situation, I believe it was premature to establish a goal for her.
V. Summarising
According to Egan (2010), an effective summary should give emphasis and direction. I compiled
the main points we had discussed within the context of her presenting issue and what we had yet
to explore at the conclusion of the session. After I was done, the client appeared thoughtful, but I
felt the sentence lacked natural flow and sounded somewhat mechanical. Instead, I could have
responded, "There is still plenty to talk about when I meet you again. There is much that we
discussed and shared today, but we are now out of time."

REFERENCES
Armstrong, P. (2006). The practice of counselling. Melbourne: Thomson Higher Education
Egan, G. (2010). The Skilled Helper. 9th Ed. Brooks/Cole, Cengage Learning. Belmont, CA
Hackney, H.L., & Cormier, L.S. (2009). The professional counsellor. 6 th ed. Sydney: Pearson
Education
McLeod, J. (2007). Counselling Skills. Maidenhead, UK: Open University Press