MICROSKILLS

Microskills are the behavioural foundations of counselling and psychotherapy. They are the
specific communication skills that provide ways for the therapist to reach many types of clients.
Counselling Microskills are specific skills a counsellor can use to enhance their communication
with clients. These skills enable a counsellor to effectively build a working alliance and engage
clients in discussion that is both helpful and meaningful.

The counselling process is also reliant on the use of a number of individual counselling skills. A
new counsellor needs to become proficient in the use of these, as when used appropriately they
greatly enhance the quality and effectiveness of the counselling process. Conversational skills
used by counsellors have been analysed, with the result that small elements of useful verbal
counselling behaviour have been identified. These are known as counselling micro-skill.

Counselling micro-skills can be broadly grouped under the following headings:

• observation

• active listening

• giving feedback

• use of questions

• challenging

• instructions

• the use of humour.

Observation: Observation can be extremely useful in contributing to the overall assessment of a

client’s presentation. It needs to occur continually, as an on-going activity, during each
counselling session. Observation can provide information about the client with regard to mood,
culture, self-esteem, creativity and social influences. Important attributes of the client which
need to be observed include: • general appearance • behaviour • mood and affect • speech and
language.

General appearance: general appearance is a reflection of the way in which they wish to be
seen and gives an indication of how they would like to be. It is an out¬ ward expression of the
internal attempt to form a personal identity. Client’s appearance can tell us the extent to which
they feel free to express themselves, and the extent to which they are constricted and con¬
strained and unable to express themselves freely.

Behaviour: Behaviour of the client can provide the counsellor can give significant information on
the potential problems they may present. For eg. A person who has depression may display a
sluggish behaviour and may have psychomotor retardation. Such a behaviour can indicate to
the counsellor about the underlying condition. Helpers should also make an account of the non-
verbal behaviours of the client.
Mood and affect: Mood is the internal feeling or emotion which often influences behaviour and
the individual's perception of the world. Affect is the external emotional response. The
underlying mood of a client may be disguised by the presenting affect. Hence, it may be useful
to probe about the patient’s mood and affect to himself/herself and record the response in
client’s own words but the affective states of the client are best obtained from the informants. It
is also important to note the quantity of affect which refers to the severity of the affect. The
client’s affective state will yield the therapist a bunch of information about the problems, sign
and symptoms and to the possibility of a diagnosis.

Speech and language: The therapist should carefully assess the patient’s speech for rate,
fluency, clarity, and softness or loudness. The therapist must assess if the problems in
articulation of words is due to a physiological dysfunction or psychiatric problem. It is also
important to note if the language skills are consistent with the patient’s education. The language
used by the client gives an indication of the client's ability to be articulate and to be able to
express ideas clearly. This infor¬ mation can be helpful in enabling the counsellor to select
counselling strategies to match the client's intellectual ability.

Active listening:

Active listening is designed to help the client to recognize that the counsellor is attending
carefully to what is being said, to help the counsellor join empathically with the client and to
encourage the client to continue talking. Active listening includes the following: • non-verbal
responses • encouragers • accenting and amplifying •reflection of content and feelings •
matching the adolescent's language • summarizing • noticing what is missing.

Non-verbal responses: The counsellor's non-verbal responses are likely to give a young person
an indication that the counsellor is listening/ an indication of the counsellor's level of interest in
what is being said, and information about the counsellor's attitude to them.

Encouragers: To signify that the counsellor is listening and to encourage the client to con¬ tinue
talking, counsellors can use a range of minimal responses or encouragers such as 'ah-hm',
'mm-hm', 'yes', 'right', 'really' and 'OK'. It needs to be recog¬ nized that these responses not only
indicate that the counsellor is listening attentively, but also carry meaning.

Accenting and amplifying: Accenting and amplifying involve a combination of verbal and non-
verbal messages to feedback and emphasize what the client has said. The counsellor can do
this verbally and also by using gesture, facial expression and voice intensity so that what the
client has said is intensified and made newsworthy.

Reflection of content and feelings: Reflection of content and feelings were skills identified by
Rogers (1955,1965) as being importantin counselling. Reflection of content involves reflecting
back the content of what the client has just said. Reflection of feelings involves reflection of the
perceived emotional affect of the client. The reflection may be as a result of things which the
client has directly told the counsellor or may be the result of non-verbal behaviour by the client

Matching the client’s language There are three ways in which counsellors need to match client
use of language:

the use of vocabulary • representational style • metaphor.

The use of vocabulary by counsellor that matches the clients own will lead to effective
communication between the two of them. Counsellors may therefore need to learn from their
clients so that they are able to understand and communicate with them using words which have
meaning for them, rather than being restricted to using words which are in general use in adult
conversation.

Use of metaphor: Client’s will often talk metaphorically. Where the client uses a metaphor, it is
useful if the counsellor continues to use the client's metaphor. For eg: the client may say that I
feel blue these days” The counsellor can explore what Blue means in this context and give an
appropriate response.

Summarizing: Summarizing is very similar to reflection. When summa¬ rizing, counsellors feed
back, in their own words, a brief and concise summary of what the client has said. This
summary does not cover all the details of those things the client has discussed, but picks out .
only the most salient features. Summarizing lets the client know that the counsellor has heard
and understood, and also enables the client to clarify thoughts, identifying whatis most
important.

· Noticing what is missing: It is not sufficient just to notice what the client has said; it is
also important to notice whatis missing. The counsellor needs to look for gaps and unfilled
spaces in the client's story, and for evidence of conflicting information and hidden meanings.

Giving feedback: providing accurate feedback will help the clients understand their progress in
therapy and also reflect on the sessions. There are many ways of giving feedback which are as
follows:

1. Giving compliments: The counselling situation can provide an opportunity to give people
positive feedback to help them to feel OK about themselves. It is appropriate for counsellors
to compliment clients on their behaviour during the counselling process where such
feedback is likely to be useful. They can also be complimented for decisions which they
have made or actions they have taken which demonstrate their personal growth.
Compliments need to be used sensibly or they may be seen as patronizing.

2. Giving affirmations: Affirmations acknowledge and reinforce a personal truth which has
been discovered by the client and shared with the counsellor.

3. Cheer-leading: Cheer-leading is a skill which comes from solution-focused therapy.

Counsellors engage in cheer-leading when they show enthusiastic reactions of emotional
support when clients relate that they have used new behaviours which are positive and
different from behaviours which they have used before.

4. Normalizing: they frequently become troubled by their emotions, responses and

behaviours. Often these troubling emotions, responses and behaviours will be normal for the
situation. In situations such as these it can be helpful for counsellors to tell clients that what
they are experiencing is normal for the situation, if that is genuinely the case.

5. Use of statements: Counsellor Statements are extremely useful in counselling.

Statements can be used to provide feedback. Statements can be used to help the
counsellor clarify what might be happening to the client at a particular moment. The
counsellor can also use statements to structure the counselling process.
Use of questions: Questions during the counseling session can help to open up new areas for
discussion. They can assist to pinpoint an issue and they can assist to clarify information that at
first may seem ambiguous to the counselor. Questions that invite clients to think or recall
information can aid in a client’s journey of self-exploration.

Questions can be divided into two types: closed questions and open questions. Closed
questions demand a specific response which may be very limited. An open question is one
which elicits a wide range of descriptive answers. Both types of question are useful, although
generally the open question is more helpful in counselling because it encourages a
conversational response and makes self-disclosure more likely. At times, closed questions can
be useful, particularly when specific information is required.

· General information-seeking questions: counsellors use general information-seeking

questions in the conversation in order to get information

· Questions to heighten the client’s awareness: These questions are commonly used in
Gestalt therapy. The aim of these questions is to help the client to become more fully aware
of what is happening within them, either somatically or emotionally, so that they can intensify
those bodily or emotional feelings, deal with them, and move on to dis¬ cussing associated
thoughts.

· Circular questions: A circular question is a non-threatening way of getting information

from the client. Instead of asking the client directly about how they feel or what that they
think, or what their attitude is, the counsellor asks the client how someone else feels or
thinks or asks what the other person's attitude might be.

· Choice questions: Choice questions have their origin in Reality Therapy. These
questions imply that the client has choice about the way they think and behave. Such
questions about the past, present or future enable the client to look at the likely
consequences of different behaviours.

· Externalizing questions: These questions have their origins in Narrative Therapy.

Externalizing questions separate the problem, or central issue, from the person. By doing
this, the client is able to feel that they can control their problem, or central issue, if they wish,
because it is something external to them which can be controlled, rather than something
inherent in them which cannot be controlled.

· Questions which exaggerate consequences: These questions can be used to help a

young person recognize that they have coped extremely well under adverse situations

· Miracle questions: Miracle questions are used to help the client begin to find hypothetical
solutions to the problems they are experiencing.

· Goal-oriented questions: Goal-oriented questions are direct questions and are similar in
some ways to exception-oriented questions because they invite exploration of ways in which
things could be different. They help clients to identify broad changes which they might like to
make.

· Scaling questions: Scaling questions have their origin in Brief Solution Focused Therapy.
Scaling questions often lead into goal-oriented questions as they are related to goals. Eg:
 On a scale of 1-10, 1 being least angry and 10 being extremely angry, where do you think
you fit right now

Challenging: There are a number of situations where counsellors need to challenge clients.
Challenging needs to be done in a way which does not offend them but invites them to question
what they have said, what they believe or what they are doing.

The use of humour: Humour can be used to lighten the conversation when working with
adolescents. Humour can be used directly to influence change as well as to create an easier
climate. In using humour to promote change, we can make use of paradoxical interventions. It is
a technique to enable the client to develop a sense of detachment from their neurosis by
laughing at it

PROCESS
Many psychologists have proposed various steps that constitute the process to be adopted
while counseling clients. Gerard Egan has proposed the skilled helper model that serves as a
model for counselors to adopt while conducting a counseling session. Egan is a pioneer in the
field of counseling and the skilled helper model is the most accepted and widely used general
model of counseling around the globe.

According to Egan, “A helping model is like a map that helps you know what to do in your
interactions with clients”. Egan also proposes that the models help the therapist to orient to
themselves, to understand where they are with the client and what kind of intervention would be
most useful.

The skilled helper model of counselling process has three "stages" together with a bias toward
action. It has to be remembered that in practice the three stages overlap and interact with one
another as clients struggle through the natural process of constructive change. Therefore the
stages are stated in a sequential order for theoretical purposes but in practice they may overlap
based on the needs of the session.

STAGE NAME PRINCIPLE

I Reviewing the current Help clients identify, explore,

scenario and clarify their problem
situations and unused
opportunities.

II Developing the preferred Help clients identify what

scenario they want in terms of goals
and objectives that are
based on an understanding
of problem situations and
opportunities.
 III Getting there Help clients develop action
strategies for accomplishing
goals, for getting what they
want.

Getting things done: A bias toward action- The Principle: Help clients act on what they learn
throughout the helping process; help clients translate strategies into goal-accomplishing action.
This is not an additional stage but an extension of the three stages where an implementation of
ideas in the first three stages takes place. Therefore, the first three stages are cognitive in
nature while this phase is an action-oriented phase.

According to Egan, each of the major stages of the model has three distinct sub-stages. These
sub-stages are not always sequential. Clients don't take one step after another. Rather they
move back and forth among the stages and steps toward the accomplishment of problem-
managing goals. Effective helping tends to be fluid and flexible.

Stage I: Reviewing Problem Situations and Unused Opportunities

Clients can neither manage problem situations nor develop opportunities unless they identify
and understand them. Initial exploration and clarification of problems and opportunities takes
place in Stage I. This stage deals with the current scenario — a state of affairs that the client or
those who send the client for help find unacceptable. Problem situations are not being managed
and opportunities are not being developed. However, prior to exploring the problem situation
with the client, an effective therapeutic alliance must be formed with the client. Only after good
rapport has been established and reassurance has been provided about maintaining
confidentiality, trust develops for the client which will enable him/her to open up about their
problems to the counsellors.

· Step I-A: Telling and Clarifying the Story: The Principle in this sub-stage is to help clients
tell their stories as clearly as possible. Helpers cannot be of service if clients fail to develop
an understanding of the difficulties and possibilities of their lives. Clients need to tell their
stories and discuss their problem situations and their missed opportunities. Some clients are
quite verbal; others may be almost mute. Some clients easily reveal everything that is
bothering them; others are quite reluctant to do so. Involuntary clients often prefer to talk
about the failings of those who sent them. Helpers need skills that enable them to help
clients discuss their problem situations and to provide support for them as they do so. The
outcome of this step, then, is a frank discussion of the facts of the case. To do this, of
course, helpers need to establish effective relationships with their clients.

· Step I-B: Identifying and Challenging Blind Spots: The Principle is to help clients
discover and deal with the kinds of blind spots that keep them from seeing problems and
opportunities clearly and moving ahead. One of the most important things counsellors can
do is help clients identify blind spots and develop new, more useful perspectives on both
problem situations and unused opportunities. Most clients need to move beyond their initial
subjective understanding of their problem situations. Comfortable but outmoded frames of
reference keep them locked into self-defeating patterns of thinking and behaving. Helping
 clients get rid of "blinkers" that stand in the way of problem management and opportunity
development is one of the major ways in which counselors can empower clients.

· Step I-C: Searching for Leverage: The Principle is to help clients identify and work on
problems, issues, concerns, or opportunities that will make a difference in their lives. it is
important to help the client determine which one or which part to work on first. In other
words, counselors help clients establish priorities and search for some kind of leverage in
dealing with complex problem situations. Second, since helping is an ex- pensive
proposition, both financially and psychologically, some kind of screening is called for.
Therefore choosing the major goals to work on is the aim of this stage.

Stage II: Developing the Preferred Scenario: Once clients understand either their problem
situations or opportunities for development more clearly, they may need help in determining
what their options are. There is something between analyzing a problem or unused opportunity
and doing something about it. This middle stage deals with desired or preferred outcomesThis
stage deals with preferred outcomes. The preferred scenario provides answers to such
questions as: "What do you want? What would things look like if they were better?" This stage
deals with outcomes, results, what clients want.

· Step II-A: Developing Preferred-Scenario Possibilities: The Principle is to help clients

develop a range of possibilities for a better future. If a client's current state of affairs is
problematic and unacceptable, then he or she needs to be helped to conceptualize a new
state of affairs — that is, alternatives, more acceptable possibilities. A new scenario is not a
wild-eyed, idealistic state of affairs, but rather a picture of a better future. The failure to
imagine possibilities different from the present contributes a great deal to stagnation in the
helping process.

· Step II-B: Translating Possibilities into Viable Goals: The Principle is to help clients
choose realistic possibilities and turn them into viable goals. GoaIs chosen by the client
need to be viable; they must be capable of being translated into action.

· Step II-C: Commitment to a Program of Constructive Change: The Principle is to help

clients identify the kinds of incentives that will help them to pursue their chosen goals.
Choosing goals is one thing. Pursuing them is another. The more appealing the goals, the
better; however, appealing or not, commitment is essential. If Stage II is done well, clients
will have a clear idea of what they want and where they would like to go — even though they
might not know how to get there.

Stage III: Determining How to Get There: clients may know what they want to accomplish and
where they want to go, but still need help in determining how to get there. This stage deals with
activities, ways of achieving results.

· Step III-A: Brainstorming Strategies for Action: The Principle is to help clients brainstorm
a range of strategies for accomplishing their goals. At this stage of the problem-managing
process, as many strategies as possible (within time and other constraints) should be
uncovered. Even seemingly outlandish strategies can provide clues for realistic action
programs.
 · Step III-B: Choosing the Best Strategies: The Principle is to help clients choose a set of
strategies that best fit their environment and resources. Once a number of different options
for action have been identified, then client and helper collaboratively review them and try to
choose the best; that is, the single strategy or combination of strategies that best fits the
client's needs, preferences, and resources and that is least likely to be blocked by factors in
the client's environment.

· Step III-C: Turning strategies into a Plan The Principle is to help clients formulate a plan,
a step-by-step procedure for accomplishing each goal of the preferred scenario. The
strategies that are chosen need to be translated into a step-by-step plan. Realistic time
frames also add value. Plans help clients impose selfenhancing discipline on themselves.

Action Revisited: Preparing and Supporting Clients: The function of planning is to institute and
give direction to problemmanaging and opportunity-developing action. The actions clients must
take to implement constructive-change programs constitute the transition phase of counseling.
First, counselors can help clients in their immediate preparation for action. This may be called
the "forewarned is forearmed" phase. Effective counselors help clients foresee difficulties that
might arise during the actual execution of their plans. helpers can also provide support and
challenge for clients during the implementation of the action programs themselves. Clients need
both to support and challenge themselves and to find support and challenge from others.

Ongoing Evaluation of the Helping Process: Evaluation (E) is placed in the center of every stage
to indicate that the helping process needs to be evaluated throughout. That is, helpers and
clients need to ask themselves as to what ways are the counselling sessions contributing
substantially to problem management and opportunity development.

EMPATHY
THE CONCEPT AND DEFINITIONS:

The term empathy was derived from a German word and was coined by Titchner. Rogers
defined the term empathy as the ability "to sense the client’s phenomenological world as if it were
your own, but without ever losing the as if quality."

According to Egan Empathy as a form of human communication is defined as “actively listening

to clients, understanding them and their concerns to the degree that is possible, and
communicating this understanding to them so that they might understand themselves more fully
and act on their understanding”.

Affective perspectives on empathy view it as “feeling with the client”. It has to be understood
that feeling for the client is not empathy and doing such a thing would lead the therapist to be
embroiled in the client’s problem.

Other definitions of empathy view it as understanding the client's feeling and experiences within
the client's internal frame of reference and communicating this understanding without judgment.
Empathy is the ability to understand the feelings, attitudes, roles and perceptions and world of
another

COMPONENTS OF EMPATHY:
A multitude of research studies view empathy as consisting of two primary components-

1. Empathy has been identified as primarily an affective phenomenon (affective empathy),

referring to the immediate experience of the emotions of the other person.

2. It is secondarily seen as a cognitive phenomenon (cognitive empathy), referring to the

intellectual understanding of others experience.

3. However, a third view holds that empathy contains both affective and cognitive
components.

Affective empathy: Affective empathy is an affective state, caused by sharing of the emotions or
sensory states of another person”. This aspect of empathy focuses on emotional processes of
empathy and defines it through experiencing and sharing emotions. According to Walter, the
concept of affective empathy includes the following features: “a) an affective state that is b)
elicited by the perceived, imagined, or inferred state of the affective state of another; c) is similar
(isomorphic) to others affective state; d) is oriented towards the other; and e) including at least
some cognitive appreciation of the other’s affective state, comprising perspective taking, self-
other distinction, and knowledge of the causal relation between the self and the other’s affective
state.

Cognitive empathy: It means putting away one’s own current perspective, attributing a
evaluations and thoughts to the other person, and then inferring the likely content of their mental
state, given the experience of that person“. “Cognitive aspect of empathy includes
understanding, awareness of others and circumstances, or awareness of how something that is
happening can affect a certain person.

TYPES OF EMPATHY:

There are two major types of empathy responses: primary empathy and advanced empathy.

Two factors that make empathy possible are (a) realizing that “an infinite number of feelings”
does not exist and (b) having a feeling of personal security so that “you can let yourself go into
the world of this other person and still know that you can return to your own world. Everything
you are feeling is ‘as if’

PRIMARY EMPATHY: It communicates initial understanding of what a client is experiencing.

Primary empathy is particularly important for rapport building and problem exploration. It refers
to the counsellor’s ability to convey an understanding of the client's stated major themes and
concerns

ADVANCED ACURATE EMPATHY: It communicates an understanding of underlying, implicit

aspects of client experience. This type of empathy is useful for dynamic understanding i.e.
assessing the client’s deeper, less obvious feelings and experiences. It is a process of helping a
client explore themes, issues, and emotions new to his or her emotions. It helps deeper level of
understanding above and beyond what is at the surface level.

STAGES OF EMPATHY:

Three stages of empathy were identified by Bohart and Greenberg (1997):

1. Empathic rapport: It refers to therapist kindliness and acceptance of the client’s feelings and frame
of reference.

2. Experience-near understanding of the client’s world is accomplished through the therapist’s

investigation of the client’s relationships and life history.

3. Communicative attunement helps the client symbolize organize, and make sense of inner
experiences

FUNCTIONS OF EMPATHY IN THERAPEUTIC SETTINGS:

· THERAPEUTIC ALLIANCE: Empathy is seen as an integral aspect to the therapeutic

alliance between the client and the counsellor. Empathy is the means through which a
relationship can be achieved with the client.

· TRUST: It helps in forming greater levels of trust between the client and therapist, a greater
level of self-understanding for the client, and higher levels of feeling happy and secure.

· THERAPEUTIC OUTCOME: It has been proven in research that empathy is positively

correlated with psychotherapeutic outcome and a speedier recovery.

· SELF-DISCLOSURE: Empathy is the only factor in a therapeutic session that will enable the
clients to disclose important personal information about them to the therapist.

· WORKING THROUGH PROBLEMS: Empathy involves the therapist and client agreeing on
the goals of therapy, collaborating on the specific tasks to be achieved, staying committed to
action plan and working towards the problems.

· UNDERSTANDING THE CLIENT: It is only empathy that facilitates understanding of the

client and their problems by the therapist. An accurate understanding and reflection of the
themes of the problem can be achieved only by giving empathy.

· STIMULATE SELF-EXPLORATION. Empathy is an unobtrusive tool for helping clients

explore themselves and their concerns. When clients are understood, they tend to move on — to
explore substantive issues more widely and deeply.

· PROVIDE SUPPORT. Since empathy provides a continual trickle of understanding, it is a

way of providing support throughout the helping process. It is never wrong to let clients know
that you are trying to understand them from their frame of reference.

· LUBRICATE COMMUNICATION. Empathy acts as a kind of communication lubricant; it

encourages and facilitates dialogue. It thus encourages collaboration in the helping process.

There is a growing confusion about what constitutes to empathy because of differences in the
meaning of empathy as a ‘way of being’ and as a ‘form of communication’.

EMPATHY AS A WAY OF BEING:

A helper cannot communicate an understanding of a client's world without getting in contact with
that world. Therefore, a great deal of the discussion on empathy centres on the kind of
attending, observing, and listening — the kind of being with — needed to develop an
understanding of clients and their worlds. Empathy in this sense is primarily a mode of human
contact. Even though it might be metaphysically impossible to actually get inside the world of
another person and experience the world as he or she does, it is possible to approximate this.

Empathic relationships: However deep one person's empathic understanding of another, it

needs to be communicated to the other. This does not necessarily mean that understanding
must always be put into words. Given enough time, people can establish empathic relationships
with one another in which understanding is communicated in a variety of rich and subtle ways
without necessarily being put into words. Empathy is more often communicated non-verbally
through actions, eye-contact and other facial expressions.

Empathy as a Communication Skill: attending and listening are the skills that enable helpers to
get in touch with the world of the client and empathy is the skill that enables the therapists to
communicate their understanding of this world. Therefore, empathy is a tool of communication.

Three Dimensions of Empathic responding: The communication skills involved in responding

to and engaging in dialogue with clients have three dimensions: perceptiveness, know-how,
and assertiveness.

Perceptiveness: The therapist’s communication skills are only as good as the accuracy of the
perceptions on which they are based.

Know-how: Once the therapist is aware of what kind of response is called for, they need to be
able to deliver it.

Assertiveness: Accurate perceptions and excellent know-how are both meaningless unless they
are actually used when called for. Communicating assertiveness and challenging the clients
when needed is an essential aspect of communicating empathy.

Several levels of responses reflect different aspects of counselor empathy. A scale formulated
by Carkhuff (1969), called Empathic Understanding in Interpersonal Process, is a measure

of these levels. Each of the five levels either adds to or subtracts from the meaning and feeling

tone of a client’s statement.

1. The verbal and behavioral expressions of the counselor either do not attend to or detract

significantly from the verbal and behavioral expressions of the client. (minus 2)

2. Although the counselor responds to the expressed feelings of the client, he or she does so

in a way that subtracts noticeable affect from the communications of the client. (minus 1)

3. The expressions of the counselor in response to the expressions of the client are essentially

interchangeable. (neutral 0)

4. The responses of the counselor add noticeably to the expressions of the client in a way that

expresses feelings a level deeper than the client was able to express. (plus 1)
5. The counselor’s responses add significantly to the feeling and meaning of the expressions

of the client in a way that accurately expresses feeling levels below what the client is able

to express. (plus 2)

Dos in Communicating Empathy:

1. Giving time to think: some therapists jump in too quickly with an empathic response
when the client pauses. They do not give themselves enough time to reflect on what the
client has told in order to identify the core message being communicated.

2. Giving short responses: It is essential to give short responses rather than provide long
speeches to the client or allow the client to ramble. Frequent responses may be given but
the responses given so must be lean and trim.

3. Gear the response to the client, but remaining oneself is very important while giving
empathy

Don’ts in Communicating Empathy:

1. No Response: It is a mistake to say nothing. Generally, if the client says something

significant, respond to it is essential, however briefly. Otherwise the client might think that
what he or she has just said doesn't merit a response.

2. A question. A counsellor should never ask questions while the client is explaining
his/her story. For example, "How long has this been bothering you?" This response ignores
what the client has said and his/her feelings and focuses rather on the helper's agenda to
get more information.

3. A cliché: It is not appropriate to give a cliché or a typical response such as "Many

people struggle with the same problem, especially at your time of life" or “It’s not a problem
at all, at least not a serious one.” This may sound dismissive of the client.

4. An interpretation: Making an interpretation out of what the client has explained makes
them feel that the therapist has not responded to the emotions of the client and that they are
judging them.

5. Parroting. Empathy is not mere parroting. The mechanical helper defeats basic empathy
by simply restating what the client has said which is of no purpose.

6. Sympathy and agreement. Being empathic is not the same as being sympathetic. An
expression of sympathy has much more in common with pity, compassion, commiseration,
and condolence than with empathic understanding. Sympathy denotes agreement whereas
empathy denotes acceptance.
THERAPEUTIC GOALS AND SPECIFIC GOALS
Goal setting is a crucial aspect of therapy and setting goals is not a one-time process. It is
modifyable at different points in the therapy and is reccuring in nature. Setting goals is very
important to the success of counselling. The process of goal setting is one that is collaborative
and involves the mutual decision of both the therapist and the client. The therapist cannot
independently make a decision on what constitutes the themes and goals of therapy, choosing
for the client. The therapeutic process is about the client and his/her problems, therefore, the
therapist is only a facilitator in goal setting and helps the client identify the important themes in
their problem. Therapeutic goals involve making a commitment to a set of conditions, to a
course of action or an outcome. Goals are the results or outcomes that client wants to achieve
at the end of counseling. Goals help the counselor and client determine what can and what
cannot be accomplished through counseling. In goal setting, the client identifies with the help of
the counselor, specific ways in which they want to resolve the issues and what course of action
should be taken to resolve the problem.

Additionally, there is no consensus on what constitutes an appropriate goal in therapy.

However, there are some common threads when it comes to standard goals the therapist
should be including as part of therapeutic practice. However, goals are set in counselling along
these are 10 common areas. These are as follows

· Goals relating to insight such as gaining a deep understanding about the causes and
development of emotional or behavioral problems, leading to an enhanced capacity to take
rational control over feelings and actions.

· Goals relating to self-awareness that leads the client to be more aware of repressed
thoughts and feelings that have been blocked off or denied, or developing a more accurate
sense of how self is perceived by others.

· Goals relating to interpersonal relationships are about becoming more efficient at

forming and maintaining cordial, meaningful and satisfying inter-personal relationships.

· Goals relating to Self-actualisation involve enabling the person to realise their fullest
inner potentialities and fulfil those potentialities. This includes achieving an integration of
previously conflicting parts of self.

· Goals relating to Self-acceptance incorporate the growth of an optimistic view towards

self rather than denying aspects of self or subjecting the self to criticism and rejection. It
enables the client to change perceptions about the self and accept the self unconditionally.

· Goals relating to acquisition of social skills or life skills contain learning and mastering
social skills such as verbal and non-verbal communication, assertiveness, listening, anger
management etc.

· Goals relating to cognitive change involve the identification, challenging and alteration or
replacement of irrational maladaptive thoughts and dysfunctional schemas to more adaptive
functional ones.
 · Goals relating to facilitating behavioural change are about helping the client overcome
maladaptive and self-destructive patterns of behaviour to more adjustable behaviours.

· Goals relating to problem solving deals with finding a solution to a specific problem that
the client had not been able to solve alone. Acquiring a general competence in problem-
solving and decision making.

· Goals relating to adjustment which involves improving the ability of the client to adjust to
stressful circumstances of life and equipping them with several healthy coping strategies.

Therapeutic goals are of three major types: Process goals, performance goals and outcome
goals.

1. The Process Goals

These are goals that involve the execution of plans. These include all the sub goals that
the individual has to fulfil to ultimately reach the outcome goal. For example, If the
outcome goal of an individual is reducing weight, then a process goal may be going to
the gym in the morning, and repeating the same action every day. The focus is to form
the habit that will ultimately lead to achievement.

2. The Performance Goals

Performance goals are those that help in tracking progress of the process goals and
serves as a reason for sustaining the process towards the outcome goals. Therefore,
they serve an important intermediary function between process and outcome goals. For
example, a person who intends to reduce weight may go to the gym but setting specific
targets for the day and dividing the exercises in terms of cardio for 1 hour and weights
for 30 minutes is a part of performance goals. These are quantifiable in nature and helps
measure the progress.

3. Outcome Goals

An outcome goal is a single goal that the therapist and the client are working towards
which is the major theme of the session. Outcome goals are the successful
implementations of process and performance goals. They keep the client in perspective
and help to stay focused on the bigger picture. For example, the ultimate goal to reduce
weight is the outcome goal.

NATURE OF GOALS:

The goals being set in therapy must possess certain characteristics in order to be able to attain
them. Different theorists propose different factors that constitute as characteristics of a good
goal in therapy. For example, The ABC theory of goals explains that for a goal to be effective, it
has to be Achievable, believable and committed. According to Locke, the major principles of a
goal are that it should have clarity, be challenging, requires commitment, feedback and possess
complexity. However, the most accepted nature of goals was proposed by George. T. Doran in
the context of organizational psychology which is applied in the therapeutic goal setting process.
These are called SMART goals expanded as follows:
S-M-A-R-T goals stand for:

● S (Specific) – The goals set in therapy must be as specific as possible to a particular

area of functioning. Specificity in goal-setting can be achieved by looking at the what,
why, where, when and how of a goal.
● M (Measurable) –The goals agreed upon in a session must be capable of quantitative
measurement or at least measurable through qualitative attributes. This is useful for
monitoring progress.
● A (Attainable/Achievable) – The goals are targeted to suitable people and are
individualized. They take into account the fact that no single rule suits all, and are
flexible in that regard.
● R (Realistic) – The goals must be sensible and practically feasible. They must be
planned in a way that would be easy to implement in real life. The purpose of a smart
goal is not just providing the plan, but also helping the person execute it.
● T (Time-bound) – An element of time makes the goal more focused. It also provides a
time frame about task achievement.

The three major functions of goals in therapy are 1. Education function, 2. Motivation function
and 3. Evaluative function.

1. Motivational: Goal setting has shown to improve the motivation of the clients
and make them more committed to solving their problems because now they
know that they have something concrete or specific to work on. This reduces
their ambiguity and creates a structure for them thereby pushing them
forward in the therapeutic process. It is also important for counsellors to
encourage clients to make a verbal commitment to work on a specific
counselling goal.

2. Educational: Clients can learn new skills and behaviours that they can use to
enhance their functioning. For example, a counselling goal might be to
become more assertive. During assertiveness training clients can learn skills
to enhance their functioning in interpersonal situations.

3. Clear goals allow the counsellor and client an opportunity to evaluate

progress

SPECIFIC GOALS: Specific goals are more concrete goals in therapy that are basically defined
in terms of certain expectations such as who will do it, what to do, how to do, when to do and
where to do it? It has to be precisely stated in verbal terms and the commitment of the client
must be sought. For example, a specific goal for a person who intends to be more assertive in
their communication to be to practice saying a no to anyone who approaches the client with a
help which is beyond the personal resources of the client in the context of work settings.
Therefore what constitutes a specific goal varies from one client to the other depending upon
the core problem. The specific goals have to be well-defined, unambiguous and clear.

Clear goals allow the counsellor and client an opportunity to evaluate progress.
Steps in counselling process:

To conclude goal oriented practice across therapy yields maximum therapeutic outcome and
effectiveness. The process of therapy becomes meaningless without a purpose which is set in
the form of goals.

BASIC COMMUNICATION SKILLS

The helping process involves a great deal of communication between helper and client.
Therefore, relevant communication skills are extremely important for the helper at every stage
and step of the helping process.

Communication skills are essential for forming a good relationship with the client. These skills
are extensions of the kinds of skills most people use in everyday interpersonal interactions.
Communication skills are not ends in themselves but means or instruments to be used in
achieving helping outcomes.

Hills (1984) discussed an integrative versus a technique approach to training in communication

skills. In an integrative approach, skills and techniques become extensions of the helper's
humanity and not just bits of helping process; further, these communication skills and helping
techniques serve the goals of the helping process. The skills and techniques of an integrative
approach are permeated with and driven by the values

BASIC COMMUNICATION SKILLS USED BY

COUNSELLORS
1. ATTENDING: Attending refers to the ways in which helpers can be with their clients,
both physically and psychologically.

Helping demands a certain intensity of presence. Attending, or the way the counsellor orients
physically and psychologically to clients, contributes to this presence. Effective attending does
two things: it tells clients that the therapist is with them, and it puts them in a position to listen
carefully to their concerns.

Attention is the connective force of conversations and of empathic understanding. Learning

what to do and what not to do will help determine what might be better and more effective in
helping that client. Attending behavior is the first and most critical skill of listening. It is a
necessary part of all interviewing, counseling, and psychotherapy. Sometimes listening carefully
is enough to produce change. To communicate that you are indeed listening or attending to the
client, you need the following “3 V’s 1 B”:*

1. Visual/eye contact. Look at people when you speak to them.

2. Vocal qualities. Communicate warmth and interest with your voice. Think of how many ways
you can say, “I am really interested in what you have to say,” just by altering your vocal tone
and speech rate. Try that now, and note the importance of changes in behavior.
3. Verbal tracking. Track the client’s story. Don’t change the subject; stay with the client’s topic

4. Body language/facial expression. Be yourself—authenticity is essential to building trust. To

show interest, face clients squarely, lean slightly forward with an expressive face, and use
encouraging gestures. Especially critical, smile to show warmth and interest in the client.

The counsellor’s nonverbal behaviour influences client’s motivation, trust and disclosure level in
a session. Attentive presence can invite or encourage the clients to trust the counsellor, disclose
important personal information, and explore the significant dimensions of their problem
situations.

These are the ways in which you communicate empathy and understanding to the client. They
are the behavioral roots of the working alliance and a good counseling relationship.

There are various levels of attending to clients: (1) the micro skills level, (2) the body language
level, and (3) the human presence level

· The micro skills of ATTENDING can be summarized in the acronym SOLER.

S- Sit squarely: It means adopting a posture that indicates involvement- This posture indicates
that the counsellor is with and available for the client. Turning the body away can lessen the
degree of contact.

O- Open posture: Crossed arms and crossed legs can be signs of lessened involvement with or
availability to others. An open posture can be a sign that the counsellor is open to the client and
to what they have to say.

L- Lean forward: This is a natural sign of involvement and attention. A slight inclination toward a
person is often seen as saying that you are with the person and interested in what they are
saying Leaning back or slouch can be a way of saying that you are not entirely with the client.
Leaning too far forward, may frighten the client.

E- Eye Contact: Eye contact is natural for people in a deep conversation. Maintaining good eye
contact with a client is another way of telling them that you are with them and interested in
hearing what they have to say. This is not the same as staring.

R- Relaxed: Being relaxed means two things. First, it means not fidgeting nervously or engaging
in distracting facial expressions. Second, it means becoming comfortable with using your body
as a vehicle of contact and expression.

· Nonverbal Communication: It is important to have an awareness of one’s own body as a

source of communication. Effective helpers are mindful of the cues and messages they are
constantly sending through their bodies as they interact with clients through gestures, facial
expressions, posture etc. Reading one’s own bodily reactions is an important first step. As a
next step it is important to use one’s own body to communicate appropriate messages. The
therapist can also use their body to censor messages that they feel are inappropriate. For
instance, if the client says something that instinctively angers the therapist, they can control
the external expression of the anger (for instance, a sour look) to give themself time to
reflect.
 · Social-Emotional Presence: Most important is the quality of the counsellor’s total human
presence to the clients. Both the verbal and nonverbal behavior should indicate a clear-cut
willingness to work with the client.

2. ACTIVE LISTENING: Listening refers to the ability of helpers to capture and understand
the messages clients communicate, whether these messages are transmitted verbally or
nonverbally, clearly or vaguely. Listening may seem like a simple task which humans fail to
do effectively in their interpersonal communication. People want more than physical
presence in human communication; they want the other person to be present
psychologically, socially, and emotionally. Active listening involves the practice of attending
keenly to the speaker and reflecting on the understanding.

Complete listening involves four things: first, observing and reading the client's nonverbal
behaviour. Second, listening to and understanding the client's verbal messages. Third, listening
to the context. Fourth, listening to sour notes;

· Listening to and Understanding Nonverbal Behavior: Clients send messages through

their nonverbal behavior. Facial expressions, bodily motions, voice quality, and
physiological responses of clients communicate more than their words. Effective helpers
learn how to listen to and read the following:

1. bodily behavior, such as posture, body movements, and gestures

2. facial expressions, such as smiles, frowns etc.

3. voice-related behavior, such as tone of voice, pitch, voice level, intensity, inflection,
spacing of words, emphases, pauses, silences, and fluency etc.

4. observable autonomic physiological responses, such as quickened breathing, pupil

dilation etc.

5. physical characteristics, such as fitness, height, weight etc.

6. general appearance, such as grooming and dress

· Verbal communication: The counsellors also listen to clients' verbal descriptions of their
experiences, behaviors, and affect to understand the problem situation. The counselor's job
is to help clients achieve this kind of clarity.

· However, people are more than the sum of their verbal and nonverbal messages.
Listening in its deepest sense means listening to clients themselves as influenced by the
contexts in which they live, move, and have their being.

· Tough-Minded Listening: Clients' visions of and feelings about themselves, others, and
the world are real and need to be understood yet sometimes these views are distorted.
 However, this too must be listened to and understood. Tough-minded listening includes
detecting the gaps, distortions, and dissonance that are part of the client's experienced
reality. This does not mean that helpers challenge clients as soon as they hear any kind of
distortion. Challenging when it’s appropriate to do so is important.

TECHNIQUES IN LISTENING:

· Using minimal encouragers - small signals or words like ‘uh-huh’, ‘yes’, ‘no’, ‘mmm’, and
little actions like nodding that shows that therapist are engaged in listening.

· Repeating back some of the client’s words, or a phrase, to help prompt them to say
more.

· Paraphrasing - Rephrasing what the client says into your own words.

· Summarizing - putting in a nutshell, in a sentence or two, what the client has been
talking about over an extended period.

· Mirroring the client - adopting aspects of their body language, voice tone and language
to develop rapport and help them feel more at ease.

· Reflecting - picking up on the client’s feeling and feeding your perceptions back to them.

· Questioning skills - when and how to use questions to help the speaker to open up and
tell you

POOR LISTENING SKILLS:

Ø Inadequate listening: Helpers, too, can become preoccupied with themselves and their
own needs in such a way that they are kept from listening fully to their clients. The
counsellor being fatigued, preoccupied or too eager to help, distracted may make listening
and understanding difficult.

Ø Evaluative listening: Counsellors may at times listen evaluatively i.e. as they listen; they
are judging the merits of what the client is saying in terms of good-bad, right-wrong,
acceptable-unacceptable, like-dislike, relevant-irrelevant, and so forth. This inhibits effective
listening

Ø Filtered listening: Unbiased listening becomes impossible because therapists develop a

variety of filters through which they listen to themselves, others, and the world around them.
Prejudices distort understanding and helpers are tempted to pigeonhole clients based on
such factors as gender, race, sexual orientation, nationality, social status, religion etc.

Ø Labels as filters: Diagnostic categories such as ‘schizophrenic’ can take precedence over
the persons being diagnosed. It is important to not assert any labels on the client and the
client should be understood as independent persons irrespective of their disorders.

Ø Fact-centered rather than person-centered listening: Some helpers ask a lot of

informational questions and in the process possibly collect the facts but miss the person.
The antidote is to listen to clients contextually, trying to focus on themes and key messages.
 Ø Rehearsing: Helpers are sometimes very concerned about how they are going to respond
to what the client is saying. When experienced helpers begin to mull over what might be the
perfect response to what their clients are saying, they stop listening.

The Usefulness of Silence. Sometimes the most useful thing you can do as a helper is to
support your client silently. As a counselor, particularly as a beginner, you may find it hard to sit
and wait for clients to think through what they want to say. Your client may be in tears, and you
may want to give immediate support. However, sometimes the best support may be simply
being with the person and not saying a word. Consider offering a tissue, as even this small
gesture shows you care. In general, it’s always good to have a box or two of tissues for clients
to take even without asking or being offered. Of course, don’t follow the silence too long, search
for a natural break, and attend appropriately. There is much more happening in the brain than
just silence. It turns out that the auditory cortex remains active when you are attending or
listening to silence. Your brain remains highly sensitive, as revealed by functional magnetic
resonance imaging (fMRI) and an increasing array of technologies, including computed
tomography (CT), positron emission tomography (PET), electroencephalography (EEG), and
diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI). Brain imaging has become a central
area of research, with profound implications for counseling and therapy practice. For a
beginning counselor, silence can be frightening. After all, doesn’t counseling mean talking about
issues and solving problems verbally? When you feel uncomfortable with silence, look at your
client with a supportive facial expression. If the client appears comfortable, draw from her or his
body language and join in the silence. If the client seems disquieted by the silence, rely on your
attending skills. Ask a question or make a comment about something relevant mentioned earlier
in the session.

3. RESPONDING: Responding is another communication skill and requires the

counselor’s attention to be focused on the client’s feelings and verbal expression at all
times. Responding in a positive manner requires focus, concentration and an interest in the
other person, and what is being expressed. Asking questions, making statements and
suggestions, offering ideas and informing provide effective methods of good response.
Offering a nod of the head, an um-hmm or by encouraging the client to continue speaking
provide a further positive response, which will keep the communication flowing.

REFLECTIVE LISTENING AND RESPONDING: Reflecting is a way of responding, which

expresses the counselor’s attitude to the client. It must therefore be a positive response to the
client, and must also demonstrate the core conditions of acceptance, value and respect.

When to respond?

· Client expresses a problem, issue or concern.

· Client is unclear about something that has been said.

· Client is upset.
· Client’s behavior surprises the counselor in some way.

Wrong Time: · When the client, or counselor, is tired, stressed or anxious.

The four levels of reflective responding skills are - reflecting content (paraphrasing); reflecting
feelings; reflecting meanings; and summative statements.

ü Paraphrasing: Reflecting content is a concise response to the speaker that restates the
essence of communication in the counselors own words. The counselor must sift through all
of the details and arrive at the central message that the client is trying to convey. The
counselor then needs to express this to the client concisely. This expression needs to be in
the counselor’s own words. Paraphrasing is done to reflect the therapist’s understanding of
the client’s problems.

ü Reflecting Feelings: It is mirroring back the client’s emotions as they make their
statements. It gives the counselor an opportunity to evaluate how s/he is responding to the
problem situation. A response to the example is– The therapist may say, “You’re feeling
overwhelmed?” This invites confirmation. For example, “Yes, I am overwhelmed and I just
don’t know if I am going to be able to cope”. Alternatively, the response invites a correction if
it is not accurate. For example, “No, I am not overwhelmed, I am just exhausted. I’ll be okay
if I can get a good night’s sleep”. The challenge in reflecting feelings is to be able to use the
right words to describe the counselee’s feelings. It should be as accurate as possible and
with the right degree of intensity. It should also be a word that the client would be likely to
use or understand.

ü Reflecting Meanings: Reflecting meaning involves accurately reflecting feelings and

paraphrasing. Reflecting meanings is assisted by building a base of negotiated
understanding through frequent use of content and feeling responses. These should be
concise, with minimal interruption to the client’s train of thought.

ü Summative Reflections: It is a brief statement that attempts to draw together the thoughts
and feelings that have been expressed through a session or part of a session. It recaps the
major themes of the conversation. The counselor attempts to identify the common thread, or
essential issue to emerge during that period of time. Summative reflections are appropriate
at the end of a session, but are also useful during a session to help a client refocus on
central issues, or to help the listener check their understanding of the issues

4. PARAPHRASING: It is a verbal statement that is interchangeable with the client’s

statement. Paraphrasing means rewording the client’s verbal utterances. Paraphrasing
occurs when the counselor states what the client has just said, using fewer words but
without changing the meaning of what the client said. Paraphrasing must be decided upon
some goals (reinforce, clarify, highlight, double-check, etc.).

Purposes of Paraphrasing: · To convey that client is understood. · Help the client by simplifying,
focusing and crystallizing what they said. · To encourage the client to elaborate. · Provide a
check on the accuracy of your perceptions.
When to Use It: · When you have a hypothesis about what’s going on with the client. · When the
client is in a decision making conflict. · When the client has presented a lot of material and you
feel confused.

Paraphrasing is the most important cognitive empathic listening skill. At first glance,

paraphrasing appears to be a simple skill, only slightly more complex than encouraging. In

encouraging and restating, exact words and phrases are fed back to the client. Paraphrasing

covers more of what the client has just said, usually several sentences. Paraphrasing continues
to feedback key words and phrases, but catches and distills the cognitive essence of what the
client has said. Paraphrasing clarifies a confusing client story.

When you paraphrase, the tone of your voice and your body language indicate to the

client whether you are interested in listening in more depth or would prefer that the client

move on to another topic.

If your paraphrase is accurate, the client is likely to reward you with a “-at’s right” or

“Yes . . .” and then go on to explore the issue in more depth. Once clients know they have

been heard, they are often able to move on to new topics. -e goal of paraphrasing is to

facilitate client exploration and clarification of issues.

Accurate paraphrasing will help the client stop repeating a story unnecessarily. Some

clients have complex problems that no one has ever bothered to hear accurately, and they

literally need to tell their story over and over until someone indicates they have been heard

clearly.

How do you paraphrase? Observe clients, hear their important words, and use them in

your paraphrase much as the client does. You may use your own words, but the main ideas

and concepts must reflect the client’s view of the world, not yours!

An accurate paraphrase usually consists of four dimensions:

1. A sentence stem sometimes using the client’s name. Names help personalize the session.

Examples are: “Damaris, I hear you saying . . . ,” “Luciano, sounds like . . . ,” “Looks like
the situation is. . . .”

2. The key words used by the client to describe the situation or person. Include main

cognitions, ideas, and exact words that come from clients. -is aspect of the

paraphrase is sometimes confused with the encouraging restatement. A restatement,

however, covers a very limited amount of client talk and is almost entirely in the

client’s own words.

3. The essence of what the client has said in briefer and clearer form. Identify, clarify, and
feedback the client’s sometimes confused or lengthy talk into succinct and meaningful
statements. The counselor has the difficult task of staying true to the client’s ideas but not

repeating them exactly.

4. A checkout for accuracy. Here you ask the client for feedback on whether the paraphrase

(or other skill) was correct and useful.

SILENCE- https://counsellingtutor.com/basic-counselling-skills/silence/

5. PROBING- It is essential that helpers respond with empathy to their clients when they
do reveal themselves but it is also necessary at times to encourage, prompt, and help
clients to explore their concerns when they fail to do so spontaneously. Therefore, the ability
to use prompts and probes well is another important skill. Prompts and probes are verbal
tactics for helping clients talk about themselves and define their concerns more concretely in
terms of specific experiences, behaviors, and feelings and the themes that emerge from an
exploration of these.

Probes serve the following purposes - · to encourage non-assertive or reluctant clients to tell
their stories; · to help clients to remain focused on relevant and important issues; · to help
clients to identify experiences, behaviors and feelings that give a fuller picture to their story; · to
help clients to move forward in the helping process

Prompts and probes can take the form of statements, interjections, or questions.

probing statements make some demand on the client either to talk or to become more specific.
They are indirect requests of clients to elaborate on their experiences, behaviors, or feelings.

A prompt or probe need not be a full question or a statement. It can be a word or phrase that
helps focus the client's attention on the discussion. Even such responses as "uh-huh," "mmm,"
"yes," "I see," "ah," and "oh," as well as nods and the like, can serve as prompts, provided they
are used intentionally and are not a sign that the helper's attention is flagging or that he or she
does not know what else to do. Interjections can also be nonverbal.

6. QUESTIONING: Questions during the counseling session can help to open up new
areas for discussion. They can assist to pinpoint an issue and they can assist to clarify
information that at first may seem ambiguous to the counselor. Questions that invite clients
to think or recall information can aid in a client’s journey of self-exploration.

There are essentially three styles of questions:

§ Open Questions: An open question is likely to receive a long answer. Open

questions encourage the client to speak and offer an opportunity for the
counselor to gather information about the client and their concerns. Typically
open questions begin with - what, when, where, why, how or could. Open
ended questions are usually used in the beginning of the session when the
therapist wants an elaborate account of the client’s problem.

§ Closed Questions: Closed questions are questions that can be answered with
a minimal response (often as little as ‘yes’ or ‘no’). They can help the
counselor to focus the client or gain very specific information. Such questions
begin with - is, are or do. They are used during the middle or end of the
session when only limited specific information is required.

§ Leading Questions: Leading questions are questions where the counselor

guides the client to give the answer they desire. These questions are usually
judgmental. For example - You came to consider this, didn’t you?

7. INFORMATION GIVING AND REMOVING OBSTACLES TO CHANGE: Supplying

data, opinions, facts, resources or answers to questions. Provide adequate information to
the client about various aspects of the problem. Clear their block in thinking and
psychoeducate the client before working on the problem itself. Explore with client possible
problems which may delay or prevent their change process. In collaboration with the client
identify possible solutions and alternatives

8. SUMMARY: Summarizing means that the counselor concisely reiterates several of the
major highlights from the client’s discussion. By tying together the different elements from a
client’s session, summarizing can help a counselor review overall progress. Summarizing
can also allow the counselor and the client to recognize a theme in what the client is saying.
In summarising, the counsellor attends to verbal and non-verbal comments from the client
over a period of time, and then pulls together key parts of the extended communication,
restating them for the client as accurately as possible. Summaries are like paraphrasing
except that they are done towards the end.