Basic Counseling Techniques (BCT) Prof.

Leni Ramos-Carballo

LECTURE NOTES:
Featuring: EXPLORING FEELINGS IN THE COUNSELING COMMUNICATION

Reminder: The Module is the intellectual property of the author/professor and any
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IMPORTANT NOTE:

The following (and the succeeding chapter handouts) is just an outline of the session lecture, which,
hopefully would serve as one of your guides in your journey and exploration of the topics covered during
our class interaction. As the handout contents are just limited to the professor’s topic presentation, you are
highly encouraged to read further, to source for more materials related and relevant to the chapter topics
and to exercise your critical-thinking skills to get as much beyond what has been presented. In the same
vein, be generous to share your explored materials, your discoveries and insights about our topics, as well
as your motivated spirit every class session.
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Identifying and Listening to Feelings

Not all of the time, but “Feelings” are often thought to be the reason why people
seek for counseling (Hackney and Cormier, 2003)

The Role “Feelings” Play in the Process of Counseling

 In counseling, experiencing, articulating and exploring feelings is considered very

important. Indeed, feelings can form the heart of a counseling session.
 Feelings are very much connected to our thoughts. They result from the ‘stories’ that we
tell ourselves about our emotions or external events.
 “Because the human experience is so closely connected with emotions (feelings), we can
expect counseling work to frequently focus on helping counseling identify, explore,
manage, or accept their emotions”
 Emotions are intense, spontaneous, short-lived or long-enduring; response of the entire
organism to a stimulus – and any of these may be evident and significant in the behavior
of a counselee

"What are you feeling?":

The dreaded therapy question

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Exploring the Counselee’s “Affect”

While a counselor listens to how one feels, he/she also inquires/clarifies/explores further about
how the counselee feels more deeply inside.

It is important to explore the counselee’s “affect” because:

 Emotions serve as indicators of what is really going on with the counselee

 They are key sources of information about a person’s well-being.
 in order to discover the underlying emotions.

Processing emotions is about learning to understand, make sense of and deal with emotions in
healthy productive ways.

This active listening and responding in processing emotion enable the counselor to work with
the counselee so that both gains most from the counseling relationship.

Emotions are expressed on your counselee’s face and voice, but often the expression is brief or
subtle. Yet the expression, however slight or subtle, is an efficient signal—clear, rapid, and
universal—of what the other person is feeling. If you can learn to recognize these signals, you
have a powerful tool for communication.

Learning to process emotions takes time.

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You can check this:
https://positivepsychology.com/express-feelings/

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Counselors are skilled at empathy: picking up on client’s verbal and
nonverbal cues and recognizing the affect behind them.

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Check and read these references to supplement your learnings:

https://positivepsychology.com/express-feelings/

https://www.recoveryfromaddictiononline.com/how-to-process-emotions-and-feelings/

https://www.allrelationshipmatters.com.au/insights-healthy-relationships/why-talk-about-
feelings

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