Basic Counseling Techniques

first step on our

journey
"Getting to Know You"
• Feeling anxious? Don't worry,
the client is more afraid of you
than you are of the client! :)
• What matters most of all is the
client gets to talk and talk and
talk and be truly heard!
 Initial Visit Pattern:
Introduction
• It is important to be timely and friendly.
• Greet the client warmly – smile and shake
hands. Escort to the counseling room.
• Your client will be nervous – not knowing
what to expect. So explain to her or him
right away your credentials, the assurance
of confidentiality, the duration of the visit,
etc.
 Information Gathering
•Ask the client, “So what brings
you in here today?!”, or “What
can I do for you?!”
•If the person doesn’t know
where to start, tell the client to
“start anywhere.”
Visibly “Tuning in” and “Active listening”
• The importance of “Empathic
Presence.”
• Simply being with…Paying attention
• Intensity of presence; quality of
presence
• Non-verbal behavior
• Face and body are extremely
communicative
 Active Listening
• This happens when you "listen for
meaning". The counselor says very
little but conveys much interest,
empathy, acceptance, and
genuineness.
• Full listening; deep listening
• Focused listening; Unbiased listening
• Empathic listening
Watch your Body language!
• takes into account our facial
expressions, angle of our body,
proximity of ourselves to another,
placement of arms and legs, and so
much more. Notice how much can
be expressed by raising and
lowering your eyebrows!
• We all have our favorite stance,
our “default position.” At the same
time, communication is 55% body
language, 38% tone and 7% words.
So, remember that your client may
not remember what was said, but
they will remember how you made
them feel.
•We can use the SOLER
method:
•S - Squarely face person
• O - use Open posture
• L - Lean a little toward the
person
•E - use Eye contact
•R - Relax, keep it natural
 tone of your voice
• You need to monitor the tone of
your voice- in the same way that
you monitor your body language.
Remember, the person may not
remember what was said, but they
will remember how you made them
feel!
Tone of your voice
• Be watchful of whether it is…
• • High / low
• • Loud / soft
• • Fast / slow
• • Accommodating / demanding
• • Light-hearted / gloomy
 Listening for Core Messages
• Core messages are the main points of a
client’s story.
• The ingredients of core messages are:
• A.) Key experiences
• B.) Key behaviors
• C.) Key feelings or emotions associated
with these experiences and behaviors.

• LISTENING TO YOUR OWN FEELINGS AND EMOTIONS.pptx

Communicating Empathy - working hard
at understanding clients.
• Empathy - a disposition to feel what
other people feel, or to understand others
“from the inside,” as it were.
• It is understanding another person’s
experiences.
• Sensing the client’s inner world – and
communicating that sensing.
 Communicating Empathy
• Helpers listen to clients both:
• A.) to understand them and their
concerns.
• B.) to respond to them in constructive
ways.
• Listening, then, is a very active process –
that serves understanding.
• But helpers don’t just listen; they also
respond to clients in a variety of ways.
 They respond by:
• a.) sharing their understanding
• b.) checking to make sure they’ve got
things right
• c.) asking questions
• d.) probing for clarity
• e.) summarizing the issues being
discussed
• f.) challenging client’s in a variety of ways
Empathic Highlights- Formula
• Focus on the client’s key messages
plus the feelings and emotions they
generate.
• “You feel…(emotion+intensity)…
because…(key experiences and/or
behaviors that give rise to the
emotion).
 Prompts and Probes
• Prompts – brief verbal and non-verbal
interventions – designed to let clients
know that you are with them to
encourage them to talk further.
• Nonverbal - bodily movements,
gestures, nods, eye movement.
• Verbal - “hmm,” “uh-huh,” “sure,”
“yes,” “I see,” “ah,” “okay,” and “ok.”
 Probes
• Help clients name, take notice of,
explore, clarify, or further define
any issue at any stage of the
helping process.
• They are designed to provide
clarity and to move things
forward.
 Different forms of Probes:
• a.) statements – e.g. “It’s not clear to
me…
• b.) request – e.g. “tell me…
• c.) questions – e.g. “What keeps you
from..?
• d.) single word or phrases – e.g.
“Move forward to…?“
• If possible ask open-ended questions.
 Open and Closed questions
• An open question is one that is used in
order to gather lots of information - you
ask it with the intent of getting a longer
answer.
• A closed question is one used to gather
specific information – it can normally be
answered with either “yes or no” or a
single word or short phrase.
Example of open questions
• What brought you in here
today?
• Do you have an idea about why
this keeps happening?
• What is your Plan B?
• How does that make you feel?
Example of closed questions
• What is your name and date of
birth?
• Where do you work? Occupation?
• Are you ready to stop doing that?
• Did you go to the doctor for a
check-up?
• Paraphrasing is when you
restate briefly what the client said
in your own words to
communicate understanding,
empathy, acceptance, and
genuineness.
• that this is what we think the
client has said.
• Summarizing is focusing on the main
points of a conversation in order to
highlight them; at the same time you are
giving the essence; you are checking to see
if you are accurate in your understanding.
• Use summaries:
• a.) at the beginning of a new session
• b.) when a session seems to be going
nowhere
• c.) when the client needs a new
perspective.
• In a beginning summary you are
recalling what happened at the last
meeting.
• In an ending one, you are attempting
to condense what has happened over
40 minutes into a few minutes worth
of material.
Getting the Client to Provide the Summary

• N.B. The counselor does not always have

to provide the summary.
• Often, it is better to ask the client to pull
together the salient points, and move on.
• But the counselor can always provide the
client whatever help they need to stitch
the summary together.
 Basic Counseling Skills or Basic
Communication Skills
• 1.) Tuning in
• 2.) Active Listening
• 3.) Sharing Empathic Highlights
• 4.) Probing
• 5.) Paraphrasing
• 6.) Summarizing
The End