SESSION 2

COUNSELING SESSION
Qualities, Qualifications and Ethical Issues in
Guidance and Counseling
Qualities and skills needed for a Counselor
According to UNAIDS, a counselor is a
person trained in the skills of the job such
as listening to the client, asking supportive
questions, discussing options, encouraging
the client to make his or her own informed
decisions, giving practical information and
suggesting follow up.
Qualities and skills needed for a Counselor
A counselor is a suitably trained and
qualified person who uses counseling skills
in exercising the profession of counseling
(Nelson-Jones, 2007).
To be a good counselor one must possess
the following qualities:
Qualities and skills needed for a Counselor
Patience
Good listening
Observant
Warm
Knowledgeable
Empathetic
Sympathetic
Qualities and skills needed for a Counselor
Maintaining therapeutic relationship
with a client
Confidentiality
Personal integrity
Genuiness/openness
Respect
Trust
Counseling Skills
The qualities of a good counselor go hand
in hand with good counseling skills.
The word skill means the ability to do
something well.
Counseling Skills can appear in Two Groups
A) Basic Skills
B) Supporting Skills
Basic Counseling Skills
The first basic skills in counseling are called
Social Skills. They fall under the following
subdivisions:
Greeting Skills: These are customary ways
of greeting people nicely.
Politeness skills: Expressions of one’s
respect for others, of one’s gratitude to
others. E.g. “excuse me”, “please”, “thank
you”, etc.
Basic Counseling Skills
Kindness skills: express one’s good
wishes for others and readiness to do
something for others.
Parallel to the above skills, Sima (2006)
adds that the basic skills in counseling
include the following abbreviation
REUNDA, where:
Basic Counseling Skills
R = Relation building/building rapport
E = Exploration of the problem
UND = Understanding the client’s
problem
A = Action plan i.e. what do we plan.
This deals with the best action to be
undertaken
Supporting Skills
According to Sima (2006), supportive skills
are abbreviated as SOLER or ROLES, where:
R = Relaxed manner, stay relaxed, give
drinks etc.
O = Open posture
L = Leaning forward towards the client
E = Eye contact, facing the client can tell
something
Supporting Skills
S = Sit near the client
Sitting far can be a problem
Sitting too close can be a big problem

Do not touch the client! If necessary

touch to connote a meaning

NB: These are called supportive skills
because they are there to support the
basic skills
Counseling Skills
The following are some of the skills that
you need as a counselor
Communication Skills
These include nonverbal communication
skills (attending behavior). These are such
as:
Counseling Skills
Eye contact
Attentive body language

Touch communication

2. Verbal Communication
They include the following:
Minimal encouragement

Paraphraising
Counseling Skills
Reflection of feelings i. e. show that you
feel what the client feels
Summarizing
Confronting
Self-disclosure
3. Active Listening
Show the client you are paying attention
Not been busy with your laptop
Counseling Skills
4. Attending Behavior
Greet your client politely, and make him/her feel
comfortable and relaxed. Show him/her that you
are interested in what he is telling you
5. Interviewing/Asking Questions
The counselor needs to have questioning skills.
These are skills in using open-ended and
closed-ended questions
Counseling Skills
As a good counselor, you should ask open-
ended questions as opposed to close-ended
questions
You should also ask probing questions
Avoid asking ‘why’ questions because they
may elicit feeling or actions that can be
complex and embarrassing.
Counseling Skills
6. Reflecting Feelings
By observing and listening, you can imagine
how the client feels. You can then tell the
client what you think
7. Praise appropriate practices
8. Giving relevant information
Counseling Skills
9. Use of local language
10. Remaining neutral and non-judgemental
11. Be consistent in giving advice
12. Summarizing and Paraphrasing
Parts/Stages of counseling Session
Preliminaries of a counseling session
As a counselor you have to know about
the place of counseling
Choice of the physical surrounding i. e.
the place has to be conducive to a
counselor and a client
Sitting arrangement; the place should not
have barriers.
Preliminaries of a counseling session
A barrier is a situation where counseling
relationship is hindered, restricted or
blocked.
They include things like school
management, personal capacity, time
constraints, distracting noise, dirty and
untidy room, poor lighting, extreme
temperatures, etc.
Preliminaries of a counseling session
Equipments; cupboards to store
some files
Communication; the
communication between two people
should be understandable
Parts of the Counseling Session
There are five parts of a counseling session
1. The Introduction
In this stage the counselor gets time to put
client at ease, to give hope, to get to know
each other by introducing each other,
starting with the counselor then the client.
It is time to make jokes, set terms of
reference, set the state of confidentiality,
set the time frame
Parts of the Counseling Session
At introduction clients may be of three
types:
i. First appointment interview; These
are those who come for exploration and
agreement
ii. Follow up appointment interview;
these are those who come to check
progress, reflect and counsel.
Parts of the Counseling Session
iii. Drop in interview; these are those clients
who drops in any time without appointment
2. Exploration of the Problem
The counselor finds out where the problem is.
The client may speak up all picture of his/her
life. Problems can be emotional, economic,
social, etc.
Parts of the Counseling Session
3. Explore the strategies to address the
problem
The counselor and client find the best strategies of
solving the problem. After choosing the alternative
strategies they review them and reveal their
consequences.
4. Choosing the best alternatives.
This means that the counselor and client consider
the alternative that has the least consequences
Parts of the Counseling Session
5. Closure
The client follows the alternative chosen. Both
the counselor and the client decide on the date
of the next session.
Types of Counseling Session
There are TWO main types of
counseling session
A. Individual Counseling
This is a one-to-one counseling
between two people: the counselor
and client. Individual counseling can
be carried out into three different
approaches.
Types of Counseling Session
i. Client-Centred Approach
In this approach the client is helped to
understand his/her problem, accepting it,
finding the possible solutions and suggest
strategies of implementing the solutions.
In this approach the client has to do most of
the talking, while the counselor’s role is to listen,
help and guide the client understand the problem
and come out with best solution in coping with
the problem.
Types of Counseling Session
ii. Counselor centered or clinical
approach
In this approach the counselor takes more
time in the counseling session.
The counselor interviews the client to
diagnose the nature of the client’s problem
and thereof prescribes to the client what
he/she thinks to be the best solution for the
problem
Types of Counseling Session
iii. The Eclectic Approach
This approach combines the client and
counselor’s approaches.
The two approaches complement each
other during the counseling session i.e. the
counselor will use both approaches in
different times.
Types of Counseling Session
B. Group Counseling
This approach is used to assist clients in
groups to assess their particular problems
such as reproductive health, psychosocial
problems and medical needs. The group
counseling may include 5 to 15 people in
total. Group counseling can be carried out
in different approaches:
Types of Counseling Session
1. Brainstorming
This is a creativity technique by which
efforts are made to find conclusion for a
specific problem by gathering a list of
ideas spontaneously contributed by its
members. The counselor remains as a
facilitator. It is a very effective method
when it comes to group.
Types of Counseling Session
ii. Case study discussion
iii. Free group discussion
iv. Role playing

Explain each of these three

approaches
Ethical Issues in Guidance and Counseling
Ethics means principles of conduct
that are considered correct especially
those of certain profession or group.
In counseling, ethical issues are
important considerations regarding
rules of conduct, moral standards and
rights.
Ethical Issues in Guidance and Counseling
Why Ethics in Counseling?
Ethics protect members from practices that
may result in public condemnation
They provide a measure of self-regulation
They provide a client a degree of protection
from cheats and incompetency
They help to protect counselors from the
public if they are used for malpractice
Ethical Issues in Counseling
Confidentiality
You are mandated to maintain all matters
arising during counseling session
confidential.
Remember all people have three lives:
public life, private life ad secret life.
Ethical Issues in Counseling
Tolerance
Always be tolerant with your client.
Unnecessary force is totally unacceptable
Objectivity
Be objective with your views
Offer options which are clear and

understood by the client

Ethical Issues in Counseling
Client Autonomy
Always allow client to make choices that
work best for them in their lives. Do not
impose your own choices
Client Protection
The counselor need to protect the rights
of the client throughout the counseling
session
Ethical Issues in Counseling
Competence
The counselor should be able to assess
the client and suggest interventions using
the learned counseling skills.
Unethical Issues in Counseling
There are some issues which a counselor
should avoid because they are considered
unethical.
Incompetence
Lack of integrity
Violating confidentiality
Exceeding the level of professional
competence i.e if unable to solve an issue
refer it to other professionals
Unethical Issues in Counseling
Creating dependency on the side of the
client for the purposes of meeting the
counselor’s own needs
Improper advertising
Charging fees for clients not entitled for fee
paying