Counseling Session

A good counseling session should help a client to access his/her deepest thoughts or clarify his/her future dreams. Also, the start of the counseling session is very important as that will set the tone for the rest of the session (Ivey, Ivey, & Zalaquett, 2013). While starting counseling a client in the school setting, first of all, I will greet the client cordially and invite her/him to the session. 

I will appreciate the way s/he looks and tell them about a great future I anticipate for him/her. I will then actively listen to the client to hear what they have to say. Active listening takes place when you listen for meaning. There are various skills I will put into use during this counseling session to make sure that the session is as effective as possible and that it achieves the desired results.

The two micro skills that I will use in this session are attending behavior and questioning. Attending is a good behavioral aspect of building rapport. When a counselor meets a client for the first time, s/he must show the client that s/he is interested in listening to them and in helping them (Ridley, Mollen, & Kelly, S2011). So I will use this micro skill to indicate to the client that I am all ears and ready to listen to them and help them as satisfactorily as possible. I will also use the micro questioning skills to ensure that I perfectly understand the issues the client is tabling and how best I can help him/her (Ivey, Ivey, & Zalaquett, 2013). For instance, I can use closed questions focus the client then client or to get very specific information. While questioning, I will ensure being careful not to over question the client as that will make the client have a notion that I am in control and may set up a situation where the client will feel that I have all answers.

References

Ivey, A. E., Ivey, M. B., & Zalaquett, C. P. (2013). Intentional interviewing and counseling: Facilitating client development in a multicultural society. Nelson Education.

Ridley, C. R., Mollen, D., & Kelly, S. M. (2011). Beyond microskills: Toward a model of counseling competence. The Counseling Psychologist, 39(6), 825-864.

Carolyn Morgan is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com in Online Paper Writing Service. If you need a similar paper you can place your order from Professional Custom Writing Services.