Introduction to Counseling as a Helping Profession

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Introduction to Counseling as a Helping
Profession

• Laboratory Experience 1
• September 24, 2011

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Agenda

• Video What is counseling
• Basic Counseling Skills
• Introduction to Ethical Standards (e.g.,
  confidentiality, informed consent)
• Clara Hills Stages of Counseling
• Listening and Paraphrasing
• Open Questions
• Reflecting of Feelings
• PRACTICE in LAB
• Video
• Laboratory Reflection

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ACA Ethical Codes

• Clarify ethical responsibilities
• Support the mission of the profession and ACA
• Establishes principles that define ethical
  behavior and best practices of association
  members
• Serves as an ethical guide
• Serves as the basis for processing ethical
  complaints

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ACA Ethics Code

• Section A The Counseling Relationship
• Section B Confidentiality, Privileged
  Communication, and Privacy
• Section C Professional Responsibility
• Section D Relationships with Other Professionals
• Section E Evaluation, Assessment, and
  Interpretation
• Section F Supervision, Training, and Teaching
• Section G Research and Publication
• Section H Resolving Ethical Issues

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The Counseling Relationship

• Informed Consent
• Goals of counseling
• Risks and benefits
• Counselors qualifications
• Assessment diagnosis
• Fees and billing
• Confidentiality

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Limits of Confidentiality

• Written consent
• Harm to self
• Harm to others
• Children
• Elderly
• Court order
• If minor, legal guardian has access in most cases

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Ethical Guidance for Beginning Counselors

• Competence
• Self-awareness
• Focus on needs of clients
• Informed consent
• Confidentiality
• Cultural influences
• Duty to warn
• Avoid harmful multiple relationships (dual
  relationships)

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Listening (SOLER)

• S SIT squarely at an angle to the client,
  preferably at a 5 oclock position to avoid the
  possibility of staring.?
• O Maintain an OPEN posture at all times, not
  crossing your arms or legs which can appear
  defensive.?
• L LEAN slightly in towards the client.
• E Maintain EYE CONTACT with the client without
  staring.?
• R RELAX. This should in turn help the client to
  relax.

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Stages of Helping

• Exploration establish rapport, develop a
  therapeutic relationship, encourage clients to
  tell their stories, help clients explore thoughts
  and feelings, facilitate the arousal of emotions
  and learn about clients.

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Stages of Helping

• Insight counselors collaborate with clients to
  help them achieve new understandings about
  themselves, their thoughts, their feelings, and
  their behaviors counselors work to help clients
  attain new awareness of their role in
  perpetuating their problems this stage helps
  clients see things in a new light.

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Stages of Helping

• Action counselors help clients think about
  changes that reflect their new understanding
  counselors and clients together explore the idea
  of changing counselors and clients try to
  determine whether clients want to change and
  explore meaning of change in a clients lives
  brainstorming possible changes and making
  decisions about which changes to pursue are
  expected in this stage.

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Exercise 1 Baseline Sessions

• Get into groups of 3
• Select a counselor/helper, client, observer
• Conduct a 20 minute session being as helpful as
  possible
• Clients talk about an easy topic
• Observers record what they thought was the most
  helpful and the least helpful thing the helper
  did
• Observer completes the Supervisor Rating Form
• Counselor/Helper and client complete the Session
  Process and Outcome Measures
• The observer and client give feedback to the
  helper

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Safe Things to Talk About

• Anxieties about learning helping skills
• Academic issues
• Career, future plans
• Pets
• Problems at work
• Public speaking anxiety
• Feelings about technology
• Roommate issues
• Romantic relationships
• Minor family issues
• Existential concerns (Who am I? What is my
  purpose?
• Worries about performance as a counselor?

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Skills Needed During Each Stage

• Exploration nonverbal behaviors, minimal verbal
  behaviors, restatements, open questions,
  reflections of feelings, disclosures of feelings
• Insight open questions, interpretation,
  disclosures of insight
• Action open questions, giving information,
  process advisement, direct guidance

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Exploration

• Listening and Restatements

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Exploration

• Open Questioning

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Exploration

• Reflection of Feeling

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Practice in Labs
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Groups

• Nicole, Mary, Aaron, Ashley
• Natalie, Marybeth, Destiny
• Wayne, Jayme, Emily
• Lyubov, Monica, Bradley
• Miaela, Kristen, Brett

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Practice

• Discuss a frustrating experience that you have
  had recently (within a year)decide on a real
  situation.
• Observer make notes regarding the types of
  statements heard
• Client discuss frustrating experience
• Counselor use all skills discussed today
  (beginning a session, listening, paraphrasing,
  open questions, reflecting of feelings, etc.)

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Video
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• Reflections of the day