Counselling Skills II

Study at home: Counselling Course

It is sometimes the case that clients expect that the counsellor will be able to conjure up an instant cure. In such cases, it may well be necessary for the counsellor to spell out to the client that they are not an expert who can offer a magical solution to the client’s problems, but that their role is to help the client express their problems and feelings so as to gain a better understanding of themselves. The client needs to understand that it is not the role of the counsellor to offer advice, but rather to enable the client to find their own solutions that are right for them. It may also be necessary to inform the client that finding solutions to problems can take a long time, and that they may need to exercise patience and be prepared to commit to a number of sessions.

Increase your understanding of the use of counselling skills.

Lesson Structure

There are 8 lessons in this course:

1. The Counselling Session - how micro-skills come together
2. Focus on the Present - present experiences; feedback; transference; projection; resistance
3. Telephone Counselling - non-visual contact; preparation; initial contact; use of micro-skills; overall process; debriefing; types of problem callers
4. Dealing with Crises - defining crisis; types of crisis; dangers of crisis; counsellor’s responses and intervention; post-traumatic stress
5. Problem-Solving Techniques I: Aggression - expressing anger; encouraging change; role-play; externalising anger
6. Problem-Solving Techniques II: Depression - blocked anger; referral practice; chronic depression; setting goals; promoting action
7. Problem-Solving Techniques III: Grief and Loss - loss of relationships; children and grief; stages of grief
8. Problem-Solving Techniques IV: Suicide - ethics; reasons for suicide; perceived risk; counselling strategies; alternative approach.

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

Aims

• Demonstrate the application of micro skills to different stages of the counselling process.
• Role-play the dynamics of the counselling process including such phenomenon as present experiences, feedback, transference, counter-transference, projection and resistance.
• Demonstrate telephone counselling techniques.
• Develop appropriate responses to crises, both emotional and practical.
• Show ways of encouraging the client to deal with aggression.
• Demonstrate different ways of encouraging the client to cope with depression.
• Discuss strategies for dealing with grief.
• Develop different strategies of helping suicidal clients.

What You Will Do

• Identify clearly the stages in the counselling process
• Explain how a counsellor might encourage the client to relax in the first session
• Demonstrate at what stage the counsellor should bring in micro-skills other than those of minimal responses and reflection of content and feeling
• Demonstrate at what stage the counsellor should focus attention on the client’s thoughts and why
• Demonstrate control techniques in conversation, in a role play
• Correlate certain types of non-visual cues with feelings in a case study
• Show how a counsellor could assist a client to consider the present and how this could facilitate the counselling process
• Demonstrate appropriate use of feedback in the counselling situation
• Demonstrate inappropriate use of feedback in the counselling situation
• Distinguish between transference and counter-transference
• Demonstrate telephone counselling techniques in a role play.
• Describe how to deal with a distressed client (male/female) through telephone counselling
• Show how to terminate a telephone counselling session
• Explain the main advantages of telephone counselling.
• Describe techniques to effectively deal with nuisance callers in telephone counselling
• Evaluate how a crisis was managed by a person, in a case study
• Outline the main crisis categories
• Demonstrate different practical responses that might be applied to a crisis
• Show when it is appropriate for a counsellor to conclude crisis counselling
• Analyse an aggressive/violent outburst (physical/mental) by an individual; in a case study
• Explain an aggressive/violent outburst (physical/mental) by an individual; in a case study
• Demonstrate how a counsellor might encourage a client to appropriately express their anger
• Explain why it is important that clients become aware of the physiological effects of anger
• Identify the origin of depression in a case study• Explain the origin of depression in a case study
• Explain the relationship between depression and blocked anger
• Demonstrate how a counsellor could encourage a client to explore their anger
• Identify risks involved in dealing with someone with chronic depression.
• Explain the benefits of goal-setting to the counselling process.
• Identify when depressed clients should be referred on to other professionals
• Evaluate the grieving process in a case study
• Compare the grieving process in a case study, with the 7 classic stages of grieving
• Determine which stage of grieving was most difficult in a case study
• Explain the significance of denial in the grieving process
• Demonstrate how a counsellor could combat feelings of denial in grieving.
• Explain why it is important for both the client and the counsellor to understand the grieving process.
• Research into suicide, to determine attitudes, information and support services available in the student’s country
• Discuss a variety of different people’s views on suicide
• Describe 6 high risk factors to be looked for when assessing the likelihood of a person committing suicide
• Demonstrate alternative strategies that a counsellor might use to become more aware of a depressed client’s risk of suicide
• Explain how a counsellor might learn to challenge their own irrational beliefs in order to help a suicidal client
• Compare working with and working in opposition to a client.

Some Sample Course Notes

Telephone Counselling

Clearly the fundamental difference between telephone counselling and face-to-face counselling is the lack of visual information available to the counsellor. This visual information provides many subtle clues, but most importantly enables the counsellor to send and receive non-verbal messages. Another significant effect of having visual information is that it makes it a lot easier to establish a relationship with the client.

Telephone counselling can be as productive and supportive as face-to-face counselling. The main different being that body language is not a factor when working on the phone. This should not detract from the process can prove supportive, as distractions are kept to a minimum, which can help increase concentration and focus. Therefore, telephone counselling can work faster than traditional therapeutic encounters. Also, working with a telephone counsellor can enable some clients to express themselves more freely, as they have a sense of anonymity.

There are many different telephone counselling services available. For example, The Samaritans, Child Line and so on. Phone lines may specialise in certain problems, such as bereavement, domestic violence, addictions, mental health problems, rape, and victim support. They offer anonymity and can be a good source for information about other services that can help the client. Calls may be one-off or regular sessions. Some people find telephone counselling safer than seeing a counsellor face-to-face.

Online counselling is also becoming more and more available. Before going further, it is important to clarify the differences in online and telephone counselling. Telephone and online/email counselling are not done face-to-face so will have some similar and some different aspects to face to face counselling.

Telephone and email support may be appropriate for situations when a client wants to –

*Discuss ways of solving a problem.

*Find the energy to address a problem.

*Understand the psychological aspects of a situation better.

*Discuss ways to modify the client’s behaviour.

*Discuss ways to modify the behaviour of others in certain situations.

*Generate new ideas or gain fresh perspectives.

*Access specialist knowledge and guidance.

*Build on progress already made in face to face sessions with a counsellor.

In the case of telephone counselling it is far easier for a client to terminate the counselling process if trust is not established within the first couple of minutes. All they need do is hang up the phone. It can therefore be seen that telephone counselling presents its own problems. The telephone counsellor needs to keep the client engaged in an active and non-threatening way so that the client feels safe and able to talk.

• DON'T CHOOSE TO LEARN BY ROTE! Education is not just about temporarily absorbing facts then regurgitating them during an exam, only to forget them months later. It is about changing the way you think. ACS is NOT assessment based. Our courses are structured to teach you how to improve your thought processes, which you will apply over a lifetime, not just a semester.
• With ACS, you are taught by people who are active in industry. If you want to learn Psychology, learn from someone who has sat in the Therapist's chair. If you want to learn writing, learn from a widely published author. This is what we offer you at ACS. Many lecturers and tutors have spent a lifetime within that institution. Our tutors are university educated, but work out there in industry; which means that once you have graduated, we can advise you on where to next!
• Our courses are flexible enough to incorporate a student's own experience; it is personalised, therefore remaining with the student long after the award has been received - Agriculture students report on their findings at a farm; psychology students work through long misunderstood emotional situations in their lives. Theory is combined with self-direction and practical application. This is how a student actually EXPERIENCES the learning, rather than simply LEARNING BY ROTE.
• In a class situation, there can be hundreds of students to one lecturer or tutor. At ACS you have easy access to a tutor – by phone and email. Our tutors get to know each student, and are invested in their learning.

Other Options

We also offer a range of other counselling and psychology courses which may be of interest to you -

Certificate in Life Coaching    http://www.acs.edu.au/courses/Certificate-In-Life-Coaching-224.aspx

Life Coaching     http://www.acs.edu.au/courses/Life-Coaching-33.aspx

Relationship and Communications Counselling    http://www.acs.edu.au/courses/Relationships-Communication-Counselling-357.aspx

Grief Counselling    http://www.acs.edu.au/courses/Grief-Counselling-148.aspx

Counselling Skills II    http://www.acs.edu.au/courses/Counselling-Skills-II-29.aspx

Counselling Skills I http://www.acs.edu.au/courses/Counselling-Skills-L-340.aspx

Careers Counselling http://www.acs.edu.au/courses/Careers-Counselling-344.aspx

Counselling Techniques http://www.acs.edu.au/courses/Counselling-Techniques-333.aspx

Crisis Counselling http://www.acs.edu.au/courses/Crisis-Counselling-342.aspx

Stress Management http://www.acs.edu.au/courses/Stress-Management-295.aspx

Psychological Assessment http://www.acs.edu.au/courses/Psychological-Assessment-379.aspx

Abnormal Psychology - http://www.acs.edu.au/courses/product.aspx?id=513

Professional Practice In Counselling http://www.acs.edu.au/courses/Professional-Practice-In-Counselling-32.aspx

Professional Supervision http://www.acs.edu.au/courses/Professional-Supervision-370.aspx

Diploma in Psychology and Counselling http://www.acs.edu.au/courses/Diploma-In-Counselling-Psychology-334.aspx

Certificate in Counselling (Care Professionals) http://www.acs.edu.au/courses/Certificate-In-Counselling-Care-Professionals-391.aspx

Or if you are not sure if psychology is for you, why not try our Introduction to Psychology -

http://www.acs.edu.au/courses/product.aspx?id=359 

 
BOOKSHOP

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If you would like to see our range of psychology books, please visit - http://www.acsbookshop.com/books_productcategory.aspx?id=14

For more information on the range of careers available in psychology, have a look at - http://www.thecareersguide.com/articles.aspx?category=14

We have some interesting articles on psychology and counseling at - http://www.acs.edu.au/psychol/