FUNDAMENTALS OF COUNSELLING

I. INTRODUCTION TO COUNSELLING
DEFINITION

 A popular definition of counselling is, according to Perez (1965) counselling is an interactive process conjoining the
counsellee who needs assistance and the counsellor who is trained and educated to give this assistance.
 Smith (1955) defined the counselling as a process in which the counsellor assists the counsellee to make interpretations
of facts relating to a choice, plans, or adjustments which he needs to make.
 Hahn and MacLean (1955) defined the counselling also has been defined as a process which takes place in a one-to-
one relationship between an individual beset by problems with which he cannot cope alone and professional worker
whose training and experience have qualified him to help others reach solutions to various types of personal difficulties.
 Pepinsky and Pepinsky (1954) state that counselling is that the interaction which (i) occurs between two individuals
called the counsellor and client; (ii) takes place in a professional setting; and (iii) is initiated and maintained to facilitate
chnages in the behavior of a client.
 Patterson (1959) characterizes it as the process involving interpersonal relationship between a therapist and one or more
clients by which the former employs psychological methods based on systematic knowledge of the human personality
in attempting to improve the mental health of the latter.
 Blocher (1966) explains it as helping an individual become aware of himself and the ways in which he’s reacting to the
behavioral ingluences of his environment.
 Burks and Stefflre (1979) denotes the counselling as a professional relationship between a trained counsellor and a
client. This relationship is usually person-to-person, although it may sometimes involve more than two people. It is
designed to help clients to understand and clarify their views of their lifespace, and to learn to reach their self-determined
goals through meaningful, well-informed choices and through resolution of problems of an emotional or interpersonal
nature.
FUNDAMENTAL PRECEPTS
A reliable overview of the components of successful counseling has been provided by the past 50 years of counselling research
and theory. This presents a set of fundamental precepts that forms the basis for the understanding of helping process. The
precepts by Eisenberg and Patterson (1979/90) are meant to introduce some of the ideas that are crucial to comprehending the
counselling process.
Precept 1: Understanding human behavior in social and cultural content
The counsellor must have a clear understanding of human behavior in its social and cultural context and he/she should have
the ability to apply those understanding to the particular problems and circumstances of each client.
Counselling is unlikely to be helpful without a clear understanding of the roots of the problems that the clients being to
counseling and the individual, interpersonal and social force that serve to maintain the problems that the clients want to resolve.
As a result, making diagnosis and developing hypothesis are essential and necessary parts of a counsellor’s work. The process
of diagnosis has two inter-related functions; (i) to describe the major patterns of cognition, behavior or affective experience,
and; (ii) to provide casual explanation for these significant patterns. The process involves tentative hypothesis, confirming their
validity, and using them as the basic for making critical decisions concerning the focus, process and direction of the counselling
experience. The process of arriving at a diagnosis, is in which the client and the counsellor work together to identify these
patterns and their origins in the client’s experience. A set of concepts and theories that assist account for explain and relate
significant human reaction to experiences are necessary for the counsellor to understand the human behavior. The concepts and
principles provide the foundation for the counsellor’s diagnostic and hypothesis generating work. Counsellors understand the
theories and concepts about human behavior in order to understand both their own behavior and that of their client’s issues,
emotions, concerns, actions, perceptions and motives.
The diagnostic and hypothesis generate process possess four risks. One is that the procedure frequently transforms into game,
which clients are assigned labels and placed into categorised. The client is stereotyped once they are categorised, since the client
shares all of the general characteristics of those in that category, the client’s individuality may be lost. Worst yet, the counsellor’s
perceptual blinders result from categorising, which overlooks client’s other important characteristics. Second risk is that the
counsellors frequently make mistakes in their diagnosis, and these mistakes often result in ineffective and sometimes the
counterproductive counselling strategies. Thirdly, the same diagnostic terms are used by all counsellors for the same client
experiences. One may identify a set of problem as depression, another manifestation of a dysfunctional family system. Fourth
one is true of many aspects of counselling as cultural or ethnic bias can influence the diagnostic and hypothesis-generating
process. The negative societal attitude towards oppressed/culturally diverse groups have been shown to reduce the objectivity
and fairness of the diagnosis given to clients and thereby, interfere with helping the client improve.
Precept 2: Client-defined growth on the definition of the successful counselling
The counsellor’s ultimate goal during counselling session is to help the client to achieve some kind of change that he or she will
regard as satisfying. According to every significant theory of counselling states that the creation of growth-oriented change in
the client is the ultimate intended outcome of the counselling experience. some asserts that the behavior change is merely
symptomatic when the client develops new perspectives on themselves, their significant life, they experience real and lasting
change. There are some counsellors whose only goal is to assist the client in transforming or changing the dysfunctional behavior
patterns, such as overcoming shyness, reducing deliberately anxiety, controlling, counter-productive anger, or reducing inter-
productive conflicts. Others believe that helping clients in making important life decision is the goal of counselling. The
counsellor’s work in this situation is to assist the clients in resolving confusion and conflict through rational thinking process.
Precept 3: Positive relationship between counsellor and client as fundamental to client change
The most important factor is providing a climate for growth is the quality of helping relationship. The literature is the field often
describes the critical elements of the counselling relationship that promote: openness; respect (rather than rejection); empathy
(rather than shallow listening and advice giving); congruence or genuiness (rather than inconsistency); facilitative self-disclosure
(rather than being closed); immediacy (rather than escapism to the past/future); and concreteness (rather than abstract
intellectualizing). Counsellors must convey respect for their clients as indivisdials with rights trying to live their best lives.
Effective counsellors share with their clients how the feel about the client using the feedback.
Precept 4: Counselling as an intense working experience
The counselling experience is emotionally powerful for both client and counsellor. For counsellor, activities of paying attention,
information absorption, clarification of message, hypothesis generation and treatment planning requires a sustained energy. For
the clients, they put in a lot of effort to comprehend what is difficult to comprehend; in uncertainity, conflict and confusion,
and in making the commitment to tell oneself what hurts to think about. Clients worry that their counsellors won’t recognize
how unique their experiences are or that they will judge them unfairly for their problems.
Precept 5: Clients as active partners in the counselling process
The client’s commitment to actively participate through self-disclosure, self-confrontation and risk taking as facilitated by
interaction with the counsellor is the foundation of effective counselling. The clients must solve personal information with the
counsellor in order for counselling to takes place. The counsellor then tries to understand the client’s world within the context
of what the counsellor knows about human behavior. The client’s commitment to actively participate in the process of change
and for the strength of the trust in the counsellor’s competence and the comparison. According to recent research, counsellors
who are able to effectively facilitate client’s self-disclosure is during the first three sessions, significantly increase their client’s
chances of staying in counselling and achieving their goals. A more comprehensive form of feedback that helps the client to see
themselves from a different perspective may be chosen by the counsellor as confidence in their understanding of the client.
Precept 6: Ethical conduct as fundamental profession responsibilities
Professional ethics requires the counsellors to place the best interest of the clients as their highest priority and to follow all other
provision of their profession’s codes of conduct. The ethical practice may be defined as providing a therapeutic service for
which one has been approximately trained with care and conscientious effort. According to Welfel, unethical practice occurs
when counsellors practice beyond their competences, fail to priortize the interests of their clients over their own needs, or fail
to respond sensitively to the life experiences and rights of their clients.
GOALS OF THE COUNSELLING PROCESS
The goals of the counselling is to empower thr client to choose the best action without outside influence. The counsellor needs
to understand the behavior, feeling and motivations of the counsellee. Counsellor’s goals is not only understanding the clients,
but also having different goals at different levels of functioning. The goals of counselling are immediate goal, process goals or
intermediate goals, and long-range goals.
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The immediate goal means listening and understanding the client’s problem without any intervention. In this, the counsellor can
immediately find solution to their problems like changing behaviors, enhancing the ability to cope, facilitating decision-making,
development, etc.
The intermediate or process goal mainly focus on what steps does the counsellor need to take in order to get closer to the main
goal. It means the process of finding solutions. In this goal, the counsellor cab thoroughly understand the client’s anxiety, stress,
or problems and can make process or planning to solve it or for getting into the next goal. The counsellor should make a
resistance during sessions.
The next goal is long-term goal. It enables the counsellee for better social functioning. The long-term goals are extremely difficult
to maintain. The counsellor can achieve the long-term goals through a series if smaller goals over a long period. The counsellor
can achieve it through self-actualuzation, self-realization, fully functioning and good mental health.
Abraham Maslow defines the self-actualization as a major goals of not only counselling process, but of everyone’s ‘LIFE’ itself.
It is the fulfilment of a person’s potential. It includes realizing the dreams, achieving the inner peace, etc. The self-realization
means the fulfilment by oneself of the possibilities of one’s personality. The self-actualization refers to the achievement of one’s
potential whereas the aelf-realization refers to the achievement of one’s personality.
In Rogers’ view, the fully functioning person involves the stretching and growing toward realizing one’s potentialities. These
persons are also capable of expressing feelings and are fully open to life’s many experiences. To him, one of the long range goals
of counselling is to help the counsellee to be ‘fully functioning person’. To reach this goal, even to some extent, a person has to
learn to “life-here-and-now” which means an increasing tendency to live each moment fully, not being apprehensible or using
the ‘ready-made’ methods for working on future problems of life. Good mental health means the person is in a state of well-
being where he/she can feel good and function well in the world.
The goals accepted by most of professional counsellor’s for counsellee’s benefits;
(1) Improved self-esteem; can be a long process. Overcoming the established thought processes requires a lot of hand
work. The self-esteem can be imposed through positive relationship building, step outside from the comfort zone,
developing the awareness, etc.
(2) Self-reliance and autonomy; the self-reliant means being able to rely on one’s judgement. The choices and freedom
from these cultural influences. Autonomy also addresses the concept of independence. The counsellee has the right or
freedom of choice and action. He/she can make independent decisions.
(3) Genuiness; a genuine person is more engaged in life’s experience and never feels alone or that life has no purpose. They
should be real, open, honest and sincere. Rogers say that for a person to ‘grow’, they need an environment that provides
them with genuiness (openness and self-disclosure), acceptance (being seen with the unconditional positive regard), and
empathy (being listened to and understood). Open-minded communication or genuine communication should be
established between the counsellor and counsellee.
(4) Spontanity; being spontaneous in thoughts, feeling, and actions means a person shows reduction in rigidity and
defensiveness, cultivating openness to change, novelty and variety of experiences of others and own. spontaneous
behaviour can be defined as a behaviour that is performed without any prior planning, Seltzer explains that being
spontaneous encourages a person to live life in a more flexible way. It allows them to more readily adapt to changing
circumstances.
(5) Self-awareness and being; self-awareness having an objective or clear knowledge about the strengths and areas in need
of growth, within the personality. It allows the counsellor to question his or her thoughts, feelings and areas in need of
growth within the personality. It allows the counsellor to question his or her thoughts, feelings and biases in therapeutic
sessions. Being aware of themselves helps to work creatively and productivity, and it also leads to better decision-
making.
(6) Trust on decision-making; some councillors had the view that counselling should enable counsellee to make decisions.
personal growth is facilitated through the process of making important decisions. Reeves point out that the primary
objective of counselling is that of stimulating the individuals to evaluate, may accept and act upon his choice.
Counselling is mainly to help the client to learn what they needed in choice making, which means the client should
make decisions independently. The counsellee can make decisions independently and also seek help of information
from counsellor for making decisions. Tyler also defines goals of counselling as decision making. When the individual
comes between two choices, counsellors should help them to pick one according to their problems or needs. The
counsellor should understand those problems from the counsellee’s point of view for making decision.
(7) Self and social responsibility; self-concept the ideas and believes that everyone holds about themselves. It is the ways in
which the therapist draw upon their own feelings, experiences or personality to enhance the therapeutic process. The
counsellor should have a clear understanding of their own biases and thoughts that will help them in therapeutic
relationship and avoid harm the client. Social responsibility means the counsellors should make a connection with their
clients in a positive way. Otherwise, they don’t share trust.
(8) Fully functioning person; according to Carl Rogers, one of the long-range goals of counselling is to help the counsellor
to be fully functioning person. reach this goal, even to some extent, a person has to learn “to live here and now” which
means an increasing tendency to live each moment fully, not being apprehensive, or using ready-made methods for
working on future problems of life. This person are capable of expressing their feelings and are fully open to life’s main
experiences. And they can challenge their problems and get away from their problems very easily.
(9) Achieving mature, healthy personality with many positive mental and global health; it is identified as an important goal
of counselling by some individuals who claims that when one gets positive or good mental health, they can easily adjust
with people and situation. Other hold that the prevention of emotional tensions, and other problems is also an
important goal of counselling.
Major goals of counselling generally aceoted bu counsellors are given below;
(1) Relative achievement of positive mental health
(2) Resolution of problems
(3) Improving personal effectiveness
(4) Counselling to help change
(5) Decision making as a goal of counselling
(6) Modification of behavior as a goal
The individuals having good mental health and adjust any person or situation on any time. The counsellor should resolve the
problems of counsellee’s and leads to decision-making. personal effectiveness can be improved through changing the desirable
behaviour and good mental health. According to Bloher, the counselling should maximise individual freedom to choose and act
within the condition imposed by the environment. The counsellee had the right to make decision independently. They can ask
advice from the counsellors to choose from two decisions that will help them to resolve their problems. The counsellors can
change the behavior of the counsellee as an immediate goal to solve their problems.
SKILLS OF AN EFFICIENT COUNSELLOR
(1) Interpersonal skills; competent counsellors are able to demonstrate appropriate listening, communicating, empathy,
presence, awareness of non-verbal communication, sensitivity to voice quality, responsiveness to expressions of
emotion, turn-taking, structuring time, and the use of language.
(2) Personal beliefs and attitudes; capacity to accept others, belief in the potential for change, awareness of ethical and
moral choices. Sensitivity to values held by client and self.
(3) Conceptual ability; the ability to understand and assess the client’s problems, to anticipate future consequences of
actions, to make sense of immediate process in terms of a wider conceptual scheme, to remember information about
the client. Cognitive flexibility. Skill in problem-solving.
(4) Personal ‘soundness’; absence of personal needs or irrational beliefs that are destructive to counselling relationships,
self-confidence, capacity to tolerate strong or uncomfortable feelings in relation to clients, secure personal boundaries,
ability to be a client. Absence of social prejudice, ethnocentrism and authoritarianism.
(5) Mastery of technique; knowledge of when and how to carry out specific interventions, ability to assess the
effectiveness of interventions, understanding of rationale behind techniques, possession of a sufficiently wide repertoire
of interventions.
(6) Ability to understand and work within social systems; including awareness of the family and work relationships of
the client, the impact of the agency on the client, the capacity to use support networks and supervision. Sensitivity to
the social worlds of clients who may be from a different gender, ethnic, sexual orientation or age group.
(7) Openness to learning and inquiry; a capacity to be curious about clients’ backgrounds and problems. Being open to
new knowledge. Using research to inform practice.
The skills of an effective counsellors also include;
(1) Effective counsellors are skillful at reaching out.
(2) Effective counsellors inspire the feeling of trust, credibility, and confidence from people they help.
(3) Effective counsellors communicate caring and respect for the person they’re trying to help.
(4) Effective counsellors are able to reach in as well as to reach out.
(5) Effective counsellors manage conflict between client and counsellor respectively.
(6) Effective counsellors attempt to understand the behavior of the people they’re trying to help without imposing any
value of judgement.
(7) Effective counsellors recognize clients’ self-defeating behavior and help them to develop more personally rewarding
behavior patterns.
(8) Effective counsellors expertise in some ares, i.e., there’ll be of special value to the client.
(9) Effective counsellors are able to reason to think systematically and to think in terms of system.
(10) Effective counsellors are culturally competent, they’re able to understand the social, cultural and political context in
which they act and all others operate.
STAGES OF COUNSELLING
The word process helps to communicate much about the essence of counseling. A process is an identifiable sequence of events
taking place over time. Usually there is the implication of progressive stages in the process.
Counseling also has a predictable set of stages that occur in any complete sequence. Initially, the counselor and the client must
establish contact, define together “where the client is” in his or her life, and clarify the client's current difficulties. If successful,
the client commits to using counseling as a tool for personal growth. This stage is followed by conversation that leads to a
deeper understanding of the client's needs and desires in the context of his or her interpersonal world and to a mutually
acceptable diagnosis of the problems. Finally, the participants agree on goals for change and design and implement action plans
to accomplish the identified goals. When a client comes to a counselor to discuss a concern that is fairly specific and compart-
mentalized (such as which of two job offers to accept), the entire sequence of stages may be accomplished in a single session.
In contrast, when a client comes to a counselor with highly disruptive, distressful, or long-standing concern (such as learning
how to live as a single parent or how to cope with an eating disorder), the stages may be accomplished over many sessions.
Once rapport has been established and in-depth exploration has been undertaken, the participants will define each problem or
issue more fully and develop goals for resolving the problems. Next, the client and counselor devise a plan of action for change
that the client carries out and modifies depending on its success. If new information emerges that changes either the
understanding of the problems or the goals for counseling, the process is adapted to meet these new circumstances.
Research by Michael Lambert and his colleagues (2001, 2002) highlights the importance of the first stage of counseling. Their
work suggests that clients decide in the first three sessions whether they believe that counseling with this particular counselor
will help them reach their goals for change. They make this decision based largely on the effectiveness of the counselor in forging
a therapeutic alliance, in conveying real interest in them as unique people, and in a communication style that eases the difficulty
of discussing painful and sensitive issues. When clients are not positively disposed toward the counselor in the first few sessions,
they are at risk for dropping out of counseling before they reach their goals. Thankfully, this research also reveals that counselors
who are aware that clients are not feeling satisfied with counseling can change their behavior to retain these clients and help
them experience success from counseling.
Initial Disclosure
At the beginning of counseling, the counselor and the client typically do not know one another. Perhaps the client has seen the
counselor in a community education program, a presentation in a residence hall on campus, or a group guidance session at the
high school, but most often in community counseling and mental health agencies, client and counselor have had no contact
prior to the first counseling session. Perhaps the counselor has some basic information about the client collected from an intake
form or a school record. Because neither participant can know in advance the direction their discussion will ultimately take, the
client is probably anxious about disclosing concerns because he or she is not sure how the counselor will receive the disclosures.
Hackney and Cormier (2001) describe two sets of feelings clients have at the beginning of counseling: “I know I need help” and
“I wish I weren't here”.
Their description captures well the fundamental ambivalence clients often feel in their initial encounters with a counselor. One
central task of the counselor in the first stage of counseling is to allay the client’s fears and encourage self-disclosure. Without
honest self-disclosure by the client, counseling is an empty enterprise. Carkhuff (1973) and Egan (2002) both describe attending
as an important counselor behavior at the outset of counseling. Attending is simply paying careful attention to the client’s words
and actions. One demonstrates attending by posture, facial expression, eye contact, and even by the placement of one’s chair
relative to the client. As a part of attending, counselors observe clients’ behavior for indications of content and feeling that may
not be included in their verbal messages. Signs might include fidgeting, tone of voice, flushing of the complexion, changes in
breathing rhythms, failure to maintain eye contact, and so on. It can be included that attending behavior as a part of the initial
disclosure stage of counseling because it begins when the first contact between client and counselor occurs but it remains
important throughout all stages of the counseling process.
In the initial disclosure stage of counseling, based on their expectations for counseling and their perceptions of the receptiveness
of the counselor, clients decide whether to articulate their personal concerns and the context in which they have arisen so that
the counselor can understand the personal meanings and significance the client attaches to them. Older counseling literature
described the first stage as “definition of the problem,” but such terminology fails to describe the essence of the initial disclosure
process and the active decision making of the client about what to disclose. Without a trusting relationship and substantial
disclosure from the client, both of which require time to obtain, counselors will simply not learn enough about the client: to
accurately define any problems.
To encourage client disclosure, the counselor must offer a climate that promotes trust in the client and encourages clients to
put their own resources to use to address the issues they bring to counseling. Carl Rogers (1951) described these trust-promoting
conditions as the characteristics of the helping relationship:

 Empathy, i.e., understanding another's experience as if it were your own, without ever losing the “as if” quality.
 Congruence or genuineness, i.e., being as counsellor seem to be, consistent over time, dependable in the relationship.
 Unconditional positive regard, i.e., caring for client without setting conditions for your caring (avoiding the message
that “I will care about you if you do what I want”).
Only counselors who actually feel empathic, compassionate, and open to their clients will be able to show these qualities to
clients. One cannot take on these qualities as a role to be acted out. To effectively communicate empathy, genuineness, and
caring to the client, the counselor must also learn to respond in words that are meaningful to the client. In other words, both
motivates to help and verbal skill are prerequisites for success. At this stage, the most frequent kind of response is referred to
as restatement, paraphrasing, or interchangeable responding. The counselor keeps the focus of attention on what the client is
saying and on the meaning the client attaches to events in his or her life. When a client says, “when my husband goes out at
night without a word to me about his destination or schedule, I feel as though I want to scream at him,” a typical counselor
response might be “you are very angry about the times when your husband goes out and doesn't tell you where he's going or
when he will be back”. Such a statement tells the client that the content and the feeling of her statement have been heard. If
expressed with appropriate tone, even straightforward restatements can communicate attention to the client and genuine caring
for her difficult situation.
Egan (2002) adds another condition that has relevance throughout the counseling process:

 Concreteness, i.e., using clear language to describe the client's life situation.
It is the counselor's task to sort out ambiguous statements and help the client find descriptions that will accurately portray what
is happening in his or her life. Concreteness promotes clearer insight by the client into his or her life and provides the counselor
with a fuller sense of the uniqueness of the client's experience. The following example contrasts a concrete counselor response
to a client statement with a vague one.
If these conditions are present in the initial disclosure stage of counseling, clients will be encouraged to talk freely and to
elaborate on their concerns. Essentially what counselors are doing when they communicate in these ways is giving clients
permission to use their tendency to active self-improvement in this relationship. Gelso and Carter (1985) refer to this point in
counseling as the establishment of a “working alliance”. In the process, clients don't simply tell the counselor what the problem
is, they begin to clarify the dimensions of life concerns, rethink their problem and its relation to other parts of their lives, and
consider the potential for the counselor to help and support change. In other words, as clients work to try to communicate their
ideas and feelings to another, they also reach greater personal understanding and become aware of possibilities for change in a
problem that seemed insoluble prior to counseling.
In-Depth Exploration
In the second stage of counseling, the client should reach clearer understandings of his or her life concerns and formulate a
stronger sense of hope and direction. It is a useful rubric to think of these emerging goals as the flip side of problems. That is,
as problems are more fully understood, the direction in which the client wishes to move also becomes clearer. At this stage, the
goals are not precisely defined and the means to reach them are still undifferentiated, but an outline of the pattern of desired
change is emerging. The process that facilitates formulation of a new sense of direction builds on the conditions of the initial
disclosure stage and becomes possible only if the trust and client engagement that were built in that first stage are maintained.
But the therapeutic alliance has become less tenuous and fragile than it was at the beginning, so the counselor can use a broader
range of actions and comments without increasing the client's tension beyond tolerable limits. The first stage merges into the
second stage as the client's readiness for deep self-exploration is perceived by the counselor and his or her active engagement
in the process is more visible.
The empathic responses of the counselor now include material from prior sessions and focus more on the client’s awareness of
the unsatisfying nature of old ways of thinking and responding. Such advanced-level empathy statements reassure the client that
the counselor has an understanding of his or her world and provide an impetus for still deeper exploration. They also deepen
the client's awareness of issues previously unconscious and insight into the connection between issues previously experienced
as separate or random. As the relationship becomes more secure, the counselor also begins to share with the client observations
about incompatibilities between his or her goals and current behavior. These statements are usually termed confrontations.
The client is free to accept, reject, or modify the counselor's impression. In fact, effective counselors encourage clients to actively
consider and discuss the “fit” between the counselor’s perception and the client’s awareness. In the process of considering how
to use the counselor’s statement, the client arrives at newly challenged and refined views of self and the counselor clarifies
further his or her impressions of the needs and goals of the client.
Immediacy is another quality of the counselor’s behavior that becomes important in the second stage of counseling. According
to Egan (2002), immediacy can be defined in three distinct ways. First, it can refer to general discussions about the progress of
the counseling relationship. Questions such as “is the counseling process progressing in a way that is satisfactory to you?” fall
into this category. Second, immediacy refers to any statements in which the counselor tells the client some of his or her
immediate reactions to the client's statements or asks the client to disclose current thoughts about the counselor. For instance,
a counselor who says, “I am wondering about your reaction to my comment about your father; you have had difficulty
establishing eye contact with me ever since” or “I get the sense that you were really touched by my concern for your wife’s
illness” is also using an immediacy response. The third kind of immediacy response is a self-involving statement that expresses
the counselor's personal response to a client in the present. “I’m amazed by all you have accomplished in just a few counseling
sessions” is an example of a self-involving response. Such a response often communicates genuineness as well as immediacy.
Immediacy responses often begin with the word I rather than you so as to identify the content with the counselor, not the client.
Immediacy responses can be openly supportive or confrontive. When they are confrontive, counselors monitor the client's
behavior within the counseling session in order to understand how the client characteristically deals with other people and then
shares some of those observations with the client. Here is one example of such an immediacy response: “you seem to be avoiding
a decision and acting helpless. When you do this, I have a tendency to want to make your decisions for you.” If the client then
affirms that this seems to be an accurate observation, it might be followed with a confrontive comment such as “do you suppose
this is what you do with your father, even though you say you wish he would stop trying to tell you what to do?”. Immediacy
responses work best when the therapeutic alliance is strong enough that the client is unlikely to interpret the statements as overly
critical or unduly supportive.
Because the focus of counseling is clearly on the client by the second stage, the counselor may begin sharing bits of his or her
own experience with the client without fear of appearing to oversimplify the client’s problems or seeming to tell the client, “do
as I did.” Incidents in the counselor’s life may be shared if they have direct relevance to the client’s concern. Such self-disclosure
can help to establish a human connection between counselor and client and suggest to the client that he or she is not alone in
facing a particular concern. Although some information about how the counselor coped with a similar situation might be relevant
to the client's solution, the counselor must exercise care in looking for the differences in the client's situation and permitting the
client to use the counselor's experience only if he or she sees clear application.
The second stage of counseling frequently becomes emotionally stressful, because the client must face the inadequacy of habitual
behaviors and must resolve to give up the familiar for the unfamiliar in order to obtain the desired goals. This stressful task is
best accomplished within a caring relationship in which it is clear that the counselor is not criticizing the client’s past behavior.
The thrust is toward helping clients to realize more fully what they find unsatisfying or counterproductive in their responses to
present situations and to gain a sense of what kinds of responses might be more rewarding.
In the second stage, the counselor and client come to a mutually acceptable assessment and diagnosis of the problem(s).
Assessment is a process of information gathering and hypothesis testing that result in a diagnosis of the problem(s) that takes
into account the client's history, life circumstances, and, strengths. The diagnosis is determined primarily through careful analysis
of the issues presented in the counseling session itself, but it often also includes the use of behavioral observations, data from
others connected to the clients, and findings from standardized tests that focus on academic, career, or personality variables.
Once a diagnosis is established, the counselor and client can move on to the third stage, the identification of specific goals for
change, and the selection of action plans to implement those goals. Note that in this part of the process the counselor shares
impressions but does not proclaim a diagnosis arrived at independent of the client's collaboration.
Commitment to Action and Termination
In the third and final stage of counseling, the client must decide how to accomplish any goals that have emerged during the
previous two stages. Concerns have been defined and clarified within the context of the client’s life situation. The client has
considered how his or her own behavior relates to accomplishing the goals that have been identified through the counseling
process. What remains is to decide what, if any, overt actions the client might take to alleviate those problems. If no action is
indicated, then the third stage of counseling can focus on increasing the client's commitment to a view that he or she has done
everything possible or desirable in the given situation. Typically, though, the third stage includes identifying possible alternative
courses of action (or decisions) the client might choose and assessing each of these in terms of the likelihood of outcomes.
Ideally, various courses of action are developed by the client with encouragement from the counselor, although it is acceptable
under most circumstances for the counselor to suggest possibilities the client may have overlooked. Possible courses of action
and the related outcomes are evaluated in terms of the goals the client wants to attain and the client's value system. Once an
action plan is chosen, the client usually tries some new behaviors while remaining in touch with the counselor. Together,
counselor and client monitor the initial steps of the change process. Often the client needs to be reinforced to behave in new
ways, both because the old behaviors are habitual and because new behaviors may not bring about immediate results. Particularly
when the goals involve improving interpersonal relationships, the other parties usually do not respond instantly to the client's
new behavior, and this can be discouraging. If the client decides that no new action is needed, the decision may be that “I don't
need to let myself get so upset by the behavior of another”. In such an instance, the reinforcement process supports the client's
ability to manage emotions better when "red flag" experiences occur.
To summarize, the third stage is a decision-making and action time. The client considers possible actions and then chooses
some to try out, the counselor gives support for trying new behaviors and helps the client evaluate the effectiveness of new
behaviors or new conceptions of reality as they may relate to the reduction of stress. When the client is satisfied that the new
behaviors or the new constructs are working satisfactorily, counseling is finished.
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Most counseling sessions last approximately 50 minutes. A counseling session is therefore sometimes referred to as the 50-
minute hour. What actually takes place in a session depends on the client’s needs and the counselor’s personal approach to
counseling. Although there is some variation during a session, most counseling approaches have a basic structure in common.
As described by Cormier and Hackney (1993), it is a five-stage process: relationship building, assessment, goal setting,
interventions, and termination and follow-up. These stages have been expanded into the following six-stage model of the
counseling process: (1) relationship building; (2) assessment and diagnosis; (3) formulation of counseling goals; (4) ntervention
and problem-solving; (5) termination and follow-up; (6) research and evaluation.
A typical counseling session can involve each of the first four stages. The focus of counseling may shift as the counseling
process progresses over time. For example, during the first few sessions with a client, a counselor may place the primary
emphasis on building a positive counseling relationship, assessment and diagnosis, and formulating counseling goals. During
the later phase of the counseling process, the counselor may shift the emphasis to intervention and problem solving, termination
and follow-up, and research and evaluation. A more complete description of these six stages follows.
Relationship Building
The counseling relationship is the heart of the counseling process. It supplies the vitality and the support necessary for
counseling to work, and it is the critical factor associated with successful outcomes in counseling. Although there appears to be
a general consensus that the counseling relationship is important, it is less clear to what degree and in what way. Research efforts
on these issues can be grouped into two general categories: counselor-offered conditions and counselor-and-client-offered
conditions. Counselor-offered conditions are those relating to how the counselor influences the counseling process. The
majority of the literature on the counseling relationship has focused on the core conditions for effective counseling and the
social influence model.
Core conditions; Rogers (1957) identified what he believed were core conditions for successful counseling: empathic
understanding, unconditional positive regard, and congruence. Rogers (1957) suggested that these core conditions were
necessary and sufficient for constructive personality change to occur and that no other conditions were necessary. Later,
Carkhuff (1969, 1971) expanded the core conditions to include respect, immediacy, confrontation, concreteness, and self-
disclosure. Carkhuff also pioneered the development of listening skills that could be used to promote these core conditions.

Empathy is considered the most important core condition in terms of promoting positive outcomes. Gelso and Fretz (2001)
observe that virtually all major schools of counseling recognize the importance of empathy in the counseling process. Egan
(2002) describes empathic understanding as a process that involves listening, understanding, and communicating that
understanding to the client. Rogers emphasizes the experiential nature of empathy. He vigorously rejects mechanistic
explanations of empathy that focus on techniques such as reflection of feeling. According to Rogers, empathy involves entering
into and experiencing the client’s phenomenological world. It is an active, immediate, and ongoing process in which the
counselor becomes aware of the client’s feelings, experiences those feelings, and creates a mirror through which clients can
explore and discover deeper meanings associated with their feelings. Empathic understanding can be understood as a multistage
process consisting of different types of empathy. Gladstein (1983) identifies the following stages of empathy: the counselor has
an emotional reaction to the client’s situation, the counselor attempts to understand the client’s situation from the client’s
perspective, the counselor communicates empathy to the client, and the client feels a sense of caring and understanding from
the counselor. Several kinds of empathy have also been identified, for example, primary and advanced empathy. Egan describes
primary empathy as a process that involves the counselor attending, listening, and communicating accurate perceptions of the
client’s messages. Advanced empathy involves the characteristics associated with primary empathy as well as utilizing the skills
of self-disclosure, directives, or interpretations.
Unconditional positive regard involves the counselor communicating to clients that they’re of value and worthy as individuals.
This concept has been referred to by several other terms, including non-possessive warmth, acceptance, prizing, respect, and
regard. Some controversy has arisen regarding the core condition of unconditional positive regard. Gelso and Fretz (2001), for
example, contend that this concept is neither desirable nor obtainable. Martin (1989) counters by suggesting that the concept
has been misunderstood. According to Martin, unconditional positive regard does not imply that the counselor reacts
permissively, accepting all the client’s behavior. Instead, it means that the counselor’s unconditional positive regard involves
acceptance of the client while setting limits on certain behaviors.
Congruence involves counselors behaving in a manner consistent with how they think and feel. This condition has also been
referred to as genuineness. An example of not functioning congruently is a counselor who says “I’m glad to see you” when a
client arrives for an appointment, even though the counselor does not like the client.
Respect is similar to unconditional positive regard in that it focuses on the positive attributes of the client. Counselors can
communicate respect by making positive statements about the client and openly and honestly acknowledging, appreciating, and
tolerating individual differences.
Immediacy Carkhuff (1969, 1971) developed the concept of immediacy, which is similar to Ivey’s (1971) notion of direct,
mutual communication. Immediacy involves communication between the counselor and client that focuses on the here-and-
now. It allows the counselor to directly address issues of importance to the counseling relationship. Immediacy can involve
counselors describing how they feel in relation to the client in the moment. For example, if a client does not appear interested
in counseling, the counselor might say,“I’m getting concerned that you’re not finding our sessions meaningful. How are you
feeling about what is going on in counseling now?”.
Confrontation the core condition of confrontation involves the counselor pointing out discrepancies in what a client is saying.
There can be discrepancies between what the client is saying and doing, between statements and non-verbal behavior, and
between how clients see themselves versus how the counselor sees them. Confrontation is a difficult and risky counseling
technique that is used most effectively by high-functioning counselors. It can have a negative effect on the counseling process,
for example, when a client misreads the confrontation and feels attacked or rejected by the counselor.
Concreteness refers to the counselor helping clients discuss their concerns in specific terms. Clients can feel overwhelmed with
their problems and have difficulty putting things into perspective. When this occurs, concreteness can help the counselor create
a focus for the client in the counseling process.
Self-Disclosure Jourard (1958) developed the concept of self-disclosure, which involves making the self-known to another.
Danish, D’Augelli, and Brock (1976) differentiate two types of self-disclosure statements: self-disclosing and self-involving. In
self-disclosing statements, counselors disclose factual information about themselves. In self-involving statements, counselors
describe what they are experiencing in relation to the client in the counseling process.
In the counselor-and-client-offered conditions, the concept of a working alliance is another way to describe the counseling
relationship. It goes beyond focusing on counsellor-offered conditions to include both counselor-and-client-offered conditions.
Bordin (1979) suggests that the working alliance is composed of three parts: agreement between the counselor and client in
terms of the goals of counseling, agreement between the counselor and client in terms of the tasks of counseling, and the
emotional bond between the counselor and client.
Assessment and Diagnosis
Assessment and diagnosis contribute to several important aspects of the counseling process. They can help a counselor develop
an in-depth understanding of a client and identify mental disorders that require attention. This understanding can facilitate goal
setting and also suggest types of intervention strategies. Assessment procedures can be divided into standardized and non-
standardized measures. Standardized measures include psychological tests that have a standardized norm group. Non-
standardized measures do not have a standardized norm group and include strategies such as the clinical interview and
assessment of life history. Diagnosis is a medical term that means “identification of the disease-causing pathogens responsible
for a physical illness”. Rosenhan and Seligman (1995) identify four reasons for making a diagnosis: facilitating communication
shorthand, indicating possible treatment strategies, communicating etiology, and aiding in scientific investigation.
Formulation of Counseling Goals
Goals serve three functions in the counseling process: motivational, educational, and evaluative. First, goals can have a
motivational function, especially when clients are involved in establishing the goals. Clients appear to work harder on goals they
help create. They may also be more motivated when they have specific, concrete goals to work toward, which can help clients
focus their energy on specific issues. It is also important for counselors to encourage clients to make a verbal commitment to
work on a specific counseling goal. Clients tend to be more motivated to work when they have made a commitment to do so.
The second function of a counseling goal is educational. From this perspective, clients can learn new skills and behaviors that
they can use to enhance their functioning. For example, a counseling goal might be to become more assertive. During
assertiveness training, clients can learn skills to enhance their functioning in interpersonal situations. The third function of a
counseling goal is evaluative. Clear goals give the counselor and client an opportunity to evaluate progress. Goals can also be
useful in implementing research strategies, and they provide a means to assess counselor accountability.
The counsellors can also conceptualize counseling goals as either process or outcome goals. Process goals establish the
conditions necessary to make the counseling process work. These goals relate to the issues of formulating a positive relationship
by promoting the core conditions, as described earlier in this chapter. Process goals are primarily the counselor’s responsibility.
Outcome goals specify what the client hopes to accomplish in counseling. The counselor and client should agree on these goals
and modify them as necessary.
George and Cristiani (1995) identify five types of outcome goals: facilitating behavior change, enhancing coping skills, promoting
decision making, improving relationships, and facilitating the client’s potential.
(1) Facilitating behavior change; some form of behavior change is usually necessary for clients to resolve their concerns.
The amount of change necessary varies from client to client. For example, one client might need counseling to learn
how to deal effectively with a child, whereas another might require psychotherapy to change an unhealthy, stressful
lifestyle.
(2) Enhancing coping skills; Erikson (1968) identified several developmental tasks and associated coping mechanisms
unique to the various stages of development. Blocher (1974) later created a developmental counseling approach that
identified coping skills necessary to proceed through the life span. For example, intimacy and commitment are
developmental tasks of young adulthood. Coping behaviors necessary to meet these developmental tasks include
appropriate sexual behavior, risk-taking behavior, and value-consistent behavior such as giving and helping. In more
general terms, many clients may require help coping with life. They may have problems dealing with stress, anxiety, or
a dysfunctional lifestyle. In these situations, clients may benefit from a stress management program that includes
relaxation, meditation, and exercise.
(3) Promoting decision making; some clients have difficulty making decisions. They may feel that no matter what they
decide, it will be wrong. They may even think they are “going crazy.” Difficulty making decisions is often a normal
reaction to a stressful life situation such as a recent divorce. In these situations, the counselor may want to reassure
clients that they are not going crazy. Helping clients feel normal can encourage them and alleviate unnecessary worry.
For clients who need help developing decision-making skills, the counselor may wish to take a more active role. It may
be appropriate to involve family members if the client is suffering from a serious mental disorder, such as an organic
brain syndrome.
(4) Improving relationships; Adler (1964) once suggested that the barometer of mental health is social interest. He believed
that a person who did not have a close relationship with anyone was at risk for mental problems. Glasser (1965) noted
that all people need one or more reciprocal relationships in which they feel loved and understood and experience a
sense of caring. Counselors can use a variety of counseling strategies to help clients improve their interpersonal relations.
These strategies include social-skill training programs, group counseling that focuses on interpersonal relations, couples
therapy, and marital therapy.
(5) Facilitating the client’s potential; goals in this category are more abstract and relate to the concepts of self-realization
and self-actualization. Self-realization implies helping clients become all they can be as they maximize their creative
potential. Roadblocks to self-realization require the counselor’s attention. For example, clients may become discouraged
and want to quit at the first sign of failure. In these instances, the counselor can help clients gain a more realistic
understanding of what is required to be successful. Self-actualization, a concept developed by Abraham Maslow (1968),
relates to the need to fulfill one’s potential. He believed that as people’s basic needs are met, they will move toward
self-actualization. Rogers (1981) incorporated the concept of self-actualization into his person-centered counseling
approach. He believed that if the counselor establishes certain conditions, such as communicating nonpossessive
warmth, unconditional positive regard, and empathy, then the client can move toward self-actualization and become a
healthy, integrated person.
Intervention and Problem Solving
Once the counselor and client have formulated a counseling goal, they can determine what intervention strategy to implement.
They may choose from a variety of interventions, including individual, group, couples, and family counseling. It may be best to
begin with individual counseling for clients with problems of an intrapersonal nature. As clients become more secure, they may
be able to benefit from the open dialogue that often characterizes group counseling. Couples or family counseling may be more
appropriate for clients with difficulties of an interpersonal nature, as in a marital or parent-child conflict. Involving clients in the
process of selecting intervention strategies has some advantages. For example, Devine and Fernald (1973) noted that this
approach can help counselors avoid using strategies that a client has already tried without apparent success. Instead, the
counselor and client together can select a strategy that seems realistic in terms of its strengths and weaknesses.
The following guidelines, derived by Cormier and Cormier (1998), encourage client involvement in selecting the appropriate
intervention strategy: (a) the counselor should provide an overview of the different treatment approaches available; (b) describe
the role of the counselor and client for each procedure; (c) identify possible risks and benefits that may result, and; (d) estimate
the time and cost of each procedure. In addition, it is important for the counselor to be sensitive to client characteristics, such
as values, beliefs and multicultural issues, when selecting an intervention strategy.
Counselors should also be aware of a client’s personal strengths and weaknesses in selecting a counseling approach. For example,
counselors should determine whether a client has the necessary self-control or ego strength to utilize a counseling strategy.
Smith’s (2006) Strengths-Based Counseling model suggests that instilling hope and optimism are believed to be vital aspects of
the counseling process and act as a buffer to mental illness. In addition, counselors can promote strengths by fostering resilience,
encouragement, and empowerment.
Several problem-solving approaches can be used in the counseling process. Kanfer and Busemeyer’s six-stage model include;
(a) problem detection, (b) problem definition, (c) identification of alternative solutions, (d) decision making, (e) execution, and
(f) verification. This model is a behaviorally oriented approach that involves describing a particular problem in behavioral terms,
identifying possible solutions associated with the problem, deciding on a course of action relative to the various alternative
solutions, implementing the decision, and verifying whether the outcome is consistent with the expected outcome.
Termination and Follow-Up
Perhaps the ultimate goal in counseling is counselors becoming obsolete or unnecessary to their clients, which can occur when
clients have worked through their concerns and are able to move forward in their lives without the counselor’s assistance. At
this point, counseling can be terminated. It is usually best for the counselor and client to agree on a termination date, reducing
the chance of premature termination or feelings of ambivalence. Research has identified four components of termination that
are associated with positive outcomes in the counseling process. These components are discussion of the end of counseling,
review of the course of counseling, closure of the counsellor-client relationship, and discussion of the client’s future
postcounseling plans. Based on the literature, it is clear that counselors should attempt to address all four components to prepare
clients appropriately for termination. In this process, clients can explore what they have learned in counseling and identify how
they will apply that knowledge to enhance their psychological functioning. In addition, clients and counselors can process their
feelings regarding the counseling relationship and work toward closure regarding potential affective issues. Counselors can also
arrange a brief follow-up counseling session (e.g., several weeks after the last formal session) to see how the client is doing and
provide additional counseling services as necessary.
Research and Evaluation
Research and evaluation can occur at any time during the counseling process or after termination. Some behavioral approaches
utilize single-case or small-group research designs that require counselors to evaluate counseling whenever they implement an
intervention strategy. These research procedures involve face-to-face interaction between the counselor and client. Other
research procedures, which may or may not involve direct interaction between counselor and client, are empirical research
involving hypothesis testing and alternative methodologies, such as the discovery approach. These procedures may be used
before or after a client has terminated. Research and evaluation are an integral part of the counseling process. They contribute
to the science dimension of counseling by promoting an objective understanding of what is occurring. Counselors can also use
research and evaluation to communicate accountability.
CURRENT TRENDS IN THE NEW MILLENNIUM
Counseling is ever changing that emphases on certain topics, issues, and concerns at the beginning of the 21st century would
most likely change with the needs of clients and society. The changing roles of men and women, innovations in media and
technology, poverty, homelessness, trauma, loneliness, and aging, among other topics, captured counseling’s attention as the
new century began. Among the most pressing topics were dealing with accreditation of counseling programs and strengthening
counselors’ credentials; dealing with violence, trauma, and crises; meeting the challenge of managed care; promoting wellness; a
concern for social justice and advocacy; greater emphasis on technology; leadership; strengthening identity; the
internationalization of counseling; licensure portability; and uniformity of counselor education standards.
Accreditation of counseling programs and strengthening counselors’ credentials; accreditation of counselor education
programs started with the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES) and their recognition in the late 1970s
of four counselor education programs nationwide as meeting what they considered the highest standard. However, accreditation
quickly was transferred to a new national group affiliated with the American Personnel and Guidance Association (now the
American Counseling Association), the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Education Programs (CACREP)
in 1981. Since that time CACREP has drawn up and revised standards for the profession of counseling, and more than half of
the colleges and universities that offer counseling education programs have met CACREP standards. Before CACREP came
into existence, another counseling-related accrediting body was formed: CORE (Council on Rehabilitation Counseling). Smaller
in scope and more specialized, CORE coexisted with CACREP until 2013. Then the two entities signed an affiliation agreement,
which later turned into a Plan for Merger in 2017. Beginning July 1, 2017, CACREP began carrying on the mission of both
organizations. At the same time the two accrediting bodies for counseling were merging, other activities within the profession
of counseling were strengthening counselor professionals’ credentials. The National Board for Certified Counselors announced
that after the year 2020 it would no longer certify applicants who did not graduate from a CACREP-approved program for the
National Certified Counselor (NCC) credential.
Dealing with violence, trauma, and crises; conflict is a part of most societies, even those that are predominantly peaceful. It
occurs “when a person perceives another to be interfering or obstructing progress toward meeting important needs”. Violence
results when one or more parties address conflict in terms of win-lose tactics. Many acts signaled the beginning of an active and
new emphasis in counseling on preparing and responding to trauma and tragedies such as those associated with Hurricane
Katrina, the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, and the Virginia Tech shootings. Within this new emphasis is a practical focus, such as
developing crisis plans and strategies for working with different age groups from young children to the elderly in order to
provide psychological first aid and facilitate the grieving and healing process.
Trauma is a normal response to a very abnormal situation. “Natural disasters, ongoing wars, terrorist attacks, plane crashes,
school violence and abuse are among the most widely recognized causes of trauma.... trauma can also stem from events that
don’t necessarily make the national news”. Indeed, there are the tragedies of daily life, auto accidents, or the sudden loss of
family members, friends, classmates, or co-workers that have a traumatic effect on individuals as profound as any major
occurrence in the world. These events and the people who experience them are those with whom counselors interact with most.
Some of the signs and symptoms associated with trauma-induced stress include sleep disturbance, emotional instability, impaired
concentration, and an inability to perform routine and regular daily tasks. However, not all signs of trauma are visible.
Nevertheless, early intervention for trauma survivors should emphasize helping them to connect with natural social support
systems and resources that are available to them in their communities. In the area of dealing with trauma, a renewed emphasis
has been focused in recent years on the treatment of stress and both acute stress disorder (ASD) and post-traumatic stress
disorder (PTSD). Both ASD and PTSD develop as a result of being exposed to a traumatic event involving actual or threatened
injury (American Psychiatric Association, 1994).
Threats are associated with intense fear, helplessness, or horror. ASD is more transient; people develop symptoms within about
4 weeks of a situation and resolve them within about another 4 weeks. However, PTSD differs in that whereas, except in cases
of delayed onset, symptoms occur within about a month of an incident, they may last for months or years if not treated. People
who develop PTSD may display a number of symptoms including reexperiencing the traumatic event again through flashbacks,
avoidance of trauma-related activities, and emotional numbing plus other disorders such as substance abuse, obsessive-
compulsive disorders, and panic disorders.
Counselors who are employed in the area of working with ASD or PTSD clients need specialized training to help these
individuals. Crises often last in people’s minds long after the events that produced them. Crisis counseling as well as long-term
counseling services are often needed, especially with individuals who have PTSD.
Challenge of managed care; managed care involves a contractual arrangement between a mental health professional and a
third party, the managed care company, regarding the care and treatment of the first party, the client. Managed care is and will
be a major concern to counselors during the 21st century and indeed has already become the new gatekeeper for mental health
practice. There are only a few dominant companies in the managed care business, but their influence is tremendous. They
determine how health care providers, including counselors, deliver services and what rights and recourses consumers have.
Managed care arrangements often require clients first to see a gatekeeper physician before they can be referred to a specialist
such as a counselor. This restriction, along with limited financial reimbursement, and limitations on sessions allowed under
managed care has had mixed results. Managed care has advanced the counseling profession by including counselors on both
managed care boards and as providers of services. However, managed care has also had a negative impact on the profession. As
a group, counselors have not been well compensated under most managed care arrangements. Client consumers have often
been limited in getting the services they need. Likewise, counselors have been frustrated in being able to offer adequate treatment
or be seated on managed care boards. In addition, managed care companies have shifted the focus of treatment from treatment
that was relationship based, such as counseling, to treatment that is more medication-only based even though the research does
not support such an emphasis.
Finally, there are ethical concerns in managed care services offered by counselors to clients. These concerns are around issues
like informed consent, confidentiality, maintaining records, competence, integrity, human welfare, conflict of interest, and
conditions of employment. The challenge for counselors in the future is to find ways to either work more effectively with
managed care companies or work outside such companies and still be major players in the mental health arena. If counselors
stay with managed care services, it will become increasingly important for them to be on managed care provider boards, for it
is these boards that will ultimately determine who is credentialed and for what with managed care organizations. Regardless, it
will be essential for counselors to attain a national provider number if they are to maintain flexibility in the services they provide.
Promoting wellness; in recent years, the idea of promoting wellness within the counseling profession has grown. Wellness
involves many aspects of life including the physical, intellectual, social, psychological, emotional, and environmental. Myers,
Sweeney, and Witmer (2000) define wellness as a way of life oriented toward optimal health and well-being in which body, mind,
and spirit are integrated by the individual to live life more fully within the human and natural community. A model for promoting
wellness has been developed by Myers et al. (2000). It revolves around five life tasks: spirituality, self-direction, work and leisure,
friendship, and love. Some of these tasks, such as self-direction, are further subdivided into a number of subtasks, such as sense
of worth, sense of control, problem solving and creativity, sense of humor, and self-care. The premise of this model is that
healthy functioning occurs on a developmental continuum that is interactive, and healthy behaviors at one point in life affect
subsequent development and functioning as well. There is still debate over the exact definition of wellness and how it is
measured. However, it appears that wellness will be one of the major emphases within counseling in the 21st century because
of the counseling profession’s focus on health and well-being as a developmental aspect of life.
Concern for social justice and advocacy; early pioneers in what evolved to be counseling were interested in the welfare of
people in society. Therefore, it is not surprising that counselors of today are drawn to social justice causes and to advocacy.
Social justice “reflects a fundamental valuing of fairness and equity in resources, rights, and treatment for marginalized
individuals and groups of people who do not share the power in society because of their immigration, racial, ethnic, age,
socioeconomic, religious heritage, physical abilities, or sexual orientation status groups”. Major elements of a social justice
approach include “helping clients identify and challenge environmental limits to their success,” “challenging systematic forms
of oppression through counselor social action,” and “liberating clients from oppressive social practices”. Social justice also helps
counselors become more attuned to social injustices and thereby work with clients in a more sensitive and just manner. Among
the active involvement actions counselors are taking in social justice causes now are advocacy, along with community outreach
and public policy making.
Advocacy involves “helping clients challenge institutional and social barriers that impede academic, career, or personal-social
development”. The purpose is to “increase a client’s sense of personal power and to foster socio-political changes that reflect
greater responsiveness to the client’s personal needs”. In order to be effective as an advocate, counselors need to have “the
capacity for commitment and an appreciation of human suffering; nonverbal and verbal communications skills; the ability to
maintain a multi-systems perspective”; individual, group, and organizational intervention skills; “knowledge and use of the
media, technology, and the Internet; and assessment and research skills”. Advocates must also be socially smart, knowing
themselves, others, and the systems around them. Likewise, they must know when to be diplomatic as well as confrontational.
In addition, they must have a knowledge and passion for the cause or causes they advocate for and be willing to be flexible and
compromise to obtain realistic goals.
Greater emphasis on technology; technology use has grown rapidly in counseling. What once was considered promising has
now become reality, and technology “is having a profound impact on almost every aspect of life including education, business,
science, religion, government, medicine, and agriculture”. For example, technology, particularly the internet, is now a major tool
for career planning. Initially, technology was used in counseling to facilitate record keeping, manipulate data, and do word
processing. More attention is now being placed on factors affecting technology and client interaction, especially on the internet
and on telephones.
Listservs and bulletin board systems (BBSs) have become especially popular for posting messages and encouraging dialogue
between counselors. One of the most popular listservs in counseling, at least among counselor educators, is CESNet. E-mail is
also used in counselor-to-counselor interactions as well as counselor-to-client conversations. Websites are maintained by
counseling organizations, counselor education programs, and individual counselors.
Cyber counseling, the practice of professional counseling and information delivery through electronic means, usually the
internet, when clients and counselors are in separate or remote locations, is growing as a modality by which counseling services
are delivered. It is a phenomenon occurring worldwide.
Leadership; with the rapid changes in society and counseling, there is an increased need for counselors to develop their
leadership and planning skills. By so doing, they become a more positive and potent force in society. Although many counseling
skills can be readily applied to effective leadership such as empathy, group processing, and goal setting, other “specific leadership
practices, such as completing performance reviews, communicating compensation philosophies and practices, and addressing
colleagues’ performance problems”. Therefore, counselors are particularly challenged in agencies and schools to move beyond
clinical supervision and into managerial leadership roles. In such roles they influence “a group of individuals to achieve a goal”.
Managerial leadership is an important topic in counseling because there is considerable evidence that “it makes a difference in
an organization’s performance”.
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The counselling covers trends in research, ethics, multicultural counseling, managed mental health services, empirically
supported treatment, brief-solution-focused counseling, mental disorders, post-modernism, spirituality, cybercounseling,
technology, and problematic-impaired students.
Research; Gelso and Fassinger (1990) have provided a comprehensive review of the counseling research conducted during the
1980s. They noted that the decade was characterized by increased interest in alternative research methodologies that incorporate
more field-based and fewer laboratory-based designs. They suggested that the interest in alternative research designs would
continue, along with “a trend toward the use of more refined methodological strategies and, in particular, advanced statistical
procedures”. The scientist-practitioner model of counseling, which emphasizes the importance of clinicians integrating research
into their clinical practice, seems to be increasingly unpopular. This separation of science from practice does not appear to have
arisen from a lack of interest by practitioners, but rather from the opinion that current research tends to be of little use or
relevance to the day-to-day practice of counselors. Maling and Howard (1994) suggest that the statistical abstractions associated
with quantitative research are of little use to counselors who are struggling with the individualized issues of clients. Alternative
(qualitative) research methodologies, however, are attracting increasing interest. These tend to focus on the use of interviews to
discover with the subject (client) clinically relevant information (a process that parallels counseling). More recently, mixed-
methods research designs have emerged as an attempt to integrate quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. Mixed-
methods designs allow data to be gathered and analyzed from a variety of perspectives, expanding the horizons of scientific
inquiry. Mixed-methods designs recognize the value of both the objective and subjective dimensions, thereby reflecting the
concept of counseling as an art and a science that is advocated in this text. Clearly, mixed-method designs will play a major role
in the evolution of counseling research.
Ethical-legal issues; Lawrence and Kurpius (2000) note that ethical–legal issues regarding counseling minors are an emerging
area of concern. Counseling children and adolescents is a specialty that requires unique competencies, such as ethical-legal
decision making in clinical practice. Ethical-legal issues relating to informed consent, confidentiality, and the reporting of child
abuse and neglect raise particular challenges for counselors. For example, with some exceptions, parents typically must provide
informed consent for minors to receive counseling. Some states allow minors to obtain counseling without their parents’
permission when seeking counseling for substance abuse or decisions regarding pregnancy. Confidentiality also becomes a
unique issue when counseling minors, and the rules vary according to federal and state laws, settings, and ethical codes. It is
important for counselors to be aware of this information to determine the rights parents and minors have to confidential
information and how these issues impact the counseling process.
Multicultural counselling; can be considered the fourth force in psychology, following the psychodynamic, existential-
humanistic, and cognitive-behavioral perspectives. The multicultural counseling movement is directed at reconceptualizing
traditional counseling theory and practice. In this regard, Sue et al. (1996) argues that “current theories of counseling do not
adequately address issues of diversity and must therefore be expanded to include a multicultural perspective”. D’Andrea and
Foster Heckman (2008) noted that multicultural counseling has currently become the centre piece of the counseling profession.
Multicultural competencies have been identified that are associated with a wide range of counsellor-client variables, including
the counselor’s self-awareness and cultural knowledge and culturally sensitive counselor interventions. Multicultural
competencies have generated different perspectives on their relevance to clinical practice. D’Andrea and Heckman (2008) noted
there were not any multicultural outcome studies that included competencies as an independent variable. Additional research
on multicultural competencies appears warranted.
Managed care for mental health services; began in the late 1980s and continues as a major part of contemporary health care.
Managed care focuses on managing care rather than managing benefits and typically involves health maintenance organizations
(HMOs), managed mental health care organizations (MMHCOs), independent provider organizations (IPOs), and employer
assistance programs (EAPs). It is becoming increasingly important for mental health practitioners to affiliate themselves with
these organizations in order to become part of the health care system and be able to provide services. Some major concerns
about the managed-care movement include the reduced number of visits (usually three to seven sessions), problems with
confidentiality, depersonalization, the questionable training of those screening for mental health problems, and restrictions on
the choice of mental health providers. Rupert and Baird’s (2004) study of the impact of managed care on the independent
practice of psychology shows that managed care is a source of stress for practitioners, especially in terms of paperwork and
external constraints, such as reimbursement issues. The degree of involvement with managed care is also related to stress and
burnout, with those highly involved in managed care being at risk for stress-related burnout.
Empirically supported treatments; Norcross and Hill (2003) have noted an international movement in the health care
professions toward empirically supported treatments (EST). Managed-care organizations have recognized the merits of
empirically supported interventions as a means of identifying approved treatment protocols associated with specific diagnostic
conditions. The APA Division of Clinical Psychology attempted to identify ESTs that are effective with certain mental health
disorders and to communicate this information to the public and members of the helping professions, but there has been
considerable debate regarding what constitutes evidence of effective treatment. As a result, numerous models have evolved to
evaluate treatment modalities. For example, Wampold et al. (2002) identified seven principles that could be used to review
evidence of empirically supported interventions. Chwalisz (2003) suggested that evaluation of EST should be expanded to
include consideration of philosophical, political, and social issues. Norcross and Hill (2003), noted that the EST movement does
not consider personal factors such as client characteristics and the nature of the therapeutic relationship that can have an
important influence on therapeutic outcomes. Murray (2009) suggested that information regarding EST needs to be
communicated to clinicians in a manner that is more clinician friendly (e.g., easy to access, understand, and apply). Murray also
suggested that additional emphasis in applied research within counselor education programs could also be provided. EST
appears to hold much promise for mental health services. It can promote accountability and provide a recognized protocol for
research and the development of mental health treatments. Future research strategies regarding EST could include consideration
of human factors such as the counseling relationship.
Positive psychology; emphasizes the role of strengths and positive emotions such as happiness, hope, flow, and forgiveness
on well-being. It represents a shift in emphasis from pathology to wellness, from problems to solutions. Harris et al. (2007)
recommend that counselors consider positive psychology when formulating counseling goals. They also encourage counselors
to use the language of strengths and solutions when formulating interventions (e.g., asking a child “what will your teacher say
about you, when you turn in your assignments on time?”). Postmodern perspectives such as narrative psychology work well
with positive psychology in terms of promoting self-fulfilling prophecies of success.
Brief-solution-focused counselling; the brief-solution-focused counselling movement appears to be gaining significant
momentum. The pressures of budgetary and time constraints and the shift toward managed care have contributed to the
increased interest. Many of the major counseling theories are being reinterpreted from a brief-counseling perspective. In
addition, some brief-counseling models have focused on problem solving, while others are solution-focused. Brief-counseling
models provide opportunities to reconceptualize counseling theories from a strength perspective. There is little doubt that the
trends toward brief-solution-focused counseling and positive psychology will play a major role in the future of counseling.
Mental disorders; Yager (1989) and Pincus et al. (1989) made projections about the impact of advances in science on the
diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. Their projections continue to accurately predict future trends. A summary of their
predictions follows.

 Genetics will play an increasingly important role in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. For example,
scientists could use genetic engineering to alter the gene structure to prevent or treat mental disorders, and clinicians
will be able to identify children who are at risk of developing mental disorders.
 Neurobiologists will gain a more complete understanding of the role of neurotransmitters, or agents that facilitate
communication between neurons, in the development and treatment of mental disorders.
 Psychopharmacology researchers will develop more effective medications with fewer unwanted side effects to treat
mental disorders. Scientists will also develop new medications that will successfully treat mental disorders previously
unresponsive to medication. Examples are substance abuse disorders, including alcoholism, personality disorders, and
sexual disorders.
 Sociobiologists will identify factors that trigger the onset of mental disorders.
 Advances in computer technology and software will enable clinicians to make better use of computers in the diagnosis
and treatment of mental disorders.
Postmodernism; it continues to influence the evolution of counseling theory, research, and practice. Postmodernism recognizes
that truth, knowledge, and reality are reflected contextually in terms of social, political, cultural, and other forces that can have
an impact on personal experience. Postmodernism therefore appears to offer opportunities for integrating diversity issues, such
as the role of culture and economic forces, into mental health and counseling. Postmodernism is also associated with an evolving
view of the self. It suggests a movement away from the autonomous, integral self to a social-community self that extends beyond
the individual to all aspects of society. Postmodern trends are associated with the emergence of two psychological theories
(constructivism and social constructionism) that could have major implications for reconceptualizing the counseling process.
Constructivism emphasizes the role of cognition in interpreting external events, whereas social constructionism stresses the
impact of social forces in constructing reality. Both theories recognize the role that narratives play in creating stories that
individuals utilize in defining personal meaning in life. Postmodern trends appear to offer multiple opportunities for theory
building, especially in terms of incorporating diversity issues into counseling. The implications of these new trends must be
carefully investigated through research to determine their usefulness.
Spirituality; the recognition of spirituality in counseling is an emerging trend in counseling. A number of factors are contributing
to the increased interest in the spiritual domain of counseling. Spirituality can be conceptualized as a universal human quality
reflected in the search for meaning in existence. Spirituality and religion are interrelated, with religion providing the structure
within which spirituality can be expressed. Given that spirituality is a widespread phenomenon, counselors are recognizing its
potential importance to the counseling process. Spirituality can be an important force in all phases of the counseling process,
from establishing a relationship through assessment, goal setting, and treatment. The spiritual perspective is also consistent with
the movement toward brief-solution-focused counseling from the point of view of utilizing strengths. For example, it is common
for people to turn to prayer and other forms of spirituality during times of great need to gain strength and support to promote
recovery and healing. The counseling literature provides empirical support for considering the spiritual domain in counseling.
Many clients are indicating that they cannot be effectively helped unless their spiritual issues are addressed sensitively and
capably. In addition, there is increasing evidence to suggest that spiritual health plays an important role in physical and
psychological health and well-being. Studies such as these appear to be giving spirituality the scientific credibility that will help
propel it into the mainstream of counseling.
Cyber-counseling; the counseling on the internet is becoming an increasingly popular means of providing counseling services.
Cybercounseling can take many forms but often involves counselors creating Web sites like Psych Central. Counseling on these
sites is done with e-mail and typically involves clients submitting questions of up to 200 words to the counselor and the counselor
responding to the client in 1 to 3 days. Haley (2005) identified a number of emerging forms of cybercounseling, including;

 E-mail counselling; the counselor and client use e-mail as a forum for counseling.
  Bulletin board counselling; the clients post questions on a bulletin board, typically using pseudonyms such as “Goofy”
to ensure confidentiality. A mental health professional then posts a response that is visible to all users.
 Chat room counselling; the clients and counselors engage in real-time (synchronous) communication over the internet
in a chat room.
 Web-telephony counselling; the client and counselor use a microphone and speakers to talk over the internet (e.g., while
in a chat room).
 Computer-assisted or stimulated counselling; the computer-generated counseling answers clients’ concerns.
 E-coaching; the counselors provide guided activities for clients regarding specific problems such as how to cope with
anxiety or depression. Clients are often given information and tasks associated with these topics and then receive
feedback from the counselor.
Counselors appear to be expressing guarded interest in participating in cyber-counseling. Wiggins-Frame (1998) identified
potential benefits and hazards of cyber-counseling. Benefits include providing counseling services to individuals who otherwise
might not be able to receive services (such as those who live in rural areas). Cyber-counseling may also be more attractive to
individuals with disabilities, such as the hearing impaired. Hazards include a number of potential ethical problems. such as
difficulty ensuring confidentiality and client welfare and providing adequate informed consent.
Technology; Haley (2005) provided an overview of technology and counseling. She suggested that by the year 2008, 90% of
counselors would be using technology in 92% of their work. She also noted that in addition to cyber-counseling, technology is
being used in a wide variety of counseling tasks, including the following.

 Computers as counsellors; the earliest example of computers as counselors occurred 30 years ago when Joseph
Weizenbaum developed a computer program called Eliza. Eliza was a nondirective Rogerian type of counselor that
responded to clients’ concerns.
 Voice-activated computer systems; this exciting new form of counseling involves such state-of-the-art technology as
virtual reality to systematically desensitize phobic clients.
 Online testing; the online testing (including test interpretation and scoring) is widely used for virtually all types of
standardized testing (e.g., interest inventories, personality assessment, and career assessment).
 Databases; it can assess clients on a variety of topics such as degree of risk for homicidal or suicidal behavior. These
databases typically require responses to approximately a thousand questions relating to variables associated with specific
areas of assessment. For example, databases relating to predicting violence could include questions on past history of
violence, family background, and personality tendencies.
 Client intervention aides; the counselors can turn to the internet to obtain materials for therapy. For example, there is
a site developed to help child trauma victims create a virtual world in which they could safely address difficult life
situations.
 Information services and forums; numerous sites on the Internet provide information on all aspects of counseling,
from the latest treatment regimens for specific mental disorders (such as empirically supported treatments for childhood
depression). Forums can allow for joint communication regarding developments, for example, the role of informed
consent in legal–ethical decision making.
 Virtual self-help groups; the internet self-help groups using e-mail, chat rooms, and other forms of electronic
communication are becoming increasingly popular. Self-help groups find the Internet a convenient way to address a
wide range of problems (e.g., attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). These Web sites often include guidance and other
forms of support for the participants.
 Client–therapist referrals; many Web sites provide information on what counseling is and how to receive assistance for
obtaining counseling services.
 Counselor supervision; sophisticated forms of technology are being quickly integrated into the process of supervision.
Some examples include online supervision of student counselors (e.g., providing group chat room supervision sessions).
Another form of technology used in supervision is electromyography, which helps supervisors monitor student
counselors’ emotional state via changes in skin temperature and skin conductance levels and process this information
during videotaped replay or live supervision.
Problematic-impaired counseling students; the interest in “gatekeeping” issues relating to students who demonstrate
professional deficiencies such as emotional problems, inappropriate interpersonal relation skills, and unethical behavior appears
to be growing. Other professions such as law, have an established history of considering issues like character and fitness, but
the same rigor has not been applied in the helping profession. Vacha-Haase, Davenport, and Kerewsky (2004) provide an
overview of terms such as problematic and impaired used to describe the personal issues of students in training programs.
Impairment relates to mental illness, emotional distress, and other personal conflict that can undermine professional function.
Problematic relates to behaviors that are unacceptable, such as inappropriate interpersonal behavior during academic training
or clinical practice. Vacha-Haase et al. (2004) recommend that training programs provide guidelines for what could be considered
acceptable and problematic (unacceptable) behavior and what should be done when students engage in unacceptable behavior.
Issues regarding what is developmentally normal (such as counselors in training experiencing anxiety when they first see clients)
should be differentiated from abnormal emotional responses. Problematic student behavior must also be differentiated from
impairment relating to disabilities as defined by the American Disability Act of 1990. Elman and Forrest (2004) have provided
guidelines for psychotherapeutic remediation for students in training programs. They note a number of challenges, including
balancing the need to protect confidentiality in therapy and the need to keep informed of the student’s progress on issues that
needed to be addressed.
 II. SKILLS AND TASKS FOR ENGAGING A CLIENT
TYPES OF INITIAL INTERVIEWS
The counselling process begins with the initial session. Levine (1983) points out authorities in the profession have observed that
"the goals of counselling change over time and change according to the intimacy and effectiveness of the counselling
relationship". How much change happens or whether there is a second session is usually determined by the results of the first
session.
In the first session, both counsellors and clients work to decide whether they want to or can continue the relationship.
Counsellors should quickly assess whether they are capable of handling and managing clients' problems through being honest,
open, and appropriately confrontive. However, the clients must ask themselves whether they feel comfortable with and trust
the counsellor before they can enter the relationship wholeheartedly.
(1) Client-versus-Counsellor-initiated interview
Benjamin (1987) distinguishes between two types of first interviews: those initiated by clients and those initiated by
counsellors. When the initial interview ease requested by a client, the counsellor is often unsure of the client’s purpose.
This uncertainty may create anxiety in the counsellor, especially if background information is not gathered before the
session. Benjamin (1987) recommends that the counsellors work to overcome these feelings by listening as hard as
possible to what clients have to say. In such situations, as with counselling in general, “listening requires a submersion
of the self and immersion of the other”. There is no formula for beginning the session. They helping interview is as
much as an art as a science, and every counsellor must work out in style based on experience, stimulation, and reflection.
The counsellor is probably prudent not to inquire initially about any problem the client may have because the client
may not have a problem in the traditional sense of the word and may just be seeking information.
When the first session is the quiz start by the counsellor, Benjamin (1987) believes that the counsellor should
immediately stayed he is or reason for wanting to see the client. In the case of a school counsellor, for instance, a session
might be requested so that the counsellor can introduce himself or herself to a student. If the counsellor does not
immediately give a reason for requesting the session, the client is kept guessing and tension is created.
Wefel and Patterson (2005) think that all clients enter into counselling with some anxiety and resistance regardless of
prior preparation. Benjamin (1987) hypothesizes that Most counsellors are also a bit frightened and uncertain when
conducting a first interview. Uncertain feelings in both the clients and counsellors may result in behaviours such as
seduction or aggression. Counsellors can prevent such occurrences by exchanging information with clients. Manthei
(1983) advocates counsellor’s presentations about themselves and their functioning be multi model: visual, auditory,
written, spoken, and descriptive. Although such presentations may be difficult, they pay off by creating good counsellor-
client relationships. Overall, early exchanges of information increase the likelihood that clients and counsellors will
make meaningful choices and participate more fully in the process.
(2) Information-oriented-first interview
Cormier and Hackney (2012) point out that the initial counselling interview can fulfil two functions; (1) It can be an
intake interview to collect needed information about the client, or (2) it can be signal the beginning of a relationship.
Each type of interview is appropriate and certain tasks are common to both, though the skills emphasised in each differ.
If the purpose of the first interview is to gather information, the structure of the session will be cancelled focused. The
council and wants the clients to talk about certain subjects. The counsellor will respond to the client predominantly
through the use of probes, accent, close to questions, and request for clarification. These responses are aimed at eliciting
facts.
 The probe is a question that usually begins with who, what, where, or how. It requires more than one-or-two-
word responses. For example, “what do you plan to do about getting a job?”. A few props ever begin with the
word why, which usually connotes disapproval, places a client on the defensive (e.g., “why are you doing that?”)
and is often unanswerable.
 An accent is highlighting the last few words of the client.
 A closed question is one that requires a specific and limited response, such as yes or no. It often begins with the
word ease, do, or are. A closed question is quite effective in eliciting a good deal of information in a short
period of time, but it does not encourage elaboration that might also be helpful. In contrast to the closed
question is the open question, which typically begins with what, how, or could and allows the client more
latitude to respond. The major difference between a closed and open question is whether or not the question
and encourages more client to talk.
 Finally, a request for clarification is a response the counsellor uses to be sure he or she understands what the client
is saying. These requests require the client to repeat or elaborate on material just covered.
The counsellors wish to obtain several facts and information-oriented-first-interview. They often assume this
information may be used as a part of a psychological, occasional or psychosocial assessment. The counsellors employed
by medical, mental health, correctional, rehabilitation, and social agencies are particularly likely to conduct these types
of interviews.
 (3) Relationship-oriented-first interview
Interviews that focus on feelings or relationship dynamics differ markedly from information oriented first sessions.
They concentrate more on the client’s attitudes and emotions. Common counsellor responses include restatement,
reflection of feeling, summary of feelings, request for clarification, and acknowledgement of non-verbal behaviour.
 The restatement is a simple mirror response a client that lets the client know the counsellor is actively listening.
Used alone it is relatively sterile and ineffective.
 The reflection of feeling is similar to restatement, but it deals with the verbal and non-verbal expressions. The
reflections maybe on several levels; some convey more empathy than others. An example is thus counsellor
response to a client who’s silently sobbing over the loss of a parent: “you’re still really feeling the pain”.
 The summary of feelings is the act of paraphrasing a number of feelings that the client has conveyed. For example,
a counsellor might say to a client, “John, if I understand you correctly, you are feeling depressed over the death
of your father and discouraged that your friends have not helped you work through your grief. In addition, you
feel your work is boring and that your wife is emotionally distant from you”.
 The acknowledgement of non-verbal behaviour differs from the previous example. For instance, the acknowledgement
comes when the counsellor says to a client, “I notice that your arms are folded across your chest and you are
looking at the floor”. This type of response does not interpret the meaning of the behaviour.
ROLE OF PERSONAL APPEARANCE
The personal appearance means the outward appearance of any person irrespective of sex with regard to hairstyle, beards, or
manner of dress. First impression is very important as it can be about attitude as well as dress. Visual impact is at least as
important as verbal impact. Clients will very quickly make assumptions based on the personal appearance, including the facial
expressions, the clothes, how well-groomed the counsellor is and counsellor’s body language.
Importance of Personal Appearance
The personal appearance is importance as it is the appearance of one’s own image that the counsellor reflected to other
people/clients. Personal appearance is undeniably significant to what people think about the counsellor. In the personal
appearance factors, the physical appearance plays a far important role as the physical appearance basically involves the body
language in totality; such as the head movement, feet movements, hand movements, legs shaking, postures, gestures, facial
features, and all other physical elements of personality. These communicate a lot more than the personal outward appearances
that are determined by clothing, attire, and make-ups.
Factors of Personal Appearance

 Hair; regardless of the hairstyle, all hair should be clean and brushed/combed in the back as well as the front.
 Face and skin; the face and neck are addressed first during the judgment of personal appearance. Men should be clean
shaved or have their beards and moustaches trimmed and noticeable blemishes can be covered using makeup and
women should wear a nude and no make-up look make-up, they don't need to carry a heavy coverage of base and loud
eye makeup.
 Hands; the nails should be trimmed and cleaned, shorter nails are always more appropriate than long ones, any nail
polish that's applied should be of a light or nude shade.
 Mouth; obviously, it's important to brush and floss the teeth before going in front of the client. Always carry mints and
mouthwash for an extra level of fresh breath confidence; however, never treat a client with anything in the mouth such
as gum or mints.
 Clothing; the counsellor should always be in formal attire in front of the client and should not be in loud disc-style
clothing as it presents a very bad and unprofessional behaviour in front of the client.
 Footwear; the choice of footwear should be flat-soled closed toe shoes neither too bland nor too bold; the counsellor
must be sure to polish them before stepping in front of the client.
 Accessories; simple accessories such as watches, small earrings, and modest necklaces are completely acceptable but
shouldn't create any disturbance during the work. However, if the counsellor wear loud heavy accessories it would be
more difficult to focus on the client and work.
It is also important to maintain your personal hygiene such as always clean the hands with sanitizer before and after working on
the client. These all things reflect the personality and professionalism of the counsellor towards the work and hence it’s very
important to maintain the personal appearance.
First Impressions
First impressions are everything. They can make or break a person, company, service or product. That’s why it is so important
to make a good first impression. Furthermore, a person’s first impression can sway a person’s opinion with respect to their
professional as well as their personal life. The first impression a counsellor make is always important. The way he presents
himself and the personality can make a lasting impression on the other person. The way the counsellor dress and carry himself
is a huge factor in making a good first impression. There are many different factors that influence first impressions. Some of
these factors can be changed or altered while others cannot.

 General appearance and clothing; the first factor is facial attractiveness. Though attractiveness is subjective, it can
significantly influence the outcome of a first impression. An experiment proved that when people are shown photos of
random human faces, they rated the more “attractive” faces as happier, more intelligent, and more honest than the
“unattractive” faces. Moreover, the outward appearance is very crucial. This can be the way the counsellor dress or the
way he carries himself. One of the most important factors in any interaction is appearance. When meeting potential
clients, it is important to dress for success and showcase the personality with apparels that are appropriate for the event.
 Posture; is of particular importance in first impressions. Slouching, for example, can indicate a feeling of insecurity or
a lack of interest. Though slouching is usually involuntary for most people, it can be rectified with exercises that target
the spinal cord. Moreover, body posture is a crucial element of non-verbal communication and not expressing the right
posture at certain times can send a bad first impression. For instance, candidates that are nervous in an interview tend
to look restless and tend to avoid eye contact. They may also sit very upright and have trouble interacting effectively
with the interviewer.
 Facial expressions; can be used to paint an accurate picture of the personality before one even say a word. Studies show
that people make judgments about your personality within the first few seconds of meeting a person. This is why many
people spend so much time preparing for their first impression. Moreover, just like posture, facial expressions are an
important form of non-verbal communication and influence the first impression significantly.
 Handshake; is the universal greeting that many of people use to greet someone they don’t know. It is a show of respect
and a sign of good faith. A firm, confident handshake will help to make a good first impression and feel more confident
and relaxed when meeting new people for the first time. On the other hand, a sloppy handshake might convey a lack
of confidence or interest.
 Punctuality; is the key to creating a good first impression. Individuals who are punctual are better positioned to make a
favourable impression on their clients, bosses, and others because they are more likely to be reliable and trustworthy.
Moreover, individuals who are not punctual are often seen as unprofessional and unreliable.
THE COUNSELLING WORKSPACE
A primary consideration in getting started in any counselling practice and this includes public, private, or a school setting, has
to do with the place the counsellor choose to do the work, most likely some kind of counselling office. The best offices ensure
privacy, are soundproofed, and feel comfortable to both the counsellors and the clients. The office is a sanctuary for the work,
a place where the people feel safe and protected. It must also be a place where the counsellor feels safe because some of the
clients may be volatile. Physical safety issues (emergency exits, availability of other people for assistance, and so forth) should
be a first item of concern when selecting the office space or evaluating the space provided. If the counsellor does not feel
physically safe, then he/she cannot provide any kind of emotional protection for the clients.
Another important concern is sufficient parking and access for people with physical challenges. The ideal workspace is a place
where people can come to settle in and feel protected in this brief time-out from their regular lives. The office should be neutral
but not cold, the décor attractive and aesthetically pleasing. An office that is attractive and thoughtfully furnished is an asset to
the counselling activities that happen there. If a counsellor intends to work with children, then he should also take into account
the need to have toys and room for activities as well as furniture of an appropriate size.
If the office is in a school, then the counsellor may encounter some unique challenges in creating a safe, inviting space for
counselling work with students or parents. School counselling offices often do not provide much privacy, and they almost always
have common waiting areas where anyone can see which students are coming for help. Typically, there is considerable activity
in the area outside of offices, with all the energy that children and adolescents can generate. If the counsellor will be doing
school counselling, he/she might want to visit some of the counsellors in other area schools to get ideas about how people
create good counselling workspaces in those environments. It is the counsellor’s job to do the best to make these offices as
inviting and as private as possible while sensitizing school boards and administrators to the real physical space needs of school
counselling services.
Ideal office spaces are adequately soundproofed so that people in a waiting area outside cannot hear conversation inside the
office. Double doors, extra insulation, and soft music piped into waiting areas are all potential soundproofing aids. Good office
planning also permits clients to come and go without being observed by others (particularly their neighbours and friends—a
common complaint from many clients of community mental health services). A storefront next to a large supermarket is a poor
choice for an office. This is typically more of an issue in small rural towns than it is in larger metropolitan areas. Ideally, the
counsellor may consider separate waiting and exit areas, perhaps allowing for some time in an exit area for clients to put on a
“street face” before going back out into the world. It will sometimes be difficult for the clients to re-enter the everyday social
whirl after talking about intensely personal issues, and it can be very helpful if the counsellor gives them some private time and
space to decompress.
Similarly, if the counsellor has control over scheduling appointments, stagger appointments so that the clients do not encounter
each other coming and going. Allowing for some time between appointments can help to ensure that the clients will not run
into each other, and it will also give the time to re-group between sessions.
Furnishing the workspace
The workspace should be comfortable for the counsellor and reflect who he/she is. Personal mementos, photographs, and
artwork are all appropriate but should be carefully thought about in regard to their potential impact on people who come there.
Anything the counsellor have in the office may serve as either a comfort or a distraction. Also, it may serve as an object onto
which the clients may project thoughts and feelings. The furniture should be comfortable and inviting, but not overly intimate.
The office should communicate the message that this is a place for personal sharing, but not for seduction. Couches, for some
clients, communicate too intimate a message, and two people (e.g., in group or couples counselling) may not want to sit so
closely together. The comfortable chairs are favourable, a few feet apart, facing one another at an angle that allows not only for
face-to-face contact but also affords the opportunity to look away. The counsellor wants to maintain solid visual contact with
the clients, yet sometimes they will need to visually get away from the counsellor, to go within themselves.
In arranging the furniture, give serious consideration to the possible need for flight in the event, that a “difficult” client becomes
threatening or loses control. It can happen. Positioning the chair closest to the door is one simple way to be prepared in the
event that the counsellor is working with a potentially volatile person. With some clients, the counsellor will want to leave the
door open so that others can hear if the counsellor need to call for help. And needless to say, the counsellor should schedule
appointments with possibly volatile clients at times when outside help is available.
The counsellor will most likely also have a desk and some peripheral equipment, such as computers, phones, filing cabinets,
lights, and plants. Each of these requires thought and attention. The placement of the desk tells the client much about the power
of the relationship between the two. If the counsellor sits behind it, the desk clearly states the counsellor desire to remain in the
position of control and power. If you put it behind the counsellor, it suggests that the stage is set for communication between
two equals.
Computers and telephones have become an integral part of all of lives and need to be managed so as not to intrude on real
relationship encounters, particularly counselling relationships. The phone should be silenced while working with someone, with
no possibility that messages left on machines will be overheard. Computer information should be held as securely as possible,
with no screens visible to someone entering the office. The amount of client information now traveling in cyberspace is
staggering, particularly billing and diagnostic data, and the potential for privacy and confidentiality violations is great. Be wary
about the information the counsellor contributes to this cyber glut.
The counsellor will certainly want to become informed about these procedures; in the absence of such directives, take steps to
ensure the privacy of all the record keeping. The counsellor may also assume that at some point there will be a request to see
the records about some client. Develop clear protocols for detailing the situations and the information the counsellor will share
and the process by which will share that information.
Finally, it is helpful to have a clock with an appropriately sized display conveniently placed so that both the counsellor and the
client can see it. This allows the both to know how much available time remains. The issue of time and time management is
usually a major factor in a single counselling session, not only for its own value but also for the metaphoric value it serves.
Managing the distractions
Make sure that unwanted distractions from the outer world do not invade this space while the counsellor is at work with
someone. Handle outside intrusions, such as visits or phone calls from colleagues and secretaries, in a way that ensures the
counsellor won’t be interrupted. Do not casually switch appointment times or take unannounced time away from scheduled
time. Each appointment switch opens the door for clients’ speculation about their relative worth in the scheme of things. Some
of the clients will have ample speculation of this sort, even without the provocation. There is no need to add fuel to the fire.
More subtle, but no less important, is the frame of mind bring to the counselling session. Just as important as managing the
external distractions that potentially threaten the time with a client is the way to manage the internal world of distraction. Silence
the distractions and demons in a way that allows the counsellor to be as present as possible for the person who sits across from
him. This is the rationale for the traditional “50-minute hour,” affording 10 minutes to purge the self of the emotional grip of
the last client with time to regroup to face the next client.
Home visits
There may be job situations, or specific times, when the counsellor not doing counselling work in any office. The job may
include outreach counselling, home visits, or allied counselling and case management work in a wide variety of settings. Whether
the counsellor in someone’s home or out on the streets, try to provide privacy and ensure confidentiality as best he can, perhaps
finding the quietest and most protected place possible, and simply work with what he has. Do what is necessary to protect both
the self and the clients.
Home visits can become problematic, however, if not handled carefully. Home visits can present all kinds of unexpected
challenges. In some work situations, home visits are the expected norm (e.g., hospice counselling), or they may provide the best
or only way of working. Some prefer to work with families in their own home. Sometimes, a home visit or two is the best way
to handle a new client’s culturally based suspicions of professional office settings. Except when the situation, for whatever
cultural or other unique reasons, may dictate continued home visits, the goal should be to establish a trusting enough relationship
to bring the client into the office for subsequent sessions. At some point in the counselling career, the counsellor may be
expected to perform home visits, and may even prefer to work in those settings. Simply enter each home with awareness, and
pay attention to the dynamics as they unfold.
GETTING STARTED
Getting the word out
Whether a counsellor work in an agency or a school, or have some kind of private practice, the community in which you work
will need to know. People need to know who the counsellor, where, and what services did he/she provide.
Establishing referral networks
The first step in launching the practice is to begin establishing the referral networks. In a public community counselling setting,
this primarily involves letting people with whom the counsellor work in the agency know that he’s ready to accept clients and
making sure that internal referral networks have the counsellor plugged into the system. These “networks” include secretaries,
intake workers, and any colleagues who might be in a position to refer people to the counsellor. Similarly, in a school counselling
system, make sure that people know where the counsellor and take steps to make the availability an integral part of referral
processes. Other school counsellors, teachers, school-based clinicians, and special educators are all potential sources of student
referrals. Regardless of the setting, knowing how the formal referral mechanisms work is important as is developing good
relationships with the colleagues.
The mandated referral
In any of these settings, the counsellor may at times find himself working with a client for whom counselling has been
“recommended” (i.e., coerced or leveraged) by someone who thinks counselling for this individual would be helpful. When
these clients enter counselling, they are more “pushed” by outside forces and less “pulled” by their own volition. If the counsellor
prefers to work with clients who come to counselling of their own accord, the counsellor will need to develop strategies for
defining what kinds of referrals the counsellor want and communicate those definitions to the world outside the office.
Some counsellors love to work with mandated, coerced clients. They love the action of dealing with the resistant drug abuser,
the potential school dropout, or the incarcerated offender. If the counsellor would love this work and want to serve these kinds
of clients, then contact lawyers, judges, and school officials, the people who would typically make such referrals. It may be
possible to develop contracts or working service agreements with specific agents who might refer particular types of clients.
Creating incentives to attract clients
If the counsellor chooses to see self-initiated clients only, he/she will need to develop strategies to attract clients.
Counsellors who specialize in working with people with eating disorders or addictions or with difficult adolescents, children
with special needs, or noncollege bound high school students provide a particular community with a clear and accessible form
of assistance. The counsellor will need to develop a track record of good work with these special issues and populations if you
want the referrals to continue. It is also helpful to think of incentives. A number of school counselling programs promote certain
of their services as “training” opportunities, in which students will learn techniques for working with others and receive lots of
personal help in the process. The simple substitution of the word training for treatment suggests a far more positive activity,
with far less possible stigmatization for participation.
Use of media for making the services known
Counsellors sometimes use media, particularly print media, to market their services. There are persuasive arguments on the side
of effective marketing. Wittman (1988) argues that new counsellors need to become conversant with a consumer-oriented model
of counselling to effectively provide service to the community. Gilchrist and Stringer (1992) provide solid guidelines for
counsellors who want to market their services professionally and ethically. They, as well as others, say that a marketing strategy
should never demean the profession by way of gimmicky advertising and that all strategies should be congruent with sound
counselling practices and ethical considerations.
Community service; making the presence known
Too many counsellors simply wait in their offices for people to come to them. The counsellor needs to be out in the community,
serving on committees, providing assistance related to the specific skills, and participating in the world. All of these involvements
will serve the community and will enrich the counselling work. Not all of these services will be financially reimbursed, but they
may be seen as part of the professional community service role that the counsellor play.
Further, there is indirect benefit in that these involvements will alert people to the counsellor’s presence and the services the
counsellor provides. Naturally, the best insurance for steady referrals is doing good work.
FINDING A GOOD SUPERVISOR
Central to any competent counselling practice is appropriate supervision. The concept of supervision in counselling is different.
In this profession, the clinical or school counselling supervisor is meant to serve the supervisee as a support person, as a mentor
and a guide. This is a person to whom a counsellor can turn when troubled or when undecided about how to handle a difficult
client. The supervisor is a confidant, a co-conspirator. In some senses, a good supervisory relationship runs exactly parallel to
the counselling relationship, with many of the same ingredients inherent in the effective counselling relationship. If, as Rogers
(1951) asserts, the counsellor is to provide ample respect, genuineness, and positive regard to those she serves, then so does the
supervisor provide those same things to the counsellor under supervision. The capacity for empathy, the ability to understand
and see the world from the other’s perspective, is key to both successful counselling and supervision, and good supervisors have
ample capacity to provide empathic presence. Counsellors talk of the supervisor as someone to whom they can turn when in
real difficulty, as well as for routine matters of consultation.
In surveying the literature and professionals working in the field, Carifio and Hess (1987) and M. Smith (2000) identify a number
of characteristics of ideal supervisors. Summarily, these include the following: having empathy, respect, genuineness, and
concern; being invested in the supervisee; having a working knowledge of human behaviour and the counselling process; and
using appropriate teaching, goal-setting, and feedback mechanisms.
A good supervisor may be hard to find. If the clients have multiple, co-occurring disorders, the counsellor may even need more
than one supervisor with expertise in those areas of complaint. It is the counsellor’s job, an ethical expectation, to find a
competent supervisor in the event that your school or agency doesn’t automatically supply one.
Despite the obstacles to finding a trained supervisor, the counsellor should be able to find a master counsellor who, even though
she may not have had formal supervisory training, is capable of providing supervisory support for less experienced colleagues.
When trying to choose a supervisor, look for a person who is empathic, respectful, and receptive to the counsellor’s ideas. Also,
a supervisor whom admires the counsellor, a person who will be a kind of mentor, perhaps with a theoretical approach you
would like to emulate. This is someone who will be as much teacher as counsellor. No matter what her theoretical orientation,
level of personal warmth, and professional expertise may be, a supervisor also needs to have time for the counsellor. She needs
to be available, not only for those emergency crises that may arise but also for the regularly scheduled times that the counsellor
is supposed to meet. Supervision should not be seen as expendable, as an add-on service, and this understanding should be clear
from the outset. The time set aside for supervision should be inviolate for both counsellor and supervisor. Undoubtedly,
emergencies will arise that will necessitate cancelling a specific supervision session, but if these emergencies become regular
events, they signal difficulty, either with organizational functioning or with supervisor commitment.
Finally, in addition to personal characteristics and availability, the ideal supervisor is unconnected to organizational evaluation
of the counsellor’s work. The supervisor should be a person to whom the counsellor can turn at the most vulnerable times
without fear. The counsellor may have two supervisors, one to whom the counsellor answers administratively, the other a trusted
confidant and mentor. For the day-to-day work, an on-site administrative supervisor can provide adequate organizational and
legal support. The counsellor may need to look outside the work setting for that other kind of supervisor, the one who lends
emotional and clinical support.
PLANNING FOR THE FIRST MEETING
The first meeting with a new client is one of the most important times the counsellor will spend with the client, for it is in this
meeting that the client will make essential decisions about continuing. The counsellor might plan, on some extra time for this
first session so that the counsellor can accomplish all that needs to be done. This extra time will be well spent if it pays off in
fully engaging the new client.
Broadly, the counsellor will be trying to accomplish three primary goals for this session: initial engagement, providing support
and engaging the client in the process; education (giving the client information about counselling and about how you work)’ and
assessment (beginning to ascertain this person’s strengths and deficits). To build rapport, a bond between the counsellor and
the client, the counsellor will need to use all of the empathy building skills to communicate the concern and understanding. For
the client, engagement means not only feeling a rapport with the counsellor but also believing that coming for counselling was
the right decision. The client will be motivated to come back only if she leaves the first session with the hope that future sessions
will be productive. The support the counsellor provides, as well as engaging and educating the new client about the process of
counselling, will take up the bulk of this first session.
Letting a client know what to expect from counselling, and what will be expected of him, has both practical and ethical value.
The counsellor needs to provide new clients with information, so plan for enough time in the first session to cover all the
essentials.
(1) Information about counselling and about how the counsellor work; some of the clients will have little or no experience
with counselling and will want to know how this is going to work. A new client needs to understand what is to be
expected of him. A new client might need to be told, for example, that it will be his responsibility to bring in material
to talk about.
(2) The qualifications; a new client has a right to know about the counsellor’s professional background as it relates to the
work with him. The counsellor can provide this information briefly for those clients who want to know.
(3) Fees; this is a time to talk about how the client will reimburse the counsellor for services, whether it’s via insurance,
direct payment, or some kind of sliding fee scale arrangement.
(4) Ground rules; clearly articulate the rules that will help to keep this counselling relationship secure, i.e., the times and
length of meetings, confidentiality and its limits (e.g., with whom the counsellor will share information, such as parents
or insurance companies, and what kinds of information will be shared with them), including when the counsellor might
need to report to outside authorities (in the event of abuse or risk of harm, for example), are all ground rule items that
the client will need to understand.
(5) Informed consent; the client needs to be fully informed about the counselling process and about how all information
about him, including any standardized test results, will be used. If the counsellor thinks to recommend any testing, then
the client will need to understand something about those tests and what they mean. This may, of course, eventually be
part of a longer conversation when the testing is done. Finally, do all the counsellor can to make sure that the
information conveyed to the client is given in a way that will be understood and will also contribute to the development
of the therapeutic alliance.
THE FIRST CONTACT
Starting a new counselling relationship demands that the counsellor be able both to get the mechanics of the counselling
relationship up and running and attend to the needs of the incipient relationship itself. Engage the new client in relationship
with the counsellor, and find out who this new person is and why he has come to see the counsellor. This requires the ability to
juggle some complexity and ambiguity. It is also helpful if the counsellor can tolerate a number of things going on at once, not
necessarily in linear fashion. Experience will be helpful as the counsellor learn how to efficiently weave together engaging the
new client, educating him about the process of counselling, and beginning the process of assessment.
All of these things the counsellor does with a new client should conspire together to create an empathic context within which
the both can work. The working alliance between the two is nurtured by the counsellor’s ability to be present with genuineness,
positive regard, and respect, all of which convey the empathic acceptance of this person. Each of the things the counsellor does
and say, including the verbal and non-verbal behaviour, is relevant to empathic communication.
Followings are some of the skills the counsellor can use to engage the client. This single-skills approach to learning how to be
an effective counsellor, sometimes referred to as a “micro-counselling” approach, gives the counsellor a foundation upon which
he can later learn how to effectively integrate and use the skills collectively. Non-verbal behaviour, both the counsellor’s and the
client’s, is a good starting place. Much can be conveyed without saying a single word. In addition, questions, silence, and simple
prompts can be used to draw the client into relationship with him/her and help to understand his reasons for seeking counselling.
THE IMPORTANCE OF NON-VERBAL BEHAVIOR
The way the counsellor non-verbally present the self is an important opening clue to the client about what he can expect from
the counsellor. If the counsellor has the opportunity to observe someone before the actual first interaction, capitalize on the
opportunity to watch without being involved interactively.
The counsellor’s ability to make mental notes of these styles and modes of behaviour can be extremely helpful as the counsellor
contemplate the ways of talking with someone. Similarly, the counsellor’s ability to respond to shifts in non-verbal behaviour
during the time with the client will play an important role in the outcomes of that work. Practiced observation, particularly as
part of skills training in nonverbal communication, can improve the counsellor’s effectiveness in this arena.
Becoming a student of non-verbal behaviour
Counselling theories that focus attention on the body as a vehicle for therapeutic work, such as bioenergetics, gestalt therapy,
and Reichian therapy, contend that the bodies carry all of the emotional history and that people adopt characteristic body
postures (e.g., tight shoulders, clenched jaws, frightened eyes) that betray the history. While Reichian therapy and bioenergetics
are not widely practiced today, everyday language nevertheless still speaks to this characteristic body posturing.
The more the counsellor can observe people and their bodies, in all kinds of settings, and the more the counsellor read what
others have said about the relationship of the body and the emotional health of the person, the more adept the counsellor will
be in taking stock of the non-verbal behaviour of the clients. Reading about any of these body-oriented theories can provide
further assistance in understanding the non-verbal behaviour before the counsellor, as well as own.
Although there is obvious danger in reading too much into client nonverbal behaviour, it can provide wonderful clues as to who
this person is. The number of clues that reveal themselves will depend on the ability to be observant. The counsellor certainly
does not want to make assumptions about this new person or use the observations as a means for challenging about
incongruencies between what the client says and how the client behaves non-verbally (e.g., smiling while talking about
emotionally difficult material), even though some evidence suggests that non-verbal behaviour may more honestly portray
someone’s real thoughts and feelings than what the person tells the counsellor. Cautiously consider how to use the observations
once a relationship has been developed and the working alliance is solidly established. The non-verbal behaviour observed at
the beginning of the relationship can suggest avenues for future sensitive verbal exploration and assessment.
Taking control of the non-verbal behaviour
Some influential nonverbal behaviours that seem to help, as well as some that hinder the ability to connect with clients include
the following: facial expression, body language, eye contact, voice tone
Simply becoming more aware of own non-verbal behaviour as you interact with others can be helpful in creating a receptive,
engaging environment. There is a danger, of course, in becoming overly sensitive and so concerned about all of this that the
counsellor ends up being more constricted and unnatural. Find a comfortable balance between the thought and attention paid
to own non-verbal behaviour and simply assuming a natural, relaxed, personal way of being with people. As with so many of
the counselling skills the counsellor is learning, the comfort level will improve with practice. Experience will enable the
counsellor to let go of the judgments about how the counsellor should be behaving non-verbally.
Cultural influences and the non-verbal behaviour
Cultural influences also affect an individual’s use of the body as a communication tool. Take stock of the counsellor’s non-
verbal behaviour in terms of own cultural background and learn to modify it to communicate effectively with clients with
different cultural traditions. There are different cultural comfort zones regarding physical proximity and eye contact, for example,
Latinos are much more comfortable with close physical proximity, as a case in point, than are Italian Americans or Irish
Americans. Some Asian Americans may consider too much intimate eye contact disrespectful. African Americans may maintain
better eye contact while talking than while listening.
All of this implies that learning the non-verbal language of clients from different cultural backgrounds is part of the business of
becoming an effective counsellor. Engage all of the cultural empathy and observational skills to take note of the client’s comfort
zone regarding the varieties of non-verbal behaviour and learn which of the behaviours seem to elicit the most significant
positive and negative reactions.
Finding the non-verbal behaviour balance

 Don’t get so hung up in thinking about own non-verbal behaviour that it distracts the counsellor from the real business
at hand—observing the client. This suggests a fundamental law of counselling: the more the counsellor is focused on
self, particularly with communicating some kind of image, the less the counsellor are focused on the other.

 Check in with self, with the ideas and feelings, mostly as a way of checking own responses to this other person for the
purpose of understanding him. But never lose sight of that fundamental law because the degree to which the counsellor
is concerned with own performance, with presenting some image of the self, even if it is the image of a competent
counsellor, is inversely related to the capacity to truly understand and respond to this other person as a competent
counsellor.

 As is true with so many aspects of this work, the goal is to achieve a balance, in this case a balance between self-
awareness and non-preoccupation with self.
USING QUESTIONS FOR FACT FINDING AND ENGAGEMENT
Questions are one of the primary tools at the disposal in the information-gathering process, but they should be used judiciously
and only as needed. The counsellor will need to ask questions of this new person who has come. For example, the counsellor
will want to find out reason of the client for coming, and there may be some general or specific information about the client
that the counsellor needs to know. In most counselling situations, the counsellor will have a plan for gathering the kinds of
information which is needed.
Much of the social conversation is based on questioning, oftentimes in detriment to the relationship and the well-being of the
other person. Questions too often serve as a distraction rather than deepening the understanding of what has already been said.
Questions are wonderful tools for information gathering, but they are generally less than effective for communicating genuine
understanding.
The appropriate use of questions
There is definitely a place for the use of questions in the counsellor’s toolbox, and there is no better tool for quickly finding out
the facts of a situation. When used with skill, balance, and experience, questions can elicit information that might be inaccessible,
or at least would take longer to clarify, with other skills. When used by a competent counsellor, questions do not come off
sounding like a crime drama interrogation, and they can be helpful in priming a new client to talk about herself. In addition,
most of the counsellors have been conditioned to respond to questions, so the new client will most likely expect the counsellor
to have a few to ask.
Two kinds of questions are reviewed here: those used for fact-finding (closed) and those used for engagement (open-ended).
As the names imply, the former is utilized for speedy fact-finding, the latter for more leisurely elaboration and collaboration.
Each of these deserves a place in the counsellor’s skills repertoire.
i. Using fact-finding (closed) questions; the job may require the counsellor to gather certain kinds of information from
new clients, or may have some need-to-know certain things about them. For this kind of information gathering, fact
finding questions are appropriate. These closed questions are designed to elicit a short, typically factual response, such
as “how old are you?” or “where do you live?” are typical examples.
Using closed questions, the counsellor can find out a fair amount of factual, perhaps demographic, information about
someone in a relatively short period of time. Fact-finding questions do little to deepen a beginning relationship,
however, and may put someone off if too many are strung together, sounding like a detective’s interrogation. There is
little evidence to suggest that fact-finding questions promote the therapeutic alliance.
ii. Using engagement (open-ended) questions; open-ended questions, used to develop relationship and communicate real
interest in the other, are designed to elicit a broader, more expansive response. These broader engagement questions
often begin with words like “how” or “what” or phrases like “what was it like” (e.g., “to grow up in that kind of family?”)
or “what is it that’s so terrible about that physics class?”. These questions, particularly when followed by patient and
attentive silence on the counsellor’s part, invite a longer answer. Research evidence suggests that open-ended questions
can be helpful in assisting clients to explore feelings, and they are generally more likely to yield longer, more in-depth
client responses than closed, fact-finding questions.
OTHER SIMPLE SUPPORTIVE TOOLS FOR ENGAGEMENT
The use of silence and the simple prompt are introduced as they are effective supplements when used with questions to begin
the process of engaging a new client.
The use of silence
New counsellors are sometimes reluctant to allow for silence. Anxiety can breed a desire to fill every silence, usually with some
new question. Some silence is acceptable, even to be nurtured. Learn to avoid the temptation to fill the void that silence implies.
Oftentimes, there is a great deal happening for the client in that silence, and whatever it is, it may become more apparent if the
silence is left untrammelled. Of course, too many silences and exceedingly long silences can provoke great anxiety, for both the
client and for the counsellor. The trick is in finding the right balance, in knowing when to jump in and experience is the greatest
teacher in perfecting the timing.
As a general guideline, allow for less silence with newer, less counselling-sophisticated clients. They will be the ones most likely
to become overly anxious if there is too much silence. Clients whom the counsellor know better, particularly those who are
experienced in the ways of counselling, can be allowed to sit with somewhat longer silences. And, again, careful observation of
the client’s non-verbal behaviour in the silent interval can cue the counsellor as to its effect.
The simple prompt
An alternative to silence is the statement that asks for more information without stating the request as a question. There is little
need to elaborate much about this particular mode of inquiry, for it truly is simple, yet it can be quite effective, such as; “tell me
more about…” or “let’s explore more of...” are examples of such simple prompts, as is the succinct, “hmm, go on”, a head nod
and a smile can be used as non-verbal simple prompts. Sometimes in the counselling literature, simple prompts are referred to
as “minimal encouragers” or “acknowledgments”. Such prompts are effective in that they nudge the client into more discussion
of what’s already being talked about. They do not tend to move the client away from the topic already in focus, and they make
the counsellor sound more confident than the use of a question might.
Concluding thoughts: the beginnings of an alliance
It should by now be obvious that the professional counsellor’s job is more complicated than simply sitting down and listening
to someone. Advanced planning is important, primarily to ensure that not only will people avail themselves of the services but
that will also get off to the best start possible once you do sit down to talk with someone. Careful attention to the details of the
context in which the counsellor work; the personal appearance, the setting in which the counsellor work, and the supervisory
support system; will help to convey to the new client the notion that the counsellor is a safe and trustworthy person with whom
she or he can work. That planning, coupled with the ideas about what needs to be done in the first meeting, does much to
communicate the counsellor’s competency to hear this person’s concerns.
Taken collectively, the use of non-verbal behaviour, simple prompts, appropriate silence, and intelligent questions provides the
counsellor with a good set of tools to begin to work with and engage a new client. The counsellor will use these tools as the
counsellor promote the development of the critical counsellor–client relationship, the therapeutic alliance. The importance of
this alliance to the overall effectiveness of the counselling experience is difficult to overstate. Particularly in dealing with people
in crisis, it is important to be able to develop this alliance quickly. As a counsellor working with a new client, the counsellor
begins to explore the reasons the person sought counselling, start to form some initial impressions of who this person is, and
communicate support and the hope for successful work together.
Starting a new counselling relationship can be scary, particularly for a beginning counsellor. It can be even scarier if the new
client is resistant and reluctant to be involved. The business of gathering information about this new person and giving out
information about the self and how the process of counselling works, while trying to lay down the foundation of a climate that
is empathic and conducive to real communication, can feel overwhelming to someone just starting out.
 III. SKILLS FOR DEVELOPING AND DEEPENING THE RELATIONSHIP
SKILLS FOR DEVELOPING RELATIONSHIP
THE EMPATHIC FOUNDATION
Many current-day theorists agree with Rogers’s contention that empathy is the necessary ingredient in counselling relationships,
and virtually all researchers, theorists, and clinicians agree that empathy plays a central role in successful counselling relationships
and outcomes. Some may not agree about its sufficiency for facilitating change, but they would agree about its necessity.
Empathy enables a counsellor to see the world through his client’s eyes; it is metaphorically about walking in the client’s shoes
for a while. This requires the ability both to intellectually understand the world from the other’s perspective and to know how
that world feels to the other.
Allport (1961) called empathy the “imaginative transposing of oneself into the thinking, feeling, and acting of another”. Honing
the counsellor’s ability to be empathic with the clients is a central task in learning how to be an effective counsellor. This includes
learning how to suspend own opinions, judgments, and values when the counsellor is with a client so that the counsellor can
effectively identify with and experience his world. This is particularly true when the client’s cultural worldview is very different
from the counsellor’s own. Life experience, as well as counselling training programs which help to foster this empathic capacity,
will serve the counsellor well in this kind of empathy education.
Empathy, of course, is not sympathy. It is not feeling sorry for the client or simply being sad about his circumstances. Sympathy
can immobilize effective responding, whereas empathy prepares the counsellor for constructive action. Sometimes, empathy
provides the context for direct, difficult, tough challenges; it is not a soft or “mushy” approach to working with people.
Some counsellors and theorists view Rogers’s non-directive, client-cantered theoretical approach to counselling as limited. They
say that although these empathic conditions are necessary for good counselling practice, they are not always sufficient to facilitate
changes in client behaviour. Other things, they suggest, may need to happen such as providing direct guidance or working to
help reshape destructive behaviour and thought patterns. The central role and importance of empathy in developing solid
relationships with the clients, however, is not disputed
EFFECTIVELY LISTENING TO THE CLIENT
The ability to effectively listen to clients is critical to the empathic communication. The clients deserve the physical presence as
well as the undivided attention. The counsellor shouldn't be there if he can't be there emotionally and psychically. The counsellor
can only provide empathy and positive regard in an attentive environment, when he’s fully present and listening. The key to
effectively listen to the client; listening with full attention, and listen to both the obvious and the hidden content.
Listen with full attention
The counsellor must hear what the client says in order to respond correctly. This is not as easy as it sounds because most of the
people are used to listening with only a fraction of the attention. Humans live in a multitasking age, where giving undivided full
attention to any one thing is rare. The relationship with a new client begins to grow and develop as to investigate what brought
her to the counsellor and what some of her strengths and weaknesses are. The counsellor begins to establish how he will
cooperate and toward what goals, all with the goal of establishing trust and a working therapeutic alliance. This is a large package
of responsibility, a lot to manage, and he’ll discover that he'll need more than just the ability to ask intelligent questions to bear
the weight of it all. Uninterrupted attention is the foundation of good listening. Much of the ability to listen well will be
determined by the conscious decision to focus the attention on the person across from the counsellor. The more the counsellor
practice this, the sharper the focus will become.
To effectively listen to someone else, the counsellor must first quiet own internal chatter. The little voices inside will distract as
the counsellor sit down to listen to the client. Allow them to subsist for a while making an effort to ignore them. Shift the focus
as much as possible to the client. This is not always simple.
Listen to both the obvious and the hidden content
Giving the clients the full attention will allow the counsellor to better understand the concerns they share. The counsellor’s
ability to understand the material presented by the clients will have a large impact on the ability to listen to and respond accurately
to their concerns. The counsellor must concentrate and pay close attention to what they say, both spoken and unspoken. To be
an effective counsellor, he must become suspicious in a positive sense; i.e., he will not accept that what the client presents is all
that exists. Listening for the unsaid is an intuitive process that will help the counsellor learn more of this language. The
psychoanalyst Theodor Reik (1968) called this kind of listening “listening with the third ear.” The writer D. H. Lawrence referred
to this kind of suspicious listening as “looking behind the eyes,” suggesting this same kind of intelligent attention. Pay attention
to both the obvious and the more hidden content of what the client tells to the counsellor, i.e., both the blatant and the latent
content.
Things may lie below the surface and not be spoken of for many reasons. Some things might be frightening or embarrassing or
filled with feeling, and some things just need more time to surface. Many clients, perhaps most people, harbour aspects of
themselves of which they are ashamed deep inside. These may be things they have done or things that have happened to them
that they feel shame about. One of counselling’s best moments is when a client chooses to reveal one of these aspects of herself.
It becomes a truly great moment, a potentially healing moment, when the counsellor can hear this fact of a client’s life and
respond with understanding and without judgment or reproach. A client may be reluctant to share material for many reasons,
and it is not the counsellor’s job to go on a mining expedition to look for it. The counsellor can be subtly aware of the secrets
through listening with the “third ear” and the intuition, and can allow the material to come to the surface of its own accord.
Safety and empathic listening set the stage for such emergence. Try to suspend the counsellor’s desire to be brilliant, and give
free rein to the natural curiosity about this other person.
Good responses to the content and the feeling of what is said will drive the client more deeply into the material that’s being
discussed; do not shift away from the topic at hand. Accurate listening, coupled with the empathic responding will serve the
counsellor well in general social interactions as well. Others will experience the listening skills as a real gift. There is no one
correct way to respond. Indeed, the counsellor may miss the mark entirely with one or more of the responses and not do
significant damage to the developing relationship. The counsellor can gauge the success of a given response of the counsellor’s
by following what happens next. If the counsellor generally on target, and if the client thinks the counsellor getting the general
drift of his thinking, he will usually hang in there with the counsellor through the occasional mistake. A counsellor’s desire to
understand and to articulate a client’s concerns will usually be intuited and sensed by the client, and the counsellor’s “good will,”
will compensate for the occasional blunder and inaccuracy.
EFFECTIVELY RESPONDING TO THE CLIENT USING REFLECTION SKILLS
There really may be intuitive, or even spiritual, aspects of such communication of positive regard and empathy, but there are
also some very specific skills the counsellor can use to begin to establish a solid relationship with clients. When the counsellor
is able to be with the clients with minimal distractions of own and when the counsellor is able to hear what they say well enough
to respond cogently to the content and feelings of what they’ve expressed, the counsellor will have gone a long way toward
demonstrating the respect and regard.
Try to respond to the client in a way that allows her to know she’s been heard accurately and that also paves the way for her to
begin to think more deeply about the issues that she’s brought up. The counsellor’s use of intelligent questions can prime the
interpersonal communication pump; it can get things going, but effective reflection of content and feeling indicates true listening.
These are the skills that will help to make the clients feel truly heard and understood.
Other reflection skills refer to the ways the counsellor can respond by not asking questions yet responding to the material the
client has presented in a way that shows the counsellor’s understanding of that material. This involves listening attentively to
what the client says, observing the nonverbal behaviour that accompanies what is being said, and then responding to the content
of what you’ve heard (and seen) in a way that not only indicates the understanding but also leads the client to consider the
material in some new ways.
The range of responses
The ways the counsellor respond to the clients’ statements can be characterized along a continuum from the simplest response
styles to the more complex. The simplest way to reflect what the counsellor has heard is to restate it. The counsellor simply says
back, perhaps in somewhat altered fashion, exactly what’s just been said. This is not a particularly effective way to communicate
the understanding, however. Responding intelligently to the content of what the client has said requires more than a simple
restatement, or parroting, of what the client has said. A better way to demonstrate the understanding of the essence of what
client has said is called “reflection of content,” or “paraphrasing”. This reflection, when done really well, captures and reflects
not only the obvious spoken material but also some of what is implied that lies under the surface.
Reflections that include responding to the emotional content, called responding with “reflection of content and feeling,” are
even better. These ways of responding are certainly a cut above simple restatement. Research shows that all of these varieties of
reflection are used frequently by experienced counsellors and that they are positively related to all aspects of the counselling
process. Evidence also suggests that this kind of reflection can help clients become more active as engaged partners in the
relationship. One other kind of reflection, called interpretation, is a truly sophisticated reflection of content. It draws together
different aspects or themes of the client’s thoughts and may also involve some of own perspective. Interpretation is the mainstay
of psychoanalytic work.
The client will respond best to the counsellor when the reflections are not only accurate in meaning but also capture the feelings
that have been conveyed. The counsellor’s ability to identify with the client’s situation and fully comprehend the client’s
perspective is key. It is like being inside the client’s world and giving him the language to understand it. This is truly empathic
responding.
Responding accurately to content and feeling is usually a more effective way to deepen the relationship than asking questions.
Reflecting content and feeling will help more of the story unfold in a way that allows the client to feel understood. When the
client feels that the counsellor is really with him, with both the content and feeling of what is being talked about, he may allow
himself to go more deeply into his feelings. He may allow himself the luxury of expressing these feelings freely, and this can be
a peak experience in the counselling relationship. This expression of emotion serves a cleansing function. Its healing effect is
referred to as “catharsis” in the analytic literature.
The best responses are elegantly succinct, capturing the essence of what’s been said, and perhaps adding a little extra thought,
in as concise a fashion as possible. They are brief and to the point. One or two short sentences are best. Lengthy responses tend
to distract clients from their own thinking process and redirect the focus more toward the counsellor. If the counsellor find that
his response is longer than the client’s preceding statements, then he has talked too much. Responding to the feelings of the
client requires more than simply using words to label the feelings, although even simply labelling is a start. It is best when the
counsellor able to actually be in an “as if” experience, meaning that the counsellor understands the feeling “as if” he was the
client.
Accuracy of language is also helpful. The response that starts with, “you feel…” should be completed with some kind of feeling
word, not an idea or thought. Beginning counsellors sometimes find it difficult to break the habit of using “I think” and “I feel”
as interchangeable versions of “I think”. Get in the practice of accurately identifying feelings with “I feel…” statements.
Rating the reflections
In the late 1960s, Robert Carkhuff (1967) designed a 1-4 point-rating scale to judge the accuracy and helpfulness of various
reflections. The top levels of responses (4 and 5) were seen as significantly adding, in an accurate and positive way, to the client’s
thoughts and feelings of the material under discussion. Responses rated as Level 3 accurately convey understanding but are
neither significantly additive nor detracting. Level 1 and 2 responses were seen as significantly detracting and disrespectful.
Carkhuff and his colleagues conducted a number of studies in which they utilized judges who had been trained to rate counsellor
responses, looking at the ways these reflections affected the development of counselling relationships.

In another simple scheme, a score of minus one (‒1) is given to responses that detract from what the client has said; responses
that miss the mark, or, as one of my students suggested, “it’s like the boat left the wharf and you weren’t on it”. A zero (0) score
is given to reflections which make that are neutral, safe, and accurate without being particularly additive. A score of plus one
(+1) is given to reflections that really seem to capture the essence of the client’s thoughts and feelings and may even accurately
add something to the content.

Level +1: Reflection → accurate and additive

Level 0: Reflection → neutral: does not distort, does not add

Level ‒1: Reflection → distorts and detracts

Using reflection skills to deepen the relationship
Arnold Lazarus (1971) poses a model for thinking about the information people share about themselves that consists of a series
of concentric circles. The outer circles are the safe, socially polite pieces of information we share about ourselves, and the inner
circles represent the increasingly more personal, risky things people share. Others have likened this material that clients present
to the counsellor as being like the layers of an onion. When counselling relationships are safe and trusting, clients peel back the
layers, moving closer to the core as they choose to become more personal and trusting.
The onion model of client self-disclosure
The more trusting and intimate the relationship, whether it is a counselling relationship, a love relationship, or a friendship, the
safer people feel about peeling the layers away to reveal the inner aspects of who they are. Different levels of intimacy yield
varying levels of self-disclosure, with only the most intimate relationships cutting to the core of this onion.
Good counselling relationships aim to deepen the level of client self-disclosure. To deepen the relationship with a client, you
must provide an environment where it’s safe for her to peel the layers back. This can be a difficult and scary process for the
client, particularly when there has been abuse or trauma in her life. The layers have been added for protection, and there may
be shame or fears of the counsellor’s judgment in showing what lies beneath. It is truly important to remember and respect the
fact that these layers of your client’s “onion” may have been adopted as protection or as survival strategies for coping with
unpredictable, unsafe environments. The client may choose to not peel away some of these layers and may choose to keep some
aspects of her inner self-secret. The counsellors should always trust and respect this desire for privacy.
The best way to provide the safety and security necessary for increasing levels of client self-disclosure and provide that critical
empathy, which is to listen intently and then to accurately reflect the content and feeling of what’s being disclosed. A primary
function of counselling, a goal that may or may not be consciously articulated in your action plan with your client, is to help the
client become more authentic. As he gains authenticity, his inner world, the inner layers of his “onion”, will become available
to him in a way that gives the client more choice about what aspects he shows the world. Learning to become more self-
disclosing with the counsellor may enable the client to become more self-disclosing and open with others.
More reflections - this time with feeling
Thus far, much of the reflection practice has focused on capturing the meaning of what a client says and then accurately
formulating a way of reflecting that. By using feelings words; sad, mad, glad, scared, and all of their variants, the counsellor can,
even more than when accurately reflecting meaning, demonstrate the counsellor capacity for understanding the client’s internal
world. Good reflections can help the client begin to understand her feelings, both by naming them and by seeing how they are
attached to the events of her life. The counsellor reflections can help her to sort out the complex mix of feelings that sometimes
accompany thoughts about people and how they interact with her. For people who seem adrift in a sea of feelings, these
reflections can help to create some order and a beginning sense of control; for people who have difficulty expressing feeling,
the counsellor’s reflections can begin to help give voice to what has been unexpressed.
Putting it all together: reflections of content and feeling
The best way of responding to someone, almost regardless of what the client is telling the counsellor about, is to accurately
reflect both the content of what is being said and the feelings associated with what’s being discussed. These reflections of
content and feeling really serve to connect the counsellor to the client. The degree to which the counsellor does this well, reflect
content and feeling, will have a great deal to do with how successful the counselling relationship will be. Moreover, this skill,
when applied to friendships and love relationships, will help all of those relationships improve.
WORKING WITH THE CLIENT’S FEELINGS
Dealing with clients’ feelings can be a tricky business. Learning to help the clients identify and manage their feelings is an
important aspect of all counselling, and it may be a particular focus for some theoretical approaches to this work.
Helping the clients learn to identify, manage, and appropriately express feelings is one of the best things the counsellor can do
with them. The more facility the counsellor has in the language of feelings, the better the counsellor will be at helping the clients
articulate and deal with their feelings. This takes practice, skill, and experience, for it is truly a complicated aspect of this work.
Some people seem to be awash in feelings, a veritable stew of everything from anger and sadness to anxiety and depression.
They are volatile and sometimes unpredictable in how they experience and express their feelings, and they may seem under the
control of the emotions that swirl within them. It can be exciting and sometimes a bit frightening to be in the presence of
someone who is operating with such powerful emotional material.
Other clients may show no noticeable affect at all. The counsellor may sit there wondering if this person ever experiences any
emotion, let alone the volatility of the person awash in feeling just described. He may appear to be flat, expressionless, and talk
about even difficult material with a distinct absence of feeling. The counsellor may find himself speculating about what kind of
socialization process has rendered such flatness, such control. Some of the clients, portraying yet another emotional style, may
seem to be perpetually angry, perpetually sad, or in the grip of some other single emotion. Their entire being seems overrun by
this emotion, and they seem defined by it.
The counsellor will see a range of styles and skills among the clients in their abilities to identify, experience, and manage their
feelings. Part of the job is to help them to improve their skill level in this arena, to help them increase their ability to be
emotionally fluent and able to maintain a healthy relationship with their emotional “self.” The counsellor’s ability to recognize
and deal with the client’s feelings may, in fact, be one of the most important things the counsellor can do to demonstrate his
trustworthiness and promote the working alliance between the two.
Helping the client understand the language of feeling
The counsellor can assist the clients with the language and expression of feelings by helping them to identify and name their
feelings. Some people, and children are certainly in this group, experience a lot of feeling but have no language to describe what
is going on inside. The counsellor can help them learn to describe these feeling states. Many elementary school counsellors and
other counsellors who work with children have charts of “feelings words” tacked up on the walls to help their clients with this
identification. Games have been developed which can help children identify and name feelings, as well.
The counsellor can help the clients learn this language of feeling by using feelings words in the counsellor’s reflections of content
and feeling about the material that the clients give, where the counsellor used the words scary and sad and angry to help the
client recognize the range of feelings she was experiencing.
Part of building the counselling skills is developing the repertoire of feelings words and incorporating them in the reflections of
the content and feelings that the counsellor imagines the clients are experiencing in situations they describe. Naturally, it will
help if the counsellor is able to accurately read what the client is actually feeling. Most feelings words are variations of the basic
feeling quartet: mad, glad, sad, or scared. Thus, when the client talks about a particularly bad day at work, the counsellor can
suggest, “And when the boss told you that you’d done a lousy job, you could feel yourself getting angry, frustrated.” By supplying
words to describe the emotional experience, the counsellor begins to give the client some tools for making order out of the
confusion within. The more accurate the counsellor can be about the feelings the counsellor imagine to be transpiring, the
better, but the client will usually tell the counsellor if he’s off the mark. “I don’t know if I felt angry, but yes, I definitely felt
frustrated. No matter how hard I try, I just can’t please my boss.” The counsellor ability to accurately identify and reflect feelings
will go a long way toward demonstrating the capacity to relate with empathy to your client.
There may be some interesting gender issues at play in this business of identifying and expressing feelings. Some are undoubtedly
due to cultural conditioning. Men are generally conditioned to be less comfortable with identifying and expressing feelings than
are women, and are typically least comfortable expressing sadness and fear. Men may be more comfortable with feelings of
anger. A woman’s emotional expressiveness may be closely tied to her conditioning as well. The counsellor may misinterpret a
female client’s emotions if the counsellor does not understand and appreciate some of the political realities with which she deals.
The counsellor will miss the boat, for example, if the counsellor assume that a woman’s tears are always about sadness. In fact,
they may signal anger or even rage about some unfair personal or political situation.
The counsellor’s job, with both women and men, is to assist them in a process of destigmatizing their gender “inappropriate”
feelings, usually through own demonstrated comfort with those feelings. The work with both men and women is to help them
become more able to identify and verbally express the range of feelings they experience, including those with which they feel
less comfortable. Naturally, this process begins with the counsellor’s becoming fluent in the different ways men and women
approach and share their emotional experiences.
Similarly, there may be cultural differences in how people experience and express emotional states. Different cultures are
variously rigid in their gender-specific expression of emotions, for example. This can result in an interesting, complex mix of
cultural and gender factors influencing how the client may approach the business of sharing feelings with the counsellor. The
counsellor’s job is to respect and try to understand these differences, while still helping the client to be as expressively free as
possible within his or her own cultural context. The counsellor also needs to take great care not to generalize and stereotype
individuals based on cultural heritage; there is great individual variation within cultural groups. The client may talk about her
“bad” feelings. She may have stigmatized her own feeling state and labelled how she feels as inappropriate. The job with her, in
addition to helping her to expand her emotional language, will be to assure her that there is no such thing as a bad feeling.
People do sometimes do bad things springing from how they feel, but that does not make the feeling bad. Feeling enraged and
then striking out is not usually a great thing to do. It’s the striking that could be labelled as bad, however, not the rage. All
feelings are what they are, and the choices about what people do with those are something else. There may be bad behaviours,
but there are no bad feelings.
The clients sometimes make a simple mistake that makes for messy emotional communication. Someone may use the words “I
feel” when what is actually meant is “I think.” For example, “I feel that war is wrong” is not a statement about feelings at all;
rather, it is an idea about war. You can help the client by gently and consistently reinforcing the use of “I feel” to actually precede
a statement about an internal feeling state. This may take some repeated work with the client, but it can be very effective.
Helping the client manage unruly emotions
Each of the human beings experiences the emotions differently. Some experience and express the emotions freely and with
abandon, while others are much more controlled. Some of the clients will have fallen victim to their own emotions. They ride a
sea of tumultuous feeling that threatens to swamp them or to harmfully affect others. They may seem to be perpetually angry,
thinking that the world is a horrible, unsafe place in which to live (and some of their experiences may have supported this), or
terrified and traumatized by terrible life events. And this perpetual rush of feeling may prompt them to do rash, unwise things,
either to themselves or to other people.
With a client who seems to be behaviourally running amok, the counsellor needs to begin by helping him bring the behavioural
acting out under control. Clients who are in the throes of emotional crisis, or who are severely disturbed, should also be treated
carefully with regard to emotional expression. Anger management programs, stress reduction training, anxiety containment
programs, or behaviour-shaping strategies can be helpful tools in managing emotions that run out of control.
Once the negative behaviours have been addressed, or as they are being addressed, work with the client to find appropriate ways
to express those feelings. The use of play (particularly, though not exclusively, with children) or programs of expressive arts can
be helpful tools. More usually, however, continued talk, with language clarification and support for direct expression, is the best
vehicle. The same reflective stances, helping the client to identify and clarify her feelings, are most effective.
With a client who seems to present the same emotional state consistently, whether it be anger, sadness, or anxiety, it can be very
helpful to consider what else might be going on. Oftentimes, when a client has created a lifestyle around a particular feeling
state, it is as a defence against more primitive, frightening feelings underneath. The client may, for example, feel pretty
comfortable in her consistent expression of anger, but the counsellor may consider and wonder about the feelings under that
anger, the sadness about inevitable past losses or her fears about the future.
The expression of feelings: a word of caution
For some of the clients, particularly those in dangerous situations, honest expression of feeling may, literally, not be safe. The
counsellor needs to be aware of and respect this fact and avoid putting clients at risk. For an incarcerated client, anger may be a
safe emotion to express; sadness and vulnerability, although they may be present internally, may not be safely expressed. For
children or women in abusive home situations, honest expressions of feeling may not be safe. In such situations, the counsellor’s
job is twofold: do what the counsellor can to ensure safety (e.g., reporting physical abuse); and talk with the client about where
it is safe to express feeling (e.g., in the office), and, where it is not (e.g., in jail). Helping the clients to stay physically safe is the
first priority, expressing feelings is secondary. Other situations may also be unsafe, but not physically.
Helping emotionally reluctant clients to express themselves
At the other end of the emotional continuum are clients who have an iron hold on their emotions. They keep their feelings
under wraps and let little out in the way of expressed emotion. They may talk fluently about their feelings (graduate counselling
students can be masters at this) without actually seeming to experience those feelings much. The talking, in fact, may be yet one
more defence against actually allowing the experiencing of feeling.
The counsellor can speculate that these are people for whom rationality and control are paramount, that perhaps they have been
trained to hold themselves in check. For whatever reason, there may be negative connotations associated with the spontaneous
release of feeling, so they hold themselves closely in check to avoid letting any feeling leach to the surface. Perhaps they have
experienced some trauma, the memories of which have been long buried and ignored along with all of the feelings associated
with them. Someone may be terrified of loosening the grip on all of those inner feelings for fear that they will overtake and
consume him. Some of the clients have told me that they are afraid to start crying, because if they do, they will never stop.
People pay a price for denying themselves the experience of their own feelings. A rigidity and hardness develop, which serves
to isolate one from oneself as well as from a genuine experiencing of others. Shutting off access to one kind of feeling has the
effect of shutting off access to most other feelings as well. When a client denies herself the experience of acknowledging her so-
called bad feelings, she also denies herself the full range of capacity to experience joy. This frozen feeling is what lends itself to
the appearance of rigidity.
Provide a safe, secure, welcoming environment for the expression of feeling, and make accurate feelings reflections to assist the
process of learning the language of feelings. The counsellor serves a containing function for the feelings the client expresses.
i.e., by accurately understanding and responding to a client’s internal world, the counsellor helps the client to safely manage, to
contain, his thoughts and feelings so that he doesn’t have to fear being overwhelmed by them. This safety the counsellor provide
makes it possible for more feelings to be shared by the client.
While the counsellor may try specific experiments or techniques to help people access feelings (e.g., expressive arts or gestalt
techniques), it is primarily through the trusting relationship with the counsellor, and particularly in the receptivity to feelings
expression, that most of the action really occurs. Some people have catastrophic fears about what will happen if and when they
let themselves publicly share their feelings. They fear ridicule and judgment. What usually happens, should they choose to let
feelings out with trusted others, is the opposite. It’s paradoxical. Other people usually experience such sharing as a gift and are
drawn to those who choose to share difficult emotions. Not only that, the person who has shared usually cares less about what
others think after an emotionally cathartic experience, for there is personal power experienced in letting the feelings flow. People,
in fact, do not cry forever, and they almost universally feel better after a good bawl.
It is a privilege to be in the presence of a client who chooses to let her feelings thaw and flow after a long period of deep freeze.
The counsellor is like a midwife to the birth of these feelings, and the counsellor can express the support, respect, and gratitude
when the client shares such an experience with the counsellor. The counsellor’s comfort with own feelings is key to the
receptivity and openness to the feelings of others.
Concluding thoughts: listening with head and heart
Good counselling involves the ability to respond to both the client’s thoughts and feelings. In a sense, it is about using both the
head and heart as the counsellor build a relationship with this person.
Many of the people are naturally inclined to respond more easily and readily in one of those domains, so it is incumbent upon
each of us to develop that side with which we are less familiar. If the counsellor is familiar and feel comfortable with the client’s
ideas, but less so with his (and maybe the counsellor owns) feelings, the counsellor will need to stretch himself to become more
at home with the world of emotions.
Conversely, if you are a “feeling” oriented person, becoming more thought-oriented may be an orientation the counsellor needs
to nurture. Supervision, learning how to effectively give and receive feedback, and honest contact with the colleagues and friends
can help with this. The counsellor can ask for feedback about how others perceive the counsellor’s response style, and can
experiment with new ways of listening and responding. The natural curiosity about the self and other people, coupled with the
desire to hone the abilities to be an effective listener and responder, will be the largest assets in this search.
SKILLS FOR DEEPENING RELATIONSHIP
FOCUSING
As the counsellor engage the client, the counsellor will continually make choices about how to respond to the things that the
client talks about. Selectively attending to one part of the material over another is referred to as focusing. The more the
counsellor can keep the client on track, focused on what the counsellor perceive as most important in the moment, the more
effective this experience will be for the client.
The place where the counsellor work and the theoretical orientation will also play a role in how the counsellor selectively attend
to material and focus the client.
Generally, focusing helps to create order in the material the client presents. Particularly for clients whose thinking and
presentation are scattered, focusing can help them begin to create some structure in how they contemplate the array of issues
in their lives. Focusing can help prioritize problems, for example, and this can help both the counsellor and the client think
more constructively about how to actively approach them in an organized fashion.
The counsellor may choose to have the client be a full participant in this process of focusing. The counsellor can use a reflective
comment to summarize the array of concerns he has enumerated and then ask him to select which is most important. The
counsellor might say, “well, you’ve talked about your concerns about work, about your family, and about your relationship with
your friend. Which of these is most important right now?” This sets the stage for a more focused discussion, but instead of
choosing by the counsellor, the client takes command of the choice process.
PERSONALIZING TO PROMOTE RESPONSIBILITY
Many clients have a great deal of trouble talking about the events of their lives in a way that seems connected to them. For
example, a client may use the word it to describe feelings, as in “it feels good when there’s a lot going on”. By reflecting this
material in a personalized way, by simply substituting you for it (“you feel good when there’s a lot going on”), the counsellor
can help the client make the connection of personal responsibility for her own material. Another client may talk abstractly about
life events in a manner that seems to lack personal connection.
The counsellor’s goal is to help clients incorporate personalized language into the way they speak about themselves and their
experiences. The client who learns to say, “I feel that people will like me more if I make them laugh” instead of “you have to
be funny to be popular” is learning to take responsibility for his own material. This is one small but significant step along the
client’s road to the realization that being responsible for his own behaviour means that he has the power to change his behaviour.
IMMEDIACY
Many of the ways a client behaves in the world come into play in the counselling office. The counsellor direct experience of the
client, in the here and now of the counselling session, gives the counsellor a sense of how she operates in that greater world.
The counsellor client is not totally different in her relations with others than she is with the counsellor. It is also true that the
client’s direct experience of the counsellor in the here and now of the counselling session gives her a sense of how other people
operate in the greater world. The counsellor’s direct experience of her and her direct experience of the counsellor can translate
into learning opportunities for the client, if used productively. Focusing on the material as it relates to the client’s experience in
the here and now or as it relates to the counsellor and the relationship between the two is called immediacy. There are two ways
of making a client’s material more immediate: (a) relate material to the relationship between the two, and (b) reveal the
counsellor’s personal reactions to the client and what the client talks about, also known as self-disclosure.
Increasing immediacy in the relationship
When the counsellor responds to client about some aspect of how he is dealing with the counsellor, either obviously or in a
more hidden fashion, the counsellor makes the engagement between selves more immediate.
When the counsellor and client sit and talk together, all of the client’s relationship skills and difficulties are at play. As counsellors,
it is here that they’ve their most direct, observable evidence of how clients most likely behave with other people. The defences,
the charm, or whatever other ways of relating that have served clients well or poorly in other relationships, eventually find their
way into the counselling office. It is for exactly this reason that the counselling relationship is often defined as a microcosm of
the client’s interpersonal world. If the counsellor happens to be male, the trustworthiness of men is no longer simply a theoretical
“out there” concern. A male counsellor can make the material more immediate by commenting on the obvious fact of his being
male and the implications for her being able to trust him: “you say that men aren’t trustworthy, so you must have some concerns
about my capacity to be trustworthy as well”. This personalizes the abstract statement and makes it more immediate regarding
the current situation between client and counsellor. This is akin to experiential learning in the classroom, wherein the material
under review is made more relevant by virtue of direct experience of what it means. Sometimes, particularly in group counselling,
this reflection for immediacy is referred to as process commentary.
The true skill and art of making good solid responses to immediate relationship issues are in being able to personalize the
material without taking it personally. In other words, the counsellor wants to be able to use himself and the counselling
relationship as vehicles for teaching, but, not in a way that the counsellor become emotionally hooked, or defensive, about
whatever the issues are. If the counsellor does find himself becoming unduly hooked, then some unfinished business of his
own, some reminder of past people or situations, is probably infringing on the current situation.
An effective counsellor chooses when to respond to relationship issues as part of the overall selective attention process.
Counsellor’s time such interventions about process variables just as they would any other intervention, always keeping in mind
the goal, which is to best serve the client’s efforts to resolve his issues. Discussion of the dynamics of the process between client
and counsellor is appropriate when it does not distract from other more pertinent and compelling things being discussed and
when it sheds light on the issues the client has and does not detract from actively pursuing his stated goals.
Self-disclosure to promote immediacy
It can be extremely helpful for our clients to know that we have experienced life, losses, and personal difficulty. The use of self-
disclosure can promote immediacy in the relationship with client, this time by sharing something about self as it relates to the
material being talked about. This sharing may be about some experience or about some internal thought or feeling state of the
counsellor’s that relates to the client’s material or to what is going on in the relationship.
Self-disclosure of personal experiences can be a powerful tool in the development of appropriate intimacy in a counselling
relationship, but don’t let self-disclosure get in the way of, or diminish, the client’s ability to relay his own experience. Most of
the time, the bonds of understanding can be communicated subtly, often with few words. Saying something simply and with
feeling, such as “yes, I really understand” or “I get it, I’ve been there”, can convey the depth of understanding and experience.
Once again, there are no absolutes, and each of the counsellor needs to find their own way with this. There are many arguments
in favour of counsellor self-disclosure (e.g., modelling, rapport building, giving encouragement) and many against (e.g., boundary
blurring, merging, concern about counsellor welfare). Weigh the pros and cons carefully in each situation.
There are two kinds of self-disclosure. One variety is related to the information and the details of the life experience, the things
that have happened in lives. The other has to do with internal experience, the thoughts and feelings. This kind of counsellor
self-disclosure is sometimes referred to as transparency. Decisions need to be made about the wisdom of sharing either kind
of experience, and these decisions should be made on the basis of assessment of the help that it might be, as well as the timing
of the sharing.
Once a disclosure is made, evaluate what happened as a result. If it went nowhere, the self-disclosure was not helpful. The proof
of the intervention, in whatever it is the counsellor say to the client, is in what comes afterward. Unsuccessful interventions
translate into dead space, switched topics, and superficial conversation. Successful interventions, including our self-disclosures,
translate into deeper communication.
Self-disclosure; some pitfalls and provisos
Counsellors sometimes grapple with the problem of inappropriate self-disclosure, that is, giving the client too much information
about his own experience or feelings or thoughts.
There is a common societal belief that goes like this: “when I tell you about experiences, I have had that are somewhat like
yours, it will suggest to you that I really understand your experience and that I can be trusted. If I have experienced losses
somewhat like yours or trauma like yours or an addiction like yours, I can share my experience with you, and you’ll feel more
understood and accepted”.
Some people may try to use information about the counsellor in destructive ways. Should the counsellor choose, for example,
to tell the adolescent client of the counsellor’s past drug-using days, he may use that information in ways that could harm the
counsellor. He could share it with people who the counsellor might not want to know about it. Sharing any information about
the self, particularly about your past transgressions, could come back to haunt the counsellor.
The other way the counsellor can self-disclose with the client is to share the personal feelings and thoughts. While it is usually
safer and more appropriate to share feelings from our internal world with the client as opposed to the experiences in that this
is directly related to the counsellor’s work with them, it is not always helpful to do so. The counsellor’s desire to promote
immediacy in the relationship by way of sharing the internal experience of what the client is saying or doing may be harmful for
the client, and it may also be harmful for the counsellor. The primary concern has to do with the impact self-disclosure has on
client.
Transference and countertransference in relationship immediacy
When material that is directly evident in relationship with a client is used to highlight issues that exist in the client’s outside life,
it is a powerful vehicle for learning. Transference often plays a central role in this learning. The transference phenomenon has
to do with the ways in which the clients, including children, bring old unfinished business, usually involving significant figures
in their past-particularly parents into the current relationship with the counsellor.
The counsellor has her own unique reactions to her client as well, some of which are based on the reality of who he is and some
based on her own unfinished business. The counsellor’s unfinished business is the stuff of countertransference, the mirror image of
the client’s transference. Counsellors as well as clients have active inner lives filled with fantasies and conscious and unconscious
material from the past, and all of that affects current work with a client. Client behaviour triggers and sets that material in
motion, and it can be a helpful or hindering aspect of the work. It is helpful to the degree that as a counsellor are able to become
conscious of it and are not controlled by it. This is one more reason to have good supervision.
Fremont and Anderson (1986) cite that kind of counsellor frustration, in addition to counsellors sometimes feeling personally
attacked by clients or, at the other end of the spectrum, relied on too heavily by clients, as particularly burdensome. All of those
client behaviours can be frustrating for a counsellor. Although feelings of frustration may be understandable, they are
problematic when a counsellor then acts out of anger with the client. The counsellor’s desire to be helpful, and to see that help
translated into client action, is largely based on countertransference thinking that probably goes something like this: “my worth
is wrapped up in how well I do”, so clients had better do well, or “I’ll be a failure”. This counsellor’s worth should not be tied
to client performance. This is perfect material for supervision discussion.
The other frequent countertransference hang-up, being attracted to a client, can be even more difficult because counsellors can
easily deceive themselves about their true motivations and feelings. Haule (1996) talks about the inevitability of this happening
sometime in almost every counsellor’s career. Therapeutic relationships intentionally foster intimacy and closeness. It is a given
that erotic feelings will arise from some of these encounters, and counsellors with the most significant unmet love needs and
yearnings for closeness will be most vulnerable to “falling in love” with their clients. The picture is even more muddled and
confused when the counsellor’s countertransference colludes with the client’s transference, evolving into an erotically charged
dance between the two of them. Counsellors can get into all kinds of hot water if they get blindsided by this variety of
countertransference, and once again, all of this should be material for the supervision office.
USING HUNCHES
As a relationship with the client develops, more skills can be introduced. The counsellor may begin to have some ideas about
the material being presented to the counsellor and want to voice those ideas out loud. A way to do that without making
pronouncements or sounding too heavy-handed is to wonder with the client about the issues of concern. One way of doing this
is with the use of interpretation. Another, more tentative means is by employing hunches. The counsellor can make the client a
co-conspirator with the counsellor in trying to work through issues by tossing out hunches, ideas that are tentatively stated. The
counsellor might, for example, wonder aloud, giving voice to idea that there may be something going on below the surface. The
counsellor might say, “I wonder what it is about your ideas about your husband’s affair that keeps you from talking directly with
him about it?”. With this kind of speculations, the counsellor give voice to the concern about the issue in a way that implies
allegiance with the client. While it is a question, it is not a direct question, which might sound accusatory (e.g., “why don’t you
just talk with your husband about this?”). It is an invitation to the client to wonder as well.

Alternatively, the counsellor might phrase his hunch as a simple declarative statement, such as “it’s curious that you don’t talk
with your husband about this”. This is another way of saying essentially the same thing, and again, though not in question form,
it invites the client to speculate as to the reasons for her behaviour. The hunch invites the client to speculate with the counsellor
about the meaning of what she does and speaks. Using a hunch with the client is a little like tossing out a hypothesis, the
counsellor “takes” on some aspect of the material, for testing: “perhaps asking your husband about his relationship with this
other woman would yield more information than you could handle”. This hunch is really simply a tentative interpretation.
The client can take the bait and dive more deeply into speculation about what such a conversation with her husband might
mean, or not. The counsellor is suggesting that talking with her husband about his affair is a very high-stakes discussion and
that it is potentially terrifying. The counsellor’s hunching with her again, this is a tentative interpretation, about this acknowledges
the scariness and invites her to talk more about it without the being overly certain or authoritative. The hunch is usually
preferable to some statement that begins with “I think that”. The hunch leaves the counsellor (as in “I think”) out of it, with
the focus still squarely on the client.
AFFIRMING AND VALIDATING
It’s important that the clients hear from the counsellor, at least occasionally, that the counsellor think they’re doing a good job.
Affirming and validating are two closely related skills that provide this support and encouragement. When the counsellor is
affirming with the client, the counsellor let her know that the counsellor is in full agreement with some behaviour or course of
action she is choosing and that the counsellor support her. Particularly when these are positive things that the client is thinking
or doing, it can be a really helpful reinforcement in aiding their continuance.
Closely related to this skill is that of validating. Many of the clients will come from homes that provide little support and may
even assault the client’s sense of self-worth with consistently non-validating feedback, with constant harangues like “you never
get it right”. The counsellor can provide a bit of counterbalance to this non-validation by patiently hearing out, understanding,
and accepting client’s ideas and feelings. This validation can be immensely helpful for someone who is constantly bombarded
with negative messages.
Good reflections demonstrate the counsellor’s capacity to fully understand what client is saying, to appreciate how it is that he
or she sees the world. It can also be occasionally helpful to directly let the client know that the counsellor is fully behind what
she is thinking and doing. Saying things to the client like “I really like it when you” or “it certainly makes sense that you
feel…when he says that to you” can have a tremendously positive effect.
USING CHALLENGES
There will also be times when the counsellor will want to challenge the client; that is, give the client a little push in some direction
that seems relevant and important. The counsellor may want the client to get a clearer grasp of the reality of a situation; for
example, help an abusive drinker acknowledge the severity of his drinking problem. Pointing out the discrepancies between the
way the client sees a particular situation and the ways other people see it could be an extremely helpful form of challenge.
A challenge is always designed to instruct. It is for the client’s benefit, and it is not done out of anger. This is a critical distinction.
At times, a client may read the counsellor well and find ways to get under the skin and antagonize or test the counsellor. When
the counsellor reacts out of anger, countertransference has once again raised its ugly head. Counsellor responses to these
obnoxious behaviours should be instructive, not self-defensive. If the counsellor find himself becoming overly defensive, some
kind of countertransference (again, the counsellor’s unfinished business) is probably being triggered by this client action,
meaning that it is more about the counsellor than about the client. This is why the counsellors have supervision, to help sort
out whose business is really in action. Challenges cover a lot of ground, from the gentle push in the form of a suggestion to
confrontation, a more severe form of challenge.
Some counselling theories suggest guidelines for the effective use of confrontation. They believe confrontation can be a way to
move a client out of an entrenched way of thinking or behaving. Fritz Perls, one of the founders of gestalt therapy, used
confrontation and provocation as primary techniques to help people deal more honestly with their natural aggressive impulses
and their emotions. It has been pointed out, however, that others in the gestalt community have not been so enamoured of
Perls’s methods. Using confrontation effectively can be tricky.
TRACKING THE THEMES OF CLIENT’S MATERIAL
Good counselling is more than the cumulative set of specific responding skills. In addition to understanding and using the set
of responding and reflection skills, the counsellor will need to grasp the larger context in which those skills are used. Just as a
person’s life is more than a set of isolated incidents, so too is counselling more than responding to the isolated, specific things
that are told to the counsellor by client.
Try to get a holistic view, a broader picture, of the client, and respond to that as well as to the individual events. A primary way
the counsellor can do this is by tracking the themes, or connections, between the different things the client tells the counsellor.
Carkhuff (1987) refers to this as making thematic summaries. These summaries, or could call them interpretations, are
reflections on how many of the different things the client has told the counsellor, including the feelings, relate to one another.
A woman may tell you a number of stories about troubling or failed relationships, and perhaps all of those relate back to a
troubled childhood. The thematic summary, or reflection, talks about the connections and parallels in these various life
situations. These thematic reflections can be made about the material that is discussed in a single session, and they can also
reflect work in multiple sessions in which the same themes recur.
The ability to make cogent, accurate thematic reflections is a hallmark of developing maturity as a counsellor. It is a sophisticated
skill that demands the full attention and a capacity to look below the concrete surface of what is being spoken to the underlying
ways this specific material connects to the other events of this person’s life. When the counsellor begins to see these connections
and are able to point them out to people in a way that they can understand and integrate them internally, the counsellor will
know that they’ve developed some real ability for this work.
DANGER AREAS IN RESPONDING TO NEW CLIENTS
There are some dangers in this process of responding to a new client, about which any counsellor needs to be watchful. These
traps are easy, naturally seductive ways in which counsellors can unwittingly undermine the very growth they are trying to foster.
Giving advice
Particularly at the beginning of relationship with client, the counsellor may want to give advice about some course of action.
Especially with a child or a Level 1 adult client, this may be appropriate if the person is incapable or temporarily in a position
where he is not able to make healthy, informed choices. “don’t run in front of that car,” or “don’t beat your kids,” or “go for
help” are all examples of directive advice that can be timely and appropriate.
Advice giving can be problematic, however. When the counsellor tells others what to do, it presupposes that they do not have
the ability to make the choice themselves. It is demeaning to the clients for the counsellor to make suggestions about things
they are capable of deciding for themselves. Discussing options and making sure that all sides of an argument are fleshed out
are perfectly appropriate and oftentimes helpful counselling strategies, but when the line is crossed and the counsellor lands
heavily on the side of one of the options, there is inherent danger.
The counsellor can comfortably give advice and advocate for those clients who may not be able to advocate for themselves, but
the counsellor is in swampy territory when he does it for those not needing the wisdom of the choice making. The counsellor
should always give the clients as much responsibility for their own decision making as they can handle.
It can be very frustrating for a counsellor to watch a client make stupid, self-destructive choices, even repeatedly, but the
counsellor need to constantly remind themselves that all of the counsellors have the right to their own bad choices. Someone
who continually makes the same relationship mistake, such as gravitating to the same kind of inappropriate partners and spouses,
certainly has some things to learn, but not by way of the counsellors making other choices for her. Again, this staying away from
advice giving is for those of the clients who have the capacity to choose. It is perfectly appropriate and would in fact be wrong
not to tell the client to stop using drugs, or to go into treatment, or to get out of an abusive situation. The question always is,
“does this person have the skills and the wherewithal to make his or her own choices in this situation?”. If the answer is “yes”,
then the counsellor let the client make the choice.
One of the greatest of the dangers in advice giving can lie in assuming too much responsibility for a client, and typically this
comes under the guise of advocacy. Advocacy refers to the ways in which a counsellor may act on a client’s behalf, usually with
other people. It might be in helping a student resolve a dispute with a teacher or negotiating certain special social services for a
client. Much of the work the counsellors do with some clients involves case management services, meaning that counsellors
help to orchestrate the range of special services that someone may need. No matter how appealing the outcome appears to be,
any time this is done in a way that suggests the person does not have the capacity to do the same for him or herself, it is
potentially demeaning. Any time a client has the capacity to act on his or her own behalf, it is potentially belittling to have
someone else act instead.
Responding to direct questions
Another problem area in the developing counselling relationship that sometimes gives new counsellors particular difficulty is
handling direct client questions. Sometimes, a client will ask a direct informational question: “what time is it?” or “how much
do you charge?”. These can easily be answered under the assumption that there is no hidden meaning or hook attached to the
question. Often, however, the questions are little tests of counsellors, perhaps either a subtle challenge to expertise or a desire
to draw the counsellors unwittingly into giving advice
Giving and receiving constructive feedback
A critical aspect of developing the skills as a competent counsellor involves learning how to give and receive feedback about
what the counsellor is doing. The counsellor will want to give information to the student colleagues about how they’re doing
their counselling practicing, and he’ll want to hear what they have to say about developing skills as well.
The expression, “giving feedback”, means telling someone, quite specifically, what the counsellor has seen and heard doing and
the ideas about what the client has done. This is like any supervisor telling someone about her work performance, and in
counselling, supervision should always be available to help the counsellor determine what is effective in the counsellor’s work.
Generally, the counselling supervisor will help the counsellor talk over the work with a specific client, perhaps brainstorming
future courses of action and reflecting on those counsellor actions that seem to be most helpful in moving things along. In this
kind of counselling supervision, the supervisor is not acting in an evaluative role but rather in a collaborative, mentoring fashion.
In order to be most effective, the counsellor’s way of giving information should use language that reflects the ideas in a way that
he thinks the other will be able to receive the information without becoming defensive and guarded. The bottom line is that the
counsellor wants the person to whom he’s giving feedback to be able to receive it and integrate it. There are some general
principles that will be helpful for the counsellor to know about as the counsellor begin to contemplate this whole business of
learning how to give effective feedback.
Watch and listen carefully
When the counsellor is serving in the observer-supervisor role, looking on as the colleagues are working on their counselling
skills, watch and listen closely as a counsellor interacts with her client. This may seem obvious, but this is a different kind of
observing and listening than the counsellor may be used to. These are not casual, social conversations. The counsellor will want
to catch every counsellor intervention (the things the counsellor says) and note the impact on her client. Watch the non-verbal
behaviours of both the counsellor and client. Everything the counsellor that is being observed, does and says is important. The
observer will want to take it all in, maybe even making some written notes about what he observes; then, prepare self to share
what he has seen and heard.
Supervision and counselling as parallel paths
Much of what the counsellor will do in the role as observer-supervisor is exactly like what the counsellor will do in the role as
counsellor. As a counsellor, he wants the client to feel understood, respected, and valued. This is exactly what the counsellor
wants to experience when he’s supervising her. Empathy is a key ingredient in counselling relationships, so, too, in effective
supervisory relationships. The more that the counsellor can experience the therapeutic world through his eyes, the more
productive the supervision will be. Just as the counsellor is striving to achieve a working alliance with her client, he’s also trying
to build a supervisory alliance with the counsellor. Where there is trust, when the counsellor is experienced as truly being invested
in the counsellor’s doing well, good things can happen.
Concluding thoughts: deepening the relationship
Developing a relationship with a new client depends a great deal on the ability to listen clearly and to accurately respond to the
concerns the client brings to the counsellor. The counsellor will need to continually nurture the ability to listen and respond
intelligently, both to the client’s concerns and to own internal world. The counsellor will need to help him delve more deeply
into the issues at hand, and will begin to assist the process of his bringing his own resources to bear in service of the counselling
goals that will soon be articulated.
The process of finding out about this new person is assisted both by the ways the counsellor fashion the questions and by the
way the counsellor reflects upon and respond to what he tells. The counsellor uses these listening and responding tools to find
out what he looks for from counselling, what his goals and aspirations are, and to identify the strengths and problems that will
help or hinder a successful outcome.
The process of the client’s talking about himself and the active responses to his concerns serves to develop and deepen the
relationship between the counsellor. It is in this deepening, particularly via the counsellor’s focusing skills and the promotion of
immediacy in the relationship, that the counsellor builds the working alliance that binds the counsellor and facilitates the working
toward goals. It is in this newly developing relationship, where the client begins to more clearly show himself as he really is, that
the counsellor begins to experience the honour and privilege associated with doing this work. Through these encounters, the
counsellor is slowly let into this person’s life and entrusted with the information and details of his life experience. It is in this
“being let in” that the counsellor begins to experience the joy and real reward of being a counsellor. Watching what people can
do with the strength of this kind of relationship backing them and watching them take their new learning out into the world
really make the work worthwhile.
 IV. ASSESSMENT, GOAL SETTING AND ACTION PLANNING
THE IMPORTANCE OF GOOD ASSESSMENT
Assessment is an articulation of the problems, strengths, and complexities of the people with whom the counsellor work.
Assessment reflects the ability to hear the complaints voiced by client and to integrate that information with the counsellor’s
deeper understanding of those things not talked about. This is true whether the counsellor is working as a career counsellor, a
school counsellor, or any other kind of counsellor. Good assessment sets the foundation for sound counselling practice. Clearly,
a lot rides on the ability to manage this process well. Beginning a new counselling relationship involves a complex set of tasks,
and it can be daunting for the new counsellor to consider all that needs to be done in these first sessions. A good assessment of
the client’s strengths and areas for concern is one of the central tasks. Assessment strategies in counselling are designed to elicit
relevant information about the client. This information is used to help resolve the issues and conflicts that have brought this
person to the counsellor. Sometimes, this information is obvious, sometimes less so. Experience in handling this assessment
process certainly helps the counsellor become more proficient, particularly in knowing what to look for.
Some agencies or schools may have a designated intake specialist, whose job is solely to do front-end assessment interviewing
with new clients. In other counselling work sites or schools, counsellors may be expected to find out an array of specific
information about clients, typically covering a range of problem areas. Psychological assessment questionnaires have been
developed for use in this information gathering. The questionnaire can be a helpful tool in the intake interview. A written
questionnaire might be given to a new client before a first meeting, but some counsellors prefer to ask the questions during the
first meeting. Some clients will come to the counsellor with a package of information already prepared by others. This might
take the form of assessments from other agencies or school records regarding a student. A full array of assessment strategies in
some places will also mandate, or provide as optional, testing as a means of gathering more information than may be readily
available by interview.
Oftentimes, these assessment tools are standardized tests. This means that the client’s scores on these tests can be compared
with others; regionally, nationally, or internationally, who have taken the same tests. These standardized tests may include
assessment for mental status; achievement, aptitude, or intelligence; interests; or inventories of personality. Any of these may be
an appropriate tool in aiding the process of finding out more about the client. The counsellor will inevitably have course work
during the program of study in counselling about assessment and evaluation tools. Those courses will help the counsellor make
determinations about the appropriate uses and interpretation of these tests. The counsellor should have specific reasons for
giving a test to any new client.
Sometimes, particularly when insurance companies or other third-party payers are reimbursing for service, counsellors are
expected to make an official diagnosis, a succinct problem definition, based on their assessment. Typically, these diagnoses are
supported by use of a coding manual, usually the latest version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM),
published by the APA (2013). The newest version is the DSM-5. Most graduate programs in counselling include course work
on the use of the DSM and discuss the range of psychopathological problems one might encounter in this work.
Whatever process of information gathering is supported where the counsellor works, the counsellor will want to explore some
essential issues with a new client. These essential issues are aspects of this client’s life, aspects of her whole person. Good
assessment is more than simple information gathering; it is an ongoing aspect of the developing counselling relationship. In
addition to some early fact gathering, assessment is all about the ways someone becomes better known. In the best counselling
relationships, people come to know the client’s faults and foibles, her joys and frustrations, and this knowledge serves to support
our work with the client. In sum, what the counsellor gather in the assessment process is more than just information; it is also
impressions, reactions, and ideas about this person.
ASSESSMENT OF THE WHOLE PERSON
A number of theorists have talked about assessment as a process of examining the different aspects of a person’s life and using
the level of functioning in each of those aspects as a place to begin working therapeutically. Wegscheider-Cruse (1989) describes
it as bringing a whole person perspective to the assessment process. This is a helpful and practical way to think about client
assessment. Even though the work site may have its own particular protocols and methods of conducting assessments, the
whole person perspective is a fundamentally sound position from which to start. In this perspective, the counsellor considers
all of the different aspects of this person’s life, client’s “selves”. Even when it is not necessary or appropriate to conduct a
thorough assessment with a new client (e.g., as with a high school student who is asking about college choices), the counsellor
might still consider doing a condensed review of the whole person.
Wegscheider-Cruse’s model of this whole person to include seven critical selves: physical, intellectual, emotional, social familial,
spiritual, working, and aesthetic. These selves encompass the important domains of a person’s life. Client assessment is a survey
of the strengths and problem areas associated with each of those domains.
 The Seven Selves of the Whole Person

Assessing the selves of the whole person

As the counsellor begin work with a new client, the counsellor review, either explicitly or implicitly, these multiple selves. The
counsellor asks him, and self, how each of those selves seems to be doing and whether the counsellor need to pay special
attention to specific areas. For a more formal assessment, in which the counsellor considers some of the client’s selves in a more
structured, organized fashion, you could utilize the Mental Status Examination, which assesses client functioning in the areas of
appearance and behaviour, cognitive ability, capacity for speech and language, thought processing, emotional functioning, and
judgment.
(1) The client’s physical self; many clients have life difficulties that are directly or indirectly related to medical issues. The
counsellor needs to be fully aware of them, and should be prepared to refer a client to a physician if there is any
suggestion of something medical that should be checked out. A client who acts strangely, for example, may be more
than psychologically disturbed. Neurological impairment may be the cause of strange behaviour, and the counsellor will
want outside medical help to ensure that this is not the case. There are physical issues besides medical problems about
which the counsellor needs to be thinking. The counsellor might make it part of the routine to ask every new client
question about possible substance abuse. This can be very sensitive, difficult terrain on which to tread with questions,
but the counsellor needs to ask if the sense that this may be someone in a volatile, explosive relationship, or if the
individual is self-medicating with alcohol or other drugs.
(2) The client’s intellectual self; the counsellor’s assessment of the client’s level of cognitive functioning will have
important implications for the work with her. It will dictate the kind of language the counsellor use, and it will affect
the thinking about her capabilities for understanding and the kinds of changes that can be realistically planned for this
client.
(3) The client’s emotional self; if there are questions about a client’s emotional safety or critical concerns about his
emotional well-being, seek outside assistance.
(4) The client’s social-familial self; the Italian Jungian analyst Aldo Carotenuto (1989) asks himself whether a new client
looks like he or she has ever been passionately embraced by anyone. This is a provocative, interesting way to consider
the client’s ability to form close relationships. Contemplate the meaning of this reflective question for a moment. If the
counsellor is dealing with a child in the office, the counsellor could amend this question to whether she looks like she
has been regularly hugged or read to. The obvious implication is that assessment does not need to be a dry and lifeless
exploration of the purely factual.
(5) The client’s spiritual self
(6) The client’s working self; there is an entire branch of the field, career counselling, devoted to this important aspect
of a person’s life. A person’s work life is an essential aspect of her overall level of well-being.
(7) The client’s aesthetic self
The role of consultation in assessment
All areas of a person’s life merit investigation. The agency or school context within which the counsellor works may have
rigorous, specific ways to approach some or all of these areas. Alternatively, the counsellor may have the latitude to approach
this “finding out” in a more informal and less rigorous fashion. Regardless of their approach to assessment, all counsellors
occasionally experience the need for more information than they can elicit themselves. Even the most experienced and self-
confident counsellor knows when it is time to consult with someone who has specific expertise. One of a counsellor’s worst
nightmares is to have failed to adequately consult with others related to some client problem that then results in some terrible
event or outcome. Client suicides are perhaps the most obvious example of these awful outcomes. Undiagnosed medical
complications, unreported sexual or physical abuse, or missed opportunities for medication are some of the other problems that
can be avoided by seeking appropriate help. Most of the counsellors have access to a wealth of expert opinion in fields that are
related to some of the difficulties the clients encounter. It would be not only foolish but also arrogant to not avail the selves of
those services on our client’s behalf.
CHOOSING STRATEGIES FOR ACTION BASED ON THEORETICAL ORIENTATION
In the initial sessions with a new client, the counsellor is beginning to determine the kinds of issues and strengths she is bringing
into this relationship with the counsellor, and at the same time, the counsellor is beginning to think about the strategies the
counsellor will use to help her. As the counsellor foster the relationship with this client, the working alliance will form the critical
foundation of the work together. All of the relationship-building skills the counsellor can muster in demonstrating the allegiance
with the client will be invaluable in helping to set this foundation. This working alliance will go a long way in assisting movement
toward successful outcomes, and the relationship itself can be used as a counselling action strategy.
The counsellor will most likely also use other tools in the work with the client. The other tools the counsellor choose will depend
in part on the theoretical approach. As the counsellor has learned, or are learning, in counselling theory course, different
theoretical approaches advocate the use of different tools, and each has developed its own set of preferred techniques and skills.
The theoretical orientation reflects the basic philosophy of the nature of humankind. If the counsellor views human behaviour
as learned responses, for example, the counsellor has probably chosen a behavioural or cognitive-behavioural orientation.
However, if the counsellor views human behaviour as choices based on free will, the counsellor has likely chosen a humanistic
or existential orientation. The philosophy and theoretical orientation also include the views of normal versus maladaptive
behaviour. The means the counsellor choose for making effective interventions will be, by and large, based on those beliefs.
The theoretical stance the counsellor adopt will largely determine how the counsellor approach clients, but will select particular
counselling actions based on what seems to be called for with any given client at any given point in time. It is perfectly
appropriate to use different theoretical positions to address the varieties of human complaint. Therefore, the counsellor needs
to be fluent in a number of theoretical positions and strategies, fitting what seems appropriate to the specific tasks at hand.
There is nothing incompatible with having some core beliefs and ideas about human behaviour and counselling theory yet
acknowledging that no single theory or approach has the corner on the absolute truth. In dealing with different people in specific
situations, a strategy from one theoretical position may work better than another in that specific situation. It certainly is more
reasonable to fit theory to a particular human need as opposed to the reverse: fitting the person into a specific theoretical
framework.
For example, the counsellor may be primarily non-directive and believe in people’s ability to marshal their own resources, but
when someone is about to jump off a bridge, it seems appropriate to grab him, or say, “don’t jump!”. Saving life is the primary,
immediate concern here. This would not be the time to ask him about his childhood or of his feelings about the bridge. Similarly,
when the counsellor see that the client is engaged in other destructive behaviours, the counsellor is obliged to act, sometimes in
very directive fashion, to protect him and other people.
ASSESSING OVERALL LEVEL OF FUNCTIONING
In addition to the theoretical approach, the decision about how to best proceed with a new client is predicated upon the
counsellor’s assumptions about the client’s general level of functioning in the world. Whereas the counsellor considers the
person’s level of functioning in each self-area (physical, social-familial, intellectual, emotional, spiritual, working, and aesthetic),
the aggregate, the whole person, presents a picture of the client’s ability to handle responsibility and freedom and to act maturely
in the world. Considering a person’s level of functioning suggests a developmental approach to assessment, which has
implications for strategies that the counsellor will bring to bear on the work with the client.
Assessing levels of maturity and responsibility
The house of client concerns and counselling skills (the job as counsellors is to both ascertain the level in the house where the client lives and to decide
what tools to utilize to best serve this client at that level of functioning.)

Whatever the specific issues or problems a client brings to the work with the counsellor, part of the underlying goal is to assist
the client in recognizing and increasing his own personal responsibility for negotiating life. This goal may not be fully articulated
between the counsellor and the client, but it will nevertheless be one of the counsellor’s most important goals in working
together. Sometimes, this need for more client responsibility will be obvious, as with someone who gets in trouble with the law
or someone who drinks too much. It can be more complicated and is sometimes difficult to recognize, however, and the
counsellor should discuss exactly what the counsellor means by working to “increase” a sense of personal responsibility. The
counsellor’s overall assessment of a client’s level of maturity and responsibility enables the counsellor to decide on the kinds of
intervention strategies that might be most appropriate.
Level 1 functioning
Living at Level 1 are adults who may have some childlike characteristics, with behavioural control issues and relationships
characterized by difficulty and confusion. Some of these immature adults have never had proper parenting or guidance, and
some have given their lives over to substance abuse. Whatever the reason, they typically come to the counsellor in crisis. Their
house is, metaphorically, falling down around their ears, and they are clearly in need of some lifesaving. At Level 1, the immature,
irresponsible characterization may be identified by any combination of the following:

 Lack of behavioural control

 Relationships characterized by excessive dependency, as well as chaos
 Undisciplined, fragmented thinking and work habits
 Drug, alcohol, or eating disorders
 Fear or anxiety when alone
 Little attachment to interest or subject areas
 Blames others for difficulties
 Little understanding of how personal actions affect consequences
 Potential cognitive deficits
This person is behaving in all sorts of ways that would be described as “childlike”. He demands physical and emotional support
(sometimes by way of social control) and will act out if that structure is not provided. Keep in mind that some of the people
living at Level 1 actually are children. Their need for help is age appropriate, and the need is for direction, support, and guidance.
The counsellor can provide this guidance and support, if it is called for developmentally, regardless of the actual age of the
client.
Level 2 functioning
At the middle level of the house, Level 2, live those people who make up the mainstream of the adult culture. These are mature
people who are self-supporting, who care for themselves and are able to maintain themselves without undue external support.
They have people in their lives whom they love, and they are loved by others. They can live independently but are involved
productively with others. The responsible, mature, person at Level 2 is capable of emotional, physical, and intellectual self-
support. This style includes the following:

 Relationships characterized by stability, give and take, and the absence of manipulation
 Capacity to be alone without undue anxiety
 Engagement in loving relationships
 Absence of major behavioural disorders
 Ability to maintain a task orientation that is focused and disciplined
This person has a life that, from the outside, appears purposeful and focused. She acts like an adult, one who has grown past
the narcissism and demands of youth. She has replaced those demands with a capacity to give to herself. She is capable of being
fully self-supporting, emotionally and physically. Her relationships with others are characterized by independence and an absence
of neediness. This person may seek counselling for help in becoming more interpersonally sensitive, becoming more in touch
with feelings, or for assistance with any variety of life problems; career issues, relationship difficulties, or parenting concerns, to
name only a few. Although this person is capable of handling responsibility for her own life, she nevertheless seeks help to make
life more satisfying.
Level 3 functioning
In the upper reaches of the house, Level 3, are extra-mature people who have not only the wherewithal to responsibly manage
their own lives but also the additional capacity to respond and assist others. The counsellors might view this kind of
“responsibility” as an advanced form of responsibility. In this sense, responsibility means much more than doing what is “right”
based on traditionally held notions of being duty bound. It is about having the capacity to respond both to what is needed for
oneself and to what is needed by others. It is about a person’s ability to take care of himself well, in all of the aspects of the
“selves” discussed previously, and also to acknowledge and respond appropriately to the needs of those around him. The primary
concerns these clients bring to the counselling table typically have to do with examining the meaning in life, looking for creative
challenges, and reaching for higher levels of quality in relationships. Oftentimes, these individuals have a desire to give back to
others from what they have learned, and they yearn to reach out of and beyond the self. Jung suggests that this is a stance taken
by many people in the second half of life. Using a sponge as an analogy, Jung said that if the first half of life is composed of
soaking up, then the second half is spent in squeezing. Perhaps the counsellor’s increasing knowledge of the finiteness of the
time left here leads to strive to have the lives mean something beyond selves, and this fosters a desire to give back to others.
A Level 3 person has learned to function well in the world. This person’s work life, interpersonal life, and emotional life maintain
all those characteristics of the person at Level 2 but with additional characteristics. Although outwardly functional, this person
may nevertheless experience personal doubts, relationship difficulties, wrestle with concerns about work, or live with unnamed
fears. This is not a perfect person, in other words, and he may seek counselling for help with these concerns. The following
characteristics reflect this Level 3, “extra-mature” person:

 A lifestyle characterized by outward simplicity and a rich internal life (to paraphrase the writer William Styron, He
simplifies the external in order to make the internal more complex)
 Gives off a sense of inner wisdom by her mere presence
 The capacity to listen intently, with an intensity of focus
 A primary focus on inward development and awareness, coupled with significant social involvement
 A heightened capacity for focused attention related to intellectual or aesthetic projects
 Values interdependence (attachments, bonds to others) even more than independence
 Problems for this person are often related to the assumption of too much responsibility
It is difficult to write of and describe this person concretely, but the counsellor has all known when the counsellor is in the
presence of such a person. These are people who live with a certain grace, beset with the problems of living like any of the
counsellor but with the capacity to see them as learning opportunities.
These are the world’s true warriors, those who have learned that the crucial lessons of life have more to do with being loving
than searching constantly for love from others. The counsellor finds them in all walks of life, in and out of the helping
professions, and all of the counsellors have been truly fortunate in the encounters with these people. They are surely not always
from the helping professions, and they may wear their wisdom quietly. These are the self-actualized people Maslow (1954) wrote
about. The counsellor may meet these people in the most unlikely places.
A developmental approach provides a way of thinking about the client’s level of overall functioning and the skills to bring to
work with her. Clearly, the strategies for working with a client who is acting irresponsibly and immaturely will be different from
those for working with someone who is responsible and mature. However, in real life, these levels are rarely clear-cut. People
may function at different levels in different aspects of their lives. In addition, people may shift between levels, growing or
regressing, depending on personal and life circumstance. The model is just that, a model. It can be a helpful way of thinking
about matching your perceptions of the client with the appropriate kinds of intervention skills, but it cannot be rigidly applied.
And again, keep in mind that the developmental continuum should not be rigidly associated with chronological age.
The interplay of intellect, needs, values, and the capacity for responsibility
This overall assessment of responsibility and the implications for counselling interventions is congruent and compatible with
other developmental models related to overall functioning, intellectual thought processing, personal needs, and values. These
are similar, parallel ways of thinking about human development and about how we might appropriately gauge the interventions
and work with the clients. This model is also similar and roughly congruent with other developmental models that pair
counselling approach to client development. In the whole person and developmental assessment process, the counsellor has a
continuum related to a client’s general level of functioning. It is appropriate to also consider how counselling intervention
strategies could be related to responding to intellectual capacity and cognitive level of functioning, client needs, or the ability to
make sound values decisions. It stands to reason that Maslow’s “self-actualized” person would most likely have similar capacities
to make higher order values decisions as well as to operate with high levels of responsibility in the world. It would also go
without saying that the person would be capable of higher order thinking. At the lower levels, the person who has serious
physical safety and love needs will also most likely make values decisions based on a fear of punishment and operate immaturely
in questions related to management of responsibility.
The assessment of functioning and implications for counsellor action
The implications for counsellors of a developmental approach to assessment are obvious. The counsellor needs to structure the
interventions, activity, and the things the counsellor say and do with the clients in a way that reflects their ability to think, to
manage responsibility, and to make moral decisions. The counsellor needs to respond and work with them in ways that respect
their capacity to understand and respond to the counsellor.
Implications for counsellor activity and structure
Activity refers to counsellor action in counselling, including the things the counsellor does and speaks. The higher the level of
counsellor activity, the more she is doing and saying. Structure refers to the kinds of things the counsellor does. A higher level
of structure in a counselling session means that the counsellor is more directive and provides more planned activities.
The counsellor will need to be most active, most structured, and most directive with clients operating at Level 1. The counsellor
will ask more questions, stimulate discussion more actively, and perhaps even give instruction in ways that the counsellor
wouldn’t if the counsellor were less active. The counsellor will also construct more activities with people operating at lower
levels on this continuum. This means that the counsellor will create more structure in relationships with these clients. The
counsellor will perhaps be making things, doing therapeutic art and play projects (with children), or constructing activities to
engage client interest. The counsellor might be engaged in teaching activities with them. Similarly, the ground rules the counsellor
adopt for work with them may be more structured and clearly defined. The counsellor will also be more active and provide
more structure at the earliest stages of any counselling relationship as the details of how the counsellor will work together are
negotiated.
The farther along the continuum the counsellor assess the clients to be, the less active, less directive, and less structured the
counsellor will be. With Level 2 clients, the counsellor will be relying much more heavily on client generation of material for the
substance of what happens in the counselling session. These clients are capable of handling the responsibility for generating
material themselves. Should the counsellor work with clients at Level 3, the counsellor will most likely adopt a thoughtful, much
less active stance, letting the client take the lead in determining the direction of the interaction.
Choosing action skills based on level of function
From the developmental perspective, it seems appropriate to choose counselling strategies, perhaps from a variety of theoretical
orientations, that coincide most appropriately with what is needed by the client. Some theories seem naturally suited to people
at one functional level, less so for those at other levels. Other theoretical techniques have greater flexibility and can be applied
differentially, depending on what seems to be needed.
Directive and behaviourally oriented approaches (e.g., reality therapy and cognitive-behavioural approaches) might best be used
for clients operating at Level 1, and perhaps for some of the problems associated with Level 2. These are clients for whom
organizing thought as it influences feeling and behaviour and seeing how their behaviours clearly affect the consequences that
follow, are typically critical learning tasks.
At Level 2, where clients demonstrate an ability to act more responsibly and can process information in a more sophisticated
fashion, less counsellor-active and more nondirective approaches (e.g., gestalt or client-cantered counselling) might help them
find their own solutions to problems or access and express feelings.
For Level 3 clients, such as selves when the counsellor avails the selves of counselling services, the insight-oriented therapies
will most likely be solid choices for use. Existential approaches, varieties of analytic approaches, or spiritually oriented theoretical
stances may provide the help the counsellor need.
The house of client concerns and counselling skills summarizes the action skills appropriate for each client level.
Armed with the assessment of the client’s strengths and skills, a base of information about this new client, and a sense of how
capable he is of managing his own life, the counsellor is poised to put together an action plan for the work together. The
problems and strengths identified in new client, as well as the specific issues he has brought in to the counsellor, will create the
basis of the counsellor’s goals to be formulated with him for future work. The assessed level of functioning will help the
counsellor to select the strategies that the counsellor will bring to this emerging relationship. The counsellor’s selection of
strategies will also be informed by the facility with different theoretical approaches and the counsellor experience in this work.
Client characteristics and intervention strategies
GOAL SETTING AND ACTION PLANNING
During these first sessions, the new client becomes clearer about what she is looking for from the counsellor and from
counselling. She begins to more distinctly articulate the forces that have driven her to come to see the counsellor. Simultaneously,
the counsellor’s assessment of her strengths and problem areas, as well as her general level of functioning in the world, gives a
clearer picture of how her desires for counselling help and her overall stance in the world hang together, or don’t. Together, out
of this combination of information, her desire for help, and the impressions, the counsellor begin to formulate counselling goals
and an action plan for working together. Sometimes this process of goal setting and planning is referred to as treatment planning.
Some prefer the term action planning to remove implications that counselling exists within a medical model. This process of
goal setting and action planning is not something the counsellor does to people but rather with them. The assessment process,
as well as the working agreements the counsellor strike with the clients, should reflect high degrees of counsellor-client mutuality.
It makes little difference how brilliant our observations or how succinct and clear the counsellor’s goals if the person the
counsellor is working with is not fully complicit in the process of putting those together. This conjoint process of articulating
goals extends to work with children as well as adults.
Strength-based goals
It can be tempting to focus on deficits, but the best client goal packages are those that actively build on strengths. Allowing a
client’s own substantial resources to serve as the foundation for the counselling relationship is not only empowering to the client
but also will typically yield more positive outcomes. This doesn’t mean that the counsellor can’t suggest to new client something
that the counsellor think might be a helpful part of the goal package. The counsellor assessment of his various selves may lead
the counsellor to believe that work on one or more of those areas may be especially productive in achieving his stated goals for
coming to counselling. Some counsellors also advocate adding their own values dimension to the goal-setting part of the process
but caution should be taken to ensure that the client is fully complicit in whatever these might be.
Broad goals for all clients
The counsellor’s assessment discussion and the review of the whole person approach to thinking about the relationship between
assessment and counsellor activity should probably make these self-evident. Naturally, the counsellor’s want their goals to affirm
our clients’ abilities and strengths. Succinctly put, the counsellor wants to help all of the clients heighten their capabilities in the
following areas:

 Ability to manage personal responsibility (including the freedom to make healthy choices)
 Personal awareness and self-respect
 Interpersonal awareness and sensitivity to the needs of others
The need for clear and concise goals
The counselling relationship is the vehicle in which the counsellor will drive with the client toward the goals the two of have set
for the work. What happens in the relationship is about the process of the counselling journey. The goals are about the
destination or the outcome of the trip. To reach the goals, the counsellor needs to pay attention to the journey. The outcomes
are dependent on the process.
Generally, the counsellor’s overall goals will serve as a backdrop for all other specifically articulated goals. Regardless of the
client’s level of functioning, good counselling outcomes are dependent upon clarity and specificity of goals. The goals are stated
concretely and positively so that they are approached with enthusiasm and a sense of optimism. Goals should be easily
understood by both the counsellor and the client. Finally, good counselling goals are couched in terms of behavioural change,
affording the potential for actually measuring counselling outcomes.
Turning the client’s problems into a prioritized set of goals
The client will most likely come to the counsellor with a list of problems that are causing distress. If it’s a coerced client, those
problems may be causing other people distress as well. Once the counsellor has assessed the overall level of functioning, it is
the counsellor’s job to help to articulate those problems and their resolution as workable, specific, clearly stated goals. The
selected goals need to be prioritized so that the most critical issues are dealt with before those that are less important. “First
things first”, as they say in Alcoholics Anonymous. When there are life and death issues, for example, or severe behavioural
issues that are out of control, as with drug abuse or physical abuse, those are preeminent. A woman who is being pushed around
at home, whether literally or metaphorically, needs to attend to that before she can realistically consider career plans. Serious
issues need to be brought under control before other concerns can be addressed.
The effective counselling action plan: clear goals and ground rules
The action plan, the map of the journey, represents the culmination of the assessment process with the new client. The action
plan is a written or more informally spoken agreement between the counsellor and the client that defines articulated goals and
responsibilities. It defines what is to be expected of the client (e.g., coming for appointments on time, fees to be paid, finishing
homework) as well as what is to be expected of the counsellor (e.g., being available when the counsellor say the counsellor will
be, advance notification of time away, how the counsellor will work). The best plans include goals that are definable and
measurable; this enables the counsellor and the client to have a clear sense of outcomes at the end of the counselling experience.
The plan may also specify what kinds of client behaviours outside of the counselling relationship will be expected. Examples of
these behaviours include specific expectations about what will happen in the event of physical violence or drug use, or
agreements of no self-harm. Plans that specify these kinds of behavioural issues may also involve monitoring provisions, such
as urinalysis or Breathalyzers for drug and alcohol abusers.
The well-constructed plan gives the client as much responsibility as possible for managing his or her end of the process. It
reflects the assessed level of functioning at which the client operates, and it is the foundation upon which the counsellor will
base many of the counselling activities.
Action plans for Level 1 clients, including children, will be tighter and more concrete than those for clients at Levels 2 or 3. It
assumes that goals are mutually agreed-upon, and it supports the counsellor-client alliance. The plan makes clear what
information is to be shared with other parties (e.g., parents, school officials, insurance companies, police) and provides
protection for the relationship between the two. The counsellor client should always be clear about what information, and under
what circumstances, the counsellor will be giving to others. He then can make decisions, based on this knowledge, about what
is safe information to share.
The plan writers try to anticipate problem areas and plans for them. There may be backup plans, or contingencies, if one of the
counsellors does not manage the end of the bargain. The contract is based on the assumption that these events will happen and
includes plans accordingly. Oftentimes, this contract is a verbal agreement between the counsellor and the client, but there will
be times when the counsellor or the client will want it to be written. Some of the clients will be “forgetful”, or resistant in other
ways, and this will serve as a reminder of their responsibilities.
The process of putting this plan, or contract, together provides a good opportunity to talk about how this counselling
relationship and work will proceed. Particularly for people who have never experienced counselling, it is a good way to introduce
some of the basics of what the counsellor will expect of them. Some people will need a little guidance with this, and they may
not be particularly adept or experienced in talking about themselves. The planning process is as much about the opportunity for
education about counselling as it is about putting an agreement together. The adept counsellor uses the plan as the glue that
holds the therapeutic alliance together. The relationship is supported and reinforced by the well-constructed plan. The counsellor
should do their level best to maintain the end of the bargain (e.g., not changing or cancelling meeting times) as the counsellor is
modelling the kind of responsibility the counsellor would like the client to emulate. The counsellor can also assume that the
client will on occasion violate her end of the deal. If the counsellor work with children, the counsellor can assume that they will
test the limits of the plan and patience.
Pushing the limits and boundaries of the action plan, of the contract for working together, is something many of the clients will
do, so the counsellor should not be surprised when a client does not do what has been agreed upon. Pushing the limits of the
plan and the patience is typical of many clients. It is part of the reason they come to see the counsellor. It is important to
remember that there are no bad clients. Pushing the limits of a carefully formulated plan is the client’s unspoken job. Part of
why she’s coming to see the counsellor is to learn how to become more responsible in the world.
Sometimes, violations of the action plan will be purely accidental; more often, it will be a test of the relationship, a tweak to
elicit counsellor response. Some of the most skilled counsellor work involves effective management of the boundaries of the
plan. The development of the action plan is a thoughtful, deliberative, collaborative process.
The steps involved

Concluding thoughts: putting it all together

Beginning work with a new client involves a complex set of tasks. The counsellor will want to communicate the availability and
create an environment that conveys trust and safety. To create this environment of total communication, the counsellor must
weave together the communication skills, the particular set of client problems and strengths the counsellor perceive, and the
overall assessed level of functioning the client brings to counselling. The primary levels of functioning considered here include
strengths and deficits in the survey of the client’s whole person, his capacity for moral and value decision-making, and the ability
to handle personal responsibility. This interplay of counsellor communication, the work of engagement, and assessment of client
functioning creates an interesting matrix of client-counsellor interaction. If handled successfully, it provides a wonderful way of
pairing need with theoretical technique. The complete assessment, which includes the client’s perspective as to what is needed
and desired, serves as the foundation on which the articulated goals and the action plan stands. All of this initial work, when
done thoroughly and in the context of the developing alliance, lays the foundation for a productive counselling experience.
 V. TERMINATION OF COUNSELLING RELATIONSHIPS
Closing a counseling relationship refers to the decision to end it. Sometimes this is called termination. The decision may be
made unilaterally or mutually after the working stage of counseling has waned. Regardless, closing is probably the least
researched, most neglected aspect of counselling. Many theorists and counsellors assume that closing will occur naturally and
leave both clients and counselors pleased and satisfied with the results. However, the closing of a counseling relationship has an
impact on all involved, and it is often complex, difficult, and awkwardly done. Closing may well produce mixed feelings on the
part of both the counselor and the client. For example, a client may be both appreciative and regretful about a particular
counseling experience. Unless it is handled properly, closing has the power to harm as well as heal. Closing is a multidimensional
process that can take any of several forms. For example, closing may involve individual sessions as well as the entire counseling
relationship. Closing also includes strategies and issues related to resistance in closing, premature closing, counsellor-initiated
closing, and the importance of terminating a relationship on a positive note. The related areas of follow-up, referral, and recycling
in counseling relate to closing, too.
FUNCTION OF TERMINATION
Historically, addressing the process of closing a counseling relationship directly has been avoided for a couple of reasons. Ward
(1984) has suggested two of the most prominent.

 First, ending is associated with loss, a traditionally taboo subject in all parts of society, especially counseling, which is
generally viewed as emphasizing growth and development unrelated to endings.
 Second, closing is not directly related to the microskills that facilitate counseling relationships.
Therefore, closing is not a process usually highlighted in counseling. Its significance has begun to emerge, however, because of
societal trends, such as the aging of the population, the wide acceptance of the concept of life stages, an increased attention to
death as a part of the life span, and the fact that loss may be associated with re-creation, transcendence, greater self-
understanding, and new discoveries such as posttraumatic growth (i.e., positive life changes that come about as a result of
suffering or struggling with natural or human-made traumatic events, such as hurricanes and wars).
Closing serves several important functions.

 First, closing signals that something is finished. Life is a series of hellos and good-byes. Hellos begin at birth, and good-
byes end at death. Between the two, individuals enter into and leave a succession of experiences, including jobs and
relationships. Growth and adjustment depend on an ability to make the most of these experiences and learn from them.
To begin something new, a former experience must be completed and resolved. Closing is the opportunity to end a
learning experience properly, whether on a personal or professional level. In counseling, closing is more than an act
signifying the end of therapy; it is also a motivator. Both client and counselor are motivated by the knowledge that the
counseling experience is limited in time. This awareness is similar to that of young adults who realize that they cannot
remain promising persons forever. Such a realization may spur individuals on to hard work while there is still time to
do something significant. Some counsellors, such as those associated with strategic, systemic, and solution-focused
family therapy, purposely limit the number of counselling sessions so that clients and counselors are more aware of
time constraints and make the most of sessions.
 Second, closing is a means of maintaining changes already achieved and generalizing problem-solving skills acquired in
counseling. Successful counseling results in significant changes in the way the client thinks, feels, or acts. These changes
are rehearsed in counseling, but they must be practiced in the real world. Closing provides an opportunity for such
practice. The client can always go back to the counselor for any needed follow-up, but closing is the natural point for
the practice of independence to begin. It is a potentially empowering experience for clients and enables them to address
the present in an entirely new or modified way. At closing, the opportunity to put “insights into actions” is created. In
other words, what seems like an exit becomes an entrance.
 Third, closing serves as a reminder that the client has matured. Besides offering clients new skills or different ways of
thinking about themselves, effective counseling closing marks a time in the clients’ lives when they are less absorbed by
and preoccupied with personal problems and more able to deal with outside people and events. This ability to handle
external situations may result in more interdependent relationships that are mutually supportive and consequently lead
toward a “more independent and satisfying life”. Having achieved a successful resolution to a problem, a client now
has new insights and abilities that are stored in memory and may be recalled and used on occasions.
TIMING OF TERMINATION
When to terminate a relationship is a question that has no definite answer. However, closing should be planned and deliberate.
If the relationship is ended too soon, clients may lose the ground they gained in counseling and regress to earlier behaviors.
However, if closing is never addressed, clients can become dependent on the counselor and fail to resolve difficulties and grow
as persons. There are several pragmatic considerations in the timing of closing.
  Have clients achieved behavioral, cognitive, or affective contract goals?, when both clients and counselors have
a clear idea about whether particular goals have been reached, the timing of closing is easier to figure out. The key to
this consideration is setting up a mutually agreed-on contract before counseling begins.
 Can clients concretely show where they have made progress in what they wanted to accomplish?, in this
situation, specific progress may be the basis for making a decision.
 Is the counseling relationship helpful?, if either the client or the counselor senses that what is occurring in the
counseling sessions is not helpful, closing is appropriate.
 Has the context of the initial counseling arrangement changed?, in cases where there is a move or a prolonged
illness, closing (as well as a referral) should be considered.
Overall, there is no one right time to terminate a counseling relationship. The “when” of closing must be figured out in
accordance with the uniqueness of the situation and overall ethical and professional guidelines.
ISSUES OF TERMINATION
Closing of an individual session
Closing is an issue during individual counseling sessions. Initial sessions should have clearly defined time limits. A range of 45
to 50 minutes is generally considered adequate for an individual counseling session. It usually takes a counselor 5 to 10 minutes
to adjust to the client and the client’s concerns. Counseling sessions that terminate too quickly may be as unproductive as ones
that last too long. Benjamin (1987) proposes two important factors in closing an interview.

 First, both client and counselor should be aware that the session is ending.
 Second, no new material should be introduced or discussed during this ending. If the client introduces new material,
the counselor needs to work to make it the anticipated focus of the next session. A counselor can close an interview
effectively in several ways. One is simply to make a brief statement indicating that time is up. For example, he or she
might say, “it looks like our time is up for today.” The simpler the statement, the better. If a client is discussing a number
of subjects in an open-ended manner near the end of a session, the counselor should remind the client that there are
only 5-10 minutes left. For example, the counselor can say: “Lily, it looks like we only have a few minutes left in our
session. Would you like to summarize what you have learned today and tell me what you would like to focus on next
time?” The client can then focus attention on important matters in the present as well as those that need to be addressed
in the future. As an alternative or in addition to the direct statement, counselors can use nonverbal gestures to indicate
that the session is ending. These include looking at their watch or standing up. Nonverbal gestures are probably best
used with verbal indicators. Each reinforces the other. As indicated toward the end of the interview, it is usually helpful
to summarize what has happened in the session. Either the counselor or the client may initiate this summation. A good
summary ties together the main points of the session and should be brief, to the point, and without interpretation. If
both the counselor and client summarize, they may gain insight into what each has gotten out of the session. Such a
process provides a means for clearing up misunderstandings. An important part of terminating any individual session
is setting up the next appointment. Clients and counselors need to know when they will meet again to continue the
work in progress. It is easier and more efficient to set up a next appointment at the end of a session than to do it later
by phone.
Closing of a counselling relationship
Counseling relationships vary in length and purpose. It is vital to the health and well-being of everyone that the subject of closing
be brought up early so that counselor and client can make the most of their time together. Individuals need time to prepare for
an ending. There may be some sadness, even if a relationship ends in a positive way. Thus, closing should not necessarily be
presented as the zenith of the counseling experience. It is better to play down the importance of a closing rather than play it up.
The counselor and client must agree on when closing of the relationship is appropriate and helpful. Generally, they give each
other verbal messages about a readiness to terminate. For example, a client may say, “I really think I’ve made a lot of progress
over the past few months.” Or a counselor may state, “you appear to be well on your way to no longer needing my services.”
Such statements suggest the beginning of the end of the counseling relationship. They usually imply recognition of growth or
resolution. A number of other behaviors may also signal the end of counseling. These include a decrease in the intensity of
work; more humor; consistent reports of improved abilities to cope; verbal commitments to the future; and less denial,
withdrawal, anger, mourning, or dependence. Cormier (2015) believes that, in a relationship that has lasted more than 3 months,
the final 3 or 4 weeks should be spent discussing the impact of closing. For instance, counselors may inquire how their clients
will cope without the support of the relationship. Counselors may also ask clients to talk about the meaning of the counseling
relationship and how they will use what they have learned in the future. Shulman (2016) suggests that, as a general rule of thumb,
one-sixth of the time spent in a counseling relationship should be devoted to focusing on closing.
Maholick and Turner (1979) discuss specific areas of concern when deciding whether to terminate counseling. They include:

 An examination of whether the client’s initial problem or symptoms have been reduced or eliminated.
  A determination of whether the stress-producing feelings that led to counseling have been eliminated.
 An assessment of the client’s coping ability and understanding of self and others.
 A determination of whether the client can relate better to others and is able to love and be loved.
 An examination of whether the client has acquired abilities to plan and work productively.
 An evaluation of whether the client can better play and enjoy life.
These areas are not equally important for all clients, but it is essential that, before the closing of counseling, clients feel confident
to live effectively without the relationship. There are at least two other ways to facilitate the ending of a counsellor-client
relationship. One involves the use of fading. Dixon and Glover (1984) define fading as “a gradual decrease in the unnatural
structures developed to create desired changes”. In other words, clients gradually stop receiving reinforcement from counselors
for behaving in certain ways, and appointments are spread out. A desired goal of all counseling is to help clients become less
dependent on the counselor and the counseling sessions and more dependent on themselves and interdependent with others.
From counseling, clients should also learn the positive reinforcement of natural contingencies. To promote fading, counseling
sessions can be simply shortened (e.g., from 50 to 30 minutes) as well as spaced further apart (e.g., from every week to every 2
weeks). Another way to promote closing is to help clients develop successful problem-solving skills. Clients, like everyone else,
are constantly faced with problems. If counselors can help their clients learn more effective ways to cope with these difficulties,
clients will no longer need the counseling relationship. This is a process of generalization from counseling experience to life. At
its best, this process includes an emphasis on education and prevention as well as decision-making skills for everyday life and
crisis situations.
RESISTANCE TO TERMINATION
Resistance to closing may come from either the counselor or the client. Welfel and Patterson (2005) note that resistance is
especially likely when the counseling relationship has lasted for a long time or has involved a high level of intimacy. Other factors
that may promote resistance include the pain of earlier losses, loneliness, unresolved grief, need gratification, fear of rejection,
and fear of having to be self-reliant. Some of these factors are more prevalent with clients, whereas others are more likely to
characterize counsellors.
Client Resistance
Clients resist closing in many ways. Two easily recognized expressions of resistance are; (a) asking for more time at the end of
a session and (b) asking for more appointments once a goal has been reached. Another more troublesome form of client
resistance is the development of new problems that were not part of an original concern, such as depression or anxiety. The
manifestation of these symptoms makes closing more difficult; in such situations, a client may convince the counselor that only
he or she can help. Thus, the counselor may feel obligated to continue working with the person for either personal or ethical
reasons. Regardless of the strategy employed, the closing process is best carried out gradually. Sessions can become less frequent
over time, and client skills, abilities, and resources can be highlighted simultaneously. Sometimes when clients are especially
hesitant to terminate, the counselor can “prescribe” a limited number of future sessions or concentrate with clients on how they
will set themselves up for relapse. These procedures make the covert more overt and help counselors and clients identify what
issues are involved in leaving.
Lerner and Lerner (1983) believe that client resistance often results from a fear of change. If clients come to value a counseling
relationship, they may fear that they cannot function well without it. For example, people who have grown up in unstable or
chaotic environments involving the abuse of alcohol or an adversarial divorce may be especially prone to hold on to the stability
of counseling and the relationship with the counselor. It is vital that the counselor recognize the special needs of these individuals
and the difficulties they have in coping with loneliness and intimacy. It is even more critical that the counselor take steps to help
such clients help themselves by exploring with them the advantages of working in other therapeutic settings, such as support or
self-help groups. For such clients, counseling is potentially addictive. If they are to function in healthy ways, they must find
alternative sources of support.
Counsellor resistance
Although the ultimate goal in counseling is for counselors to become obsolete and unnecessary to their clients, some counselors
are reluctant to say good-bye at the appropriate time. Clients who have special or unusual needs or those who are very productive
may be especially attractive to counselors. Goodyear (1981) lists eight conditions in which closing may be particularly difficult
for counselors:
(1) When closing signal the end of a significant relationship.
(2) When closing arouses the counselor’s anxieties about the client’s ability to function independently
(3) When closing arouses guilt in the counselor about not having been more effective with the client.
(4) When the counselor’s professional self-concept is threatened by the client who leaves abruptly and angrily.
(5) When closing signal the end of a learning experience for the counselor (e.g., the counselor may have been relying on
the client to learn more about the dynamics of a disorder or a particular culture).
 (6) When closing signal the end of a particularly exciting experience of living vicariously through the adventures of the
client.
(7) When closing becomes a symbolic recapitulation of other (especially unresolved) farewells in the counselor’s life.
(8) When closing arouses in the counselor conflicts about his or her own individuation.
It is important that counselors recognize any difficulties they have in letting go of certain clients. A counselor may seek
consultation with colleagues in dealing with this problem or undergo counseling to resolve the problem. The latter option is
quite valuable if the counselor has a personal history of detachment, isolation, and excessive fear of intimacy. Guy (1987) reports
that some persons who enter the helping professions possess just such characteristics.
PREMATURE TERMINATION
The question of whether clients terminate counseling prematurely is not one that can usually be measured by the number of
sessions the client has completed. Rather, premature closing often has to do with how well clients believe they have achieved
personal goals and how well they are functioning generally. A substantial minority of individuals reported terminating
prematurely because of treatment dissatisfaction. Clients with weaker therapeutic alliance are more likely to drop out of
counseling than those who bond well with their counselor. Early termination seems to be more prevalent with lower income
and less well-educated clients who may not understand many of the subtleties of counseling. Younger clients, those with greater
dysfunctionality, and people of color are more likely to drop out of counseling as well. Regardless of socioeconomic class and
other background factors, some clients show little, if any, commitment or motivation to change their present circumstances and
request that counseling be terminated after the first session. Such a request is more likely to happen if these clients see an intake
counselor first and are then transferred to another treatment counselor. Other clients express the desire to terminate early after
realizing the work necessary for change. Regardless of how clients express a wish for premature closing, it is likely to trigger
thoughts and feelings within the counselor that must be dealt with.
Hansen, Warner, and Smith (1980) suggest that the topic of premature closing be discussed openly between a counselor and
client if the client expresses a desire to terminate before specified goals have been met or if the counselor suspects that premature
closing may occur. With discussion, thoughts and feelings of both the client and counselor can be examined and a premature
ending prevented. Sometimes a client fails to keep an appointment and does not call to reschedule. In such cases, the counselor
should attempt to reach the client by phone or mail. Sending a letter to a client allows him or her more “space” in which to
consider the decision of whether to continue counseling or not. A model for a “no show” letter is as follows.
Dear xxx,
I have missed you at our last scheduled session. I would like very much for us to continue to work together, yet the choice about whether to counsel is
yours. If you do wish to reschedule, could you please do so in the next 30 days? Otherwise, I will close your chart and assume you are not interested in
services at this time.
Sincerely, Mary Counselor
If the counselor finds that the client wishes to quit, an exit interview may be set up. Ward (1984) reports four possible benefits
from such an interview:
(1) An exit interview may help the client resolve any negative feelings resulting from the counseling experience.
(2) An exit interview serves as a way to invite the client to continue in counseling if he or she so wishes.
(3) Another form of treatment or a different counselor can be considered in an exit interview if the client so desires.
(4) An exit interview may increase the chance that the next time the client needs help, he or she will seek counseling.
In premature closing, a counselor often makes one of two mistakes.
(1) One is to blame either himself or herself or the client for what is happening. A counselor is more likely to blame the
client. In either case, someone is berated, and the problem is compounded. It may be more productive for the counselor
to think of the situation as one in which no one is at fault. This strategy is premised on the idea that some matches
between clients and counselors do not work.
(2) A second mistake on the counselor’s part is to act in a cavalier manner about the situation. An example is the counselor
who says, “it’s too bad this client has chosen not to continue counseling, but I’ve got others.” To avoid making either
mistake, counselors need to find out why a client terminated prematurely. Possible reasons include the following:
 To see whether the counselor really cares.
 To try to elicit positive feelings from the counsellor.
 To punish or try to hurt the counsellor.
 To eliminate anxiety.
 To show the counselor that the client has found a cure elsewhere.
 To express to the counselor that the client does not feel understood.
Counselors need to understand that regardless of what they do, some clients terminate counseling prematurely. This realization
allows counselors to feel that they do not have to be perfect and frees them to be more authentic in the therapeutic relationship.
It also enables them to acknowledge overtly that, no matter how talented and skillful they are, some clients find other counselors
more helpful. Ideally, counselors are aware of the anatomy of closing. With such knowledge, they become empowered to deal
realistically with closing situations. Not all people who seek counseling are equally ready to work in such a relationship, and the
readiness level may vary as the relationship continues. Some clients need to terminate prematurely for good reasons, and their
action does not necessarily reflect on the counselor’s competence. Counselors can control only a limited number of variables in
a counseling relationship. The following list includes several of the variables most likely to be effective in preventing premature
closing:

 Appointments, the less time between appointments and the more regularly they are scheduled, the better.
 Orientation to counselling, the more clients know about the process of counseling, the more likely they are to stay
with it.
 Consistency of counsellor, clients do not like to be processed from counselor to counselor. Therefore, the counselor
who does the initial intake should continue the counseling.
 Reminders to motivate client attendance, cards, telephone calls, texts, or e-mail can be effective reminders. Because
of the sensitivity of counseling, however, a counselor should always have the client’s permission to send an appointment
reminder.
COUNSELLOR-INITIATED TERMINATION
Counselor-initiated closing is the opposite of premature closing. A counselor sometimes needs to end relationships with some
or all clients. Reasons include illness, working through counter-transference, relocation to another area, the end of an internship
or practicum experience, an extended trip, or the realization that client needs could be better served by someone else. Other
reasons for terminating a client relationship are associated with a counselor feeling endangered, or the client not paying agreed
upon fees. These are what Cavanagh and Levitov (2002) classify as “good reasons” for the counselor to terminate.
There are also poor reasons for counselor-initiated terminations. They include a counselor’s feelings of anger, boredom, or
anxiety. If counselors end a relationship because of such feelings, clients may feel rejected and even worse than they did in the
beginning. It is one thing for a person to handle rejection from peers; it is another to handle rejection from a counselor. Although
a counselor may have some negative feelings about a client, it is possible to acknowledge and work through those feelings
without behaving in a detrimental way.
Both London (1982) and Seligman (1984) present models for helping clients deal with the temporary absence of the counselor.
These researchers stress that clients and counselors should prepare as far in advance as possible for temporary closing by openly
discussing the impending event and working through any strong feelings about the issue of separation. Clients may actually
experience benefits from counselor-initiated closing by realizing that the counselor is human and replaceable. They may also
come to understand that people have choices about how to deal with interpersonal relationships. Furthermore, they may explore
previous feelings and major life decisions, learning more clearly that new behaviors carry over into other life experiences.
Refocusing may also occur during the closing process and help clients see issues on which to work more clearly.
Seligman (1984) recommends a more structured way of preparing clients for counsellor-initiated closing than London does, but
both models can be effective. It is important in any situation like this to make sure clients have the names and numbers of a few
other counselors to contact in case of an emergency. There is also the matter of permanent counselor-initiated closing. In
today’s mobile society “more frequently than before, it is counselors who leave, certain they will not return”. In such cases,
closing is more painful for clients and presents quite a challenge for counselors. The timing expected in the counseling process
is off.
In permanent counselor-initiated closing, it is still vital to review clients’ progress, end the relationship at a specific time, and
make post-counseling plans. A number of other tasks must be accomplished; among these are counselors working through their
own feelings about closing, such as sadness, grief, anger, and fear. Furthermore, counselors need to put clients’ losses in
perspective and plan accordingly how each client will deal with the loss. Counsellors must take care of their physical needs, too,
and seek professional and personal support where necessary. In the process of their own closing preparations, counsellors
should be open with clients about where they are going, what they will be doing, or other reasons for ending the relationship.
They should make such announcements in a timely manner and allow clients to respond. They should also allow enough time
for the client to process the ending, 30 days at least if possible. Arranging for transfers or referrals to other counselors is critical
if clients’ needs are such. It is crucial that the client not feel abandoned. Finally, there is the matter of saying good-bye and
ending the relationship. This process may be facilitated through the use of immediacy and/or rituals.
ENDING ON A POSITIVE NOTE
The process of closing, like counseling itself, involves a series of checkpoints that counselors and clients can consult to evaluate
the progress they are making and determine their readiness to move to another stage. It is important that closing be mutually
agreed on, if at all possible, so that all involved can move on in ways deemed most productive. Nevertheless, this is not always
possible. Welfel and Patterson (2005) present four guidelines a counselor can use to end an intense counseling relationship in a
positive way:
(1) Be aware of the client’s needs and desires and allow the client time to express them, at the end of a counseling
relationship, the client may need time to express gratitude for the help received. Counselors should accept such
expressions “without minimizing the value of their work.”
(2) Review the major events of the counseling experience and bring the review into the present, the focus of this
process is to help a client see where he or she is now as compared with the beginning of counseling and realize more
fully the growth that has been accomplished. The procedure includes a review of significant past moments and turning
points in the relationship with a focus on personalizing the summary.
(3) Supportively acknowledge the changes the client has made, at this point, the counselor lets the client know that
he or she recognizes the progress that has been achieved and actively encourages the client to maintain it. “When a
client has chosen not to implement action plans” for issues that emerged in counseling, “the process of closing should
also include an inventory of such issues and a discussion of the option of future counseling.”
(4) Request follow-up contact, counseling relationships eventually end, but the caring, concern, and respect counselors
have for clients are not terminated at the final session. Clients need to know that counselors continue to be interested
in what is happening in their lives. It is an additional incentive for clients to maintain the changes that counseling has
produced.
FOLLOW-UP AND REFERRAL
Follow-up
Follow-up entails checking to see how the client is doing, with respect to whatever the problem was, sometime after closing has
occurred. In essence, it is a positive monitoring process that encourages client growth. Follow-up is a step that some counselors
neglect. It is important because it reinforces the gains clients have made in counseling and helps both the counselor and the
client reevaluate the experience. It also emphasizes the counselor’s genuine care and concern for the client.
Follow-up can be conducted on either a short- or long-term basis. Short-term follow-up is usually conducted 3 to 6 months
after a counseling relationship terminates. Long-term follow-up is conducted at least 6 months after closing. Follow-up may
take many forms, but there are four main ways in which it is usually conducted.
(1) The first is to invite the client in for a session to discuss any progress he or she has continued to make in achieving
desired goals.
(2) A second way is through a telephone call to the client. A call allows the client to report to the counselor, although
only verbal interaction is possible.
(3) A third way is for the counselor to send the client a letter asking about the client’s current status.
(4) A fourth and more impersonal way is for the counselor to mail or e-mail the client a questionnaire dealing with his
or her current levels of functioning. Many public agencies use this type of follow-up as a way of showing accountability.
Such procedures do not preclude the use of more personal follow-up procedures by individual counselors. Although
time-consuming, a personal follow-up is probably the most effective way of evaluating past counseling experiences. It
helps assure clients that they are cared about as individuals.
Sometimes, regardless of the type of follow-up used, it is helpful if the client monitors his or her own progress through the use
of graphs or charts. Then, when relating information to the counselor, the client can do so in a more concrete and objective
way. If counselor and client agree at the end of the last session on a follow-up time, this type of self-monitoring may be especially
meaningful and give the client concrete proof of progress and clearer insights.
Referral and Recycling
Counselors are not able to help everyone who seeks assistance. When a counselor realizes that a situation is unproductive, it is
important to know whether to terminate the relationship or make a referral. A referral involves arranging other assistance for a
client when the initial arrangement is not or cannot be helpful. There are many reasons for referring, including the following:

 The client has a problem the counselor does not know how to handle.
 The counselor is inexperienced in a particular area (e.g., substance abuse or mental disorders) and does not have the
necessary skill to help the client.
 The counselor knows of a nearby expert who would be more helpful to the client.
 The counselor and client have incompatible personalities.
 The relationship between counselor and client is stuck in an initial phase of counselling.
Referrals involve a how, a when, and a who; the how involves knowing how to call on a helping resource and handle the
client to maximize the chances that he or she will follow through with the referral process. A client may resist a referral if the
client feels rejected by the counselor. Welfel and Patterson (2005) suggest that a counselor spend at least one session with the
client in preparation for the referral. Some clients will need several sessions.
The when of making a referral involves timing. The longer a client works with a counselor, the more reluctant the client may
be to see someone else. Thus, timing is crucial. If a counselor suspects an impasse with a certain client, he or she should refer
that client as soon as possible. However, if the counselor has worked with the client for a while, he or she should be sensitive
about giving the client enough time to get used to the idea of working with someone else.
The who of making a referral involves the person to whom the counsellor is sending a client. The interpersonal ability of that
professional may be as important initially as his or her skills if the referral is going to work well. A good question to ask oneself
when making a referral is whether the new counselor is someone you would feel comfortable sending a family member to see.
Recycling is an alternative when the counselor thinks the counseling process has not yet worked but can be made to do so. It
means re-examining all phases of the therapeutic process. Perhaps the goals were not properly defined or an inappropriate
strategy was chosen. Whatever the case, by re-examining the counseling process, counselor and client can decide how or whether
to revise and reinvest in the counseling process. Counseling, like other experiences, is not always successful on the first attempt.
Recycling gives both counselor and client a second chance to achieve what each want, the positive change.