Reflections on Counseling Sessions Essay -- Person-Centered Counseling

Introduction The counseling session began with the introductions where I introduced myself as the counselor and later introduced my client. This stage is important in any counseling session since it is the time of exploration and focusing according to Gerard Egan as quoted by Wright (1998) in his essay on couselling skills. It is in this session that I was able to establish rapport and trust with my client in order to come up with a working and fruitful relationship with him. During this stage I made use of skills like questioning, where I would pose a question directly to my client, sometimes I would choose to just listen to what the client wanted to speak out while in some instances I would be forced to paraphrase the question if I felt the client did not understand the question I had asked previously. There were also other times when I would reflect through silence. During such a period, I got time to study the client and the information he had given. This being a difficult area, since some cl ients may not be able to volunteer information to you as the counselor, I decided to assure the client of confidentiality of any information he was willing to share with me with a few exceptions which I also told him about. Being open to him about the only times the information may not be confidential was part of my building rapport and establishing trust with him. I therefore, decided to ask the client what information he wanted to share with me and lucky enough he was ready to speak to me about different issues that he was going through. During this time, I gave the client enough time to talk about the problem without interrupting. This time gave me an opportunity to undertake reflective listening through active listening which ac... ...ons Make Better Conversations Retrieved From: http://learnthis.ca/2008/12/open-ended-questions-make-better-conversations/ Rogers C., (1975). Empathic: an unappreciated way of being. The Counseling Psychologist. 5(2):2 10. Rogers, (1975). â€Å"client-centered† therapy Retrieved From:http://www.analytictech.com/mb119/reflecti.htm, Schenk K., Williamson J. (2005). Ethical Approaches to Gathering Information from Children and Adolescents in International Settings. Retrieved From: http://www.popcouncil.org/pdfs/horizons/childrenethics.pdf Steven, (2010). "Getting to Know You" - A Familiar Pattern of Sessions. Retrieved From: http://www.basic-counseling-skills.com/pattern-of-sessions.html Wright, (1998). Counseling skills: part I - can you do without them? Retrieved From: http://search.proquest.com/docview/214108384/1315FF976504A312F4B/1?accountid= 5049