The counselling

process/stages of
counselling
The counselling process/stages of
counselling
 The counselling process is a planned, structured dialogue between a counsellor
and a client. It is a cooperative process in which a trained professional helps a
person called the client to identify sources of difficulties or concerns that he or
she is experiencing. Together they develop ways to deal with and overcome these
problems so that person has new skills and increased understanding of themselves
and others. For example, students in a college or university may be anxious about
how to study in university, lack of clarity on educational or career direction, have
difficulty living with a room-mate of another race or religion, have concerns with
self-esteem, feelings with being “stressed out”, difficulties in romantic
relationships and so forth. The fact that counselling is described as a process,
there is the implicit meaning of a progressive movement toward an ultimate
conclusion. Hackney and Cormier (1987) describe the counselling process as a
series of steps through which the counsellor and client move.
1st Stage: Intial Disclosure - Relationship
Building
 “Relationship” is a term that has been used in many different situations. It could
imply the ties between two people in love, the bond between family members or
close friends or colleagues or even the bond between a person and his or her pet.
In counselling, relationship takes on a more specific meaning. The counsellor
establishes rapport with the client based on trust, respect and mutual purpose.
there is good rapport, a positive psychological climate is created and vice-versa.
The likelihood of desirable outcomes is greater when the psychological climate is
positive. Mutual purpose means both the counsellor and client have common
goals leading to what has been described as a therapeutic alliance.
1st Stage: Intial Disclosure - Relationship
Building
 Carl Rogers was among the earliest to emphasise the importance of building a
relationship between the counsellor and the client. He identified three important
conditions for the establishment of an effective counsellor-client relationship:
Empathy, Genuineness and Unconditional Caring
Some Skills for Relationship Building for
the Counsellor
 1. Introduce yourself
 2. Invite client to sit down
 3. Ensure client is comfortable
 4. Address the client by name
 5. Invite social conversation to reduce anxiety
 6. Watch for nonverbal behaviour as signs of client’s emotional state
 7. Invite client to describe his or her reason for coming to talk
 8. Allow client time to respond
 9. Indicate that you are interested in the Person
STAGE 2: IN-DEPTH EXPLORATION -
PROBLEM ASSESSMENT
 In the second stage of the counselling process, the counsellor attempts to assess
the client. Assessment refers to anything counsellors do to gather information and
draw conclusions about the concerns of clients. Assessment takes place at the
beginning of the counselling process. But, some degree of assessment takes place
throughout the counselling process with purpose of finding missing pieces if the
puzzle, i.e. the client. The counsellor needs such knowledge about the client so
that nothing is left out.
WHY ASSESS YOUR CLIENT?

 It should be remembered that you are assessing your client not for the purpose of
judging or evaluating him or her. The purpose of assessment is to seek
clarification; you want to knowabout your client. Seligman suggests the following
reasons for assessing a client:
 1. Enable counsellors to make an accurate diagnosis
 2. Determine a person’s suitability for a particular treatment plan
 3. Enable counsellors to develop a treatment plan
 4. Make goal-setting easier and achievement of goals measurable
 5. Enable assessment of environment or context
 6. Facilitate generation of options and alternatives
WHAT TO ASSESS?

 Hackney and Cormier (2005) listed the following important components of

assessing the
 client:
 1. Identifying Data
 2. Problems Presented
 3. Client’s Current Life Style
 4. Family History
 5. Personal History
STAGE 3: GOAL SETTING -
COMMITMENT TO ACTION
 Focus of the Client = Problem
 Focus of the Counsellor = Problem + Client + Counselling Process + Goal
 Sometimes, you hear both counsellor and client complain that the counselling
session is going nowhere. This is where goals play an important role in giving
direction. Goals are the results or outcomes that client wants to achieve at the end
of counselling. Goals help the counsellor and client determine what can and what
cannot be accomplished through counselling. In goal setting, the client identifies
with the help of the counsellor, specific ways in which they want to resolve the
issues and what course of action should be taken to resolvent e problem.
WHY DO YOU NEED GOALS?

 With clear goals, clients are more likely or motivated to work toward achieving
thosegoals.
 a. With goals clients learn how to structure their lives towards achieving the
goals.
 b. With goals, it is easier for the counsellor to select and evaluate
appropriate counselling interventions.
 When goals are stated clearly, both the counsellor and client have a better
understanding ofwhat is to be accomplished.
GUIDELINES FOR SELECTING AND
DEFINING GOALS
 1. Goals should relate to the desired end or ends sought by the student.
 a. Goals should be defined in explicit and measurable terms.
 b. Goals should be feasible.
 c. Goals should be within the range of the counsellor’s knowledge and
skills.
 d. Goals should be stated in positive terms that emphasise growth.
 e. Goals should be consistent with the school’s mission and school health
policy.
STAGE 4.INTERVENTION AND
PROBLEM SOLVING
 The counsellor and the client after formulating the counselling goals, they should
determine what intervention strategies to implement. They may choose variety of
intervention strategies including for counselling, including individual counselling,
group counselling, family counselling, couple counselling. For couple counselling
the interventions that can be used would include conflict management, improving
interpersonal skills etc.
 Problem-Solving Strategies: Problem solving is a way conceptualizes
interventions. It involves individual, group, marriage, or family counselling.
Counsellors should develop a systematic approach to problem solving, in order to
help a client to resolve problems. This approach would enable clients to learn
skills that could contribute to their personal autonomy.
 Some of the skill are
 1. Identifying the problem of the client
 2. Ski[ll in handlining the intervention
 3. Knowledge pf its effect
 4. Ability to read the reaction of the client
 5. Under standing the behavioural change of the client
5: Termination and Follow-up

 This is the end of counselling relationship. Termination happens when the client
has understood their problems, issues and concerns and has gained confidence to
move forward. In stage, the client will be able to move forward without any
assistance from the counsellor. Termination will include countless emotions,
because the client and the counsellor who are involved in a relationship would
terminate the relationship
Research and Evaluation

 Research and evaluation is an integral part of the counselling process and can
happen at any time during the counselling process. Counsellors can evaluate the
new strategies by researching and evaluating on the same. Counsellors can use
research and evaluation to communicate accountability