Introduction
Counselling is a way of helping people with different kinds of personal problems. Counsellors work with a wide range of concerns including anxiety, depression, bereavement, loneliness, self-esteem, difficulties in relationships, self-injury and eating problems. It is based on the building of trusting relationship between the counselor and their client and it can enable people to talk about their experiences and to make sense of them. Counselling can also allow people to express difficult feelings and to learn how to manage them in a helpful way. Counsellors are trained to listen thoughtfully and carefully to people’s problems without judging or criticizing them. They do not give advice but support their clients to make positive decisions for themselves.
There are different levels of counselling (1993): The immediate level can be used by all teachers in their pastoral care role and will involve key aspects such as ‘active listening’. The intermediate level is concerned with the maintenance of care and concern and will involve the establishment of systems within the school. The third is the intensive level of in-depth work with a pupil and will require specialist counselling by those with relevant training. Fundamental Goals of Counselling are: To enable the child to deal with painful emotional issues, To enable the child to achieve some level of congruence with regard to thoughts, emotions and behaviours, To enable the child to feel good about themselves, To enable the child to accept their limitations and strengths and to feel OK about them, To enable the child to change behaviours that have negative consequences.
What Went Well
In the case of Role Play 1, referral for late coming, the counselor had a good opportunity to develop and strengthen relationship with the child. The counselor achieved this through the following:
- closed question – may be enough to open up a conversation at the beginning when client is reluctant to talk
- using interest of client to open up – playing games until late –capitalise on the interest of client to communicate
- sitting position is non confrontational
- Counselor did not go into the problem immediately – trying to get to know the person
- allowed to make choice for next appointment
- Counselor is emphatising – “You must be tired, I understand, because you have not had enough sleep” – acknowledgement of feelings
- Smooth flowing conversation – easiest stagew to get common topic
- connecting with client – food/ interest
- maintaining eye-contact, tone- friendly, caring and concerned
This gave her an opportunity to facilitate the next two stages of goal setting and counseling intervention. It is also a good point that the counselor agreed to meet the child’s English teacher, this showed her understanding and concern to the child. Strength of this case is the option of the child to schedule her next appointment with the counselor. Finally, the goal setting the child agreed with the counselor to behave better during classes.
In role play 2, the case of the client that is often late for school and is inflicting pain on herself by cutting her wrists. In the process of relating, the good point here is, the presence of clear progression of topic through verification and clarification by paraphrasing of the child’s statements. Although, at first the child was so resistant and non-chalant, answered in one-word syllables, as the counseling progress, she was willing to talk about her problems. The strongest point in this case is, through questioning and paraphrasing the counselor was able to draw out the background information from her client. The counselor got the following concerns from the child:
- parents are in an unhappy marriage
- parents are always quarrelling
- parents sleep in separate rooms
- only meet parents during dinner time
- father has stopped talking to client
- mother is always looking angry and preoccupied with her problems
- when young – was pampered by both parents
- was very close to her mother until the problems began at the beginning of the year
- did not check on the severity of the cuts on wrists
When it comes to the strengths of role play 3, the case of a defiant client with accounts of aggressive behavior in primary school, the counselor is rationale, she has set goals in mind so guided conversation accordingly. During the end of the session, the counselor wrapped up the session beautifully. She summarized the goals and tasks to be achieved before next session, fixed the next appointment and thanked the student for coming.
In the case of role play 4, the client has the following issues:
- Sibling rivalry – client acting out to get mother’s attention.
- behaviour serves function of getting father to be involved in parenting.
- Irritate mom to get back at her because she is too controlling.
- Peer influence – lack of motivation
- Client has reading difficulties?
The strong points in this case are the rapport that the counselor has built with the child and this is very important in counseling sessions. The counselor also did clarified the child’s expectations through paraphrasing, challenging client’s perception, suggests some alternatives to her problems, the counselor also was able to pick up positive cue from client and tried to do role play. Finally, it is good to remind the client of doing her homework before the session ended.
Want Went Wrong
The weakness of the first case is that, the counselor did not come up with client to ensure his attendance to fulfill the target of three days complete attendance and pattern of good behavior in the English class. The counselor also did not identify peer support for the client in order to reinforce good behavior.
While in the second place the following are the weaknesses of the counseling, because the counselor did not:
- provide an opportunity during the interview for the client to practice or rehearse the action step
- encourage the client to observe and evaluate the progress and outcome of action steps taken outside the interview
- suggest a possible sequence of strategies to be used with regards to other problems
The third case is different from the first two cases when it comes to its failures. The Counselor tended to “preach” or advise about letting mother know when she was going to be late, etc, because mum works hard for her, etc. She also did the same for the issue about respecting teachers. The counselor must be careful about going too detailed about such issues, as the students might feel irritated or as if the counselor is “nagging”. This was illustrated when Counselor spoke about it and student folded her arms and looked a little agitated There were too many issues to sum up as the session ends, none of these issues were explored and examined further. The fourth case is similar with the third case in some ways, because of the many and complicated issues of the client that were not explored and examined thoroughly by the counselor and at the same time, there were too many unfocused and unnecessary repetitions.
Improving Counseling Skills
Counselling young people requires a thorough understanding of our own childhood issues and a clear view of our moral purpose. Also central to the role is a highly developed self-awareness and emotional and intellectual maturity. The continuous process of self -reflection and critical self-analysis by the counselor in training or practice is central to developing authentic and effective therapeutic relationships. This module sets out to create a working environment in which students are able to work with others to develop their self-awareness and self-knowledge. This process is facilitated through an in-depth exploration of the nature and effect of difference on self, other and relationship and the power relationships between adults and young people. Particular attention will be paid to the social and cultural components of self-concept formation and the application of advanced interpersonal skills to support the intrapersonal and interpersonal development of self and others. The relationship between self-concept and here-and-now interactions will be critically examined. The notion of personal growth and development is considered and its relationship to ‘effectiveness’ in counselling is critically examined. The Interpersonal Process Recall model of self-supervision will be introduced as a practice tool and explored in small study groups using VTR. The skills of journal and assignment writing will be explored.
The dearth of research into counselling young people is acknowledged in the literature together with recognition of the importance of evaluating the process and some of the difficulties of doing so and the effectiveness of particular services. (1993), on counselling as a therapy, comments that the scarce research available ‘continues to show that effectiveness depends on the “who” who does it more than the “what” that is done. (1961) ingredients for good enough counsellor respectfulness, warmth, genuineness, and the ability to convey accurate empathy have yet to be disproved. The identical conclusion, that what is significant is the quality of the counselling relationship rather than the particular approach to counselling, is drawn by (1993) and (1998).
However, (2001) claims that cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) can have a significant effect on the self-control and classroom behaviour of pupils with low-frequency behavioural difficulties in Years 5 to 8. And (2002) cite several studies reporting the effectiveness of solution-focused brief therapy. (1995) comment that the lack of research on youth counselling has a damaging effect on services. Without research, they say, ‘services are inevitably destined to be inadequate and competent research will fall by the wayside’ (p 120). They identify the views of young people themselves as an area that is particularly lacking. (1999) similarly comment on the small amount of research on young people’s perceptions and experiences of counselling, as well as on the evaluation of the provision and practice of counselling.
There has been some attempt to address the lack of attention to the views and perceptions of young people themselves mentioned earlier in this section. (1999) looked at this in terms of attitudes and beliefs that may make young people less willing to use a counselling service, though their study was not specifically about school counselling, and the young people interviewed were in their upper teens. Among their findings, the researchers reported that in groups young people tended to be more accepting of counselling as an option for people who needed help than when they were interviewed on their own. They also found, much like (1996) on ChildLine, referred to in Context other services for young people, that many young people expected negative responses if they disclosed a problem to an adult and were concerned about confidentiality and loss of control over what would happen. There was confusion about the process of counselling and a stigma associated with receiving counselling. The young people they spoke to want a service to be in a discrete location, accessible, flexible and informal, to see the same counsellor on different occasions and preferably someone they already knew in another context. One of the authors’ recommendations is that publicity about counselling should take into account that for most young people the choice of whether to seek counselling is neither a straightforward nor an easy decision.
Another study (2003b), referred to elsewhere in this review, collected the views of 1569 secondary age pupils, in seven schools with counselling services provided by the NSPCC in Northern Ireland. Pupils responded to written questionnaires. The report includes a discussion of the pitfalls of collecting views in this way, but the survey did have the advantage of relatively wide coverage in terms of numbers of young people and schools. The results showed a high level of knowledge about the service but a substantial minority (13 per cent) did not know about it, and many more of these were boys.
This is a recurring theme, with further references at the end of this section. The significance of publicizing the service effectively was highlighted by a wide variation between schools (3.7 per cent to 16.8 per cent in the mainstream schools) of pupils who did not know about the service. The responses also illustrated that pupils themselves are potentially a valuable resource. Many commented on the importance of publicity, not least in relation to access. They also made practical suggestions about how to raise awareness. In relation to valuing the service, 88 per cent of the pupils thought that a school counselling service was at least useful. However, like the young people in Le Surf’s study, a substantial number (13 per cent) clearly thought it was useful for others rather than themselves. Nevertheless, this did mean that just over 75 per cent of the respondents indicated that seeing a counsellor was a possibility for them if they had a problem.
Children’s and teens’ acting out or withdrawn behavior is often a reflection of stress felt by the entire family. When a child needs help, it is frequently more productive to involve the entire family in dealing with the problem. ‘s background in both education and counselling uniquely qualify her to help you and your family clarify needs, improve communication, and move to a happier and healthier level
Cross-cultural skills in counselling will help the students get familiarized with theories, counselling techniques, skill development and a wide range of issues regarding ethical and effective counselling in a world of cultural differences. Emphasis is placed on expanding cultural awareness, knowledge and skill building in order to facilitate an appreciation of cultural, racial, ethnic, age, gender and sexual preference issues. Students will be able to assess the specific needs of culturally different clients, develop communication strategies and select appropriate counselling applications for persons of different cultural backgrounds. Activities may include student case presentation of a client from a different culture. Students will be required to have liability insurance
One’s identity is a reflection of one’s culture in its very largest sense: gender; nationality; ethnicity; geographical location (rural or urban); religion and major belief system; age and generational experiences; sexual orientation and relationship status; class; health/illness or disability, and one’s educational experiences. Many people when thinking of meeting with a counselor to discuss their personal concerns would like to speak with someone whose own background and values approximate those of their own. For instance, an international student from China might like to meet with a person who speaks Mandarin, who has lived or visited China, and understands the values of their community. An older person who has lived through a period of tumult in their own society may wish to meet with someone who is around the same age and who has knowledge of societal events at a particular time. A gay or lesbian student may wish to meet with a counselor who is very conversant and comfortable with her/his own sexual experiences and preferences.
At the Counselling Service, staff members come from a wide range of backgrounds. If you have any particular preferences please tell the receptionist when you are making an appointment. We will endeavor to place you with someone of your choice. For students who are making the transition from another country to study temporarily or to settle permanently in Australia, there is an International Counselor, , who is very familiar with issues of cultural adaptation.
At times, it will not be possible to arrange an appointment between yourself and a counselor whose background reflects your preferred cultural, religious or identity group. If this is the case it will be important for you to approach the meeting with trust in the counselor’s training and level of skill in cross cultural counselling. All counselors are selected into their training programs on the basis of their capacity to empathize and to show respect for individual and group differences. They are experienced with a wide range of people and work to put people at ease so that trust and confidence in the counselling process can be built. Staff members also endeavor to become more familiar with the cultural mores and experiences of particular cultural and identity groups through specific professional development activities. In addition your counselor will ask you questions about your own interpretations of your cultural background and general life experiences as they affect your understanding of your concerns.
The four clients in the four cases are four different persons that has different problems and issues. Studies cannot address whether individuals differ systematically in their use of emotion regulation strategies, whether the use of one strategy is correlated with the use of another strategy, and whether there are gender or ethnic differences in strategy use. In terms of gender differences, Western norms suggest that men use suppression to a greater degree than women. Although norms differ somewhat across specific emotions, expressing emotions is generally viewed as unmanly ( 2000, p. 26), parents report teaching sons greater emotional control than daughters, and boys report that they are expected to inhibit their emotional expressions to a greater extent than girls ( 1992). In terms of ethnic differences, in the United States, European Americans still tend to have more power and social status than ethnic minorities. When interacting with higher status (majority) individuals, lower status (minority) individuals should carefully monitor and control the expression of their emotions to reduce the risk of upsetting powerful other who control valuable resources (, 2003).
References
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