Question

Describe the counselling process in facilitating client disclosure.

Write not less than 500 words

Answer 1

Counselling is a professional relationship and a psychological process wherein the counsellor intervenes to empower the client and facilitate effective functioning in terms of their goals.

The counselling process in facilitating client disclosure:

-Choosing an appropriate opening statement for rapport building. One may not start their session with "How may I help you?". This question may communicate the message that somewhere it is the counsellor, who is responsible for bettering the client's life. The question- "What brings you here?" is preferable. It keeps the client in charge of changing their life. For establishing rapport, a counsellor may start the sessions with questions like "How are you?", etc. and later sessions may be started with "How is the weather?" or "How was your week?"

-Communicating about how the counselling process works.

-Trying to relate, and understanding the client.

-Building a trusting environment for the client to feel comfortable with sharing and creating an influence base.

-Managing the resistance shown by clients initially. Making the client feel respected and that it is okay to let down their guards.

-Trying to gather information from the client without making them feel that they are being interrogated. The session should not be structured where the client is asked one question after the other. Though the basic structure of the session can be framed, the process may go with the flow as the client unfolds the aspects they need to talk about. The counsellor may use the words of client to guide further questioning.

-Using active listening: paying attention to the voice messages and body language of the client. The counsellor should check if there is any discrepancy in the verbal and non-verbal aspect of client's sharing.

-Trying to understand the client's internal frame of reference. The counsellor should try to understand how the client view himself/herself.

-Asking open-ended and elaborative questions. The counsellor should try to encourage the client to talk more about something that may be feel anxious, insecure or shy about. Small rewards can be given to encourage the act of their sharing, like "It is really strong of you to choose to talk about this" or "It is good that you have made a progress", etc.

-Using skills to paraphrase, summarise and reflect the feelings of the client. This helps to check if the counsellor has understood what the client was trying to communicate. It also helps to check if the client is consistent about what they shared.

-Challenging the clients regarding inconsistent and discrepant messages. (Example: saying "I am happy" with an upset face and low pitch of voice)

-Empowering the client to take responsibility for the change in their life.

-Using self-disclosure if required. However, the counsellor should be careful about the possibilities of transference and countertransference.

-The counsellor should remember to provide the client with three core conditions as mentioned by Carl Rogers i.e., Empathy, Congruence, Unconditional Positive Regard.

-Lastly, a counsellor should imbibe certain personal characteristics that serves as a positive motivator for a counselling process, such as - emotional and intellectual competence, self-healing, ability to listen and introspect, grooming, empathy, sense of humour, etc.