Analyzing My Counselling Session
In this essay I will analyse my own counselling session in which my counsellor, Lys, and I established a cause for the anxiety I was feeling. As part of this analysis, I will identify key skills used to establish an effective counselling relationship. Reflecting upon my experience of the counselling process and integrating it to current theory will enable me to use this experience to develop my own skills as a counsellor.
To facilitate my analysis, it is necessary for me to not only define what an effective interaction is, but also to detail what counselling means to me. Counselling is a relationship process where the client is safe and free to become themselves (Rogers, 1961), it is a movement towards an ultimate conclusion, that conclusion being the resolution of whatever precipitated the need for help (Hackney & Cormier, 2009). To me, this means that counselling is a relationship that facilitates the resolution of a problem or situation. Because this process is a relationship, it is necessary to establish a connection between counsellor and client. In …show more content…
the counselling setting however, a relationship is much more specific than in every day life (Hackney & Cormier, 2009). The establishment of rapport, or the psychological climate that emerges from interpersonal contact (Hackney & Cormier, 2009), with a client involves respect, trust, psychological comfort and shared purpose (Hackney & Cormier, 2009). I will examine each of these constituents of rapport in greater detail during my session analysis, as they are fundamental to establishing a successful counsellor-client relationship, which is necessary for effective interactions.
I believe that an effective interaction is one in which a counsellor utilizes the core conditions to facilitate the resolution of a clients problem or situation, or one that leads to the clients psychological growth. Rogers considered the key components for generating a therapeutic environment that leads to resolution and growth as congruence, unconditional positive regard and accurate empathy (Corey, 2009), these are known as the core conditions (Rogers, 1961). The first of these core conditions is known as congruence. This is also known as genuineness and it arises when the actions, thoughts and feelings of a counsellor are in alignment (Day, 2004). The next core condition is unconditional positive regard. In its essence, unconditional positive regard is a warm acceptance of the client’s experience (Bozarth & Wilkins, 2007), which is based on respect and acceptance of a client without judgement (Geldard & Geldard, 2012). The final core condition is accurate empathy. Empathy is the communication of an understanding of the client’s thoughts and feelings (Gagan, 1983). As with the constituents of rapport, I will examine how the core conditions can be used to generate effective interactions during my analysis.
Before I begin the analysis of my counselling session, it is important for me to introduce the process of finding a counsellor and attending a session.
The process of finding a counsellor was a lot more difficult than I first envisioned. Due to limited financial resources, I was looking for a PACFA registered counsellor who was either cheap or free, and apparently such counsellors do not exist. After the class in week two, that is, after I was made aware of the fact that I could see a counsellor who wasn’t PACFA registered or could see a psychologist, I began broadening my search. By complete coincidence, the topic of my assessment arose during a birthday lunch with my mum and her fiancé and his children. His daughter is currently in training to be a psychologist and told me that her university are currently looking for people to participate in sessions, free of charge, to help the fourth year students practice. I then sent an email to the coordinator of the program, and she said that they would be willing to accommodate me. The correspondence I had was very positive and these welcoming skills are used to ensure that the initial contact is warm and respectful (Trevithick, 2005). The introduction of me to the program coordinator via a mutual acquaintance helped me to feel at ease and broke down some of the initial anxiety I had that I related to an unfamiliar relationship (Harms, 2007). The warmth and respect I felt when initiating this unfamiliar relationship helped me to feel relaxed. This relaxed feel was reinforced upon my arrival at the counselling session. Counsellors must create an atmosphere that assures clients that their welfare is the primary concern throughout the session (Nugent & Jones, 2005), and I believe that this was achieved in my session. The session occurred in a modified classroom, where there had been an obvious attempt to increase a sense of comfort. This was achieved by using soft furnishings, such as a couch and armchairs and curtains to relax the clinical windows. Whilst the artificial lighting was harsh, the room was filled with sunlight, creating a more natural feel. These initial observations made me feel at ease and therefore had a positive impact at the beginning of the session. However, as the session begun, I began to feel more uncomfortable, this is because I have always been uncomfortable discussing myself, and as a result I began to notice things in the room that reflected this. For example, when Lys was questioning why I was “struggling to adapt”, I broke eye contact and became frustrated by the fact that unused power sockets were left on. Whilst this may seem pedantic, I feel like it had a negative impact on my session, as it echoed my discomfort.
Although I felt discomfort throughout the session, Lys undertook behaviours that facilitated effective interactions. An effective counselling relationship is one where the client and counsellor have mutual trust, respect and agreement on goals while synergistically working to facilitate a change in the client (Geldard & Geldard, 2012). To generate mutual trust Lys introduced herself, which is a huge part of the first counselling session and establishing a relationship. Typically, we need to hear a new person's name up to three times to connect it into our memory (Harms, 2007), therefore by introducing herself, Lys began the process of establishing an effective relationship. Increasing my sense of trust, Lys reciprocated my “thanks” in helping with an assessment, demonstrating that the relationship was mutual and equal. Included in this introduction was Lys’ definition of counselling, “this is a safe place where you can discuss your thoughts and feelings”. By stating that the session was a “safe place”, Lys successfully diminished the tentative sensation people feel when approaching a new relationship (Harms, 2007). This supposed safety created a feeling of respect, which enabled me to feel more comfortable in opening up. Opening up is a major choice, which is often made early on, about whether or not to interact in a meaningful way to begin the development of the therapeutic relationship (Shulman, 1999 as cited in Harms, 2007), and by creating a sense of security Lys facilitated my ability to speak freely, demonstrating how effective these interactions can be. Despite this, I found it difficult to know where to start, evident by the fact I “haven’t had a counselling session before” and my uncertainty of “how this will work”, which led to me asking “where do we start?”. By suggesting that the best way to start was to “introduce yourself”, Lys not only made me feel at ease about the session, but also allowed me to dictate the direction of conversation. This allowed me to contribute to the establishment of personal goals, which were supported by Lys. This support was evident throughout, with Lys using many non-verbal encourages, such as mirroring my behaviour, eye contact and facial expressions (Geldard & Geldard, 2012), to enable me to direct the conversation. This subtle interaction enabled us to agree that working on establishing the cause of my “anxious feelings” should be the goal of the session without needing to state it explicitly. These three effects, that is, mutual trust, respect and agreement of goals, are the three constituents of building rapport. As discussed above, Lys effectively employed these three components by making me feel comfortable and secure, therefore it is possible to determine that Lys’ initial attempts to establish a therapeutic relationship were effective.
To build upon the effective relationship, Lys often utilised Rogers’ core conditions. To generate unconditional positive regard, Lys lent forwards whilst still maintaining an open posture (Gallagher & Hargie, 1992). These nonverbal behaviours made me feel accepted as they demonstrated an ability to react appropriately and nonjudgmentally to what I was saying. Furthermore, Lys reflected and paraphrased my words whilst sustaining eye contact (Gallagher & Hargie, 1992). Most notably this occurred when Lys rephrased that I feel “more comfortable expressing yourself on paper than talking about it”. In addition to this, I felt as if I was not being judged as the suggested that “that’s fine” to do so. This reinforced the unprejudiced, warm acceptance I felt, thus demonstrating an effective interaction as it contributed to my sense of ease when discussing my problems. In contrast, an ineffective interaction occurred when Lys tried to employ empathy. Theoretically she did everything right, by reflecting and paraphrasing and using non verbal behaviours such as eye contact (Tepper & Haase, 1978), however her paraphrasing “your friend was going through this transmission…doing what she really wanted to do…and you feel like you are…not going where you want to go” didn’t really resonate with me, and my response was “I guess at times”. This suggests that she was unable to communicate an understanding of my thoughts and feelings, and demonstrated an inability to use empathy in this situation. This made me feel uncomfortable and reluctant to provide more information as I thought that she might misinterpret what I was saying. Considering that empathy is such an important component of the counselling relationship by creating togetherness, and consequently establishing a trusting environment to enable the client to feel cared for and safe (Geldard & Geldard, 2012), it was necessary for Lys to repair the outcome of her misinterpreted empathy. To do this she paraphrased my concerns about having “a good university background” and asked a clarifying question about why I felt like I wasn’t “prepared”. This paraphrasing and clarification enabled her to identify that I felt “scar[ed] to feel like [I] don’t know what the next step is”. This is an example of application of accurate empathy, evident by my agreement, “yeah”. The rectification of her misinterpretation made me feel comfortable once more.
The misinterpretation of information has strongly influenced my development as a counsellor because it made me very aware of how a miscommunicated emotion could lead to the destruction of empathetic interactions. As a result, I am now very cautious about what emotions I will communicate to the client, as it is possible that the emotions do not belong to them, and may impact on the effectiveness of the relationship.
The phenomenon of conveying emotions that do not belong to ones self is known as transference and countertransference. Transference occurs when the client associates certain qualities with the counsellor, whereas countertransference is where the counsellor associates imagined qualities with the client (Hackney & Cormier, 2009). These reactions may come from the counsellor’s unresolved personal relationships (Brammer & MacDonald, 2002), and are therefore unhelpful in the counselling setting. The identification of patterns of transference can be helpful though, as they bring change to a clients pattern of relating, so the task in counselling is to identify and challenge unhelpful assumptions and provide a context where they can be altered (Macaskie, 2007). Despite the transference and countertransference that was demonstrated by the miscommunicated empathetic paraphrasing, my overall experience was a positive one.
I did not feel as if I gained much from attending the counselling session in a resolution context, that is, I felt like my anxiety issues were unresolved despite being given tasks to minimise the anxious feelings. As I believe that counselling is a relationship that resolves a problem or issue, this indicates that I should revisit the counsellor to continue to work through my anxiety. However, I do feel as if attending a counselling session has allowed me to grow. The interactions I had with Lys enabled me to identify what interactions and skills were more and less effective, highlighting the importance of practicing those skills, in particular the skills associated with countertransference and transference, as well as empathy and the core
conditions.
Whilst it is obvious that there were both effective and ineffective interactions, I ultimately feel as if the relationship established with Lys was an effective one. Through analysis of my session and the use of verbatim examples, I discovered that this effective relationship was due to the fact that she successfully established rapport, and predominantly utilized the core conditions effectively. This experience has impacted my development as a counsellor as it highlighted the importance of the core conditions in establishing rapport and relationships with clients.
To facilitate my analysis, it is necessary for me to not only define what an effective interaction is, but also to detail what counselling means to me. Counselling is a relationship process where the client is safe and free to become themselves (Rogers, 1961), it is a movement towards an ultimate conclusion, that conclusion being the resolution of whatever precipitated the need for help (Hackney & Cormier, 2009). To me, this means that counselling is a relationship that facilitates the resolution of a problem or situation. Because this process is a relationship, it is necessary to establish a connection between counsellor and client. In …show more content…
the counselling setting however, a relationship is much more specific than in every day life (Hackney & Cormier, 2009). The establishment of rapport, or the psychological climate that emerges from interpersonal contact (Hackney & Cormier, 2009), with a client involves respect, trust, psychological comfort and shared purpose (Hackney & Cormier, 2009). I will examine each of these constituents of rapport in greater detail during my session analysis, as they are fundamental to establishing a successful counsellor-client relationship, which is necessary for effective interactions.
I believe that an effective interaction is one in which a counsellor utilizes the core conditions to facilitate the resolution of a clients problem or situation, or one that leads to the clients psychological growth. Rogers considered the key components for generating a therapeutic environment that leads to resolution and growth as congruence, unconditional positive regard and accurate empathy (Corey, 2009), these are known as the core conditions (Rogers, 1961). The first of these core conditions is known as congruence. This is also known as genuineness and it arises when the actions, thoughts and feelings of a counsellor are in alignment (Day, 2004). The next core condition is unconditional positive regard. In its essence, unconditional positive regard is a warm acceptance of the client’s experience (Bozarth & Wilkins, 2007), which is based on respect and acceptance of a client without judgement (Geldard & Geldard, 2012). The final core condition is accurate empathy. Empathy is the communication of an understanding of the client’s thoughts and feelings (Gagan, 1983). As with the constituents of rapport, I will examine how the core conditions can be used to generate effective interactions during my analysis.
Before I begin the analysis of my counselling session, it is important for me to introduce the process of finding a counsellor and attending a session.
The process of finding a counsellor was a lot more difficult than I first envisioned. Due to limited financial resources, I was looking for a PACFA registered counsellor who was either cheap or free, and apparently such counsellors do not exist. After the class in week two, that is, after I was made aware of the fact that I could see a counsellor who wasn’t PACFA registered or could see a psychologist, I began broadening my search. By complete coincidence, the topic of my assessment arose during a birthday lunch with my mum and her fiancé and his children. His daughter is currently in training to be a psychologist and told me that her university are currently looking for people to participate in sessions, free of charge, to help the fourth year students practice. I then sent an email to the coordinator of the program, and she said that they would be willing to accommodate me. The correspondence I had was very positive and these welcoming skills are used to ensure that the initial contact is warm and respectful (Trevithick, 2005). The introduction of me to the program coordinator via a mutual acquaintance helped me to feel at ease and broke down some of the initial anxiety I had that I related to an unfamiliar relationship (Harms, 2007). The warmth and respect I felt when initiating this unfamiliar relationship helped me to feel relaxed. This relaxed feel was reinforced upon my arrival at the counselling session. Counsellors must create an atmosphere that assures clients that their welfare is the primary concern throughout the session (Nugent & Jones, 2005), and I believe that this was achieved in my session. The session occurred in a modified classroom, where there had been an obvious attempt to increase a sense of comfort. This was achieved by using soft furnishings, such as a couch and armchairs and curtains to relax the clinical windows. Whilst the artificial lighting was harsh, the room was filled with sunlight, creating a more natural feel. These initial observations made me feel at ease and therefore had a positive impact at the beginning of the session. However, as the session begun, I began to feel more uncomfortable, this is because I have always been uncomfortable discussing myself, and as a result I began to notice things in the room that reflected this. For example, when Lys was questioning why I was “struggling to adapt”, I broke eye contact and became frustrated by the fact that unused power sockets were left on. Whilst this may seem pedantic, I feel like it had a negative impact on my session, as it echoed my discomfort.
Although I felt discomfort throughout the session, Lys undertook behaviours that facilitated effective interactions. An effective counselling relationship is one where the client and counsellor have mutual trust, respect and agreement on goals while synergistically working to facilitate a change in the client (Geldard & Geldard, 2012). To generate mutual trust Lys introduced herself, which is a huge part of the first counselling session and establishing a relationship. Typically, we need to hear a new person's name up to three times to connect it into our memory (Harms, 2007), therefore by introducing herself, Lys began the process of establishing an effective relationship. Increasing my sense of trust, Lys reciprocated my “thanks” in helping with an assessment, demonstrating that the relationship was mutual and equal. Included in this introduction was Lys’ definition of counselling, “this is a safe place where you can discuss your thoughts and feelings”. By stating that the session was a “safe place”, Lys successfully diminished the tentative sensation people feel when approaching a new relationship (Harms, 2007). This supposed safety created a feeling of respect, which enabled me to feel more comfortable in opening up. Opening up is a major choice, which is often made early on, about whether or not to interact in a meaningful way to begin the development of the therapeutic relationship (Shulman, 1999 as cited in Harms, 2007), and by creating a sense of security Lys facilitated my ability to speak freely, demonstrating how effective these interactions can be. Despite this, I found it difficult to know where to start, evident by the fact I “haven’t had a counselling session before” and my uncertainty of “how this will work”, which led to me asking “where do we start?”. By suggesting that the best way to start was to “introduce yourself”, Lys not only made me feel at ease about the session, but also allowed me to dictate the direction of conversation. This allowed me to contribute to the establishment of personal goals, which were supported by Lys. This support was evident throughout, with Lys using many non-verbal encourages, such as mirroring my behaviour, eye contact and facial expressions (Geldard & Geldard, 2012), to enable me to direct the conversation. This subtle interaction enabled us to agree that working on establishing the cause of my “anxious feelings” should be the goal of the session without needing to state it explicitly. These three effects, that is, mutual trust, respect and agreement of goals, are the three constituents of building rapport. As discussed above, Lys effectively employed these three components by making me feel comfortable and secure, therefore it is possible to determine that Lys’ initial attempts to establish a therapeutic relationship were effective.
To build upon the effective relationship, Lys often utilised Rogers’ core conditions. To generate unconditional positive regard, Lys lent forwards whilst still maintaining an open posture (Gallagher & Hargie, 1992). These nonverbal behaviours made me feel accepted as they demonstrated an ability to react appropriately and nonjudgmentally to what I was saying. Furthermore, Lys reflected and paraphrased my words whilst sustaining eye contact (Gallagher & Hargie, 1992). Most notably this occurred when Lys rephrased that I feel “more comfortable expressing yourself on paper than talking about it”. In addition to this, I felt as if I was not being judged as the suggested that “that’s fine” to do so. This reinforced the unprejudiced, warm acceptance I felt, thus demonstrating an effective interaction as it contributed to my sense of ease when discussing my problems. In contrast, an ineffective interaction occurred when Lys tried to employ empathy. Theoretically she did everything right, by reflecting and paraphrasing and using non verbal behaviours such as eye contact (Tepper & Haase, 1978), however her paraphrasing “your friend was going through this transmission…doing what she really wanted to do…and you feel like you are…not going where you want to go” didn’t really resonate with me, and my response was “I guess at times”. This suggests that she was unable to communicate an understanding of my thoughts and feelings, and demonstrated an inability to use empathy in this situation. This made me feel uncomfortable and reluctant to provide more information as I thought that she might misinterpret what I was saying. Considering that empathy is such an important component of the counselling relationship by creating togetherness, and consequently establishing a trusting environment to enable the client to feel cared for and safe (Geldard & Geldard, 2012), it was necessary for Lys to repair the outcome of her misinterpreted empathy. To do this she paraphrased my concerns about having “a good university background” and asked a clarifying question about why I felt like I wasn’t “prepared”. This paraphrasing and clarification enabled her to identify that I felt “scar[ed] to feel like [I] don’t know what the next step is”. This is an example of application of accurate empathy, evident by my agreement, “yeah”. The rectification of her misinterpretation made me feel comfortable once more.
The misinterpretation of information has strongly influenced my development as a counsellor because it made me very aware of how a miscommunicated emotion could lead to the destruction of empathetic interactions. As a result, I am now very cautious about what emotions I will communicate to the client, as it is possible that the emotions do not belong to them, and may impact on the effectiveness of the relationship.
The phenomenon of conveying emotions that do not belong to ones self is known as transference and countertransference. Transference occurs when the client associates certain qualities with the counsellor, whereas countertransference is where the counsellor associates imagined qualities with the client (Hackney & Cormier, 2009). These reactions may come from the counsellor’s unresolved personal relationships (Brammer & MacDonald, 2002), and are therefore unhelpful in the counselling setting. The identification of patterns of transference can be helpful though, as they bring change to a clients pattern of relating, so the task in counselling is to identify and challenge unhelpful assumptions and provide a context where they can be altered (Macaskie, 2007). Despite the transference and countertransference that was demonstrated by the miscommunicated empathetic paraphrasing, my overall experience was a positive one.
I did not feel as if I gained much from attending the counselling session in a resolution context, that is, I felt like my anxiety issues were unresolved despite being given tasks to minimise the anxious feelings. As I believe that counselling is a relationship that resolves a problem or issue, this indicates that I should revisit the counsellor to continue to work through my anxiety. However, I do feel as if attending a counselling session has allowed me to grow. The interactions I had with Lys enabled me to identify what interactions and skills were more and less effective, highlighting the importance of practicing those skills, in particular the skills associated with countertransference and transference, as well as empathy and the core
conditions.
Whilst it is obvious that there were both effective and ineffective interactions, I ultimately feel as if the relationship established with Lys was an effective one. Through analysis of my session and the use of verbatim examples, I discovered that this effective relationship was due to the fact that she successfully established rapport, and predominantly utilized the core conditions effectively. This experience has impacted my development as a counsellor as it highlighted the importance of the core conditions in establishing rapport and relationships with clients.