Counselling Reflective Analysis

Strengths

With the help of the video attached, I was able to examine what my strengths are during a counselling session. One strength in the introduction was the clarity when I explained to Jesse that in this session we would work together to create a goal and plan that best suits him. Another strength was that I took the time to remind him what we had agreed on last session, and by doing this he was able to clarify any details. Another pro was asking the client to explain what specific words meant to them, for example, “what does loneliness mean to you”. Other strengths in the session include, paraphrasing so the client was able to reflect on what they were saying and as the counsellor I was able to know that was what the client meant. The
use the helping relationship, allowed me explore with the client further into his thoughts and feelings. During the second session, it seemed that I had less of a struggle with circular questioning, therefore I believe this is a strength in the video and a final positive aspect about the session was the use of SMART in forming the goal. This allowed me as the therapist to make sure that my client was able to reach the goal we had agreed on.

Weaknesses
Even though there were strengths in the session there were also many weaknesses as well. The first was my body language, I appeared to be nervous and fidgety and this could lead to the client becoming uncomfortable with me as well. Another weakness that I noticed was that when the client would talk for a long period of time, he would say a lot of key words that are important and that I would have liked to elaborate on but I would forget the words after a few seconds and would have to pick a different key word that was not as significant as the ones he had said before. To continue, another weak point in the video was not using scaling questions. Using this technique would allow me to get a better feel on where the client is emotionally. There were opportunities where it could have been used but was not. Another weakness that I noticed was taking my time to make sure the question I am asking is useful, I would rush to ask another question even though it was not completely relevant. This is also a sign of being unmindful because if I was truly invested in that moment I would not struggle to find my next question. The final weakness that was clear in the video is that at times I would appear to be day dreaming or a little bored, this is again me being unmindful which is not a good thing when counselling because your client deserve your undivided attention.

Areas to improve
It is evident that there are good and bad things about this session, while watching I was able to identify the things that I need to improve to become a better social worker.
The first area that need a lot of improvement is my body language, to improve this I will need to practice this type of counselling more often and will have to use skills such as mindfulness to be aware of my behaviours. The second area that needs improvement is question formulating. Being able to use key words from the client to create questions that will explain or elaborate on what they are saying is difficult for me. I believe that with patience and lots of practice, I will eventually be able to interview a client more naturally. The third struggle that I have is being mindful, in the first session with my client I was very distracted. In the second session I found this had improved but would still need practice for it to be considered being mindful. To continue, another aspect that could be better about the session is the wording of my questions, for example, in the session I asked Jesse “what do you think would make you a good friend?” some clients could take this to offence or it may come across as me accusing them of being a bad friend. If I were to take my time and say the question to myself before saying it to the client I could find a better way to word the question without upsetting anyone. The final area that could use improvement is my empathy, at times it is hard to understand why the client is feeling or behaving the way they are which is frustrating, if I can try to put myself in the clients shoes and respect that they are struggling with a great deal of stress and anxiety like in Jesse’s case, I could be more empathetic and understanding about his
choices.