Preview

Four Crisis Counseling Skills: Facilitative Listening

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
554 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Four Crisis Counseling Skills: Facilitative Listening
The way a counselor interacts with their client during a crisis can negatively or positively their client. It is import for a counselor to have a broad understanding of Crisis Counseling skills to be the most effective in helping their clients. During a crisis, it is common for an individual to feel that no one understands what they are experiencing (James & Gilliland, 2017). The four Crisis Counseling Skills I selected are Facilitative Listening, Catharsis, Empathy, and Paraphrasing.
Facilitative Listening
This is such an important counseling skill to perfect. Facilitative listening conveys an understanding of the crisis, both the facts and the emotions, to the client (James & Gilliland, 2017). I believe that before I can event begin to attempt to paraphrase, restatement, empathize, summarize, or even ask questions, I have listen and observe my client to understand their situation. Listening encompasses four steps, (1) Open-ended questions, (2) Restatement and summary clarification, (3) Owning feelings and (4) Facilitative listening. These components must be accurately utilized. One of the ways to turn a client off, is if the client feels the counselor is not present with them (Laureate Education, 2010).
…show more content…
Not that you feel sorry for them, which is not a bad thing. This is important to differentiate. Empathy can help establish a stronger client-therapist relationship. It also helps build trust with the client. According to Rogers (1977), the most effective helper is one who can provide three necessary and sufficient conditions for client growth. These conditions he named empathy, genuineness, and acceptance (James & Gilliland,

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    “The foundation of crisis intervention is the development of rapport—a state of understanding and comfort—between client and counselor” (Kanel, 2006 p.70). This stage is so important that no real work can be accomplished before it is established. A person needs to feel understood and validated before they are comfortable enough to open up to you. Some of the skills necessary for this stage are basic attending skills, questions, paraphrasing, reflection of feelings, and summarizations. “The primary purpose of using the basic attending skills is to gain a clear understanding of the internal experience of the crisis as the client sees it” (Kanel, 2006 p. 70). First and foremost, this begins with listening. This is not to be confused with hearing. You really need to listen. You want to show the client that you are completely there for them by maintaining eye contact, using a soft, soothing voice, and have attentive body language (sitting close and having a relaxed posture). The questions you choose to ask are also important. Close ended questions generally require short answers like “yes” and “no”. These are generally only used to answer factual information. Using open ended questions allows for the client to open up and reveal their true feelings. “When the question is posed effectively, it helps move the interview along and allows gathering essential information about the nature of the crisis” (Kanel, 2006 p. 73). Paraphrasing is also an essential skill. This is done by either restating to the client what it is that you thought you heard, or by using the clarifying technique which is just asking a question that would clarify the information just given by the client. “The intent is to encourage elaboration of the statements to let the client know that you, the counselor, have understood or heard the message; to help the client…

    • 2156 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    4 MAT Book Review

    • 2307 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Dr. Wright’s strongest point in the reading is stating the ability to be a good counselor is to hold his or her tongue. He expresses the need of talking more than 25 percent of the time, you’re talking too much. Listening is a key component when communicating with others. Listening means your focusing and understanding the feelings of the person expressing their feelings. Dr. Wright discusses when you allow your mind to be busy, you’re not concentrating on what is being said. A good counselor will listen openly with their eyes, body and showing there empathy towards the crisis or trauma.…

    • 2307 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Unit 5 Assignment

    • 764 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Another important skill a counselor must possess is the ability of how to appropriately ask questions. Most often in this model, it is important to use open-ended questions in order to understand the most information about the precipitating event. Questions beginning with “what” or “how” are most effective in this case. The counselors ability to restate what the clients answer to the questions are.…

    • 764 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Final Exam

    • 872 Words
    • 4 Pages

    3. Development crisis intervention skills- Crisis intervention requires empathic listening, a technique that allows the person in crisis to feel heard without being judged. This method asks the listener to focus on the thoughts and feelings of the speaker. Helping the speaker feel that he or she is understood reduces stress and defensiveness, clearing the way for clearer thinking about the problem at hand.…

    • 872 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Bikker et al., (2014) states that by using empathy it can be particularly beneficial in reducing distress and positively improving the quality of therapeutic relationships. This would be useful in my role play due to the fact that the client finds it difficult to maintain relationships and has no one she can talk to. By showing empathy, this will enable me as the professional to look at the situation from her perspective, and engage with her in a way no one else has. This will result in the increase of beneficial changes been made in her…

    • 1343 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    Crisis Intervention

    • 3441 Words
    • 14 Pages

    In this assignment I shall be defining the topic surrounding crisis throughout the field of mental health. I will be attempting to do this by using a various range of literature and theories of that can help us create a greater understanding and knowledge base of what a crisis is, why it occurs and how we can potentially prevent a crisis from occurring. I shall then be discussing how I would engage those individuals that are in crisis, exploring the engagement process and showing the skills that are necessary to provide support to the person in crisis. I will then be discussing what challenges we meet as both professionals and the individual that is in crisis and what tools and strategies are placed in order to conquer these challenges. I will then move on to discuss risk management and how this could potentially help the person/client in crisis. Throughout this assignment I shall be using scenarios from my practice setting to use as examples to create a more personal setting of a person in crisis.…

    • 3441 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    This unit focuses on the identification, practice and development of a range of interpersonal and counselling skills. Learners will develop the underpinning knowledge and ability to initiate, sustain and conclude an interaction with a client/patient, beyond that of being an effective listener to the level of skilled helper. They will understand and practise the parameters of the skills utilised in such helping relationships, including managing the process and, where necessary, referring the client to alternative sources of support. It is important to note that on completion of this unit learners are not qualified to undertake client work in a counselling context. An extensive programme of additional, higher level study and commitment to a period of personal therapy are required in order to become a counselling practitioner, eligible for professional body membership and/or accreditation. Effective listening and questioning techniques, and adherence…

    • 2195 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Listening – This is done by listening to the client without being distracted by something else or thinking about something else. The Counsellors job is to pick up on any negative beliefs and emotional responses.…

    • 480 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Core Counselling

    • 755 Words
    • 4 Pages

    By listening carefully to the client, and observing their non-verbal behaviour at the same time as identifying the feeling in a word or phrase, the counsellor can reflect back to the client on their issue - eg: "You were feeling hurt, because you thought you weren't being listened…

    • 755 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Counselling Skills

    • 995 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The first concept i will be discussing is empthy, which is discussed in Chapter six (Shebib, 2003). Empathy is the ability to correctly interpret another person 's feelings to show them you understand. So, empathy is not something we have, but something we do. Empathy is a skill and an attitude and not a feeling (sympathy is a feeling). It is about being able and willing to understand another person from their own point of view, without your own thoughts, feelings, opinions and judgements getting in the way of this understanding. This can be difficult if you have a strong reaction to someone, or if you disagree with what they are saying, or if you have had a similar experience and feel you could give some helpful advice. Empathy is essential in counselling because it helps to build a relationship between the client and counsellor, it helps clients to label their own feelings, and helps the counsellor to understand how their client is thinking or feeling. Therefore, empathy plays a very important role in counselling relationships. There are three types of empathy: basic, inferred, and invitational. Basic empathy is when the counsellor says back to the client what their client is feeling. According to Shebib (1993) "With basic empathy, no attempt is made to interpret, judge, or promote greater awareness or insight beyond that which the client has already articulated" (p. 170). The example listed below shows basic empathy:…

    • 995 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Warner M S (2001) Empathy, Relational Depth and Difficult Process in S Haugh and T Merry (Eds) Empathy PCCS Books…

    • 2804 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Core counselling skills include non-verbal communication (NVC) where facial expressions, body language and gestures can be key in understanding what the client or counsellor is thinking or feeling such as showing empathy, stress or confidence. Active Listening and Paraphrasing where the counsellor is required to demonstrate that they are making sense of what the client is talking about are acquired core skills. By paraphrasing, the counsellor is repeating what the client has said, but in their own words which helps the client feel understood and valued. To be able to paraphrase, the counsellor needs to be able to listen actively. Clarifying is another tool used by the trained counsellor as a way of checking that they have understood what their client has been talking about. Using silence is a skill that can be beneficial to the client under the appropriate circumstances. Questions being asked by the counsellor are described as 'open' and 'closed' and should be used with caution. Asking open questions can encourage the client to open up a bit more and talk a bit more about their issues but asking a closed question normally attracts a short 'yes' or 'no' answer. Empathy is a core value which can be confused often with sympathy but they are very different. Sympathy is more likely to be used in a non-professional relationship; identifying with a friend's situation, whereas empathy is seeing the situation from the client's perspective and experience rather than the counsellor's own.…

    • 634 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    One of the most important qualities of a counsellor is the ability to listen, meaning that the counsellor must be fully present in the session. The counsellor needs to put aside his or hers own matters and thoughts to be fully present and available as it is impossible to help someone if you are not actively listening. It is important to be listening not only to what is being said but also sometimes to what is being avoided but maybe being felt. When you listen actively it can help make the client feel worthy, appreciated and respected. This could be the first time they have actually been listened to. It is so important that you listen with undivided attention. During a role-play at college I had to listen without speaking for a full ten minutes to the client. I found this exercise very useful and even surprised myself because I was so aware of concentrating on what the client was saying and was so interested in what was being said that I did not feel uncomfortable in not speaking. Even in the few short silences I felt at ease and could appreciate that this silence can be a part of the interaction between the counsellor and the client and I recognised how the silence may help the client to focus. It is vital not to jump in during these silences, as they can be helpful in allowing the client to think and reflect. The counsellor may be able to help them by inviting them to talk about what was going on for them, rather than starting a new topic. It is more helpful for the client to ask ‘what…

    • 2467 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The following are the skills that I need to improve before I began counseling: Sincerity and Authenticity: According to Maslow Hierarchy of needs, one of the things that people need are belongingness and love needs. As a counselor, it is imperative to possess a sense of sincerity and authenticity. It means that as a counselor I care uniquely about the needs and concerns of my clients without any judgment. Being sincere with a client, in the long run, helps them to respect both themselves and their therapists (Corey, 2016), (McLeod, 2017).…

    • 907 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Counselling is a process of providing the speaker with the time and space to explore and gain an understanding of their problems or of matters that may be causing concern. Through effective counselling the speaker is afforded the right environment to share their unique experience and will work towards either coming to terms with their problems or possibly over time resolving them completely. Counselling is more than offering advice or guidance to the speaker, counselling aims to develop and facilitate a supportive and safe relationship between Listener and speaker and aims to explore, understand and resolve - or come to terms with - the problems facing the listener. There are a number of useful skills which can be used by a qualified counsellor and or by an individual who may have been trained in counselling skills to help others within their given role. As counselling seeks to gain an understanding of the speaker’s motivations or problems, it is necessary for the listener to actively listen to the speaker. This shows the speaker that the listener is paying attention to what is being said and that the listener is interested in the speaker. Active listening can be demonstrated by the listener paying full attention to the listener and the problems and feeling being expressed, the listener can use minimal encouragers to show this such as nodding, using affirming tones, and asking questions to clarify understanding…

    • 548 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays