Identify And Explain The Importance Of Probes In Counselling

In any therapeutic relationship, it is vital for a counsellor to respond to the client with empathy when the clients reveal about themselves. It is also necessary to sometimes nudge or probe the client to explore certain concerns or issues that they do not do spontaneously. Therefore, probes are important communication skills in the counselling process. The skill of probe can be both verbal and non-verbal that helps clients to talk more openly and freely about certain issues at any stage of the helping process. When probes are used cautiously, they provide focus and direction to the entire helping process. Probes provide clarity and helps the clients move forward in the helping relationship. Probes when used appropriately helps the client to
Probe in the form of a statement lets the counsellor confess to the client that he or she is still confused about what the client is intending to say. Therefore, the counsellor may use statements like “ I am still confused about….” Or “ I am not sure if I understand…”. The use of such statements makes the client responsible to respond. The use of probe is not used to accuse the client, but it is a gentle way of asking the client to clarify what he or she has said.
• Requests – The use of probe can also be in the form of requests to extract further information or clarity in what the client has said. Probes in the form of requests are used to also extract new information from the client. The use of probe as a request should not sound like a command, rather they should be used by asking in a gentle tone and keeping other nonverbal cues in mind.
• Questions – Probe in the form of question is the most common type of probe. By asking a question the counsellor clarifies if he or she has understood what the client has said and further clarifies what was said by the
In advanced empathy, when it is used accurately reflects not only what the clients’ tries to state overtly but also what they imply or state incompletely. (Gladding, 2009) Therefore, advanced empathy involves capturing the message behind the message. Helping the clients understand the message behind the message can be challenging for counsellor. The counsellor not only tries to reflect what the client has said, but also tries to reflect the core message that the client has not revealed overtly.( Egan, 2010) It is important to note if the clients recognize the advanced empathy that is used accurately. That is, when the counsellor uses basic empathy the clients immediately recognize it and respond to it. Because advanced empathy involves the counsellor responding to covert messages the clients may not recognize what the counsellor is saying in his or her response, this therefore makes advanced empathy a kind of a challenge. While using advanced empathy it is important for the client to identify the experiences, behaviours and