The purpose of this assignment is to demonstrate effective counselling skills by participating in a role play. I will be counselling a client for ten minutes, exploring the issues she is facing through the use of a vast amount of verbal and non- verbal communication. The scenario in which I will be basing my role play on is; a young woman who makes herself sick after she has eaten. She knows it is not a good idea, but she likes the sense of control it gives her. Due to being abused as a child by her father she finds it hard trusting people and forming relationships.
Consequently, she does not have any friends or amily that she feels she can talk to. Skills used Firstly, by using a range of counselling skills, this allows the professional to be creative and adaptable, resulting in improved practise and beneficial outcomes (Bor et al. , 2008). I will now be stating some of the skills I will be demonstrating and analysing the usefulness of these skills. According to Seden (2005), in order to be empathetic, you have to willingly place yourself in another individual’s situation. When you are able to do this is when you gain the ability to recognise their feelings and experiences.
Moreover, this leads to increased understanding, which enables you as a professional to support the client in a more effective way. Furthermore, I will be demonstrating this counselling skill throughout my role play. 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 ituation 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 life. In agreement is Agosta (2015), who also believes empathy is useful. This is because it was recognised that the more people emphasise with others, the safer we all feel. Agosta (2015), stated that empathy gives a sense of comfort and trust. Therefore, in time will result in conflict resolution and giving people a sense of purpose.
This would be exceptionally valuable in my role play as the client finds it difficult to trust others. By demonstrating this skill, I will be able to create a safe and secure environment for her to confidently open up about the issues and fears she is facing. In contrast with this view is Meneses and Larkin (2015), they believe if you are ‘too’ empathetic, it can become unprofessional. Emphasising too much with a client can lead to personal relationships, especially if the professional has been through a similar situation to their client.
When I participate in my role play it is important for me to maintain my professional boundaries and not get ‘too’ friendly with the client. Evidence for support of this spect is, Webb (1997), who suggests that when working with vulnerable people professional values are vital. As a professional, it is our role to ensure the support we give will not disenfranchise them. Therefore, by maintaining boundaries we do not risk leading the client to believe they are confiding in a friend, which is vastly significant in my scenario.
Due to my client not having any friends to confide in, if she then begins to communicate with someone who is actively listening to her issues and showing interest in what she has to say, this may lead her to think that we are bonding and a personal elationship is been formed. I will maintain these boundaries by having a set time for the session and not allowing this to go over, and I will not be giving any personal information to my client or answering any personal questions as the session is entirely based on the clients and their issues.
Likewise, working with people who have complex issues can be emotionally draining for the professional. Maintaining boundaries can allow professionals to manage their emotions and not get too involved (Cooper and Coe, 2012). Due to my client been abused as a child and now having an illness, this could be upsetting to isten to. It may lead to me wanting to sympathise with them and tell them that “I understand” or “everything will be ok”. Rich (2003), suggests that having sympathy for someone can be misleading and in time will result in false hope.
Additionally, boundaries are maintained professional in order to represent legal and ethical structures within a professional setting. They are there to maintain a professional relationship which consists of trust and respect (Nelson-Jones, 2007). Throughout my role play, I will allow the client to be respected by listening to their houghts and feelings in depth and not judge them in any way. Actively listening to someone is a technical skill which requires understanding and complete concentration in order to respond in the best possible way (Devilly, 2002).
In order to demonstrate empathy and maintain professional boundaries you have to be concentrating on what the client is saying and understand how they are feeling for you to respond to them effectively. White and Evans (2005), suggests that non-verbal communication will show the client I am listening to them and I understand and am interested in what they have to say. Therefore, this will be a useful skill to use in my role play and I will be showing the use of this skill through not only verbal communication but non-verbal as well.
Throughout my role play I will ensure I use efficient eye contact, and occasionally nod my head to show my client I am listening carefully and I am engaged in the conversation. Reflective Journal Throughout counselling and guidance skills I have been writing a journal to reflect on my thoughts and feelings of the lectures we have had and what we have learnt. By doing this it has come to my attention that counselling skills are techniques I use on a aily basis, whether this is at work, at placement or in my personal life.
By writing a reflective journal I have found that empathy is a skill in which I often find challenging to demonstrate. I have a tendency to sympathise rather than empathise with an individual’s feelings. This is because it is easier to tell someone who is going through a hard time that “everything will be ok”. However, by practising this skill I believe I am developing an understanding of the difference and why empathising will be more beneficial for the client. Secondly, maintaining professional boundaries is something I have to do ll the time.
When I am at work it is important that my relationship with the clients and their family are strictly professional. I must never give away my personal contact details and never meet them outside of the restricted working hours. This will be a skill that I will not have difficulty in maintaining, even if I was to be asked, I would confidently be able to say no and state why this is against policy procedures. Finally, active listening is a skill in which comes naturally to me. I have realised I use listening skills constantly throughout my job as a career nd throughout placements I have obtained whilst at the university.
This will benefit my roleplay because I have already had a lot of practise with this skill and therefore will be confident in demonstrating this effectively. Conclusion Overall, I look forward to participating in my role play and hope to overcome some of the worries I have. I believe writing a reflective journal has increasingly helped me to understand the skills in which I find easy to demonstrate and the skills that I find difficult. This gives me a chance to practise in my weaker areas and develop my skills as a counsellor.
