Section 1: An Introduction to Counselling

Welcome to your first module in the Diploma of Counselling! Throughout this course, you will be introduced to the world of counselling as well as a wealth of knowledge, skills, and approaches that will assist you in your practice.

Before we delve too deeply into what counselling involves, it is useful to have a basic understanding of what counselling is. This section will provide you with a brief overview of counselling as a helping profession, as well as introduce you to the fundamentals of counselling, specifically the helping relationship.

While you are working your way through this module, it is important to remember that the information provided in this introductory module is simply a brief overview. You will learn much more about specific counselling skills and approaches as you progress throughout the course. The goal at this stage is to lay the groundwork on which you will continue to build your skills and knowledge, both throughout this course and onwards throughout your career.

Counselling is commonly described as a form of ‘talk-based therapy’ as it is “fundamentally based on conversation, and the capacity of people to ‘talk things through’ and to generate new possibilities for action through dialogue” (McLeod, 2013, p.8). During counselling, clients typically engage in discussions of issues or challenges, with a trained counsellor, with the goal of improving their current situations in relation to those issues.

The basic purpose of counselling is to provide a client with a confidential, safe, and supportive environment where they can tell their story, work through their emotions, and make positive changes to their life. The role of the counsellor is to facilitate the client’s self-development by providing the client with an opportunity to gain a better understanding of who they are, where they want to be, and how to get there. The counsellor supports the client to achieve their goals and gain greater insight into their lives. Furthermore, effective counsellors assist clients in building skills that they can use to solve other difficulties in their lives. For example, if a client learns good communication skills to help resolve a problem with their spouse, they will also be able to use those communication skills with their children, friends, or co-workers.

Clients predominantly come to counselling because they are experiencing a situation or issue that is overwhelming their usual problem-solving or coping strategies, resulting in emotional distress. These issues can include intrapersonal, interpersonal, and external issues that are impacting on a client’s well-being and day-to-day functioning. Common issues that clients may present with include stress, relationship difficulties, grief and loss, parenting, emotional difficulties, and addictions. As you can imagine, experiencing one or more of these issues over a prolonged period of time can be distressing. Clients may feel like they are going around in circles and that things will never improve. A counsellor is often able to help the client alleviate their emotional distress using a variety of strategies. These will vary from person to person but may include:

Insight

A counsellor may help a client to understand how his or her present issue or problem has developed or come about, leading to emotional and behavioural changes. For example, Linda could not understand why her relationships always fizzled out after a few months. By discussing her past experiences with her counsellor, she identified a pattern of distancing behaviour which was contributing to the premature ending of relationships. Now that she was aware of this, she decided to make a concerted effort to change her way of relating in her next relationship.

Interpersonal communication

A counsellor may help a client evaluate his or her way of communicating, thus resulting in improved relationships with others. For example, Eli received a warning from his manager about his bullying behaviour. He worked with a counsellor to develop alternative ways of communicating with staff to achieve what needed to be done at work without resorting to shouting or threatening behaviour.

Self-awareness

A counsellor may help a client become more aware of underlying emotions or beliefs that may be unacknowledged but still influence the client’s behaviour. For example, Anna came to counselling because she wanted to address her binge eating behaviour. By exploring some of her childhood experiences, Anna realised that she had been carrying a great deal of unexpressed anger towards her father, who abandoned the family years before. She realised that her eating patterns were directly related to her emotional state and worked with the counsellor to develop alternative ways of expressing her emotions.

Problem-solving

Often, clients come to counselling with an issue or problem they have not been able to resolve effectively on their own. A counsellor may help a client to explore the issue more fully, generate options, and consider potential consequences. For example, Oliver’s eight-year-old daughter was struggling socially at school as well as academically. The counsellor helped Oliver work through various options, evaluating the benefits and drawbacks of each one. In the end, Oliver decided to move his daughter to a smaller, less academic school that her best friend attends. The counsellor also gave Oliver the details of a local educational psychologist to evaluate whether his daughter had any learning issues that might require additional support.

Acquisition of social skills

A counsellor may help a client learn specific skills or strategies aimed at improving interpersonal difficulties. For example, Belinda was referred to counselling by probation services for anger management. The counsellor helped Belinda identify specific triggers as well as strategies for managing her anger response.

What’s it like to be a Counsellor in Australia?

Meet Sue-Ellen to find out what it’s like to be a counsellor. Learn about the rewarding and challenging aspects of the role, plus important skills and career pathways.

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Counsellors are not the only helping professionals that offer therapeutic support to clients. Including counsellors, there are a wide range of helping professionals who may be involved in supporting clients in relation to improving their well-being, such as social workers, psychologists, psychotherapists, psychiatrists, and coaches. So how does a counsellor differ from these professions? How do clients know whether counselling is most appropriate for meeting their needs?

As you will learn later, supporting clients to understand the nature and scope of counselling is an important part in establishing an effective helping relationship. It is, therefore, beneficial to develop an understanding of where counselling sits among the range of helping services available.

There are several key similarities between counsellors and the other types of helping professionals mentioned in the table. For instance, helping professionals utilise communication techniques (and often counselling skills) to assess client needs and provide support within the scope of their role and expertise. They are also expected to abide by a range of legal and ethical requirements that involve upholding human rights and the provision of a safe, ethical, and confidential service. While these professionals may work from varying models or approaches, they are expected to from a nonjudgmental, person-centered approach, which means they focus on supporting the clients to determine priorities and make decisions about their lives (we will discuss person-centered principles in more depth later).

Nevertheless, these helping roles vary in terms of their scope of responsibilities and  the level of professional qualifications acquired. Take prescription of medication for example; psychiatrists are the only professional in the previous list who can prescribe and manage medication given their qualifications and training as medical doctors. A psychologist would normally have received four years of tertiary training and/or undertaken additional qualifications and supervised practice to work in a specialised field. Similarly, social workers would have acquired four years of tertiary training plus additional training and supervised practice in a specialised area (e.g., mental health, domestic violence). Comparably, the profession of a counsellor is not as regulated in Australia; a counsellor may hold qualifications from diploma to masters level and may work in a range of contexts, including education, health, community services, and private practice. However, counsellors may also undertake further training and qualifications to specialise in areas such as addictions, grief, relationships, parenting, or careers.

In addition, the nature of issues focused in the helping relationship is another factor that highlights the distinctions between these professions. Consider, for example, a client living with mental illness. Where a counselling client may require specialist mental health assessments and/or diagnoses, they will need to be referred to a psychologist or psychiatrist. Conversely, a psychiatrist may refer a client to a counsellor or psychologist for ongoing therapeutic support in relation to managing their well-being and mental health needs during recovery. The client may also approach a social worker who acts in a case-managing role to facilitate access to resources and services. However, a coach may not be involved as they do not usually explore emotional and psychological issues in-depth; they focus more on enabling and supporting changes in relation to more explicitly defined goals.

In sum, each professional has their own area of expertise and training and plays different important roles in supporting clients. It is also not uncommon for a few of these helping professionals to work collaboratively in providing integrated care and support to clients who have complex and multi-faceted needs. Nevertheless, this highlights the need to inform clients of your qualifications and scope of practice to facilitate understanding of the service on offer.

The History of Counselling

The origins of counselling can be traced back to the beginning of the eighteenth century, when the industrial revolution brought large-scale changes to society. Before that time, people lived in small rural communities, and the head of the local church would usually deal with emotional and interpersonal problems. People with more serious mental disturbances were tolerated and even cared for by the community. However, after the community fragmentation that resulted from the industrial revolution, there was a shift towards placing people with mental illness into asylums. The medical profession took control of these asylums, and towards the end of the nineteenth century, the medical specialisation of psychiatry emerged (psychiatry is the science of treating mental illness). It was from this new field of medicine that psychotherapy evolved.

Counselling shares some of the philosophies and methods of psychotherapy, but, as the following extract illustrates, it has stronger connections to social reform and a strong presence in the voluntary sector.

The history of psychotherapy has been much more fully documented than the history of counselling. Counselling as a distinct profession came of age only in the 1940s. One of the public markers of the emergence of counselling at that time was that Carl Rogers, in the face of opposition from the medical profession to the idea that anyone without medical training could call himself a ‘psychotherapist’, began to use the term ‘counselling and psychotherapy’ to describe his approach (Rogers, 1942). Although in many respects counselling, both then and now, can be seen as an extension of psychotherapy, a parallel activity or even a means of ‘marketing’ psychotherapy to new groups of consumers, there are also at least two important historical strands that differentiate counselling from psychotherapy: involvement in the educational system and the role of the voluntary sector. The American Personnel and Guidance Association, which was later to become the American Counselling Association was formed in 1952, through the merger of a number of vocational guidance professional groups that were already well established by that time. The membership of the American Personnel and Guidance Association consisted of counsellors who worked in schools, colleges, and career advisory services. In Britain, the Standing Council for the Advancement of Counselling, which was later to become the British Association for Counselling was inaugurated in 1971, by a network of people who were primarily based in social services, social work and the voluntary sector.

The precursors to the formation of these organizations can be understood in terms of a sense of crisis within society, or ‘moral panic’, around various areas of social life. In effect, what happened was that there was a sense of unease around some aspect of the breakdown of social order, or the identification of groups of individuals who were being unfairly treated in some way. These crises were characterized by widespread publicity about the problem, debate in newspapers and magazines, and efforts to bring about political or legislative change. At some point in this process, someone would have the idea that the best means of helping was to treat each person needing assistance as an individual, and that the most effective way to proceed was to sit down with that individual, discuss the matter, and find the best way forward for that person in terms of his or her unique needs and circumstances. The idea of ‘counselling’ appears to have emerged more or less simultaneously, in many different fields of social action, in this manner. (McLeod, 2013, pp. 31-32)

The relationship between counselling and psychotherapy remains a debatable topic today. While counselling has connections to the psychotherapeutic approach that arose out of medicine/psychiatry, counselling as we know it today has broader social origins. As Reeves (2015, p.18) comments, “if psychotherapy was born out of medicine, counselling was perhaps born out of the voluntary movement and education.” Despite all, the field of counselling and psychotherapy continuously evolved over the years alongside developments in theories of human development and behaviours (as we become informed by research and findings about human development), which leads to the emergence of different types and approaches to counselling. Major theories that inform specific counselling approaches are summarised in the following table.

Counsellors nowadays practice from a variety of approaches built upon solid theoretical foundations that serve to explain how a person has become who they are and how they can make changes to their lives. Some counsellors only practice from a particular modality or approach, while others use a variety of techniques taken from a range of approaches. This is known as taking an “eclectic” approach. As you grow and develop your counselling skills, you may find yourself developing a preference for a particular style of counselling or you may tailor your approach depending upon the client and their needs.

While each approach to counselling is important, the humanistic principles have left an indelible mark on counselling – the importance of a therapeutic relationship between a client and their counsellor to effective counselling.

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Arguably the most important aspect within the counselling process is the relationship between the counsellor and client. Most clients enter counselling while in a heightened state of emotions and distress, which can make the process of developing an effective counselling relationship quite difficult.

The relationship between counsellor and client lies at the very heart of the counselling process and is enhanced by the counsellor’s ability to build understanding and connection or rapport with his or her client. While many people assume that counsellors are innately skilled at connecting with clients, there are actually many skills and techniques that counsellors must learn to utilise in order to assist them in developing an effective therapeutic relationship (you will be introduced to some of these skills later, and in more detail in  the module titled Apply specialist interpersonal and counselling interview skills). Before then, let’s first consider some important features of a good helping relationship.

Person-Centred Counselling

One of the key humanistic concepts widely applied in counselling (as well as most helping professions) today is person-centred principles. These principles highlight the personal qualities of counsellors that are desirable and vital for the counselling process to be effective, in addition to other skills and approaches used to facilitate effective counselling outcomes (Geldard, Geldard & Yin Foo, 2017).

Providing person-centred counselling involves creating a safe, non-judgemental counselling environment that allows the client to resolve his or her own problems without direct intervention by the counsellor. Counsellors put the client at the centre of the counselling process – assuming that clients are ‘experts’ in their own lives and therefore rely on them to lead and set the pace of the process. They also believe that clients come to the relationship with the inherent capability to make changes themselves and thus adopt a questioning rather than directive stance (i.e., use gentle, non-judgmental questioning rather than ‘advising’ a client).

In a nutshell, counsellors use a range of counselling skills to facilitate a helping relationship that demonstrates the following person-centred principles:

Honest and genuine communication

A counsellor’s body language should match what they are saying. If a client senses a mismatch in the counsellor’s expression, this may impact on their trust and openness.

Empathy

A counsellor works toward developing an understanding of the client’s perspective and what it is like to be “in their shoes”.  In the following video, Dr Brené Brown discusses how we can create a genuine empathic connection.

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Acceptance, respect, and care

This does not mean agreeing with everything the client says or does but acknowledging the client’s position and expressing concern rather than disagreeing. Adopting a non-judgemental attitude helps the client to feel accepted and facilitates the change process.

Autonomy

Counsellors aim to facilitate autonomy right from the very first session, such as by providing the client with sufficient information about the process, the organisation, and what they can expect from the counselling relationship. They also work as collaboratively as possible with clients throughout the counselling process.

Non-directive

The client’s needs, as opposed to the counsellor’s agenda, drive the counselling process. A counsellor would acknowledge and show respect for clients’ concerns and provide guidance as necessary to help clients navigate towards their goals.

The following extract illustrates the importance of a person-centred counselling relationship:

"A counsellor needs to walk alongside the person seeking help and to be with them in a very real sense so that they experience a feeling of togetherness. The precise words the counsellor uses are less important than the ability to form a meaningful relationship with the person and to listen intently to what they are saying. An effective counsellor listens more than talks, and what they do say gives the person seeking help a sense of being heard and understood. The counsellor’s role involves helping the person seeking help to explore their world and thus to make sense out of their inner confusion. It is not the counsellor’s role to choose the direction in which a person moves, but rather to provide the environment in which they can best decide where to go. The counsellor accompanies them on their journey of exploration, working collaboratively with them by purposefully making use of counselling skills within a process that facilitates change." (Geldard et al., 2017, p.17)

Another important reason for counsellors to work in a person-centred manner is to reduce the likelihood of engaging in unhelpful communications or actions driven by their own values and/or biases. We must not forget that counsellors are also real people, who hold certain opinions, values, and attributes that they will inevitably bring into the counselling relationship, if they were to be genuine and congruent. Being non-judgmental and accepting towards clients can be quite challenging if counsellors are not aware of their personal values and how these may impact on their perceptions and behaviours in the counselling relationship. As such, reflecting on personal values and beliefs is a key responsibility that counsellors have in order to establish an effective and ethical relationship.

In the remainder of this section, we will focus on some skills and techniques that are commonly used to help facilitate a person-centred counselling relationship. These skills are used throughout the counselling process, but are particularly important at the initial counselling session, where there is a strong focus on establishing a positive helping relationship.

A Person Centred Counsellor

This short video is an excerpt from a 55 minute unscripted session in which the client and Counsellor works with real material.

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As you have learned, effective counselling takes place within a client-counsellor relationship that is safe, non-judgmental, and collaborative. Hence, building rapport (i.e., affinity with and understanding of the client) and establishing a connection with clients is an important focus, even more so at the initial stage of counselling. In order to help clients to feel at ease and comfortable enough to express themselves and share their stories, counsellors use a range of communication techniques, often known as microskills, that facilitate rapport building.

"[Microskills] are the specific communication skills that provide ways for you to reach many types of clients. They will clarify the “how” of all theories of counseling and therapy. You master these skills one by one and then learn to integrate them into a well-formed session. Effective use of microskills enables you to anticipate how clients may respond to your interventions. With practice you will be able to match the microskills to the developmental and idiosyncratic characteristics of each client... And if clients do not respond as you expect, you will be able to shift to skills and strategies that match their needs." (Ivey, Ivey & Zalaquett, 2018, p. 11)

Some of the core microskills used throughout the counselling process include:

• Attending behaviour.
• Asking appropriate questions.
• Responding skills, e.g., encouragers, paraphrasing, summarising, and reflecting.

Once a solid relationship has been established, counsellors may also sparingly use more specialised communication techniques, such as reframing, to deepen clients’ understanding of their own thoughts and behaviours. In this section, we will briefly explore each of these skills, focussing on how counsellors may use them in the initial session of counselling.

Keep in mind that microskills should be practised as often as possible in order to develop an active mastery of them. Given practise and time, these skills will become second nature to you. However, you should remember that it is not so much about the mastery of any particular skill; it is the effective (at an appropriate time and to the appropriate level) and selective use of a range of counselling skills that will ultimately facilitate the counselling process.

Attending Behaviour

As the name suggests, attending behaviours enable counsellors to demonstrate that they are interested in, and emotionally available to, hearing the clients’ story (Nelson-Jones, 2016). This essentially involves paying ‘active’ attention to both verbal and non-verbal messages of clients and listening empathetically.

Not surprisingly, a counsellor’s body language is an important part of ‘listening’ to their clients. An open and relaxed body posture suggests that the counsellor is receptive (i.e., open) to what the client is saying; whereas a closed and tense body posture may suggest disapproval and defensiveness. Nelson-Jones (2016) suggests the following non-verbal strategies to facilitate rapport:

Sit at a slight angle to client

This means that you both can still pick up non-verbal language but it is not as confronting as sitting facing each other directly and may help the client feel less vulnerable.

Avoid crossing your legs or arms

This may be interpreted as a barrier and may send the message that you are not receptive to the client.

Be sensitive to the client’s personal space

Leaning too far forward invades the client’s personal space. Similarly, sitting too far away and leaning backwards conveys emotional distance. Leaning slightly forward, however, encourages clients to tell their stories. It is important to be guided by cultural considerations in establishing an appropriate distance from your client. Some cultural conventions require more personal space when people are engaging in conversation.

Use appropriate eye contact

You should aim to look in the client’s direction so that your eyes meet reasonably often. Be careful to avoid staring, however, and again be sensitive to cultural differences which may dictate acceptable levels of eye contact.

Use encouraging gestures

Use gestures such as head nods but avoid gestures that may convey distraction, such as fidgeting with a pen.

It is important to carefully consider the appropriateness of touch to convey caring and concern. Some people are uncomfortable with such physical gestures. If used, touch should be limited in time and intensity to avoid discomfort and any hint of sexual connotation. For example, a brief pat on the arm or hand may be appropriate with some clients, particularly during times of heightened emotion. However, issues of cultural appropriateness should be considered when deciding whether or not touch is used.

Mirroring is another non-verbal technique that is commonly used to facilitate rapport-building. This involves understanding and subtly copying the client’s own style of communication and posture. For example, counsellors may match the level of formality in a client’s language – if your the client is using colloquial, everyday language, the counsellor will aim to do the same. Similarly, a counsellor may adopt a similar (but not necessarily identical) posture to the client if they are sitting upright and alert. This can help clients to feel comfortable with the counsellor and the counselling process (Nelson-Jones, 2016). However, mirroring needs to be used subtly and with genuineness (imagine someone who is outright obviously trying to copy everything you say or do!). Overdoing mirroring runs the risk of a client feeling uncomfortable or offended.

Of course, the counsellors’ verbal behaviours are as important too (remember that being congruent and genuine in what you say and do is an important feature of person-centred counselling). One way to demonstrate that you are listening with interest is through verbal tracking, which means staying with your client’s topic and facilitating further discussion of the subject (Ivey et al., 2018). It is important for counsellors not to interrupt unnecessarily or change topics abruptly; instead, allow and invite clients to talk freely and talk about the things that have brought them to you in the first place.

Appropriate use of encouragers and brief invitations to continue are also useful ways to show that you are listening to a client (Geldard et al., 2017):

• Encouragers: The use of minimal responses, such as “Uh-huh”, “Mm…”, “Right…”, and “Really…” communicates to clients that we are listening and encourages the client to continue telling their story. Often, these minimal responses convey more than simply acknowledgement; the tone and intensity of voice as well as non-verbal behaviours associated with making these responses, also communicate agreement, surprise, or query from the counsellor. However, you need to be mindful of the frequency of encouragers – they can become distractive or superficial when given too frequently, or the person may not feel listened to when there is not enough.
• Brief invitations to continue: To encourage clients to continue or elaborate on what they have said, counsellors may use responses such as, “And…”, “Tell me more…”, “Can you tell me more?” or “Would you like to continue?”. This is typically used when the client has paused and has had sufficient time to think. Similarly, these responses will need to use appropriately in terms of frequency, tone and intensity of voice, and the non-verbal behaviours (e.g., movement, facial expression, eye contact) that are all part of the messages conveyed.

Notwithstanding, counsellors often use a range of responding skills to show a client that they have been actively paying attention to what they are saying or expressing.

Responding Skills

Throughout the counselling process, responding skills are used not only to show that the counsellor has been listening but also to encourage clients to elaborate and/or to confirm that the client’s messages have been received correctly. These skills are particularly important in the initial session as you will be providing information to, and gathering information from the client. You have already learned about encouragers (i.e., minimal responses). Now, let’s explore paraphrasing, summarising, and reflection of feelings.

Paraphrasing (Reflection of Content)

Paraphrasing is one of the most commonly used microskills in counselling. This means that a counsellor reflects back to their client what the client has just said. Thus, it is also known as reflection of content. Note that paraphrase does not mean that you repeat what the client has said word for word. An example of a paraphrase is following:

As you can see in the example, the counsellor selects the essence of what a client has said and re-state it in their own words.

More often, counsellors will spend time listening to the client and use a lengthier paraphrase when it comes to a natural break in the conversation. Consider the following example (Geldard et al., 2017, p. 43):

Understandably, each counsellor will have their own unique way of paraphrasing; when you attempt the following practices, note that the suggested answers are not necessarily the only or the best way to respond. Remember that the focus should never be how ‘perfect’ your responses are, but on developing a genuine, empathetic relationship with the client.

For most people, paraphrasing is a skill that will require practice. You will need to pay active attention to what the client has said and catch the keywords or essence of their story to paraphrase accurately. However, this is an important skill for counsellors, as it not only helps clients to feel listened to, but also provides an opportunity for clients to clarify if they have been misheard.

"If your paraphrasing is accurate, the client is likely to reward you with a “That’s right” or “Yes...” and then go on to explore the issue in more depth. Once clients know they have been heard, they are often able to move on to new topics. The goal of paraphrasing is to facilitate client exploration and clarification of issues. Accurate paraphrasing will help the client stop repeating a story unnecessarily. "(Ivey et al., 2018, p. 137)

Reflection of Feelings

Apart from the content of the client’s statements, counsellors may also choose to reflect an emotion back to the client to show that they have understood what the client is stating. In counselling, this helps the counsellor to demonstrate empathy and establish an emotional connection with the client. The following extract highlights the similarities and differences between paraphrasing and reflection of feelings.

"Reflection of feelings is similar to, but also different from, paraphrasing. It is similar because it involves reflecting back to the person information provided by them. However, it is different because it involves reflecting back emotional feelings, whereas paraphrasing involves reflecting back the information and thoughts that make up the content of what they are saying. "(Geldard et al., 2017, p. 51)

Like paraphrasing, you will need to observe and pay attention to what the client is saying in order to reflect on feelings. Some clients may tell you directly how they feel (e.g., “I am furious!”); while others will require a careful interpretation of the content as well as the client’s nonverbal behaviours and verbal expression (e.g., tone of voice).

When reflecting back to a client, it is not always necessary to use the word ‘feel’ or ‘feeling’. You may begin the sentence with, “You are feeling…” or “You feel…” or “You are….” depending on the words you have chosen. Following are two examples of reflection of feelings (Geldard et al., pp. 56-57).

Reflection of feelings can be particularly useful when clients have difficulty identifying and accepting their own feelings, which is not uncommon if these feelings are painful or intense. Counsellors can use reflecting techniques to demonstrate acceptance towards the client, including their feelings, and may go on to help them identify, explore, and express their feelings.

Note that a counsellor’s ability to reflect on feelings is also impacted by their own level of comfort and attitude towards expressing emotions. It can be helpful to reflect on what your personal values and beliefs are and how that may impact your ability to develop an emotional connection with clients.

With experience, you may also combine reflection of content and feelings in your responses. This often takes the format of “You are…. [emotion] because of…. “. Let’s take a look at how a counsellor might use reflection of content and feelings in responding to the two clients (Geldard et al., pp. 59-60):

Note: Suggested responses are included at the end of this section.

Summarising

Summarising is another commonly used microskill, which is often confused with paraphrasing. While both involve the counsellor reflecting back key messages in what a client has said, summarising and paraphrasing have distinct features and purposes:

Summarizing encompasses a longer period of conversation than paraphrasing; at times it may cover an entire interview or even issues discussed by the client over several interviews. [...] In summarizing, the interviewer attends to verbal and nonverbal comments from the client over a period of time and selectively attends to key concepts and dimensions, stating them for the client as accurately as possible. A checkout at the end for accuracy is a key part of summarizing. (Ivey et al., 2018, p. 137)

As mentioned, summarising enables a counsellor to bring a larger part of the discussion together and clarify the key messages. A summarising statement is usually followed by a check-out (e.g., “Is that right?” or “Does that sound right?”) to check the accuracy of the counsellor’s understanding. Unlike paraphrasing, which focuses primarily on content, summarising is more likely to include feelings and emotions as well (Ivey et al., 2018).

While summarising can be useful at various points of a counselling session, it is regularly used at the end of a session to tie together the main points that were discussed during the session. For instance, towards the end of an initial session, you may summarise the key issues and options discussed with the client in order to confirm and obtain commitment towards the counselling process. Consider the following example:

Ultimately, there is no absolute rule for which type of response will be most effective. Encouragers, paraphrasing, reflection of feelings, and summarising are all useful skills to help you respond in a way that demonstrates care and empathy towards clients and facilitates a meaningful conversation. Your focus, particularly in the initial session, is to establish rapport and help the client feel comfortable enough to explore their story. This will require you to use the appropriate technique at an appropriate time and to use these skills as flexibly as necessary.

Attending, Paraphrasing and Summarising

Watch this short, simulated counselling session demonstrating the basic communication skills of attending behavior, paraphrasing and summarising.

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Check your understanding of the content so far!

Questioning

In general, counsellors use both open and closed questions to elicit different kinds of information and for varying reasons. The features and examples of these two types of questions are outlined in the following table.

Both types of questions are useful and important in the counselling process. Typically, counsellors would use more open questions than closed questions to facilitate counselling conversations. However, there are times when closed questions will be more appropriate, such as when a counsellor is seeking a specific answer or to confirm understanding of what the client has said. Nevertheless, ‘why’ questions are seldom used because they may come across as provocative and lead to discomfort or defensiveness in clients. Where necessary, you may want to rephrase a ‘why’ question (e.g., Why were you angry?”) into a ‘what’ (e.g., What did you notice in yourself?) or ‘how’ question (e.g., How did you feel at the time?).

During the initial session of counselling, there is often a need to ask the client questions in order to gather general or specific information. For example, you may begin a session by asking a general question, such as,  “What’s brought you here today?” to find out about the issues a client wants to talk about. As you begin to develop an understanding of the client’s situation, you are also likely to use various follow-up questions to encourage elaboration on a particular area, for instance, “Can you tell me more about what’s happening at work?” or “You’d like to discuss your relationship with your manager, is that right?”. Responding to the client’s statement using a relevant question can help demonstrate that you are interested in what they are sharing and create a sense of working together.

Remember that questions should be used sparingly to avoid the session feeling like an interrogation or compromise rapport building (Geldard et al., 2017). Even when there is a need to collect specific client information in the initial session (often to meet organisational requirements), it is important to do so in a conversational manner and not bombard clients with question after question. In fact, counsellors are more likely to use questions alongside other microskills to facilitate the counselling conversation.

Included in the following table is a transcript of a counselling conversation that took place between Matilda and her counsellor (adapted from Nelson-Jones, 2016, p. 75). Matilda is a 19-year-old student who comes to her counsellor worried because she is not getting on with the other students in her dormitory. As you read the transcript, take note of how the counsellor uses various microskills interchangeably to facilitate a conversation.

In this case study, the counsellor used a number of microskills to begin drawing out the client’s story. As the counselling conversation continues, the counsellor will use additional microskills. For example, the counsellor may also intersperse reflection of feelings into the conversation:

Additionally, once the counsellor has a sense of what the client is grappling with, the counsellor can summarise the main points and check their understanding with the client. For example:

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A Note on Reframing

So far, we have explored a few core microskills that are useful for establishing rapport with clients and developing an understanding of a client’s concerns. However, these may not be sufficient for counselling, as their purpose is to facilitate positive changes that will help the client reach their goals when coming to counselling. Therefore, counsellors also use a range of specialist skills, such as challenging, focusing, and reframing - skills that are designed to facilitate change. You will learn more about these specialist skills as you progress. However, we will briefly discuss reframing in the remainder of this module.

Reframing is used to help the client think about their issue in a different and more constructive way. It involves first understanding how the client makes sense of the issue

Can you think other microskills that you might use to respond to Matilda? While the transcript did not include description of body language, how do you think the counsellor’s body language would be? Would you be able to come up with different responses to Matilda? and then providing an alternative meaning or interpretation for the client to consider.

Consider the following reframing examples (adapted from Geldard et al., 2017, p.191; 195):

Reframing needs to be used sensitively and with caution. It is also best to use it only when you have established a strong relationship base with the client, or a client may feel challenged and perceive it as disapproval from the counsellor. Therefore, using reframing in a tentative manner is important so that the client is given the option to accept or reject the suggested interpretation from the counsellor (Geldard et al., 2017).

You may have noticed that the counsellor in Examples 1 and 2 first responded with a statement reflecting on what the clients said, followed by a reframing statement to tentatively suggest an alternate interpretation of the clients’ situations. Specialist skills like reframing are more commonly used in conjunction with other microskills (e.g., paraphrasing, reflection of feelings) to help counsellors maintain an empathetic connection with the clients while facilitating change.

3 Reframing Techniques to Improve Your Therapeutic Success Rate

Counsellor Mike Tyrell shares 3 techniques that provide powerful new ways of seeing which can transform how our clients live.

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This topic introduced you to the counselling profession – its purpose, role within helping services, and historical development. You were also introduced to person-centred principles and a range of communication skills that will help you establish an empathetic helping relationship, which is an important focus during the initial session.

Another important aspect of the initial session is to confirm that clients are informed of what the counselling process entails, including the processes put in place to protect their safety and well-being while accessing the service. Thus, in the next section, we will explore some legal and ethical considerations that counsellors must take into account when working with clients.

• Department of Health Victoria. (2019). Counsellors. Better Health Channel. https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/counsellors
• Department of Heatlh Victoria (2020a). Psychologists. Better Health Channel. https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/serviceprofiles/psychologist-service
• Department of Health Victoria (2020b). Social worker. Better Health Channel. https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/serviceprofiles/social-worker-service
• Geldard, D., Geldard, K., & Yin Foo (2017). Basic personal counselling: A training manual for counsellors (8th ed.). Cengage Learning.
• Ivey, A. E., Ivey, M. B.,& Zalaquett, C. P. (2018). Intentional interviewing and counseling: Facilitating client development in a multicultural society (9th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
• McLeod, J. (2013). An introduction to counselling (5th ed.). London, UK: Open University Press.
• Moloney, L. (2016). Defining and delivering effective counselling and psychotherapy. Child Family Community Australia Paper No. 38. Australian Institute of Family Studies. https://aifs.gov.au/cfca/sites/default/files/cfca38-effective-counselling.pdf
• Nelson-Jones, R. (2014). Practical counselling and helping skills: Texts and activities for the lifeskills counselling model (6th ed.). Dorchester, UK: Sage Publications.
• Nelson-Jones, R (2016). Basic counselling skills. A helper’s manual (4th ed.). London, UK: Sage Publications.
• Westergaard, J. (2016). Helping roles and professions: Defining the terms. In An introduction to helping skills. SAGE Publications.