Counseling Skills I: The Basics of Counseling and Dealing with Clients

Getting into counseling is a good way of how you can help other people who are experiencing problems and may need help from others to get through their current situation. There are problems that people can solve by themselves but when a problem become too much for them to handle, another way to go about it is by asking help from others so that they may better understand what is going on and so that they may find a solution for the problem. Sometimes, they just need someone to talk to in order to relieve some of the burden that their problem causes. Counseling is a good way to get through such problems as an expert will help them accept, understand and find a solution to the problem.

In order to become a good counselor, the first thing that you will need to know is the basics of counseling. You can learn this by taking up a course in Counseling Skills I, wherein you will be taught the basics of counseling and what you will need to do in order to provide the best help possible to your future clients. These classes would usually involve topics that cover how to develop skill such as listening and bonding with your client, reflection and paraphrasing their words, further questioning, various techniques of interviewing, finding solutions for the problem and how to end the session properly.

If you want to get started early about counseling, then you can also start learning by yourself about the common terms being used during counseling. One of this is active listening which means you, as the listener, listens intently to what your client says without talking much while conveying interest in what he has to say. The only time that you will talk is to clarify something that you did not understand or hear correctly. Body language takes into account facial expressions as well as the movement of the other parts of the body like how you place your arms as well as angling of the body. Being aware of your body language and projecting a welcoming demeanor will help make clients open up more. In addition to body language, the tome of our voice is also important in projecting an overall accommodating presence. The use of open and closed questions is important when asking for more information, and paraphrasing is an important tool in clarifying what has already been discussed. Summarizing is also important at the end of the session so that both of you will understand what the gist of the day’s session is about.

These are just some of the things that will be taught if ever you take classes on Counseling Skills I. Only the basic skills will be taught and will focus more on how to deal and interact with the client properly so that you may gain as much information that you can which you can use to help solve their problem. To know the many different ways of how a problem can be approached, a more advanced class in counseling skills may be required.