Counselling Critique PDF

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Counselling Critique Assignment example...

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After evaluating the given counselling session, the therapist shows an overall neutrally, curious demeanour and good attending skills, although there were several areas for improvement. Strengths 

Opening o The therapist warmly greeted the client with a smile and strong eye contact. o The therapist introduces herself and outlines her qualifications while also mentioning that she would be taking notes of the session. Brief consent was given to take notes. o Aim of the therapy session was discussed.

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Questions o Therapists maintained appropriate open-ended questions when she wanted to know more about something the client said or clarify what was said by the client. o Therapists aims to understand a specific example of the present issue by asking client to link the feelings of anxiety and stress to a specific situation. Ivey, Ivey and Zalaquett (2009) note the importance of specific examples when presenting an issue as it is representative of recurring problems.

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Paraphrasing/Summarising o Therapist effectively paraphrased client’s thoughts and emotions about the issue and also adeptly acknowledged client’s feelings of frustration and anxiety about studying throughout the session.

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Reflection/Empathy

o Ivey et al. (2009) defined basic empathy as basic listening, which the therapist effectively showed through summarising what the client said accurately, which then further clarified the issue for the client. 

Attending Behaviours o Therapist displayed good attending behaviours through open body language and warm smile and effective showed verbal tracking (yes, uh huh, mm) throughout the session o Therapist displayed good overall warmth and interest through a warm tone and moderate speech rate.

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Goal Setting/First Step o Therapist asked appropriate goal setting questions and how the client wanted to take the first step in achieving this goal.

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Termination o Therapist effectively ended the session by telling the client they had to stop now and confirmed time and date for the next session.

Weaknesses 

Opening o While brief consent was given to take notes, therapist failed to let the client know full confidentiality of sessions and where the notes would be stored for privacy and safe keeping. o Therapist did not give an opportunity for the client to ask them any questions. o Given that Ivey et al. (2009) notes that the word “problem” should be avoided as it shows a defeatist, negative attitude of the client’s issues, the therapist saying “your problem” may have limited the session from the beginning.

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Questions

o While the therapist asked many open-ended questions, Ivey et al. (2009) notes that questions should be more than just about the issue at hand. Other openended questions relating to client’s background may have allowed for a stronger building of trust and comfortability between therapist and client. 

Paraphrasing/Summarising o Whilst therapist displayed effective paraphrasing and some questions on feedback was asked, she failed to display positive feedback on strengths of the client’s emotions and thoughts and only paraphrased the negative selfdefeating thoughts of the client.

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Reflection/Empathy o Additive empathy was not really displayed as while the therapist listened accurately, she failed to display any interchangeable or transformation comments regarding the client’s thinking.

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Attending Behaviours o Therapist frequently touched her face.

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Goal Setting/First Step o Therapist failed to give any options or alternatives to help client reach their goal. o No positive emotions were built through this section and therefore motivation of client to actually achieve their goal may have been hindered. o While the ‘first step’ was acknowledged, the therapist asked no further questions on how this would be generalised to real life.

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Termination o Therapist failed to summarise key issues of the client and therefore failed to validate and normalise some of the client’s thoughts and feelings.

o Therapist failed to share any positive emotions and did not affirm the client for coming to the session and openly sharing their issues. Whilst the therapist was successful in understanding the issue through effective questioning and listening, the lack of additive empathy and client strength building may have limited the therapist in delivering a positive and effective session for the client.

References Ivey, A. E., Ivey, M. B., & Zalaquett, C. P. (2009). Intentional interviewing and counselling: Facilitating client development in a multicultural society (7th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co Inc....