Brief counseling is aimed at helping the clients to attain their goals faster and in more efficient ways. Solution-focused brief counseling is directed at solutions rather than the problems of the client. The counseling in this case is shifted from the negative perspectives to the positive view and clients are regarded as capable of making choices. The beginning of brief counseling has to be organized and made suitable so as to make the client feel free to discuss all the significant points and problems.
In brief counseling, it is very important to make a good initial contact with the client. The initial contact with the client should be made hospitable and welcoming for the client. An appropriate setting should be provided to allow the client to feel free and open up about their inner issues. Getting off to a good start entails putting up together all the necessary requirements for the counseling session and arrangements that will ensure a good fresh start of the counseling session ( Yalom, 2010) .
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For instance, in solution-focused counseling, the counselor begins by finding out what the client does that works for him or her. Talking about the achievements and the strength in the client's life creates optimism and improves self-worth. Beginning interactions in brief counseling, therefore, is focused on forming a good initial contact phase with the client and providing a suitable setting for which the client will be free to talk about all the issues ( Shazer and Dolan, 2012) .
Before the initial contact phase, appointments or inquiries are always made by the clients. These are often made over the phone where the conversation about the discussion on the issue may not be elaborate. The initial contact phase should be made welcoming to the client. The client should be received with a warm welcome and directed smoothly to a suitable or conducive position. A brief introduction should be made by the counselor including the personal details of the client. Details that were omitted on the phone during the appointment phase should be elaborated and the session should only begin after the client is fully relaxed ( Franklin, 2011).
A change that may be made during the brief counseling involves the things that could or cannot be done in a conversation over the phone. In the actual session, the counseling gets to look more real and responds to issues normally without showing any doubts. Any problems or alarming situations brought out by the client should not be greeted with surprise by the counselor. Non-verbal expressions should be perfected at this stage, to help this directions and elaborations to the client. Appropriate methods of engaging the client are properly applied here to give the client a good experience during the session.
When dealing with racially or ethnically diverse clients during the first meeting, the counselor should be as liberal as possible and not talk about issues that give an upper hand to one racial or ethnic group. The counseling should address the clients as one and provide solutions that are universal - in the sense of racial or ethnic discrimination. Geographically diverse clients should be accorded similar treatment and negative comment on geographical locations on some clients should be avoided. Clients should be treated equally no matter the condition of the places they come from. The same cord of equal treatment should be accorded to socio-economically diverse clients. Counseling services should be provided exclusively to clients ( Hembree-Kigin and McNeil, 2013) .
Other ways in which I could make counseling different and more welcoming to patient include offering counseling bands or cards and giving soft drinks to patients as a form courtesy. These would create a good rapport between the clients and the counselor. Good hospitality including offering comfortable seats to the client also creates a good relationship with the clients.
References
Hembree-Kigin, T. L., & McNeil, C. (2013). Parent—child interaction therapy . Springer Science & Business Media.
An article on how to conduct a brief counseling that involves parents together with their children or child.
De Shazer, S., & Dolan, Y. (2012). More than Miracles: The state of the art of solution-focused brief therapy . Routledge.
This article talks about an application of solution-focused brief counseling therapy.
DeFife, J. A., &Hilsenroth, M. J. (2011). Starting off on the right foot: Common factor elements in early psychotherapy process. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration , 21 (2), 172.
The article describes ways in which a good counseling session should laid down and the starting off or beginning of a brief counseling.
Franklin, C. (Ed.). (2011). Solution-focused brief therapy: A handbook of evidence-based practice . Oxford University Press.
The practice and benefits of solution-focused brief counseling therapy.
Yalom, I. D. (2010). The gift of therapy . Piatkus.
This is an article that describes the steps, starting from the beginning, of a brief counselling and talks about the ways in which a successful counseling may be conducted.
