Counseling is a process where a professional guides and helps a person resolve any social, psychological, or personal difficulties. The counseling process refers to the events that take place as the counselor and client interact. The counseling process refers to activities that occur when the counselor is with the client and even to the changes that take place with the client in the process of counseling (Hackney &Cormier, 1979). For a counseling process to progress healthily, the client should be able to communicate feelings with the counselor, and in that way, the counselor can help the client come up with solutions to their problems. The counseling process involves a series of stages that the counselor and the client go through. This paper discusses the steps in counseling and by use of a hypothetical patient illustrates how these stages can be applied in a clinical setting.
The first stage is the relationship-building stage, which is an essential stage in the counseling process. This stage of counseling is necessary for a successful outcome in the counselor-client relationship. The counselor is responsible for initiating steps to build a relationship with the client. One of the tasks the counselor ought to explain his or her roles as a counselor (Nelson-Jones, 2010). The counselor-client relationship can be established either through conditions offered by the counselor or by the client when a relationship is established using conditions such as empathy, respect, confrontation, listening, positive outlook, self-disclosure, and immediacy (Hackney & Cormier, 1979). Of the requirements listed above, empathy is the most important in the creation of positive outcomes. Showing empathy involves the counselor seeks to understand the client's situation from the client's perspective. This condition helps the counselor to establish rapport and in understanding the client.
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The next stage of counseling is the assessment and diagnosis stage. During this stage, the counselor seeks to deeply understand the client and take note of any identified mental illnesses. The counselor also aims to collect useful information that explains why the client is seeking counseling (Hackney & Cormier, 1979). During this stage, the counselor can use psychological tests to assess the patient or use an interview to determine the patient's history (Nelson-Jones, 2010). Diagnosis is when the counselor identifies the cause of the person's problems; he/she concludes the reason for the patient's questions. This conclusion usually comes after a thorough assessment. Arriving at the right diagnosis is essential for communication, investigation, and determination of treatment.
Formulation of counseling goals makes the third stage of the counseling process. The setting of goals is essential in determining the success of the and timing of termination of the counseling process. Targets are divided into either general or specific goals. Some of the general goals of counseling include: - a reduction in destructive behaviors, emotional stress, and help in decision-making (O’sullivan et al., 2016). Specific goals of counseling ought to be set out at the start of the counseling once the counselor understands the client's issues and expectations. At this stage, the counselor is tasked with helping the client come up with goals that aim to help the client overcome a condition. A client must set goals on their own since it helps them stay motivated throughout the counseling process (Nelson-Jones, 2010). Goals, when correctly configured, help the learner acquire any sills that will help them function better. The goals also enable the client and the counselor to evaluate the process and decide on action to take.
The fourth stage of counseling is the intervention and problem-solving step. This stage of counseling seeks to help the client find a solution to their problems. This is based on the assessment of the patient. The counselor should determine if the client has tried other solutions for the issue before suggesting alternative solutions (Hackney & Cormier, 1979). The problem should relate to the intervention prescribed. For example, a client whose problems stem from a particular view of a current life situation, then the counselor would seek to bring changes to the client's cognition. During problem-solving, the counselor must seek to give the client autonomy.
The fifth stage of the counseling process is termination and follow-up. Once the counselor and client identifies ways to solve the problem, he/she is given an assignment to work on. Hence, a counselor ought to schedule appointments to determine a client's process. The follow-up process is to ensure that a client's problem is solved using suggested interventions and that any other issues unidentified before are solved (Nelson-Jones, 2010). Before termination, a counselor should evaluate whether the client is ready for termination, inform the client of the termination, and determine whether the client is prepared for termination. The last stage of counseling research and evaluation, which can occur at any time or after termination. The counselor evaluates the counseling process by questioning the client.
Our case example is a man, Alex, 26 years old married man who has recently fathered a baby. He goes to a counselor complaining that he feels that his self-esteem has been reducing since he became a father. He reports that he feels inadequate both as a father and as a husband. In this case, the counselor should start with building rapport with Alex. The counselor should introduce himself or herself to the client and explain his or her role in the counseling process. Also, as Alex expresses himself, the counselor should pay attention, ask lead-in questions, maintain a positive attitude and ask the right questions at the right time. It is essential that the counselor shows him empathy, understand his predicament, and walk him through the counseling process.
As Alex explains himself, the counselor should pay attention to any clues that suggest a mental illness. If the patient was anxious, they could fidget and have erythema on the face. As for Alex, he may look down during the initial stages, to suggest that he feels unworthy. Also, he may not be forthcoming with information due to a feeling of shame and disgrace. It is at this point that the counselor should pay attention to these cues to guide in the counseling process. The counselor can come up with a questionnaire on Alex's social history, such as situation at work, growing up and in school. The questionnaire could also touch on Alex's marriage and his relationship with his in-laws. The counselor could also dig into their parents' marriage approval between him and his wife and their pre-marriage dating life. Alex explains that his parents in law did not approve of their relationship, and they thought he was not good enough for their daughter. He reported that he initially felt that he could ignore these thoughts and marry his girlfriend since he did not have to live with his in-laws. However, since the child was born, he has to interact with the in-laws often.
Once the assessment of Alex is done, goals for the process are set. One of the goals can be to be able to look at the therapist while speaking. Another would be to open up about his family life. The eventual goal is to develop positive thoughts about himself and his family and to keep affirming them. Once the counselor determines Alex's feelings about his thoughts and views. He explains that he thought that if he tried hard enough to take care of his family, his in-laws would value him. He has invested so much time trying to please people who do not appreciate him. The counselor asks about his expectations for his family, and he says that he wants a good relationship with everyone built on respect.
The counselor then helps him identify that he has held irrational beliefs throughout his relationship and marriage. One of them would be "If I try hard enough, my parents in law will respect me." The counselor then helps him see his irrational views from the counselor's angle. He is reminded that he ought to take charge of his thought and beliefs. Through open debate and discussion, they come up with a conclusion to replace irrational beliefs with new ones. He affirms that his priority is his wife and child and that his in-laws' thoughts should not interfere with the relationship. He is asked to affirm these resolutions continually. Besides, he is given a list of behaviors that could reflect his new views, such as informing his parents in law that any demands will be discussed between Alex and his wife. Alex is then given a chance to practice his affirmations and behaviors. The counselor organizes for follow-up sessions to determine Alex's progress. Once he finds out that his problem is solved, he notifies him of a need to terminate the process and reviews the interview progress by asking Alex's opinion. The process is ended when Alex confirms that he is ready to terminate the process.
References
Hackney, H., & Cormier, L. S. (1979). Counseling strategies and objectives . Prentice Hall.
Nelson-Jones, R. (2010). Theory and practice of counselling and therapy . Sage.
O’Sullivan, C., Bosqui, T., & Shannon, C. (2016). Psychological interventions for children and young people affected by armed conflict or political violence: a systematic literature review. Intervention , 14 (2), 142-164.
