Essay On Counselling Skills

So what are counselling skills

Counselling skills are the skills many of us use in our daily lives. They are the same as the counsellor will use as part of their job. But obviously the role of the counsellor is a bit more complicated than that, but counselling skills are very important to assisting them in that role.

Methods of Learning

With more than 450 psychological and counselling theories on offer today, the main theories that have been tried and tested and have received consistent positive outcomes, are the one’s which are being used the most by practitioners. These theories have not only been tested for their reliability but for the validity as well.

An integrated or eclectic approach that is client centred and client driven will usually bring the best results. Being able to integrate the most effective communication skills, coupled with the most effective counselling theory(ies) takes time and persistence and patience.

The main learning techniques are:

Experience
Reading texts
Practical counselling courses
Counselling supervision
Discussions with other counsellors
Counsellors who join professional associations (or other peak bodies) and who undergo ongoing supervision throughout their career will more readily be at the forefront of new techniques and

Micro skills help the communication between counsellor and client, and enable the counsellor to engage the client into a helpful and meaningful conversation. Micro skills include attentive listening, questioning, reflection, summarising, confrontation and reframing. These skills are usually learnt individually and applied to the counselling process. They become mastered (like second nature) through practice. These skills will be discussed in detail in following lessons. Before we begin to cover these skills, let’s take a look at what we might need to help practice