Chapter 3: Stages and Skills of Counseling by Aly H explains the stages of a series of counseling sessions.
The act of helping the client to view things more clearly from a value-based perspective is called counseling.There are professional issues where an expert or a professional address the problems with an aim to solve them.Each session of counseling is tailored to the problem an individual faces and does not come in a ready-made format.The plan of action is created by the counselor based on the client's nature, aims, and objectives.Counseling can be used to address professional and personal issues.Various counseling formats make this therapy flexible.Before we dive into the stages of the counseling process, let's take a look at the various counseling formats.
Mental, psychological, addiction issues and professional problems are usually addressed by this type of counseling.These are popular therapy formats that give an opportunity to react to any emotions that arise.
If the client wants to protect his/her privacy, they can approach the Counselor alone.He/she can join a group that is going through the same problems and get a support network.
This type of counseling protects your anonymity as well as allowing you to take time to think and discuss issues to be addressed.People don't like talking face to face or using a telephone to discuss their issues.The technology is being used to email the problems to the counselor.
Building a relationship with the client is the first step.It is relationship building with the client.The Counselor should be able to empathise with the client so that they can explore the issues affecting him.The counselor needs to win over the client with his communication skills.Communication skills are important in the initial disclosure stage.
This stage is used to assess the problem the client is facing either professional or personal interfering with their daily life or professional targets causing despair.Assessment should try to recognize the importance of the client.To ensure nothing is left out, the key is to get all possible information and knowledge about the client.The whole counseling process can be ruined by a missing link.
The first step in the exploration or problem assessment is to note down the client's personal data.Problems affecting the client's professional or personal life should be followed by this.His family history and personal history are important to note the duration of the problem.This makes it easier to join the dots.There is a connection between the problems of the client and the collected information.This gives a rough idea of how much counseling might be required.
Hit and miss counseling can be caused by counselors who do not assess the problems presented by their clients.The problems brought to the first session may not be solved by the client.
The goal-setting stage is where the client with the help of the counselor identifies specific ways of problem-solving getting in the way of achieving the target.At the end of counseling sessions, goals are what the client wants to achieve.The whole process of counseling goes down the drain if goals are not achieved.
The goals that are stated clearly help both the client and the counselor to see progress during the counseling sessions.
The three-stage counseling process is a progressive movement towards the ultimate goal.