In this stage, the main focus is relationship building. When I say relationship building, in this setting, I mean establishing rapport with the client that is based on trust, respect, and care. When there is a good relationship between you and your client, the likelihood of the sessions being more productive is greater. In this stage, you want to practice all the basic counselor skills that we discussed in the Basic Counselor Skills video, such as empathy, genuineness, unconditional positive regard, etc.
In this stage, you will hone in on problem assessment. One of the major reasons a client goes to talk with a counselor is to have help resolving problems or concerns that interfere with their daily lives, or are causing them major heartache. The counselor should have the expectation to be an effective tool to help them move towards change. Assessment refers to anything the counselor does to gather information and draw conclusions about the concerns of the client. This stage should not feel like an interrogation to the client, but, rather, they should feel that someone desires to know who they are, the things that have shaped how they think, how they feel, and their concerns.
Just like with anything in life, counseling needs to have a focus. The client’s focus is going to be on the problem, but the counselor needs to be focused on the problem, the client, the counseling process, and the overall goal. Goals help to give direction during each session. In goal setting, the client identifies, with the help of the counselor, specific ways to move towards change and the best course of action to help make that happen. Clear goals can help to motivate your client to take the steps necessary in achieving those goals. It helps them to structure their lives in a way that makes reaching those goals more practical. Setting goals helps to eliminate sideways energy, as the client and counselor set forth on the same page about what the goal is.
In some cases, the client may be hesitant to set goals. It is possible that a person who resists setting goals could be protecting the very behavior that is in need of modification, because that behavior is also serving some desirable behavior. For example, someone begins to recognize the negative consequences of an unhealthy, abusive dating relationship, yet they cling to it claiming that the person makes them happy.
There are 3 steps within the counseling intervention stage:
Summarize the problem using the four-dimensional analysis, which includes four different components: affective, behavioral, cognitive, and interpersonal/systemic component.
The counselor must be equipped to carry out the strategy that is chosen.
Now, remember, we talked about choosing a strategy that relates to how the client experiences the problem.
It may seem odd for someone beginning counseling to think of terminating a patient. But, termination is something that you want to move towards. Ideally, termination happens when the goals that are mutually agreed on by the counselor and client have been achieved, or the problem has become more manageable or resolved.
