Many observation concepts have been discussed in this chapter. It is obviously not possible to observe all of them in a single role-play session. However, practice can serve as a foundation for elaboration at a later time. This exercise has been selected to summarize the central ideas of the chapter.

Did the counselor use the basic listening sequence to draw out and clarify the client’s story or concern? How effectively? 1. Provide nonjudgmental, factual, and specific feedback for the counselor on the use of the specific influencing skill (logical consequences, instruction/psychoeducation, stress management, or TLC). 2. As you view the totality of the session, where was the client at the beginning on the Client Change […]

Write confrontation statements for the following situations. The model sentence “On the one hand . . ., but on the other hand . . .” provides a useful standard format for the actual confrontation, but you may also use variations such as “You say . . . but you do . . . .” Remember to follow up the confrontation with a checkout.

How did the client react to the use of these two skills? 1. Did the counselor check out the client’s reaction to the intervention? Did the client move on the Client Change Scale? 2. Provide nonjudgmental, factual, and specific feedback for the counselor on the use of reflection of meaning and interpretation/reframe skills.

Video record yourself with another person in a real conversation or session for at least 20 minutes. Do not make this a role-play. Then view your own verbal and nonverbal behavior and that of the person you are talking with in the same detail as in Spend some time watching in slow motion, and perhaps even frame by frame. What do you learn about yourself?

Work through the RESPECTFUL model to increase your own understanding of yourself as a multicultural being. ­en engage in an interview with a volunteer client exploring the model. What does each of you learn? 1. Identify yourself on each component of the model. ­en write answers to the questions provided there. In addition, list where you stand within each area of privilege. What are your […]

Body language. General style and changes in position of hands and arms, trunk, legs? Open or closed gestures? Tight fist? Playing with hands or objects? Physical tension: relaxed or tight? Body oriented toward or away from the other? Sudden body shifts? Twitching? Distance? Breathing changes? At what points did changes in facial expression occur? Changes in skin color, flushing, swelling or contracting of lips? Appropriate […]

Visuals. At what points did eye contact breaks occur? Staring? Did the individual maintain eye contact more when talking or when listening? Changes in pupil dilation? 1. Vocals. When did speech hesitations occur? Changes in tone and volume? What single words or short phrases were emphasized?

You may have already experienced this and can easily summarize times when you felt out of tune with and discrepant from a client. Or if you have not engaged in counseling extensively, it may be helpful to think of situations in which you had major differences with someone else. Often we have typical situations that “push our buttons” and move us toward actions that are […]

This chapter includes many different possibilities for practice. Try out each skill or strategy as time permits. Work through each of the strategies before using them with a client. Group work with these influencing skills requires practice with each if you are to develop competence. The general model of group work is suggested, but only one strategy should be used at a time. Remember to […]

By using questioning skills, you can encourage clients to think through the possible consequences of their actions. (“What result might you anticipate if you did that?” “What results are you obtaining right now while you continue to engage in that behavior?”) However, questioning and paraphrasing the situation may not always be enough to make clients fully aware of the logical consequences of their actions. For […]

We have seen that the brief reflection of feeling (or acknowledgment of feeling) may be useful in your interactions with busy and harried people during the day. At least once a day, deliberately tune in to a server/wait staff person, teacher, service station attendant, telephone operator, or friend, and give a brief acknowledgment of feeling (“You seem terribly busy and pushed”). Follow this with a […]

If you are practicing with a family member, friend, or classroom colleague, follow the procedures here and debrief their community genogram. 1. Please review your first session (Chapter 1) and other practice exercises completed so far. Viewing video recordings of sessions, especially your own, is an effective way to learn about conflict, discrepancies, contradictions, and confrontation. Unless you can identify incongruity in yourself, seeing it […]

Record your impressions. What interpretations of the observation do you make? How do you make sense of each observation unit? And—most important—are you cautious in drawing conclusions from what you have seen and noticed?

What are your thoughts on multicultural differences? 1. What other points in this chapter struck you as important? 2. How might you use ideas in this chapter to begin the process of establishing your own style and theory?

Visual/eye contact. Facilitative? Staring? Avoiding? Sensitive to the individual client? At what points, if any, did the counselor break contact? Facilitatively? Disruptively? 1. Vocal qualities. Vocal tone? Speech rate? Volume? Accent? Points at which these changed in response to client actions? Number of major changes or speech hesitations? 2. Verbal tracking and selective attention. Was the client able to tell the story? Stay on topic? […]

As you view the totality of the session, where was the client at the beginning on the Client Change Scale? Where was he or she at the conclusion? What aspects of the skill or strategy impressed you as most useful and effective? 1. Evaluate the effectiveness and empathic level of the use of self-disclosure.

Did the counselor use basic listening sequence to draw out and clarify the client’s story or concern? How effectively? 1. Provide nonjudgmental, factual, and specific feedback for the counselor on the use of the specific influencing skill or directive strategy. How empathic was the feedback?

The following instructions are suggested for use in video-based practice session in this and later chapters. The details here will not be repeated, but can be referred to as needed. Using the Feedback Form (see Box 3.4) can provide enough structure for a successful practice session without the benefit of recording equipment.

Abstract or concrete? Which word represents the client? How did the counselor work with this dimension? Was the counselor abstract or concrete? 1. Verbal discrepancies. Write here observations of verbal discrepancies in either client or counselor.

A 35-year-old client comes to you to talk about an impending divorce hearing. He says the following: I’m really lost right now. I can’t get along with Elle, and I miss the kids terribly. My lawyer is demanding an arm and a leg for his fee, and I don’t feel I can trust him. I resent what has happened over the years, and my work […]

Did the counselor use the basic listening sequence to draw out and clarify the client’s story or concern? How effectively? 2a. (For reflection of meaning) How effectively did the counselor elicit client meaning issues, and were they further explored? 2b. (For interpretation/reframe) How effectively did the counselor use these skills, and were they further explored?

This chapter presented specific step-by-step instructions for developing a community genogram. Most of your classmates will have completed a genogram by now. With one of them, debrief the genogram. Also consider the Nelida/Allen session; you may want to try the imagery exercise at the end of that session. Present the completed genogram, and briefly summarize what you learned.

Take a moment to think of specific situations in which you experienced positive emotions. Very likely when you think of these situations, you will smile, which will help reduce your overall body tension. Encouraging positive memories is a central route toward emotional regulation and executive functioning. It is even likely that your blood pressure will change in a more positive direction. Tension produces damaging cortisol […]

Following are examples of client statements. Classify each statement as primarily concrete (C) or primarily abstract (A). You will gain considerably more practice and thus have more suggestions for interventions in later chapters. (Answers to this exercise may be found at the conclusion of this chapter.)

What stands out for you from the Client Feedback Form? 1. What was the essence of the client’s story? How did you help the client bring out his or her narrative/issues/concerns? 2. How did you demonstrate intentionality? When something you said did not go as anticipated, what did you do next? 3. How did you experience the session? How authentic and genuine did you feel? […]

Using the five steps of the logical consequences strategy, briefly indicate to a client what might be the logical consequences of one of the following: staying in an abusive relationship; smoking while pregnant; moving from marijuana to cocaine. 1. Summarize the client’s concern in your own words, using “if, then” language. 1. Ask specific questions about the positive and negative consequences of continuing the behavior. […]

Conduct a review of the TLC areas, and make a list of your strengths and areas where you might gain benefit from working on an area for growth. Do not select more than two areas. We suggest that you give particular attention to physical exercise, but only if you are really interested. Go through the same exercise with a volunteer client. 1. Box 2.1 presents […]

Part of life is living with contradictions. Many of these are unresolvable, but they can give considerable pain. What are some of the discrepancies between you and other individuals? What are some of the mixed messages, contradictions, and incongruities you face in your world of schooling or work?

What were the key discrepancies demonstrated by the client? 1. General session observations. Was responsibility for the concern placed internally or externally, or with some balance between the two?