There are four basic different reflecting skills in counselling which are essential for every counsellor to be known.
Contents
1.Reflecting feelings-
- Focus on feeling not details
- Both verbal and non verbal
- Read body language even if feeling not expressed verbally
2.Paraphrasing /Restating / reframing
- Saying what you understand
- So client will know you understand , if you don’t you are willing to be corrected
- Tips-
- Use your own words
- Slightly different word with same meaning
- Rephrase both content and feelings
- Convey empathy, acceptance and genuineness
3.Affirmations (Self talk)
- Ellis’s reformulation of Epictetus’s dictum can be stated as, “People disturb themselves by the rigid and extreme beliefs they hold about events. So he gave importance to self talk and affirmations.
- If we want to become psychologically healthy, we had better stop blaming ourselves and others and learn to fully and unconditionally accept ourselves despite our imperfections.
- We have strong tendencies to transform our desires and preferences into dogmatic “shoulds,” “musts,” “oughts,” demands, and commands
- Thus, Albert Ellis’s Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) gave A-B-C Framework to replace irrational beliefs with rational beliefs (Ellis, 2008).
- Restructuring involves helping clients learn to monitor their self-talk, identify maladaptive self-talk, and substitute adaptive self-talk for their negative self-talk (Spiegler, 2008).
4.Summaring / Summarizing
- At the end of a session, After listening to the statements of the client , the counsellor summarizes the content presented by the client.
- Through summarizing, the counsellor tries to find out if s/he has properly understood the frame of reference of the client
- Helps the client to place his/her problem in perspective.
References
- Gladding, S. T. (2018). Counselling: A Comprehensive profession (9th Edn). Pearson
- https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/six-relaxation-techniques-to-reduce-stress
- https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/relaxation-technique/art-20045368#:~:text=Relaxation%20is%20a%20process%20that,as%20heart%20disease%20and%20pain.