(ATP) Basic Counseling Skills

EAST AFRICA INSTITUTE OF COUNSELING
PSYCHOLOGY
LEVEL: DIPLOMA
NAME: PAUL GITHAIGA MUGO
REGISTRATION NO.: 1008/24
UNIT: BASIC COUNSELING SKILLS
UNIT CODE: 012-2
FACILITATOR: ANNE WANDATI
QUESTION: COUNSELING SKILLS APPLICATION
DATE: 10TH MARCH 2024

Table of Contents
Introduction .......................................................................................................................3
The Client ..........................................................................................................................3
Counseling Skills ...............................................................................................................3
a) Attending Skills ..................................................................................................3
b) Responding Skills ...............................................................................................3
c) Relationship Enhancement Skills ........................................................................4
Evaluation of Skills ............................................................................................................5
Difficulties in Skill Applications........................................................................................5
Conclusion .........................................................................................................................6
References ..........................................................................................................................6
Introduction
This paper is written with the goal of emphasizing the necessary skills used by every
professional counselor. It also delves deep into their format and appropriate usage, based on
several decisive factors. The target individual in this instance, is a young college dropout who
previously studied at Nyeri National Polytechnic. Within such a prestigious setting, it is almost
inevitable for a majority of the students to suffer from some form of psychological disorder.
What is most important to successfully counsel any client, is not just knowing the appropriate
skills, but also how and when to used said skills.
The Client
The young man sought out assistance from the Peer Educators’ Club, where I was working at
that time. After some brief introductions during an orientation session, we agreed on a date, time
and private venue that we would meet, for numerous sessions. During the first few, he eventually
revealed that he was facing overwhelming pressure from home; a baggage which he said he has
shouldered throughout his academic years. I resolved to assist him to the best of my ability.
Counseling Skills
These are tools that any counselor uses during the counseling process, assisting the exploration
of issues presented by clients in the counseling session. These are indispensable to any
counselor; professional or otherwise.
a) Attending Skills
This set of skills help the counselor ‘attend’ to clients. The focus, however, will be the following
that were used during the counseling sessions, as mentioned;
Active Listening, for example, is used by paying utmost attention to what the client is saying. It
is imperative that they avoid any form of distractors and distractions. During the first session,
there were numerous times when the young student kept picking up his phone, as he received
calls that unfortunately and repeatedly interrupted the session. Luckily, this mistake was
corrected immediately and avoided during the next remaining sessions.
Observation, as well, is utilized by picking on the client’s body language or non-verbal
communication. These include body posture, facial expressions and gestures. In the young
student’s case, during the first few sessions, his sitting position was always stiff and upright, with
the tendency to look away from my face. Gladly, it changed to a more relaxed posture over time.
In addition, he would occasionally frown or wince at the mention of his parents or academics; an
apparent sign of a sensitive topic.
b) Responding Skills
This set of skills assist the counselor in responding appropriately to a client. The focus is drawn
to the following that were used during the counseling process;
Questioning, simply put, means asking questions. However, they must be the right questions,
and must be phrased in a type of way. Hence why they are classified into; open-ended, close-
ended, pre-determined, curiosity and rapid fire. In the case of the young student, during the third
session, he actively ranted about his academic life, upon which I asked, “What can you tell me
about your academics?”, which is an open-ended question I sought out to use, inorder to
understand his own perspective on the matter.
Summarization, which means bringing together the issues explored during the counseling
session. This helps to focus on important issues. In our case, at the beginning of every session
(minus the first one), I would remind the young man about everything we had agreed on during
the previous session. In addition, at the end of every session, I would sum up everything that we
had explored during that session.
Reflecting Feelings, a skill that allows the counselor to experience feelings with the client,
letting them know that they are aware of the client’s feelings. In our case, I utilized this,
particularly when the young man got emotional when talking about the overwhelming pressure
he always felt, one that resulted from his need to succeed. In addition, he spoke about his
guardians fondly, but in contrast, he flinched when I asked about their opinion on his academics.
c) Relationship Enhancement Skills

This set of skill works by connecting to a client on various levels; mentally, emotionally. The
following are some of the skills used during our sessions;
Self-disclosure, which is used to constructively share personal experiences, feelings and
thoughts with the client. The counselor typically does this to encourage the client that they are
not alone. For the client, they can also learn that their issues are peculiar or abnormal in any way.
However, this skill must be used with caution and extra care, to avoid scaring away the client.
For better judgement, the client must be mentally ready and mature enough to understand the
reasoning behind self-disclosure. Much like the young student, to whom I disclosed about my
past, relating to the familiar pressure to succeed in my studies. He understood my point-of-view
and responded well in the subsequent sessions after that.
Empathy, which is the ability of the counselor to ‘enter’ into the world of the client, a means to
understand the client’s perspective. In our case, I understood the young man’s feelings of
depression, that resulted from low self-esteem, high levels of self-doubt and unwarranted guilt
about every failure in his conscience. All of it stemmed from an overwhelming need to succeed,
to please his guardians. However, the counselor must be careful not to get carried away, when
using this skill, to maintain a psychological distance with the client while keeping close with
their issues.
Unconditional Positive Regard, which is the ability to offer unconditional acceptance and
warmth to the client. One of the most common regards is said that, “Human beings like feeling
and being accepted.” In a counseling setting, when the client is accepted by the counselor, they
too accept themselves. The counselor themselves does not need to agree with the client to show
acceptance. In our case, I warmly welcomed the young man at the beginning of every session,
making sure to shake hands with him as well. During our sessions, in moments when he would
hesitate to speak further, I gently asked him to take his time and only share when he felt
comfortable to do so.
Evaluation of Skills
Overall, the entire process began a bit rough, but smoothened out onwards, till the very end.
Thanks to the skills employed throughout the entire counseling process, I not only understood
and comprehended the issues brought up during the sessions, but also grasped the basic
understanding of every skill that I used and those that deliberately left out. As a counselor, I felt
proud of myself after the final session. Particularly, when the young man spoke about how
lighter and healthier he felt.
Difficulties in Skill Applications

There are numerous moments during sessions, when it was particularly difficult to apply certain
skills, due to the volatile nature of the client at that time;
Confrontation, for example, is used very carefully during counseling, only when the right
circumstances are met. During sessions, I actively avoided using this, so as to not risk regression
on my client, especially after every positive step forward that we had both made during
counseling.
Self-disclosure, also felt risky to use, having to carefully use it without becoming too emotional
myself. While I only applied it once, using it more than that would have felt like overkill.
Other issues, like large classwork and official deadlines would cut our session times abruptly or
force us to reschedule entirely. Luckily, the solution to these issues was much easier.
The young man’s self-doubt was so prevalent and constant, it threatened to undo all our efforts to
overcome his psychological issues. Thankfully, he did not give up on the process.
Questioning, was an issue at the beginning of the first few sessions. Specifically, I had prepared
some pre-determined questions for him. However, as the sessions continued, I had to change
their phrasing, making them open-ended, because I wanted to avoid sounding confrontational
towards the young man, at least not without getting the full gist of his issues. In addition, I
wanted to make a friendly first impression on him, to ease his worries and doubts about the
counseling process.
Conclusion
As a trained counselor, it is not a difficult endeavor to acquire a client. However, the entire
process is fully reliant on the skills used on a client, as well as, how those skills are applied.
Much like the young man, there are many other cases within tertiary institutions, one that might
even prove to be much worse. Even worse, is the lack of awareness on counseling or lack of
counselors at all. Within such a prestigious setting, it is imperative for counseling to be made
available to everyone.
References
 Arizona State University Online (2022) - https://asuonline.asu.edu/newsroom/online-
learning-tips/effective-counseling-techniques-skills/
 Online Counseling Programs (2020) - https://onlinecounselingprograms.com/become-a-
counselor/resources/counseling-skills-techniques/#skills
 PositivePychology.Com (2021) - https://positivepsychology.com/counseling-
skills/#counseling-skills
 Counseling Tutor (2024) - https://counsellingtutor.com/basic-counselling-skills/

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EAST AFRICA INSTITUTE OF COUNSELING

NAME: PAUL GITHAIGA MUGO

REGISTRATION NO.: 1008/24

UNIT: BASIC COUNSELING SKILLS

UNIT CODE: 012-2

FACILITATOR: ANNE WANDATI

QUESTION: COUNSELING SKILLS APPLICATION

DATE: 10TH MARCH 2024

c) Relationship Enhancement Skills

Difficulties in Skill Applications

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