Advantages Of Eye Contact In Counselling

This is a three stage model that is offered by Egan and it is useful in helping people solve problems and develop opportunities (Egan, Gerard, 1998).Usually the goal of using this model is to empower people to manage their own problems more effectively and achieve lasting change in their personality and how they think. It can also develop new opportunities and help people become better at helping themselves in their everyday livesCITATION Ger98 l 7177 (Egan, Gerard, 1998). The model is not based on a particular theory of personality development or a theory of the way difficulties develop, it is a framework for abstracting the helping process and best used in working on issues in the recent past and present.
The model has three stages that

Eye contact in counselling helps a counsellor regulate, manage and control what the client is saying. Eye communication can also serve as a tie signal of the nature in the relationship between the counsellor and the client, for example to indicate the positive or negative regards CITATION Jos16 l 7177 (DeVito, 2016). It is also important to use eye avoidance although to some clients it might be a signal to lack of interest, but to other it might be just what they need because if there is no break of eye contact that can cause anxiety and discomfort to them.
Active listening
Active listening serves as an important function in counselling. Firstly it helps the counsellor check their understanding of what their clients has said. Listening makes the client feel worthy, appreciated and respected. When a counsellor pays particular attention to what the client is saying they are encouraging the client to continue talking as well as ensuring communication remains open and positive. The techniques that can be used to show active listening are paraphrasing, summarizing and mostly asking questions for clarification

In

It adopts a bodily posture that indicates involvement with a client. O- Open posture, which can be a sign that you are open to the client and to what they have to say. Crossed arms and legs can be signs of lessened involvement with or availability to others. L- Lean toward the client to show your involvement and interest. To lean back from your client may convey the opposite message. E- Eye contact with a client conveys the message that you are interested in what the client has to say. R- Try to be relaxed or natural with the client. Being relaxed means that you are comfortable with using your body as a vehicle of personal contact and expression and for putting the client at ease (Egan, The skilled helper, 2014).

Interchangeable and addictive empathy
Empathy is the ability to recognize and relate to other people’s emotions. As a counsellor you need to be able to think empathetically, that often is characterized as the willingness and the ability to place yourself in another person’s situation, to actually feel what the other person is feeling or to recognize what the other person might be experiencing.

Empathy