Micro Skills Necessary For A Successful Therapeutic Relationship

BHS103A

COUNSELLING AND COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Assessment 1

Discuss the micro skills necessary for the development and success of the therapeutic relationship.

Robyn Westhoff

Student No. 110999

Micro skills, what are they? (Gelard

, Gelard

&

Foo, 2017, p.30) wrote that they are small elements o f useful verbal and non

-

verbal behaviors necessary to the skill set of a counselor’s success towards a successful therapeutic relationship. An exploration of counselling micro skills will be discussed, covering the necessity of empathy, unconditional positive regard

, active listening, validation of feelings, questions and how they can be both useful and problematic.

Also,

discussed will be the use of reflection , paraphrasing

,

and

Empathy has been explained as “being with the client”. Empathetic rapport refers to the counsellor’s kindliness and acceptance of the clients feeling and an understanding of the client’s world

(Fellar & Cottone, 2008, p.55). An empathetic counsellor creates a trusting environment in which the client can feel safe (Geldard, Geldard & Foo, 2017, p.15).

Empathy alongside unconditio nal positive regard are micro skills that create the foundation of the therapeutic relationship

.

This includes: trust, safety and total acceptance of where the client is at

, both strengths and weaknesses, while n ot being judg mental or defined by the illne ss and their behavior’s. (The Counselling Channel, 2010). Unconditional positive regard is not always an easy achievement and sometimes not possible.

W

hen u nconditional positive regard is achieved, outcomes are more likely to be effective. (Geldard,Gelda rd &

Foo, 2017, p.15).

The art of active listening is a micro skill essential for a successful counselor

.

Learning to listen with interest involves being present on the use of the clients’ non

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verbal behavior , facial expressions, voice and

The purpose of listening behaviors is to assure the client and the counselor

,

understand the ideas and feelings the client is attempting to get across. Observation skills reduces the councilors talk time and allows the clients to tell their stories better and more fully. Counselors can’t learn from their client if they are doing all the talking.

(Fellar & Cottone, 2008, p.

11

).

Improving the interpersonal communication is a way of listening and using types of questioning to gather information in an impartial and non

-

judgmental manner.

This micro skill will help the counsellor understand what is driving (worrying) the client

. Rea ffirming to the client that the counsellor understands the way they might be feeling and validation of those feelings .

Tr

y ing to perceive the significance of what is being said by the client in the light of their circumstance

s. This knowledge may alter the way the counsellor will approach what they will do or say

. (Willcox, 2016).

The

micro skill of questioning can be of use and problematic within the therapeutic relationship depending on the types of questioning the counselor asks the client. An