Establishing a therapeutic relationship with a client is vital to successful communication during the sessions. The understanding of particular points and guidelines to perform high-quality counseling include the set of skills and strategies, such as micro-skills of communication and listening, knowledge of evidence-based practices, adaptivity to individual needs of clients, etc. Considering studied theoretical material of approaches and studies about the therapeutic relationship, I am confident I will succeed in its efficient maintenance during professional practice.
Many professional characteristics must be followed for a successful session. According to the definition provided by Shebib (2020), counselling as a professional activity is based on a time-limited relationship between specialists and clients, which aims to increase the ability to overcome the existing issues and demands of life. It includes three core elements of clients’ needs, therapeutic mandate, and professional expertise and skills. As the counsellor and client work together, there is a notion of cooperation to achieve the previously agreed objective: The helper can encourage the client to promote change in the direction that has been agreed upon. Honesty and trust are built, enabling the client to be open with the counsellor. According to Young (2021), relationship enhancers are the helper behavior patterns of nonverbal abilities that include posture, empathy, and self-disclosure, improving the effectiveness of the therapeutic relationship. These practices produce emotional traits or relationship-building principles of liking, respect, and trust. As a result, the relationship enhancers foster an emotional environment conducive to help.
Nevertheless, each approach to establishing a therapeutic relationship requires the micro-skills to empower clients and shift their attention to the previously overlooked points. According to Shebib’s (2020) professional skills strategies, each micro-skill method can be applied to a specific category. For instance, minimal encouragers may be referred to as a way of relationship-building techniques that establish connections based on active listening (Video #1). Clarifying and probing can also help to expand the understanding of the issue (Video #3). On the other hand, echoing belongs to the category of exploring and probing, considering the opportunity to focus on the specific key element by emphasizing the particular word or phrase. The same type of strategies also unites the micro-skills of observation, reflection, and paraphrasing (Video #2).
Moreover, these elements can help establish a better understanding of the client’s problems. Especially observations can help to establish hidden meaning in clients’ narrations through additional attention to the nonverbal channel of communication (Shebib, 2020). Another crucial aspect is summarizing, which is necessary for future promoting change (Video #4). The application of summarizing at the beginning and end of the sessions can help to create focus and planning regarding their objectives. It is closely connected with the action planning approach, a tool used to assist clients in making changes in their life. These adjustments could involve establishing new techniques for handling emotions, developing plans for altering their personal thinking, or acquiring skills or behaviors. Action planning can be built on straightforward session planning and assists in defining specific and quantifiable change targets. Therefore, many skills and strategies are interconnected and depend on their successful application in practice.
Personally, I am sure that the implementation of all mentioned approaches will significantly help me to establish effective therapeutic relationships with clients. Following the pattern of micro-skills following the determined goals of the session and the client’s needs, I can achieve the most detailed understanding of the problem to develop its solution. Additionally, through building a trustful cooperative atmosphere, utilized practices can determine hidden unresolved issues, leading to poor outcomes of the sessions. Thus, the set of skills allows the professionals to identify the most effective ways to establish and maintain a therapeutic relationship.
References
Shebib, B. (2020). Choices: Interviewing and counseling skills for Canadians (7th ed.) Pearson.
Young, M. (2021). Learning the art of helping: Building blocks and techniques (7th ed.). Pearson.