Two Stages of a Relationship in Which I am Adept
Counseling is a collaboration between the client and the counselor to discuss and solve the existing mental problems. The counseling process comprises five stages: relationship building, problem assessment, goal-setting, interventions initiating, and termination and follow-up (“Stages and Skills of Counseling”). I believe that parts of counseling in which I am adept are establishing relationships and defining the problem. It is necessary for successful process to build rapport with a client on respect, trust, and physiological comfort basis (“Stages and Skills of Counseling”). I am confident in my ability to consider such factors as the client’s cultural and ethnic background, concerns, and communication preferences to create a rapport-building climate (“Stages and Skills of Counseling”). I am an empathetic person, and this trait of my character enables me to successfully utilize active listening techniques (“Stages and Skills of Counseling”). In addition, I am a consistent person, capable of maintaining the appropriate tone of the counseling process during several sessions. The mentioned evidence proves me to be adept in establishing the relationship.
My other strength is assessing and defining the client’s problem, which is the second counseling stage. This part implies collecting information regarding the considering issue and revealing its reasons (“Stages and Skills of Counseling”). I am confident that I can identify conditions, which are effective, behavioral, cognitive, and systemic ones (“Stages and Skills of Counseling”). My claim is supported by the availability of my personal experience as a client in therapy. Therefore, I can detect cognitive misinterpretation of reality and the client’s life conditions evaluating due to knowing how people with additions usually think. In addition, I am aware of visual manifestation of issues with drugs and alcohol, which is potentially effective for conducting the observation (“Stages and Skills of Counseling”). I believe that experience of being a client in therapy helps conduct a successful problem assessment.
One Stage of a Relationship in Which I Must Improve
I consider goal-setting, which is the third stage of counseling, as my weakness. This part implies making a course of action which both counselor and a client should maintain for the process’s success. I doubt my differentiation skill, as it is complicated for me to distinguish ultimate, intermediate, and immediate goals (“Stages and Skills of Counseling”). I explain it with my desire to moving toward all the objectives at the same time instead of achieving one by one. I believe that I will eventually succeed in this skill implementation.
Reference
Stages and Skills of Counseling. Textbook.