Counseling Skills Reflection

• Based on your feedback from Tape 1 are you where you thought you were?

I believe that I am perhaps a little farther along than where I thought I was but am still no where near to being a Carl Rogers. I think that multimodal, solution focused and REBT are at least in my arsenal of techniques that I can somewhat comfortably apply in a session and help the client with a given problem or concern.

• What are some things you would like to continue to work on?

  I continue to struggle with being comfortable when I know that I am taping and have found that if I get the session going and then hit the record button that I am less stressed. I continue to work on all aspects of my counseling but feel that I need to still be aware of how much I'm talking and how much I'm listening. I also try to focus on listening to myself and always trying to ask myself if what I'm saying to the client is relevant and useful. I need to work on my reflective skills or rather I need to be more reflective at least on the tapes I listen to, you cannot see body language and physical attending on a tape, so that I'm sitting with both feet on the floor, leaning in toward the client and making eye contact are not reflected on a tape, I'm aware that perhaps some verbalization is in order as well.    

• How will you make sure you continue to improve?

I will continue to tape sessions and revisit them when I have time to really listen and stop the tape and write down what I might have said instead and the reasoning behind it.  I also go back to my text books and supplemental handouts given to me throughout my degree program and continuously serf the web for scholarly articles and information pertinent to a specific clients case that help me be a better counselor. I also have meetings with colleagues to discuss the clients that I am counseling to get feedback and different viewpoints.       

• How will you know once you’ve improved?

I believe like anything one sets out to accomplish, I will be aware when I am comfortable with specific techniques and with experience with various scenarios I will feel more accomplished. Listening to the taped sessions will let me know I have improved as well as feedback from my clients and colleagues.   

• What can we do in class to help with your goals?

I believe the class helps me see that everyone wants to continually grow and also that we are all growing together, some have much more experience and hearing their cases and getting constructive feedback are  also very helpful. Having the blogs to stay in contact after the class is over is another very useful tool that I think will be invaluable as we continue to work in our communities. Having the questions after presenting my case study last night were also very helpful and hearing others case studies is helpful as well.