Guidance and Counselling for children. The basic skills which need to be mastered by a counselor to provide effective service. Attending skills, listening skills, paying attention skills, giving responses skills, identifying problems skills and intervention skills.

2. The most important thing
in communication is to
hear what isn't being
said.
Peter Drucker

3.  To help participants understand the concept
and importance of counselling
 To help participants understand the process
of counselling
 To impart the skills of counselling
 To help participants to be more aware of
using counselling techniques appropriately
and effectively

4.  Listening is not passive. It is important to
indicate that the person is being heard
 Good counselling skills means listening
before acting to solve problems

5.  Verbal listening skills
 Show interest
 Gather information
 Encourage speaker to develop ideas
 Communicate our understanding of ideas
 Request clarification of understanding
 Build the therapeutic alliance

6.  Using good verbal listening skills, you
increase the chances that:
 You will understand what the other is saying and
they will understand you
 You will create a situation where you will be able
to develop a helping relationship

8.  Ask open and closed questions
 Use “encouragers”
 Paraphrase what you have heard
 Reflect on feeling
 Summarize

9.  Open questions
 Generally start with “what”, “how”, “why” or “could “
 Questions serve to:
 Gather lots of general information
 Encourage discussion

10.  Counsellor: “How has the baby been eating?”
 Counsellor: “What is the bedtime routine?”
 Counsellor: “Could you tell me about giving
the baby medicine in the morning?”

11.  Generally start with “is”, “are”, or “do”
 Serve to:
 Gather lots of specific information quickly
 Tend to close down discussion

12.  Counsellor: “Are you giving the medicine
every day?”
 Counsellor: “Is the baby able to tolerate the
medicine in the morning?”

13.  Ex: “Yes, I understand” or repeat a
word or two of what was said
 Serves to:
Encourage further
discussion

14.  Patient: “I missed my
appointment last week
because of transportation
problems.”
 Counsellor: “Transportation
problems…?”

15.  Understanding whether:
Is the person is asking for information
OR is the person is expressing
concern?
Ex: Patient: “My baby vomited the
medicine this morning”
Counsellor: “Are you worried the baby
is sick?”

16.  Briefly summarize the content of
the discussion
 Reflective listening
Check your understanding
Show that you heard what
was said
 Acknowledge and accept feelings
without judging

17.  Patient: “I am worried that the
medicine is making my baby sick”
 Counsellor: “It sounds like you are
worried about how the baby is
reacting to the medicine.”

18.  Focus on feelings (stated and unstated)
 Serves to:
Communicate understanding of
emotions
When combined with a paraphrase,
confirms the accuracy of
understanding (“Check out” the the other
person)
Encourages discussion of feelings

19.  Patient: I don’t see many changes
in the baby since I started the
medicine”
 Counsellor: It sounds like you are
worried that the medicine is not
helping the baby get better”

20.  Succinctly pull together ideas from a
an interview
 Serves to
Organize the structure of the interview
Check the accuracy of understanding,

21.  Counsellor: “During the time we
have had together we have talked
about issues with giving the baby
medicine, problems with
transportation, and your worries
about the baby reacting to the
medicine and getting better. Is
that right?”

22.  Increase awareness of nonverbal
communications (yours & theirs)
 Notice body language – a person’s
stance, posture, physical tension
 Acknowledge what you observe – be
open and candid

23.  Counsellor: “You appear a little
uncomfortable. Is there
something I can do about that?”
 Discussion point: What other
examples of non-verbal
communication can you identify

24.  Remember culture and context
Most nonverbal behaviors have
multiple meanings
Some nonverbal behaviors have
different meanings in different
cultures

25.  Maintains eye contact
 Makes few distracting movements
 Leans forward, faces speaker
 Has an open posture
 Allows few interruptions
 Signals interest with encouragers and
facial expressions
 What are other examples of good
listening?

26.  Makes little eye contact
 Makes distracting movements
 Faces away from speaker
 Has a closed posture (ex.: arms crossed)
 Interrupts speaker
 Does too many other things while
listening
 Has a flat affect, speaks in a monotone,
gives few signals of interest
 What are other examples of a bad
listener?

27.  Get into a group of three people
 One person begins by talking about a
troublesome situation. Be brief but allow
your partner opportunities to practice
listening skills.
 Listening partner: Provide at least three
different types of listening responses as
your partner talks
 Third person is the Observer: Use
checklist to identify different listening
skills
 Switch roles so that each person has a
chance to fill each role

28.  Remember the goals of listening skills
 Help the speaker feel understood
 Keep the speaker talking
 Think carefully about the thoughts and
feelings the individual stated or implied
 Try to imagine yourself in their place in
order to understand their message
 Make a brief verbal statement
communicating what you heard
 No questions
 No opinions
 Check to see if you are correct

30.  Directives
 Reframes and interpretations
 Advice
 Feedback
 Logical consequences

31.  Tells a person what to do (can be direct or
indirect)
 Works best if clear and concrete
 Serves to:
 Move a person to take a specific act

32.  Patient: “I am not sure when to take my
medicine”
 Counsellor: “You should take your medicine
once in the morning and once in the evening”

33.  Attempts to replace an old, maladaptive
response with a newer, more useful
(usually positive) one
 Serves to
 Increase insight and understanding
 Shift emotional or intellectual response

34.  Patient: “There is so much going on I don’t
think I can take my medicine”
 Counsellor: “Sometimes you feel
overwhelmed and you are not sure that you
can get everything done so you can take your
medicine”

35.  Provides information to help client make
a decision. Can be very directive or less
so
 Serves to:
 Share information that would be relevant for a
person’s decisions, actions, or understanding
 Disadvantages of advice
 It’s often disempowering (You can’t solve this on
your own)
 People may say (but not really mean) that they
want advice

36.  Counsellor: “Try stirring the medicine in
milk and then giving it to the baby”
 Counsellor: “Let me show you how to
swallow the pill”
 Counsellor: “Marking a calendar is a good
idea for keeping track of giving medicine,
and it will help you feel good about giving
every dose”

37.  Gives information about how the person
is experienced by others
 Serves to:
 Help client see self more objectively (as others
see him or her)
 Feedback works best when
 It is requested or desired
 It is concrete
 It is positive
 If negative, it addresses something changeable
or controllable

38.  Patient: “Last week I gave almost all of the
doses of the medicine”
 Counsellor: “You have really worked hard to
make improvements in giving the medicine.
Let’s think about how we can help you so that
you can give all of the doses of medicine”

39.  Focuses on the logical consequences of a
person’s behavior, actions, thoughts, or
feelings
 Serves to:
 Increase awareness of consequences

40.  Patient: “It is really hard to start the
medicine, and the side effects are really hard
for the baby”
 Counsellor: “If you can make it thorough the
first few weeks of taking the medicine than
the side effects will get better and the baby
will start to improve”

41.  The goal of counselling is to help a person
tell their story
 With effective listening skills you can assist a
person in communicating their thoughts and
feelings
 When you understand where a person is
starting from, it is easier to help them reach
their goal