1:1 - Appreciate the Meaning of the Term Counselling Skills.

1:1 - Appreciate the meaning of the term counselling skills.

Counselling skills can be both verbal and non-verbal and facilitate the building of good rapport between client and counsellor. These skills should help enhance communication between both parties helping the client to open up and to talk freely and openly about their experiences and issues thus assisting their own personal development.

    • A desire to be helpful. You need to truly want to help your client as any lack of sincerity will be easily detected by the client.

    • Acceptance and respect for clients. Giving your clients respect will enhance their trust in you and allow them to open up.

    • Listening to and understanding what your client has to say will make it easier for you to see things from their point of view.

    • Excellent therapeutic communication skills will help you succeed in the empathic understanding of the client.

    • Counsellors will, having personal therapy or personal development, work themselves with clear boundaries set so they are able to accept and reflect on the clients problems without being burdened by them. This in-turn enables the counsellor to understand and help the client in a non-judgemental and confidential manner.


1:2 - Know the place of skills on a help continuum.

In other words know the series of steps that follow on from each other and at what point on the continuum do you use the particular skills that are listed.

Counselling covers a broad spectrum helping people deal with feelings of sadness, depression ,anxiety or low self-worth none of which are connected to anything in particular, these are the six steps that follow on from each other;

  1. Engagement:


This means the first contact with a client is telling the client what the counsellor has to offer so the client can make a decision whether or not they find it helpful for the counsellor to work with them.

  2. Exploration:


To create a comfortable...