Reflective Essay on Counselling Session Analysis

The author analyses a counselling session with a client, breaking down key aspects of the counselling session and the specific set of skills and micro skills connected with counselling that were displayed in the process.

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Introduction
In this reflective essay, I will be analysing my counselling session that I had with a
client. In this analysis, I will be breaking down several key aspects of the counselling session
pertaining to the specific set if skills and micro skills connected with counselling that I had
displayed in the process (De Stefano, Mann-Feder & Gazzola, 2010). The focus of this
assessment will be on how I, as a counsellor, helped my client on the first day of her
counselling session, how appropriately I was able to address her issues, what kind of skills
and attributes that I displayed and what the parts are where I lacked the most. This assessment
will look at Egan’s Skilled Helper Solution Focused Counselling Approach (Rigall, 2012;
Egan, 2018) in order to determine key counselling attributes that has helped me as well as will
help me in the future with my practice.
Assessment
The first thing that the counselling session displays is the way I started the counselling
session. At the very beginning, I started with an introduction of myself, asked how she was on
the particular day and also asked if she would like a cup of tea or coffee which she
respectfully declined. This was done as a primary ice breaker in the counselling session
(Trower, Jones & Dryden, 2015) and making sure that the client does not feel out of place and
can remain in an established and comfortable zone. After that I asked her what brought her to
the counselling centre. She replied that she needed help with her troublesome relationship
with her husband but she was unsure of whether or not she would disclose her personal
information with me. In response to that, I assured her that she has no need for worry as
whatever information is shared by her would remain strictly confidential between her and me
(Bond & Mitchels, 2014). This assurance was important as it helps the clients understand

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what they are getting into as well as rest assured that the secrecy of the disclosure will be
given significant priority. It also helps the clients be freer and more open about their issues.
As we moved into the main counselling, the first thing that I did was ask her about her
issues. I specifically asked an open ended question, “So what brought you here today?”, in
order for her to be able to answer the question It is important to know about the issues of the
client in order to move forward with the session, however, it is also equally important to know
how to approach the issue. Often asking direct questions in an interrogative tone can
intimidate the client and obstruct the free flowing communication. This is where Egan’s
Skilled Helper Solution Focused Counselling Approach comes into play. The first aspect that
I noticed in relation with the counselling practice is my use of SOLER as an effective
listening skill (Stickley, 2011). Being an effective listener is one of the key requisites of being
an effective counsellor. In the session, I tried to ensure that I followed all the five steps
highlighted in SOLER. Firstly, I faced the client squarely as well as maintained an open
posture. I also made sure that wherever required, I leaned appropriately towards the client.
Throughout the main discussion session, I also maintained proper eye contact with the client.
My posture throughout the session was very relaxed which in my opinion helped my client be
comfortable around me and discuss her issues.
There are other specific counselling micro skills that I displayed. For instance, when I
asked client about her issues with her husband and followed it up with other questions, it
displayed that I have engaged attending behaviour and questioning (Strawbridge & Woolfe,
2010). Employing attending behaviour was important as it enables the client to understand
that their issues are being given importance. Similarly questioning was important in this case
as firstly, it allows the client to share more relevant information regarding their issues and
secondly, it establishes the belief that whatever the issues of the client are, they are not being
overlooked (Strawbridge & Woolfe, 2010).

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I also made sure that I do not display any form of sympathetic behaviour towards the
client but rather be empathetic towards them. In my practice I made sure to display
appropriate empathy towards the client especially when she was discussing her issues (Davis
& Hayes, 2011). I asked her to tell me more in detail about her current situation with her
husband and why there were issues going on and while she had stated that, I reciprocated her
statements back to her. This displays that I as a counsellor am aware of her issues and am also
willing to invest myself into her problems (Trower, Jones & Dryden, 2015). Restating the
client’s problems back to her is a practice also known as accurate responding and it helps in
organising the whole summary of the issue in a short span of time and in a short sentence.
Going deeper into the analysis, I must mention here that the Egan model has three
highlighted stages that are important in counselling therapy (Rigall, 2012). Analysing the
counselling session with those three stages in mind gives a deeper insight into how the
counselling session needs to be assessed. The first stage of Egan’s approach is focused on
exploring the client’s situation by asking open ended questions while focusing on the
important issues, maintaining empathy, providing proper reflection and summarising. I
displayed all these aspects in my session, ending this stage with summarising to her that her
basic issue was with having kids yet being unable to do so because neither her, nor her
husband was willing to give up their full time careers. The second stage of the approach is
more focussed upon helping the client develop a more in depth understanding of her situation
while the third stage of the approach is more goal directed where helping the client in
developing strategies becomes the primary objective. However, given that the counselling
session was just the introductory session, the third stage was not heavily implemented. As for
the second stage, I attempted to make sure that I identified the patterns and themes properly in
the issue that the client has discussed with me and also tried to provide alternate frame of

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reference where I asked what her husband’s opinion was on having kids. This way I was also
able to get an insight into what her husband wanted exactly from the situation.
There are several things that I also noticed where I could have done better or
improvised further. As mentioned before, maintaining a proper body language is a crucial
aspect of a counselling session (Topuz & Arasan, 2014). However, at the beginning of the
session I did not make enough eye contact. That is something I need to work upon. I also felt
that my empathetic understanding needs to be a little better. There was a point in the session
where the client seemed like she was going to cry. In that period I could have asked her if she
was okay or provided reassurance. Instead I remained silent. This kind of non-responsive
behaviour is detrimental to a counselling session where not providing timely and appropriate
response leads the client to think that the issues that she is stating are not significant enough
to be discussed and therefore can deter the client from attending future sessions (Topuz &
Arasan, 2014).
Conclusion
In conclusion, I can assert that after watching the counselling video and analysing it
under the Egan approach model, I have found that there are specific skills that are required for
counselling which I possess whereas there are also specific drawbacks in my practice that I
need to overcome. First of all, my primary approach and responses to the client’s disclosure
indicates that I have good listening skills. My body posture and tone indicates that I also
understand the fundamental presentational style involved in counselling. I maintained eye
contact wherever necessary and even provided reflective responses to the issues that the client
raised. At the end of the session, I also suggested ways in which the client can start working
towards a solution of the problem. Given that it was the first session, it was also important to
end the session with something for the client to look forward to. There I ensured that the

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client has the knowledge that I have understood her problem in detail and have also given her
an objective to come back the next week.
Despite certain efficiency in skills that I have displayed, I realised that there are certain
aspects that I have to take good care of in my future practice. First of all, I need to ensure that
I understand the nuances of body language wherefrom I can build a proper gesture and
movement strategy that is appropriate for a counselling session. Secondly, I need to be more
empathetic towards the issues and restate them by properly acknowledging them first.
Thirdly, I also need to ensure that I place effective spacing between conversations where my
next immediate question is not overlapping with the client’s statement, but at the same time
there are less to no long pauses within the communication.

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References
Bond, T., & Mitchels, B. (2014). Confidentiality & Record Keeping in Counselling &
Psychotherapy. Sage.
Davis, D. M., & Hayes, J. A. (2011). What are the benefits of mindfulness? A practice review
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De Stefano, J., Mann-Feder, V., & Gazzola, N. (2010). A qualitative study of client
experiences of working with novice counsellors. Counselling and Psychotherapy
Research, 10(2), 139-146.
Egan, G. (2018). The Skilled Helper: A client-centred approach. Cengage Learning EMEA.
Riggall, S. (2012). Social work students’ experiences of using the Egan Skilled Helper
model. The Journal of Practice Teaching and Learning, 11(1), 37-53.
Stickley, T. (2011). From SOLER to SURETY for effective non-verbal
communication. Nurse education in practice, 11(6), 395-398.
Strawbridge, S., & Woolfe, R. (2010). Counselling psychology: Origins, developments and
challenges. Handbook of counselling psychology, 3, 3-22.
Topuz, C., & Arasan, Z. (2014). Self-awareness group counseling model for prospective
counselors. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 143, 638-642.
Trower, P., Jones, J., & Dryden, W. (2015). Cognitive behavioural counselling in action.
Sage.