CRITCAL ANALYSIS OF COUNSELLING SESSION.

Running head: CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE COUNSELLING SESSION
CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE COUNSELLING SESSION
Name of the Student
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Introduction
Counselling is a term that is often confused by the people. It has different meaning to
different people. Many people find themselves in the role of a counsellor without really having a
proper understanding of the concept and knowing what the role of the counsellor usually entails.
Being a professional counsellor and simply using a part of the counselling skills to help people
has a huge difference. Counselling is a process in which the professional is a highly-trained
individual who uses different counselling approaches to help the client in a proper scientific way
(Bayne & Jangha, 2016). there is a mutual trust between the two where the counsellor or the
therapist helps the client in overcoming their problems by focusing on their emotional, social and
cognitive behaviour. This paper provides an insight into what goes into establishing a proper
counselling session that helps in building a proper relationship between the counsellor and the
counselee. The role-play video is analysed further in the paper that assesses how the therapist
establishes a proper therapeutic relationship and helps develop the narrative of the client. In the
next part of the paper, it analyses how a proper assessment of the client’s situation and case
conceptualization is important in establishing a proper therapeutic relationship. Lastly, the paper
looks into the counselling model... that is portrayed in the video of the role-playing session.
Part A
Establishing a proper therapeutic relationship is extremely important as it benefits both
the counsellor and the client in the long process. In the video, it is seen that the counselor tries to
build a rapport with the client to make her feel comfortable. He asks the client that she has been
referred here and that she did not really want to be here as she was reluctant. The client is honest
about her feelings when she says that was indeed referred here by her best friend. He asks her
questions on her feelings about coming into the session to establish the fact that the therapist has

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her consent of taking part in the session. An extremely important part of any counselling session
is that the therapist or the counsellor makes it clear to the client that there would be proper
confidentiality of the information that the client provides to the client (Fonagy & Allison, 2014).
This helps in building of trust between the client and the counsellor. This gives the confidence to
the client of telling everything that is going on in his or her mind. In the video, the therapist is
seen to tell the client that whatever they would discuss here would be strictly between them and
that confidentiality of information is extremely important. This provides a proper example of
establishing proper therapeutic relationships.
A healthy therapeutic relationship is important. As seen in the video, the therapist is
extremely attentive to what the client has to speak and pays proper attention to her throughout
the session. He is not judgmental of the lifestyle of the client. He listens to what the client has to
speak and dos not interrupt while she speaks. He asks her questions when she has finally stopped
saying anything and then the therapist counter questions her when he wants to get to know the
problems of the client in detail. The therapist also tries understanding the problems of the client
in depth by asking her questions about her work life where she is having problems due to a man
named Justin. He encourages the client to tell him more about how Justin is creating problems
for her in her work where she has worked for so many years. The client seems to provide every
information without any inhibition to the client and that is a sign of trust and confidence of the
client on the therapist.
There are three approaches to counselling: directive counselling, non-directive
counselling and eclectic counselling (Remley & Herlihy, 2014). Each of the approaches deals
with how the therapist and the client work towards the problem. After analysing the video, it can
be said that the therapist took the directive approach to counselling. In this approach, the

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therapist is the one who actively takes part in the process where he helps the client to solve the
problems. Directive counselling is a counsellor-centered therapy where the counsellor is the one
who does everything, starting with analysis, diagnosis, and prognosis and providing prescription
among others (Klingaman et al., 2015). The therapist in the video takes this approach where he
actively takes participation in the conversation and engages in a fully- fledged conversation
about her work environment by providing greater insight into her activities. The therapist focuses
on a particular problem, finds proper solutions to her problem by playing a more active role than
the client plays. The counsellor also actively directs the thinking of the client by providing her
with information, explanation, and interpretation of the situation and advise her in a proper
manner.
When talking about developing the narrative of the client, the therapist constantly asks
questions to the client. The therapist seems to talk a lot throughout the session however, that does
not discourage the client from providing information about her problems. On the contrary, she
agrees to certain deductions that the therapist makes and provides details on it. The therapist
maintains proper eye contact with the client that is also an important sign of showing proper
attention to what the client has to say. The therapist also shows genuineness and empathy, which
is an important aspect of establishing proper therapeutic relationships. He shows deep interest in
the client as an individual and relates to her that helps meet the client’s specific needs. A
genuinely curios therapist will want to know that the client creates a safe space for themselves to
explore their story and make sense of it so that they can establish goals in order to make progress
in the session (Vesal, 2019). The therapist in the video too seems to engage in the story of the
client with a deeper interest. It is the active participation of the therapist that helps the client look
into her matters in a more profound way. When the client says that she is facing work problems