Effective Communication Strategies in Counselling Kirra's Case Study

This essay analyzes a counselling case study involving a client named Kirra, a 20-year-old facing emotional and mental turmoil. The essay explores the development of rapport, effective communication strategies such as active listening, empathy, and summarizing, and potential barriers to communication, including socio-cultural factors and the client's resistance. Ethical considerations, such as autonomy, dignity, and beneficence, are addressed, along with strategies to overcome ethical dilemmas. The essay also identifies other healthcare professionals, including dieticians, psychotherapists, and community nurses, who could be involved in Kirra's care. The importance of inter-professional communication and teamwork, while maintaining client confidentiality, is also discussed, highlighting potential challenges and the need for effective collaboration. The essay emphasizes the importance of establishing strong rapport, employing appropriate communication techniques, and adhering to ethical principles to provide comprehensive care for the client.

Running head: COMMUNICATION ESSAY ABOUT KIRRA
COMMUNICATION ESSAY ABOUT KIRRA
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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COMMUNICATION ESSAY ABOUT KIRRA
Counsellors need to exhibit effective communication skills and strategies to excel in
their profession. This skill helps in developing strong rapport with patients and helps in
increasing their trust and mutual respect (Holland & Nelson, 2018. This assignment would be
mainly depicting a patient named Kirra who is suffering from mental and emotional turmoil.
The case study would be analysed to help in developing counselling strategies, rapport
building, ethical decision-making and others to provide her with best care services.
Rapport can be referred as the harmonious connection between individuals while
understanding and tolerating emotions and thoughts of one another. Wright and Reese (2015)
have stated that it is in essential for the healthcare professional (here counsellor) to make the
service user feel good as well as protected and comfortable with the counsellor. It must be
known by the counsellor that on the off chance that the service user cannot experience the
solace, comfort and feeling of wellbeing in presence of the expert, at that point she will be
reluctant in uncovering herself completely and would be observed to be helpless, hesitant and
vulnerable before the expert (Carkuff, 2017). A number of significant advances should be
taken by the counsellor so as to create compatibility and rapport with Kirra. As the first
approach, he should plan and read the notes of the client before the start of the session
(Hodgson et al., 2016). Building up a preliminary idea about the issues and sufferings of the
patient by the counsellor beforehand would help him to be prepared and would inevitably add
to a smoother initiation of counselling session and discussion. Secondly, for powerful rapport
constructing, the expert would listen to the patient without judging her in anyways. Active
listening skills without showing any judgemental behaviour about clients help them to feel
that the expert is providing undivided attention and thinking about them in subtleties and are
not passing judgment on them. These would aide in creating strong relationship and trust with
the expert, facilitating the connection between them (Mulder et al., 2015). Third, another
strategy for building rapport is displaying the trait of compassion and empathy. Through

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compassion and empathy, the expert can demonstrate that he truly thinks about the prosperity
of the patient and can feel the enduring pain and suffering that the patient is experiencing.
This assistance helps in improving trust and helps in prompting emotional bond development
as well as improvement in mental stability of the client (Chen & Rybak, 2017. This would
contribute in not just uncovering everything about the life of the client yet additionally would
help Kirra to develop adherence to the interventions that the expert would exhort.
Conducting a counselling session with teenagers as if the individuals who have
recently crossed adolescent age cohort may be especially troublesome as they are found to
retain a few types of adolescent behaviors and thinking methodology. Like teenage people
they may be immediately influenced by negative and criticising comments, may rush to
achieve ends to discussions, may feel befuddled about taking the correct choices, may feel
judged, discriminated or segregated, and display strict voice or show intolerance to societal
views and customs, which are rarely exhibited by more established grown-ups (Bauchat et al.,
2016). Kirra is just 20 who have recently crossed adolescence and thus she may be found to
harbour this attributes. The communication approach that would prove to be the most
significant would be to adopt the strategy of "attending" which is done in the manner by
which experts can be present "with" Kirra both physically, spiritually, emotionally just as
mentally. The experts counselling Kirra can embrace the SOLER methodology as this
encourages the experts to demonstrate their inner attitudes as well as the values of
genuineness about the client (Neuer et al., 2016). This would incorporate "squarely"
confronting the client, keeping up an "open" pose, "leaning" towards the client, maintaining
the "eye" contact, and trying to be "relaxed and natural" with the client. Another significant
communication technique would be probing or questioning approach or strategy. Probing or
questioning approach include experts to empower clients in ways by which they can
themselves investigate and explore the issues fully and completely. This strategy would be

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conducted in the form of statements, questions, request, single words as well as phrases and
even as that of the non-verbal prompts. This progression would assist the counsellor in
understanding why Kirra is having low mood and dietary problems and this would ultimately
be helping the expert to find out about the existent life stressors that are resulting in such
circumstances (Deveugele, 2015). The third approach or communication strategy that the
expert ought to pursue for Kirra is "summarising". Studies are of the supposition that with
successful summarising, experts can comprehend what is said in the session as this would
contribute in setting focus about what was discussed previously with patient and furthermore
challenge the patient to move ahead on the discussion. The counsellors would give summary
of the noted points straightforwardly to the Kirra when she cannot apprehend where to begin
from and this would avoid Kirra from repeating what was already discussed about. At the
point when the session would go no place, the strategy of summarising would assist expert in
focusing on Kirra and when Kirra would be stuck, it would help the expert to proceed ahead
and research other pieces of the story.
One of the barriers that can influence the communication process is the absence of
enthusiasm for effective cooperation of Kirra and uncovering of significant data about
herself. It is essential for each patient to reveal all insights concerning the different life
stressors, physical and mental issues, difficulties and others that are experiencing. At the
point when patients show hesitance, it may become difficult for experts to carry on the
communication procedure (Neukrug, 2016). Another barrier that can be also found here is
socio-cultural barriers. Kirra apparently is very much inclined to her dad and his new
addiction for drinking had made her concerned. Such preference for her dad suggests that she
would be related with the way of life of indigenous individuals and may pursue such social
and cultural norms followed by Indigenous societies and she might be following such cultural
traditions as well. Henceforth, experts conducting such sessions should be culturally aware

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and knowledgeable about cultural inhibitions and preference about both native and non-
native people. If such cultural norms are not taken in considerations, it may create barriers in
communication process including Kirra. As expressed before, Kirra is found to be 20 years of
age who had just crossed teenage-hood. Increased resistance, being defensive, being highly
anxious, describes this age. Such individuals are also seen to be highly judgmental or shy
with strong inflexible sense of beliefs (Li et al., 2016). Hence, while the counsellor speaks
with Kirra and direct her, such characteristics may make obstructions in communication
process also forestalling Kirra from investigating alternate points of view of her issues and
solutions.
Maintenance of autonomy and dignity is the first ethical consideration that needs to be
considered here. From the case study, it has been found that Kirra is hesitant to look for any
treatment and she does not wish to start any treatment as well. Consequently, if the expert
forces her to acknowledge treatment and care plan, these might breach the ethical standard of
autonomy and dignity. Autonomy and dignity chiefly encourages experts to regard the desires
and inclinations of the patients and build up their care plan or consultations that regard their
desires and request (Ratts et al., 2016). If Kirra is not prepared to accept treatment, the expert
compelling her to do so might affect her autonomy and dignity. This may counteract with the
bioethical standards of beneficence. Beneficence encourages experts to give the best
treatments and suggestions that help in “doing good” to the patient and overcoming their
sufferings. If the expert caring for Kirra attempts to incorporate her in the care plan, he would
be helping her to develop her wellbeing but this would affect her autonomy and dignity. To
overcome the ethical dilemma, the expert should allocate time to build rapport with the
patient in manners where she can confide in the expert. At that point, the expert can suggest
her in manners by which she does not feel pressurized (Arora et al., 2016). In the event that

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COMMUNICATION ESSAY ABOUT KIRRA
she is prepared to change her choices after this, the expert can incorporate her in treatment
process.
Various healthcare professionals can be incorporated into the treatment method of the
patient named Kirra to enable her to defeat her sufferings and empower her to live better
quality life. One of the healthcare experts would be the dietician. Kirra is confronting issues
with her eating and appetite and to enable her to help her overcome her dietary problem and
help her regain back her appetite, a dietician is necessary. It has been discovered that she is
losing weight and is this concern is not managed appropriately; it may make her vulnerable to
more infections and poor quality health because of malnutrition. Hence, the dietician would
assist her with setting proper diet outline lining up with her age and body necessities so she
can keep up proper weight and develop appropriate eating regimens. Another healthcare
professional who can be included into this case is the psychotherapist (Neuer et al., 2016).
Such people can start various talk therapies like cognitive behavioural therapies, family
therapies as well as interpersonal therapies that can enable patients to overcome disorders like
anxiety issues, clinical depression and others. Another professional who can be additionally
considered into the instance of Kirra is the community nursing. Kirra has various life
stressors that are influencing her psychological wellness and in course of time, influencing
her physical wellbeing just as bringing about loss of body weight and others. The nurse ought
to attempt a bio-psycho-social way to deal with the issues. While working in the team, the
counsellor should ensure that, he keeps up the privacy and confidentiality of Kirra. In order to
achieve so, he needs to preserve the data and information shared by Kirra within himself and
he should not discuss this with different experts except until Kirra gives the authorization to
do as such. Challenges and difficulties that may emerge from inter-professional
communication in a team are various hierarchical conflicts that may influence smooth

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progression of communication, absence of compatibility among the individuals, absence of
powerful planning to build gatherings, lack of timing and others (Li et al., 2016).
From the detailed discussion, it can be found that professionals need to establish
string rapport with the clients and undertake proper communication procedures for the
counselling sessions. This would help them to develop string bonds with patients and ensure
better understanding of the needs of the patient. Ethical principles should be followed to
ensure care that aligns with dignity of the client and satisfies the client. He also needs to work
with other healthcare professionals within a team efficiently to provide comprehensive care to
the patients.

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