LOG-1

ATTENDING SKILLS

A counsellor's capability to actively and empathetically listen to their client is referred to as their
"attending skills." Nonverbal cues like keeping eye contact, expressing awareness with proper facial
expressions, nodding, and using open body language are all part of these skills. In addition to verbal
activities like summarising, reflecting, and paraphrasing the client's words, attending skills also
include the use of basic encouragers like "uh-huh" or "I see" to demonstrate participation and
attention. In general, attending skills foster an environment of understanding, sensitivity, and
acceptance in counselling sessions.

Counsellors utilise a variety of attending skills to show their clients that they are paying attention
and are receptive to their needs. Among these abilities are:

1. Nonverbal communication: Show attention and openness by keeping eye contact, nodding, facing
the client, and utilising the right body language.
2. Verbal cues: By providing succinct cues like "Yes," "I see," or "Go on," which demonstrate active
listening, you can encourage clients to continue communicating.
3. Minimal encouragers: To encourage clients to contribute more without disrupting their flow, use
succinct remarks or noises.
4. Summarising the client's statements to demonstrate understanding and verify the counselor's
understanding is known as paraphrasing.
5. Reflecting: To show empathy and understanding, mirror the client's feelings or content.
6. Summarising: To help organise and explain the discussion, briefly restate the main ideas or
themes that were covered during the session.

Gerard Egan explained attending skills with the help of an acronym ( SOLER) in his Skilled Helper
Model.

1. Sitting squarely: This is how the counsellor arranges themselves to convey attention and
openness. They should sit facing the client directly and keep their stance open to avoid coming out
as hostile or aloof.
2. Open posture: To prevent conveying defensiveness or a lack of openness, maintaining an open
body language by not crossing arms or legs helps. Rather, the therapist assumes a loose, open-
minded stance in order to let the client feel more comfortable.

3. Leaning: This shows attention and attentiveness by slanting slightly in the direction of the client.
Slightly bending forward indicates interest without encroaching on the client's personal area.

4. Eye contact: It's important to keep acceptable and polite eye contact. It conveys that the
counsellor is paying attention to the words and feelings of the client and demonstrates active
engagement.

5. Unwind: This pertains to establishing a tranquil and at ease environment throughout the meeting.
Counsellors work to create a welcoming and encouraging atmosphere that makes clients feel more
at ease and willing to share.

The purpose of the SOLER framework is to facilitate productive counselling sessions by improving
communication, developing rapport, and creating a positive atmosphere. It focuses on nonverbal
communication elements that promote and enhance the therapeutic alliance between the client and
the counsellor.

For our first log we learnt 4 types of attending skills which include:

1. Verbal tracking: This technique entails counsellors listening intently to their clients' spoken words
and reporting back to them. To show understanding and engaged listening, it entails summarising,
reflecting back, and paraphrasing the client's remarks. By demonstrating verbal tracking,
counsellors follow the client's story and validate the client's feelings and experiences. This method
helps to keep the conversation moving forward, verify understanding, and develop a better
comprehension of the client's concerns.

2. Visual Eye Contact: One of the most important aspects of nonverbal communication is visual eye
contact. Making acceptable and polite eye contact throughout therapy sessions shows that you are
paying attention, that you are interested, and that you are connected. It facilitates the development
of rapport and trust between the client and the counsellor. But cultural differences must be taken
into consideration, as cultural norms on the importance and acceptability of eye contact might differ

3. Vocal Tone: During a session, the counselor's voice quality, pitch, and modulation are all
considered vocal tones. Mirroring the client's emotional state can show understanding and empathy,
and speaking in a warm, calm, and sympathetic manner can reassure and support them. A secure
and pleasant environment can be created by suitably varying the vocal tone, which will encourage
clients to express themselves more freely.

4. Body Language: The posture, gestures, facial emotions, and general body movements of the
counsellor are all considered body language. Receptiveness, empathy, and engagement are
communicated by open and carefree body language, such as squarely addressing the client, keeping
an open posture, making suitable facial expressions, and nodding to show understanding. Building
rapport, establishing trust, and providing a secure environment in which the client feels comfortable
sharing their thoughts and feelings are all greatly aided by friendly and upbeat body language.

The development of skilled attending abilities in counselling generally requires a mixture of

instruction, application, and individual attributes:

1. Training: Counselling practices, including attending skills, are taught in formal education or
psychology or counselling courses. Counselling certificates, workshops, and academic programmes
can all be used to obtain this training.

2. Practice: Applying attending skills in simulated or real counselling settings on a regular basis is
essential for mastery. Counsellors can hone these abilities through supervised practice sessions,
role-playing, or supervised clinical experience.

3. Self-awareness: It's critical to be conscious of one's prejudices, feelings, and responses. It is

important for counsellors to control their own feelings and biases in order to remain impartial and
understanding with their clients.
4. Empathy: It's critical to be able to comprehend and experience what clients are feeling.
Counsellors can emotionally connect with their clients since empathy is the cornerstone of
successful attention skills.
5. Active listening: It is essential to learn how to actively listen in order to comprehend, decipher,
and assess the verbal and nonverbal cues that clients use to communicate. This entails showing true
interest in the client and concentrating solely on them.

6. Feedback and supervision: Counsellors can strengthen their attending skills and identify areas for
development by getting feedback from peers, mentors, or supervisors. Sessions of supervision offer
direction and encouragement for improving skills.

7. Cultural competence: Effective counselling requires sensitivity to cultural differences and an

awareness of various viewpoints and backgrounds. This entails acknowledging and honouring
cultural variations in values and communication techniques.

8. Ethical comprehension: To guarantee the proper application of attending techniques within the
professional setting, a complete comprehension of ethical standards and limitations in counselling is
required.

Gaining proficiency in attending skills in counselling requires a dedication to self-improvement,

continuous learning, and introspection

A client may experience the following benefits when a counsellor uses attending skills in therapy:

1. Enhanced Trust: By fostering an environment of acceptance and trust, attending skills help clients
feel secure enough to open up about their thoughts and feelings.

2. Better Communication: When clients see that their counsellor is actually listening to them, they
frequently communicate more candidly and clearly. Clearer and more efficient communication
between the client and the counsellor is made possible by attending skills.
3. better knowledge: Counsellors can help clients obtain a better knowledge of their own thoughts
and feelings by showing that they comprehend the client's experiences through reflective listening
and paraphrasing.

4. Empowerment: As attending skills affirm their experiences and feelings, clients may feel
empowered and validated, which promotes a sense of agency and self-worth during the therapeutic
process.

5. Relationship between Client and Counsellor: The therapeutic alliance is reinforced by attending
skills. A stronger relationship between the client and the counsellor may result from the client
feeling more understood and connected.

6. Emotional Support: Having good attending techniques gives clients a safe space to express their
emotions without worrying about being judged.

7. Problem Solving: Improved communication and comprehension frequently result in more

efficient problem-solving. Clarity about issues may help clients work towards resolution or coping
mechanisms more skillfully.

8. Enhanced Self-awareness: Attending techniques can help clients become more conscious of their
own feelings, ideas, and actions, which promotes personal development and self-discovery.

The first activity was a role-play session. Maam first gave us an example of how effective using
attending skills is. followed by the triad practice session

Activity 1-
Ma'am presented two distinct role plays to help us comprehend the importance of attending skills.
where she only applied her attending techniques to one person and did not with the other. We could
see how smoothly the discussion moved when Ma'am employed her attentive abilities. The other
conversation, however, felt more forced and inflexible. The client also mentioned how she believed
no one was listening to her difficulties and that the client wasn't paying attention. The other client,
however, saw the significance.
After we had a firm grasp of the attending abilities, we divided into triads and began our first
activity, which involved acting out a scenario. Abhishek was my client, Kamali was my observer,
and I was the counsellor. During the session, we were told to pay closer attention to attending skills.
Because the client was so attentive and open, I felt at ease using my attending skills while serving
as the counsellor. My consistent head nods and encouraging remarks seemed to encourage the client
to open up further. I was able to apply my paraphrasing knowledge. Overall, I felt at ease
throughout the session, but I became aware of my tendency to overthink tasks or obligations.
The feedback I got from the observer was that I was able to give non verbal cues well. I was
encouraging. But lacked a bit of empathy. I understood that, in paraphrasing, I had merely repeated
what he had stated with little to no empathy. This provided me with more perspective as I had never
considered that before. Another feedback I received was about vocal tone. My vocal tone was
monotonous throughout the session. I need to work on being more expressive.