Principles and Practices of Pastoral Care and Counselling

COUNSELLING PROCESS

The ten steps for counseling are to establish basic ground rules in what you do and how you
operate. These ten steps are –

1. Encourage the client to talk about the feeling

2. Validate the feeling with reflective listening
3. Let the client have the chance to speak
4. Provide missing information where needed
5. Talk about the client’s views and goals
6. Communicate what it takes to get to the point needed
7. Observe signs of trouble and prepare for possible violence and threats
8. Encourage client to develop positive energy towards devising a solution
9. Establish a regular schedule for follow-up discussions and give feedback
10. Agree on what steps are needed to be taken by the client to change the current
situation. These steps can be classified into five separate stages.

STAGE ONE: RELATIONSHIP BUILDING – INITIAL DISCLOSURE

The first step involves building a relationship and focuses on engaging clients to explore issue
that directly affect them. The first interview is important because the client is reading the verbal
and nonverbal messages and makes assumptions about the counselor and the counseling
situation. Relationship could involve the ties between two people in love, the bond between
family members or close friends or colleagues or even the bond between a person and his/her
pet. In counseling, the counselor establishes rapport with the client based on trust, respect and
mutual purpose. When there is good rapport, a positive psychological climate is created and
vice-versa.

Carl Rogers also emphasize the importance of building a relationship between the counselor and
the client. He identified three important conditions for the establishment of an effective
counselor client relationship: Empathy, Genuineness and Unconditional Caring. Empathy,
genuineness and warmth are three conditions that enhance relationship building in the
counseling situation. These qualities are conveyed to the client through verbal and non-verbal
behaviors of the counselor. The greatest obstacle in the relationship building stage is the
tendency for the counselor to move too quickly. It is also important for the counselor to be
sensitive and responsive to each client’s worldview.

For forming rapport and gaining the client’s trust -

i. Assuring confidentiality and discussing limits of confidentiality
ii. Allowing ventilation
iii. Allowing expression of feelings
iv. Exploring the problem(s), asking the client to tell their story

This material is compiled and edited for the purpose of class discussion and for reference and therefore does not
have any acknowledgement. Do not reproduce it for any presentation. – Joel Zoramthansanga
 Principles and Practices of Pastoral Care and Counselling

v. Clarifying client expectations of counseling

vi. Describing what the counselors can offer and their method of working
vii. Statement from the counselor about their commitment to work with the client.

Some Skills for Relationship Building for the Counselor

Introduce yourself - Invite client to sit down - Ensure client is comfortable - Address the client
by name - Invite social conversation to reduce anxiety - Watch for nonverbal behavior as signs
of client’s emotional state - Invite client to describe his/ her reason for coming to talk - Allow
client time to respond - Indicate that you are interested in the person.

STAGE TWO: IN DEPTH EXPLORATION – PROBLEM ASSESSMENT

While the counselor and the client are in the process of establishing a relationship, a second
process is taking place, i.e. problem assessment. This step involves the collection and
classification of information about the client’s life situation and reasons for seeking counseling.
Assessment refers to anything counselors do to gather information and draw conclusions about
the concerns of clients. Assessment takes place at the beginning of the counseling process. But,
some degree of assessment takes place throughout the counseling process with purpose of
finding missing pieces if the puzzle, i.e. the client.

According to Seligman (1996), assessment should attempt to recognize the importance and
uniqueness of the client. In a way, saying to the person, “You are special and I want to get to
know you and understand why you are the way you are”. The counselor needs such knowledge
about the client so that nothing is left out. For example, you might have left out an important
piece of information about your client which may affect the counseling or therapeutic process.

Why Assess Client?

It should be remembered that you are assessing your client not for the purpose of judging or
evaluating him/ her. The purpose of assessment is to seek clarification; you want to know about
your client.

Seligman suggests the following reasons for assessing a client:

a) Enable counselors to make an accurate diagnosis.
b) Determine a person’s suitability for a particular treatment plan.
c) Enable counselors to develop a treatment plan.
d) Make goal-setting easier and achievement of goals measurable.
e) Enable assessment of environment or context.
f) Facilitate generation of options and alternatives.

This material is compiled and edited for the purpose of class discussion and for reference and therefore does not
have any acknowledgement. Do not reproduce it for any presentation. – Joel Zoramthansanga
 Principles and Practices of Pastoral Care and Counselling

What to Assess?
Hackney and Cormier listed the following important components of assessing the client:
Identifying Data, Name, address, phone number to enable the counselor to contact and gives an
indication of the conditions under which the client lives. Age, gender, marital status, occupation
gives an indication of the age of the client and some background about marital status.
Problems Presented
Present the problem exactly the way the client reports them and the following questions might
reveal additional information:
 How does the problem interfere with the client’s daily life?
 What are the behaviors, thoughts and feeling associated with the problem?
 How often and how long has the problem existed?
 Is a pattern of events? e.g. when? With whom? Is it predictable?
Client’s Current Life Style
 How does the client spend a typical day?
 What social, religious and recreational activities are the client involved in?
 What is the nature of the client’s educational situation?
 What special characteristics about the client? e.g. age, physical, cultural, etc.
Family History
 Father and mother: age, occupation, personalities, roles, relationship with client.
 Siblings: age, present life and relationship with client.
 Family stability: jobs held, family moves and reasons.
Personal History
 Medical history: illness, injury.
Education history:
 academic performance, extra-curriculum activities, hobbies and interests, relationships
with peers.
Career:
 jobs held, types of jobs, relationships with colleagues and fellow workers.
 Client’s personal goals in life.
Description of the Client during the Interview:
 Physical appearance: posture, dress, gestures, facial expression.
 How does the client related to counselor in the session?
 Client’s warmth, readiness, motivation, passivity, etc. Were the client’s remarks logical?
Connected to another.
 Summary and Recommendations: Connection between problem stated by the client and
other information collected.
 Should the client be assigned to a particular counselor?
 Are the goals for counseling stated by the client realistic?
 How much counseling might be required?

This material is compiled and edited for the purpose of class discussion and for reference and therefore does not
have any acknowledgement. Do not reproduce it for any presentation. – Joel Zoramthansanga
 Principles and Practices of Pastoral Care and Counselling

How is the Assessment Information to be Used

There are different ways in which counselors use the information collected about their clients.
Some counselors look mainly for patterns of behavior. Others use it for planning relevant
counseling strategies and approaches to use with problems. For example, a person who
complains that he is unable to make friends, the counselor might look at the client’s behavior in
interpersonal relationships and use behavioral strategies that emphasize acquisition of social
skills and interpersonal strategies that deal with relationships between people. Counselors who
do not assess the problems presented by their clients are more likely to formulate wrong
conclusions about client problems and irrelevant or non-workable counseling approaches and
strategies. As a result, not only is more time spent on ‘hit and miss’ counseling, but ultimately
clients might leave with the same set of problems they brought to the first session. Assessment
collected at the early stages of the counseling process will help counselors formulate hypotheses.
Assessment is an ongoing process during counseling. Assessment gives an idea to the counselor
the intensity of the problems and how the client is coping with the problem.

STAGE THREE: GOAL SETTING - COMMITMENT TO ACTION

Setting goals is very important to the success of counseling. It involves making a commitment to
a set of conditions, to a course of action or an outcome. Goals are the results or outcomes that
client wants to achieve at the end of counseling. Goals help the counselor and client determine
what can and what cannot be accomplished through counseling. In goal setting, the client
identifies with the help of the counselor, specific ways in which they want to resolve the issues
and what course of action should be taken to resolve the problem.

Focus of the Client = Problem Focus of the Counselor = Problem + Client + Counseling Process
+ Goal According to Dixon and Glover, “once a goal is formulated and selected by a problem
solver, it is likely to be rehearsed in the working memory and stored in long-tem memory. A
goal encoded in this way, then, becomes a major heuristic for the problem solver as s/he interacts
with the environment”.

With clear goals, clients are more likely or motivated to work toward achieving those goals.

 With goals clients learn how to structure their lives towards achieving the goals.
 With goals, it is easier for the counselor to select and evaluate appropriate counseling
interventions.

When goals are stated clearly, both the counselor and client have a better understanding of what
is to be accomplished. Clarity of purpose allows the counselor to work more directly with the
client’s problems or concerns. Stating goals in behavioral terms, enhances the clients’
understanding of what is to be done. It also allows both client and counselor recognize progress
when it happens which reinforces further progress. Goal setting is a central part of the change
process that people often take for granted. And yet, many people (including many counselors)

This material is compiled and edited for the purpose of class discussion and for reference and therefore does not
have any acknowledgement. Do not reproduce it for any presentation. – Joel Zoramthansanga
 Principles and Practices of Pastoral Care and Counselling

are not very skilled at setting their own goals at helping others to identify and set goals. Goals
can motivate clients to make desired changes and help counselor to evaluate progress.

GUIDELINES FOR SELECTING AND DEFINING GOALS:

Goals should be selected and defined with care. Below are some guidelines for goal selection -
Goals should relate to the desired end or ends sought by the client.
Goals should be defined in explicit and measurable terms.
Goals should be feasible.
Goals should be within the range of the counselor’s knowledge and skills.
Goals should be stated in positive terms that emphasize growth.
Goals should be consistent with the client’s mission.

Process of Selecting and Defining Goals with the Client:

Determine the client’s readiness to negotiate goals.
Explain to the client the purpose of selecting and defining goals.
Select appropriate goals together.
Define the goals explicitly.
Determine the feasibility of goals and discuss their potential benefits and risks.
Assist the client to make a choice about committing to specific goals.
Rank goals according to the client’s priorities and according to the nature of the goals.
The easiest goals should be addressed first. This allows the client to feel success, which builds
confidence and motivation.

Breaking Down Large Goals into Smaller Steps: The first task in developing strategies to attain
goals is to reduce them to manageable parts. These parts consist of discrete actions to be
undertaken by the client. Behavior change is very difficult for all of us and particularly for
addicts. It is important to bear in mind that when a client agrees to carry out a task, it does not
necessarily mean that the client has the knowledge, courage, interpersonal skill or emotional
readiness to implement the task successfully. The client needs to be helped to set small, realistic
goals that are achievable, to avoid disappointment by large failures at the beginning of the
relationship.

STAGE FOUR: COUNSELING INTERVENTION

There are different points of view concerning what a good counselor should do with clients
depending on the theoretical positions that the counselor subscribes to. For example, the person-
centered approach suggests that the counselor gets involved rather than intervenes by placing
emphasis on the relationship. The behavioral approach attempts to initiate activities that help
clients alter their behavior. After completion of the counseling intervention - Client acting upon
plans; Client managing and coping with daily functioning; Existence of a support system and
supports being accessed; and Identification of strategies for maintenance of change.

This material is compiled and edited for the purpose of class discussion and for reference and therefore does not
have any acknowledgement. Do not reproduce it for any presentation. – Joel Zoramthansanga
 Principles and Practices of Pastoral Care and Counselling

STAGE FIVE: EVALUATION, TERMINATION OR REFERRAL

Terminating the counseling process will have to be conducted with sensitivity with the client
knowing that it will have to end. Note that each of these Stages continues even though the
counselor and the client moves to the next step. For example, after built a relationship, the
counselor moves to Stage Two which involves assessing the problem encountered by the client.
In the meantime, the counselor continues to strengthen the relationship that has been built. In
other words, Stage One or the building of a relationship does not stop but is ongoing until Stage
Five which involves termination or perhaps the client is referred to for further action. In this
stage - Closure discussed and planned; Appointment intervals lengthened; Available resources
and referrals identified and accessed; Assurance provided to the client of the option to return to
counseling if necessary.

This material is compiled and edited for the purpose of class discussion and for reference and therefore does not
have any acknowledgement. Do not reproduce it for any presentation. – Joel Zoramthansanga