Counseling micro-skills are required for you to deliver high quality counseling assignments, demonstrations, and future intervention. Often, the micro-skills for counseling are underestimated in value by the student reading and learning about them. But they are essential to develop trust and rapport with the client, and to maintain that therapeutic relationship. TL;DR ~ click on the pic below... Simulated clients are usually part of your university/supervised counseling training, to help you hone your counseling micro-skills. Four critical micro-skills in counseling are:
1. Active listening
2. Nonverbal communication
3. Silence
4. Empathy
And across the modalities, there are a bundle of others, with some being specific to that counseling technique.
Micro-skills in counseling are foundational to your building a therapeutic alliance between yourself and the client. Modality techniques will fall flat if you as the therapist do not underpin them with by sincere investment in counseling micro-skills. I'm keen to help you to develop your professional counseling and clinical skills through embodied learning (experiential learning). So, I've put together a batch of client scenarios (or we can use ones from your class/supervision training), for us to role-play with. The scenario also includes a scored assessment of your session (tailored to the modality), including:
Agenda setting
Mood check
Understanding the client (Empathy)
Client feedback check-in
Adjustment based on feedback Verbal and nonverbal responsiveness
Reflection/Rephrasing/Summonsing
Active listening
Appropriate responding
Appropriate level of disclosure
Interpersonal effectiveness
Professionalism
Confidence
Pacing
Use of modality/techniques/counseling micro-skills
The 1-to-1 Zoom session can be recorded for your ongoing use. And when needed, I can help you to source a client suitable to particular background needs. If you are keen to put your counseling micro-skills to practice, subscribe to my wait list here. Light & Life~
Charmayne
