Chapter 11 reflection of meaning and interpretation Two key Microskills Reflecting meanings encouraging clients to find new ways of examining their lives through your in depth listening for deeper issues and visions of the past present and future Ask questions like what does it mean to you when your husband walks away from you when you re fighting what does it mean for your marriage if your husband continues to walk away from you during arguments how does your husband walking away from you with your fight go against your vision for your marriage Interpretation reframing supplying clients with new perspectives words and ideas that they can use to create new ways of thinking and feelings and ultimately to behave differently You give it to them focus is more on you puts a positive light on the situation Make sure that your reframes are valid don t want client to mistrust you you must be careful about reframing with respect to certain issues and cultures These are more directive working from the counselor s frame of reference Reflection of meaning The words meaning values vision and goals may appear in the discussion for you how does exercising every day fit into your goal of who you want to be as a person what do you value in your life what is the goal of that meaning Interpreting reframe Here the client provides the new and more comprehensive perspective in the reflection of The counselor provides the new insights or interpretations of what the client has said or evidenced over many sessions It is usually trying to focus on or point that client to positive views of themselves or a situation when they see the negative Reframes may be based upon a theoretical orientation or may link critical ideas together Specific skills or eliciting or reflecting meaning by learning to understand the client and discovering the background of Eliciting client meaning the client s meaning making Reflect client s meanings Working with clients on discernment identifying life missions and goals back to them in their own words Chapter 12 Self disclosure Self disclosure Sharing your own related past and present personal life experiences here and now observations or feelings towards the client or opinions about eh future related you want to be careful it s importance to share relevance don t ever say I know how you feel because you probably don t Typically starts with an I statement Are very powerful and should be used carefully Dangers of self disclosure transference they put their feelings on you some clients view you as wonderful perfect whereas others may view you as controlling Countertransference unwise conscious or unconscious entanglement with the clients issues causing the boundaries between you and the client to be violated how the counselor feels about the client in regards to how they treat you May remind you of your own problems Talking too much about your own problems it could make the client feel forgotten like they need to fix you because they owe you in a sense Be a little skeptical of them remember you have a professional relationship with them Self disclosure can be too distant you don t want it be so removed that they feel like you re minimizing their problem or that you don t understand Feedback Positive finding strengths and things right about your client Corrective balance between negative feedback and positive suggestions for the future Negative necessary when the client is not willing to hear corrective feedback used as a last Praise and supportive statements convey support encouragement and victory resort when corrective feedback isn t working usually with critical issues Guidelines Give feedback when the client is ready for it if they ask you what you think or how you feel about it they re asking for feedback Focus on strengths I think you did a great job especially when Be concrete and specific Be empathic non judgmental and interactive as you give feedback allow them to give you feedback on your feedback Should be lean and precise don t give so much feedback that it s overwhelming Check out how feedback was received Three types of self disclosure Mechanisms of therapy Here and now feelings The therapist s personal life Chapter 13 Concrete action strategies for client change Defining logical consequences A gentle strategy with the goal of clarifying what happens when behaviors don t change decisions are made without adequate thought or the client is unaware of potential dangers You want your clients to be able to articulate consequences in their lives but you want to help them work through them so they won t don t happen again If you do then may will result maybe have them fill in the blanks Identify both positive and negative consequences As a therapist helper you may have to reinforce or help reinforce consequences sometimes negative more so with kids and court appointed patients but also positive If you don t they may think you don t care or that you don t value yourself enough Remember the things seen done in counseling sessions can transfer over if you don t enact consequences they may think consequences don t matter in other situations Psychoeducation Taking the teaching role to provide systematic ways for clients to increase their life skills Involve your client as co participants in the instruction or Psychoeducation strategy or program you don t want to lecture you want it to be hands on Be clear and concrete and time the instruction to meet the client needs maybe even print out the instructions for them Watch for client resistance and adjust approach accordingly Check out whether instruction was heard and understood have them verbally walk you through it Stress and stressors Psychoeducation may be on relaxation meditation stress child development parenting mental illness finances nutrition resources etc Stress is a psychological and physical response to change either now or anticipated in the future Positive and negative stress Stress effects the release of hormones in our body Increase in blood pressure heart rate and breathing Body awareness is key to stress management help your client learn what stresses them out and how they respond to it Stress management in an organized series of instructional strategies to enable clients to live with and deal with stress effectively Skills training Communication skills training Teaching attending behavior and listening skills to clients Teach client communication skills to help clients develop better interpersonal relationships