Most counsellor training courses require counselling students to keep a professional development log. Such a log could include details on training, aspects arising from supervision or of practice which the counsellor felt of importance. A professional development log helps the counsellor focus on individual practitioner experiences (Wilkins, 1997). In addition, some counsellors use audio
Reflective Practice and Self-Evaluation
Reflective practice and self-evaluation take many forms. Reflecting on work with clients directly after a session has ended, on areas of counsellor strengths and weaknesses, on personal motives for engaging in counselling (McMahon, 1994) on gender and sexuality (Davies, Neal 1996) on personal counselling philosophy and theoretical approaches and on the relevance of research and
Collating Client Information
There are many ways in which information can be collated. – The counsellor may ask the questions and simply record the answers given. – The client may be given a Client Record Sheet to complete. – A receptionist or intake worker may record the information prior to the initial assessment session. – The counsellor
Client History – Basic Administrative Information
A counsellor’s first task is to consider what basic information is required for administrative purposes, for example, name, address, telephone number (home and work), referral source. In addition, many counsellors take a client’s General Practitioner’s details as part of the initial administrative recording procedure. This latter point may be totally redundant if you are a
Client History – Referral Letters
Referral letters are common and come in many forms. Some contain detailed information whilst others provide (after giving name, address and date of birth) a brief single line statement such as “I would be grateful if you could see this patient who is anxious and depressed”. Some counsellors do not read referral letters until after
Client History Taking
Client history taking can be approached from a number of different angles depending on the orientation of the counsellor, the time constraints surrounding the counselling offered and the problem area presented by the client. A psychodynamically trained counsellor will tend to focus on early family history whereas a cognitive-behavioural counsellor will generally require detailed information
The different types of help
Following on from the different types of people, let’s look at the different types of help they offer: Counselling Counselling is focused on helping people with emotional distress which stops them from being able to function as well as they would like. Counselling timeframes can be as short as 6 sessions or less or as
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