ONLY REQUESTING FOR THE TRANSCRIPT AND 1 PAGE REFLECTION

As a clinical mental health counselor, you consciously use certain skills, such as open-ended questions, paraphrasing, reflection of feeling, and summarizing, to demonstrate to the client that you heard, understood, and empathized with what he or she said. These skills help to initiate rapport with the client, creating a safe and therapeutic environment where change can occur. These skills help the client to initiate change as you guide him or her through the counseling process.

Watching counseling professionals perform and explain these skills is a critical first step in developing these skills. You will take the next step in this Assignment by actually putting these skills into practice. This will give you the opportunity to objectively assess your own performance and get helpful feedback from your Instructor.

For this Assignment, you will videotape yourself as you implement core counseling skills. You will review videos of clients making statements and record yourself re-stating and responding to these statements. Developing and applying microskills effectively is a process that requires a shift from speaking naturally to communicating more mindfully and therapeutically. While this assignment may feel awkward and contrived, practicing these foundational skills increases self-awareness and builds confidence.

To Prepare:

• Review Chapter 6 from the Erford course text. Focus on the sections titled “Open Questions” and “Reflecting Skills.”
• Watch both of the Demonstration of Counseling Skills—Responding to Client Statements (statements 1 and 2) media programs in your Learning Resources.
  • Pick one of these two sessions to focus on for your recording.
  • Re-watch the video and review the transcription of the media program you chose; attend to the client’s statements and reflect on how the counselor’s responses influenced the interactions.
  • To help you, Dr. Cyndi Briggs created two short videos (found in the Learning Resources) that demonstrate what to include in both the video and the transcript that you will submit.
• Download and review the Counseling Skills Transcription Template.
• Guidelines to create and upload your video are located in the Kaltura Uploader link in the navigation on the course Home page. (Note: Please be mindful of the technical requirements needed when creating your video.)

Assignment (video and transcript of 3 client statements and 3 counselor responses):

1. Record a video that includes you speaking each client statement you have selected, followed by the counselor response you generate.
2. In your counselor responses, be sure to demonstrate the following skills:
   • One paraphrase (pp. 201–204)
   • One reflection of feeling (pp. 205–207)
   • One open question (p. 197)
3. Tips for creating an effective video recording:
   • Do NOT write down and then read verbatim your counseling skill responses. While you might practice before you record, demonstrate these skills as if you are actually saying them to your client. You might consider putting a picture or object (such as a stuffed animal) in front of you to focus on as your “client.”
   • Be sure to face the camera and ensure you have sufficient lighting so the audio and video quality are clear.
   • Minimize distractions and reduce noise levels (e.g., silence your smartphone, turn off the TV or radio).
4. After making your video, document each client/counselor exchange, word-for-word, in the “Transcribed Text of Session” column on the Counseling Skills Transcription Template (Refer to the Kaltura Captioning Job Aid in the User Guide)
5. As you review the transcription, identify each microskill demonstrated using the abbreviations provided on the template.
6. In the “Counselor Comments” column, provide comments that demonstrate evidence of self-reflection and critical thinking related to your application of each skill attempted (e.g. what were you trying to do? Did it work? If not, why? What would’ve made it more effective?).
7. At the bottom of the document, after the transcription, include a 1-page reflection describing your experience demonstrating, recording, and evaluating your application of microskills.

References:

Briggs, C. (2018).Week 6 video Assignment example [Video]. Retrieved from:

Erford, B. T. (Ed.). (2018). Orientation to the counseling profession: Advocacy, ethics, and essential professional foundations (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

• Chapter 5, “The Counseling Process” (pp. 160–191)
• Chapter 6, “Counseling Microskills” (pp. 192–216)

Laureate Education (Producer). (2018). Demonstration of counseling skills—Responding to client statements 1 [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Laureate Education (Producer). (2018). Demonstration of counseling skills—Responding to client statements 2 [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.