Steps For Successful Counselling: Essay On Effective Role Playing.

Greeting and establishing focused attention and contact

Discuss about the American Society for Training and Development.

Role play involves communication between two individuals one being a client and the other a counsellor and mainly involves seeking advice, assistance or psychological counselling. This requires for the counsellor to approach a client and be capable of Rapport building where they build a connection with the affected individual. It’s critical to build trust and show understanding so as to connect with the individuals feeling so as to secure their trust and offer assistance (Lendrum & Tolan, 2002). In addition to building Rapport, It’s critical to deliver accurate information and advice related to the situation to avoid misleading the individual and attracting blame at a later stage. Situations must be evaluated by offering support and genuine feedback. Confidentiality is another factor which must be maintained since in most situations the information is private thus role plays should maintain confidentiality.

Role play is a skill which an individual must be prepared to handle at any time since the instances are seldom planned in advance and the first meeting is also the most important. This required for the counsellor to be prepared to assess the individuals using basic assessment framework. Most people seeking a role player’s intervention and assistance will fall under one of more of the following three categories namely family and environmental factors, parenting Capacity and child development needs. Each of these factors will then be broken down in to further subsections catering to individual needs which require be identifying and investigating during the counselling session or meeting. It’s critical for the counsellor to understand, analysis, investigate and then advice regarding the overall situation (El-Shamy, 2005). It’s important to follow each of the steps in the same sequence so as to retain the individuals focus and trust thus helping them open up more regarding the situation and help you secure more data to work with. Basic assessment steps include:

The first step linked to being a good role-player involved greeting the individuals and dedicating your time towards them. In any situation, they would have informed you they need to meet you regarding something important making it important you offer warm and cordial greetings after which you can interact regarding basic data today experienced and new developments occurring around you. This is important as it builds the foundation of trust, interest, and dedication between the role player and individual thus helping calm the situation (Brantley, 2007). This step can last between 5 to 10 minutes and should be dedicated towards common talk as this helps reduce the anxiety. The individual may be experiencing anxiety and holding a short discussion helps them reduce stress and communicate in a clearer and better manner. It should not be stretched extensively as this can lead to distracting the meeting purpose.

Basic assessment steps

Once the individuals are comfortable and more relaxed the session should begin without further delay. This can either be started by the individual themselves or by the counsellor or role player who can request the individual to begin explaining their issue. It’s important to review and analyse the individual’s mood to help determine or anticipate the information thus allowing the role player also adopt a suitable attitude (Horwath & Morrison, 2005). This Rapport building is critical towards winning the individual’s confidence thus allowing them to open up the concern and help you secure a clear picture regarding the issues. Constant interaction and connecting also helps connecting the role player and individual helping them to retain open communication and psychological link. Make sure you never disrupt the individual until they complete explaining the entire situation or plan. Don’t make notes since this is not a professional consultation but simply remain attentive to understand the situation.

Once the individual has spoken out their concern and inform you regarding the problem you should take minute to think over the situation and respond with some important questions related to the situation (Suffield, 2012). It is critical to choose your questions carefully while ensuring affections and support are being expressed in the questions. Don’t interrogate the individuals but ask subtle question the help reveal additional information’s which may have not been discussed by the individual. These questions also helps identify if other people are involved in the situation and whether they know regarding this issue or concern. Do not show any favour towards any side as you are not there to judge but offer genuine advice related to the overall situation.

The role player counsellor must be capable or analysing the situation and being able to paraphrase rephrasing their experience and knowledge while communicating with the individual. This is critical as it allows them to build trust with the individual by demonstrating they have understood the situation and how it affects the individual. It’s important to link the individual’s current situation to a previous or other situation but not reveal names or highlight the examples. Even when the role lay needs to use an example they should use one of a popular celebrity which is commonly known to the public. This helps build the connection and does not breach the used example person’s privacy this demonstrating your commitment towards maintaining confidentiality (Downs, 2008). Never use examples of people known by both parties as this is likely to attract negative vibes from the individual who may connect you to using his or her example on future individuals approaching the role play for advice or to resolve a problem. No names should be used as examples but situation can be paraphrased to help deliver understanding and a solution that may have been used in the past. Family conflict, conflict of interest and teenage hood are the main reasons people seek role players thus the role player must dedicate some time to research in to the different situation and develop their approach of handling the situation.

Reflection of client’s feelings don’t judge

It is important to also maintain contact and trust with the individual after they have discussed their problem to avoid losing their trust. No matter how serious the concern one must be able to reflect and understand the client’s feelings and interpreted the feeling before passing on their advice. This does not mean role player should give misleading guidance or advice but rather must reflect their opinion related to the situation while still offering support (Bourne, 2016). Use as many examples as possible to make the client understand the consequences which may follow the decision thus helping them understand the overall situation clearly before making a final decision. Clearly mention your support or non-support, and offer advice on copping with the situation but don’t over emphasize on implementing your approach or views, let the client make the final decision.

In a situation where you support the decision, you must again expand on benefits linked to the situation but also make sure to highlight there is a major possibility of drawbacks. This bust is clearly stated to inform the individuals that every coin has two sides and simply focusing on the benefits is ill-advised. Support should be delivered but at the same time, it’s important to also point out some areas which may require additional investigation. This should be done by the individual as it allows them to secure hands-on experience thus helping build their knowledge and understanding regarding the situation. The role player can also assist in some situations but limit the majority of respondents to the individuals who would need to handle the situation independently at a later stage (Thomas & Rothman, 2013). Support must continue delivering despite the decision being taken since it helps retain the ideals trust and allows helps them understand there is someone willing to offer advice and assistance to resolve a problem or make the right choice.

The role play must be able to manage the beginning and ending of the meeting in a very positive manner. Clients will in most situations have begun the meeting in a stressful state but you helped them calm down and during the meeting the tense mood may return again thus you need to ensure the client is calm and peaceful before you close the meeting and part ways (Yardley-Matwiejczuk, 1997). It’s important they understand you will be available to deliver support when required thus encouraging them to return if required.

Summarization

The role play must not make any assumptions linked to the situation since each one is unique and have its own characteristics. This makes it important to probe the case as much as possible before to reveal the widest understanding. In situation requiring follow ups the role play can call the client for future meeting to clarify on certain points to help build a clearer picture of the situation so as to develop a better solution.

Data from a case must be carefully documented to help reveal triggers points and factors which may be triggering the situation. It’s also important for to use this information to perform further investigations and research to locate suitable solution to the problem. The first meeting it’s the most important since the role play will have to build their relationship and trust with the client after which future meetings can focus on other areas which may require improvement. An immediate review and interpretation of the situation needs to be delivered before terminating the meeting to prevent the client making a wrong decision. Consequences linked to the situation must also be delivered to help create a clear picture of the effects thus helping deter the client from making a wrong choice.

All advice given to the client must be linked to previous examples of similar situation and their solutions without revealing the people that experienced them. It’s important to maintain a strong command over this stage as it demonstrates an individual’s command over the subject and helps the client determine if they are the most suitable person for the job. the roles plays advice and guidance should involve points and approaches the individuals does not already know or has not used thus demonstrating the roles plays value to the clients wellbeing and benefit (Veach, LeRoy, & Bartels, 2006).

Before terminating the interview and meeting it is critical to ensure the client is a calm and relaxed state. Clients should be calmed and relaxed throughout the meeting to help deliver comfort and build confidence in the role play (Thompson, 2015). Situation which attract sever stress and anxiety should be forwarded to legal and medical authorities to manage so as to prevent harm to the client. The role play must act as a counsel who helps calm and advice the client on the best and easiest way out but in situation involving violence and threat to one’s life legal action can be taken to safe guard the client.

Conclusion

Once classified as a role player you must be prepared to mentor and support the individuals who approach you by listening and offering apathy after which you can offer your views and advice regarding the situation. The situation simply does end at the meeting and should be continued even after the meeting and a last a lifetime among certain Individuals who build in-depth trust in their role player and mentors.

References:

Bourne, L. (2016). Advising Upwards: A Framework for Understanding and Engaging Senior Management Stakeholders. Oxon: CRC Press.

Brantley, J. (2007). Calming Your Anxious Mind: How Mindfulness and Compassion Can Free You from Anxiety, Fear, and Panic. Oakland: New Harbinger Publications.

Downs, L. J. (2008). Listening Skills Training. American Society for Training and Development.

El-Shamy, S. (2005). Role Play Made Easy: 25 Structured Rehearsals for Managing Problem Situations and Dealing With Difficult People. Wiley.

Horwath, J., & Morrison, T. (2005). Effective Staff Training in Social Care: From Theory to Practice. London: Routledge.

Lendrum, S., & Tolan, J. (2002). Case Material and Role Play in Counselling Training. Routledge.

Suffield, J. S. (2012). A Role-Play Notebook: Questions that really make a difference! Lulu.com.

Thomas, E. J., & Rothman, J. (2013). Intervention Research: Design and Development for Human Service. Routledge.

Thompson, R. A. (2015). Counseling Techniques: Improving Relationships with Others, Ourselves, Our Families, and Our Environment. Routledge.

Thornton, G. C. (2016). Assessment Centres and Global Talent Management. Oxon: CRC Press.

Veach, P. M., LeRoy, B. S., & Bartels, D. M. (2006). Facilitating the Genetic Counseling Process: A Practice Manual. Delaware: Springer Science & Business Media.

Yardley-Matwiejczuk, K. M. (1997). Role Play: Theory and Practice. SAGE.