Summary Feedback
<Institution>
1) Nonverbal behavior & attending behavior
Most of the nonverbal and attending behaviors of the counselor were good. She established and maintained eye-contact with the client. At the same time, her voice was clear, and her facial expressions showed that she was listening to the client. She also did not make any unnecessary or annoying movement during the session. However, her posture seemed to be too relaxed, leaning a bit backwards. A little improvement with her posture may be necessary.
Professionalism
Did the counselor introduce him/herself and describe the purpose of the session?
The counselor introduced herself and provided background information about her studies. She also mentioned the purpose of the session.
Did the counselor display nervous laughter and/or talk over the client?
The counselor was professional and did not display unnecessary reaction, such as nervous laughter or talk over the client.
Did the counselor spontaneously (meaning the client did not use the language first) use
inappropriate or unprofessional language?
No. The counselor never used unprofessional language as she talked to her client.
Time
Did the counselor end the session on time?
Yes. The counselor was pretty much aware of the time. Towards the ending, she can be seen looking at her phone to see what time it was.
Listening Skills
Was the counselor listening?
Yes. The counselor was listening to the client.
What is one cognitive message and one affective message the client communicates to
the counselor?
When the counselor commented that the client is making good progress for knowing what is going on and knowing what is making the client happy and unhappy, she was actually giving an affective message. This was because it evoked a positive emotion that made the client know that she was being heard and agreed to. She didn’t provide any cognitive message though.
Does the counselor appear to accurately pick-up on these messages?
Yes. She appeared to accurately pick-up the messages.
Focus of the session
Did the counselor keep the focus on the client?
Yes. The counselor was focused on the client, and she made sure that she understood what the client was saying by nodding and summarizing the client’s response.
Did the counselor jump into advising & problem-solving?
Towards the end, the counselor gave an advice to the client by saying that the client may keep on experimenting ways to resolve her time management issues and she could try to talk to her teachers and boss to figure something out.
Asking Questions
Did the counselor ask questions that were relevant to the client?
Yes. All of the questions that the counselor asked were relevant to the client’s issue.
Did the counselor primarily ask more open-ended, indirect, or closed ended questions?
It can be observed that the counselor asked more open-ended questions during the session.
Provide an example of one open-ended/indirect and one closed-ended question. If
open-ended/indirect questions were not asked, give an example of a closed-ended question and offer a suggestion for how the counselor could have asked the same question in an open-ended manner.
An example open-ended question that the counselor asked was “What are some ways you think you can try to alter your schedule better to incorporate more work time and also have “you” time and be able to relax?” The counselor also asked close-ended questions, like “Have you tried talking to your boss and considering different work schedule at all?” This question was just answerable by Yes or No and is not highly recommended during counseling sessions.
Responding
What nondirective responding skills did you observe (e.g. silence, reflection/paraphrase, clarification, reflection of feeling, summarization)?
The counselor used summarizing as a nondirective responding skill.
If observed, provide one example of each skill (brief transcript or description of how the counselor used the skill).
After the client shared information about her and her issues, the counselor summarized the ideas by saying that the client was having difficulties with time management in terms of school and work activities. This was an example of how the counselor used summarization.
Strengths
What are at least three things that the counselor did well?
The counselor did well in making sure that she understood what the client was saying. She did this by summarizing the client’s response. She also did well in making eye-contact and using verbal cues, such as nodding to show that she was listening to the client.
9) Weaknesses
What are at least two things that the counselor could improve upon?
The counselor could still improve her posture. By leaning a bit forward, it will show that she is interested with the client’s issues and concern. There was also one point when, after looking at the time, the counselor seemed to forgot what to say next. This may affect the momentum of the counseling session. By avoiding such distraction and being aware of the time without losing focus, an instance like this can be avoided.
References
l.orkid’ (2016). Video #3. Youtube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMAhYJt5lLI&feature=youtu.be
