Jason Park

Counseling Videotape Reflection

Simulating a mock counseling interview has been a very enlightening
experience for me. I have learned and grown to appreciate that it takes experience
and constructive feedback to become an effective counselor. By videotaping my
counseling session I was able to learn on what I did well and what things I can
improve on.
With that being said, I felt that I was able to utilize open-ended questions that
helped develop the discussion further and expanded certain topics. An example of
this is when at one point I asked the client in what ways does it affect you? I
thought I did well on verbal tracking by restating the clients feelings and asking a
question about a past topic. I also felt like I was able to be genuine and really try to
understand the clients story.
While I felt good about certain aspects of the counseling session, I also
noticed that there is much room for improvement. After reviewing the session, I felt
like I was asking about topics that did not really fit into the clients main issue. I
think there were some points in the interview where the main issue came to light,
but I missed it early on in the session. I felt at times I interrupted the client when she
had something to say and instead of interrupting I could have utilized silence to let
her express herself more. I also think my posture looked like I was closed off from
the client, and so in the future I want to appear more open. Lastly, I want to
improve on articulating my thoughts and questions as I felt there were times I was
not able to clearly state my thoughts.