A counseling session is therefore sometimes referred to as the 50-minute hour session.

It takes
place in a session depends on the client's needs and the counselor's personal approach to
counseling. Although there is some variation during a session, there is a basic structure that the
counseling process follows. The structure was described by Cormier and Hackney (1987) as “A
four-stage process such as relationship building, assessment, goal setting, interventions, and
implementation”. Therefore this assignment will discuss the stages of a counseling process.

According Ohlsen (1997) said “counseling is an accepting ,trusting and safe relationship in
which clients learns to discuss openly what worries and upsets them, to define precise behavioral
goals ,to acquire the essential social skills and to develop the courage and self-confidence in
order to implement the desired behaviors”.
Counseling takes place within the context of the helping nature. This process enables you and the
person you are working with to build a relationship, assess the situation, set goals and come up
with a plan to bring about your desired results. This progression is known as the counseling
process. There are four stages of the counseling process. They are: developing a relationship,
making an informed assessment, establishing mutually agreed upon goals and objectives and
developing an implementation plan
In order to develop positive helping relationships with youth, you've got to be able to connect
with them. This can only happen when youth are made to feel like you genuinely care about their
well-being and that you understand where they are coming from. It's about behaving in a way
that demonstrates the core conditions of genuineness, respect and empathy.

Stage one begins with developing a relationship with a client, there is need to create a safe
environment where he/she will feel comfortable enough to open up to you and talk to you about
anything that is on their minds. The process begins even before any words are spoken ,for
instance the room chosen for the counseling session plays a part, as will be the sitting
arrangements, the way you greet and welcome the client and your non-verbal communication
You also need to help youth see that despite their circumstances they have strengths. In short,
one should start things off from a strengths-based perspective. According to Kochhar (2003) said
“Relationship building is the heart of the counseling process, as it helps to create a supportive

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environment to enable the client to feel appreciated and understood.” The successful outcomes in
counseling are associated with the counselor-client relationship which is the outcome of all
therapeutic efforts. The core conditions for successful counseling are empathic understanding,
unconditional positive regard, congruence, respect, immediacy, confrontation, concreteness and
self-disclosure, the development of listening skills. These eight conditions are necessary and
sufficient for constructive personality charge to occur.

The second stage is concerned with exploration and asses the clients belief, feelings motives and
goals. The counselor requires skills that will help him or her to accurately understand the client’s
concerns. An informed assessment happens when both the counselor and the client gather
information in order to figure out what's really going on so that you can assess what needs to
happen next in order to change the situation for the better or build up the client’s coping skills.
Bark (2003) highlights that “The first step in making an assessment is to find out if change is
necessary, and if it is necessary, then the next step is to figure out what needs to change is s it a
behavior, an attitude or a situation”.

According to Mwantembe (2008) said “A good assessment provides an opportunity for a young
person to see how his/her behavior or attitude might be contributing to an undesirable or
unhealthy situation.” Assessment is an ongoing process and there is need to regularly check the
client to see how things are going and on top of that reassessments on the client enable one to be
ensured that the client is on the right track.

One can gather information in order to make an informed assessment in a number of ways such
as talking with the client, observing the clients behavior and interactions, discussions with other
people who are involved in the client’s person's life such as family members and friends, and
reading any documented information on the client. Mutie (2000) cautions that “There is need
Keep in mind that when utilizing someone else's verbal or written report as a source of
background information, one runs the risk of subjecting oneself to their biases and assumptions.”

Establishing mutually goals and Objectives is the third stage in the counseling process. This
stage involves the counselor helping the client to identify how he or she would like the future to
be and what needs to be changed. It is important to establish mutually goals and objectives
because if a client is in an agreement with the goals then he/she is more likely to follow through

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on them. When a client is actively involved in the goal setting process and is in agreement with
the goals, then he/she is more inclined to take ownership of the goals. What are goals? Goals are
broad statements that identify what you want to accomplish .Goals are the end result that one is
trying to achieve .According Weiten(2006) said “ The counselors objectives should always be
concrete and measurable and they should be derived from the overall goals”.

Lastly the implementation plan is a plan that the counselor and the client work on together. It is
designed to prevent, intervene, or address unhealthy behaviors and practices. The
implementation plan identifies who will perform the activities, where the activities will occur,
how frequently they will occur, how they will be carried out and when they will be carried out.
Woods (2009) said “Implementation activities are designed to help individuals re-think risky
behavior, work through problematic issues, address unhealthy lifestyles practices, learn new
skills and build strengths.” These activities include counseling itself, crisis intervention, training
and education, supportive services, concrete services and constructive use of free time.

Furthermore the stage involves working with the client to consider alternative attitudes, beliefs
and action and encouraging commitment to change. The counselor works towards getting the
clients to focus on something they are in control of and achieving something that will benefit
them.

In conclusion, each stage of the counseling process builds upon the former. As you move
through each stage, one will come to realize that it takes patience and practice to counsel a
person effectively but if one is committed to the goal he or she will do just fine. One may not
feel completely confident in the ability as a counselor, but as knowledge expands there is gain of
experience and strengthen of counseling skills and one will become a more effective counselor.
Progression through these stages over a substantial period of time, there must be a number of
sessions or meetings with the client where the counselor would work through the stages with
time to think and evaluate at each stage. This can be helpful in enabling them to deal effectively
with the issues that concern them.

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REFERENCES