Eating on a Budget 1

Eating on a Budget

Counselor Ezekiel Nwaigwe

Peer Client/Observer Sara Abayon Morran

November 14, 2019

NUTR 551
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My client is a young full-time college student. Upon briefing about what she would like

help with, she revealed that her interest was learning about how to shop on a budget. She lives

off campus and commuting occupies a significant amount of her time. Based on our counseling

session and taking note of her diet history, it seems that she is often in a hurry to go places, e.g.

to and from school and home, and thus seems to have an irregular diet during the week, as she

noted. Looking at her 24 hour diet recall. Her diet the previous day appeared to be rushed, as she

didn’t eat much over the first 6 hours of the day. She has said that she goes grocery shopping

about twice a week. When asked about her grocery budgeting and/or shopping habits, she replied

that she does not pay attention to price much, but instead purchases what she is craving. When

asked about what she knows about her topic of interest, she responded that she knows it is

important to pay attention to price and practice purchasing based on affordability.

During the involving phase, the client was first greeted, informed about the following

counseling questions, and asked whether or not she has met with a nutrition counselor before.

She appeared to be comfortable, judging by her body language and tone of voice. I proceeded to

ensure her comfort by exhibiting calm body language and maintaining a more relaxed speaking

style. Then, I explained what I can educate her about as a peer educator and listed the three

topics available. She chose “eating on a budget.” I finished by explaining that she can end the

session whenever she feels she wants to before moving forward.

During the exploration-education phase, I focused on asking open-ended questions.

Following this process, I focused on mirroring techniques for building rapport with her. Upon

learning that she is a 5th year college student who lives off campus, I asked about her grocery
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shopping and eating habits, she revealed important information that gave insight about her topic.

I learned that she shops for groceries about two times a week, and eats out weekends and

sometimes during the week. One issue she mentioned concerning her topic of choice, was that

she tends to buy items that she craves, regardless of price. Her diet recall seemed to display some

evidence of her eating habits, as mentioned. After confirming her topic of interest, I proceed to

create a SMART goal for her, in which she gave a self-rating of 8 for readiness.

Based on her self-rating, she scored in level 3 for readiness, where supportive chane talk

is important. During this resolving phase, I attempted to learn more about what she is aware of in

order to facilitate her change. After asking about what she knows, the client revealed that she is

aware of the importance of essentially being mindful of price when shopping.

For the closing phase, I was sure to thank her for her time. I think the closing phase is just

as important as the start, as it is still important to let the client know that they are important and

don’t feel rushed out the door.

I found the motivational interviewing approach to be quite helpful in facilitating the

counseling session. When interacting with the client, I was sure to keep in mind the OARS

principles of asking open-ended questions, giving affirmative responses, using reflective

listening, and summarizing the clients words.

At the beginning and after explaining the counseling process to my client, I purposely

avoided asking closed questions, such as “yes or no” questions. I wanted to get the client to do as

much talking as possible, so that I can formulate accurate findings and conclusions without

making any assumptions. I was aware that closed question may not only lead to false
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assumptions about my client, but also negatively impact discussion and the success of the

session.

As the client responded to questions, I tried to be as affirmative as I could by verbal

affirmations and displaying agreeable body language, such as head nodding. I understood that

affirmation is important in making the client feel comfortable and helping with

exploration-education.

After the client answered questions, I attempted to summarize what she said, as to

confirm accuracy as well as assist with communication. I also found summarizing to be helpful

in moving forward within the counseling session. For example, after summarizing my clients diet

recall, I was able to get a better idea of her eating habits and was able to provide better

educational tips for her topic.

After reviewing my client’s interview checklist (LMF 7.5), there are several areas that I

should improve upon, one of which is shaking the client’s hand during the greeting. I was

probably too focused on the script and papers that I forgot that important detail. Another area of

improvement is probing a bit more when setting the SMART goal. I could have asked the client

if she tried anything like this goal in the past, as to help test whether it could be effective. An

additional area for improvement would be maintaining more consistent eye contact, which

certainly was a challenge. A last area of improvement is acknowledging the client’s efforts and

giving praise. It seems I was too focused on making sure I read through everything that I did not

express much acknowledgement of her attempts. I do think this is an important part of successful

counseling, as well.
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Reflecting on this experience, I noticed that there were some things that I thought I did

sufficient on but others where could have improved. However, I must also note that due to initial

technical error of my video recording cutting off early when I attempted my first recording, I felt

rushed during my recorded submission. Unfortunately, I did not realize this happened until after

about 15 minutes or so, so we had to do it all over again. As such, this resulted in my recording

being more rushed and me being somewhat more disorganized because I had to be mindful of my

partner’s time. Because of this, I almost forgot to complete the 24-hr diet recall. It was a bit

stressful, to say the least, and also affected my nonverbal interactions.

I did find it difficult to maintain eye contact while having to focus on script.

However, perhaps it would have been easier to do if I did not feel rushed from experiencing that

technical mishap.
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References

1. BoiseCoE (2012, Apr 3). Motivational Interviewing -- OARS Skills [Video file].
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KNIPGV7Xyg&feature=youtu.be