ECCD F1K Program

Early Childhood Care and Development for the First 1000 Days Program
Basic Skills on Counseling
• Objectives:
- Define counseling and identify its importance
- Identify the 3 steps for an effective counseling
session
- Enumerate the 6 listening and learning skills on
counseling
- Enumerate the 6 confidence and support skills on
counseling

Module 2. The ECCD F1K Program 3

Nutrition counseling
• Interactive activity between individuals and a
trained counselor that utilizes information
from nutrition assessments to prioritize
actions for the improvement of nutrition
status

Module 2. The ECCD F1K Program 4

Nutrition counseling
• Way of working with people to understand
how they feel and help them decide what is
best to do in their situation
• Can be facilitated for a big group of
participants, or for a one-on-one session

Module 2. The ECCD F1K Program 5

3 steps for effective counseling

STEP 1: STEP 2: STEP 3:

ASSESS ANALYZE ACT

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3 steps for effective counseling
STEP 1: STEP 2: STEP 3:
ASSESS ANALYZE ACT

• An effective counselor has the ability to let the

individual talk about his/her condition or
feelings
• A counselor should possess the skill to listen
and make the participant feel at ease
• Use of listening and learning skills

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Listening and learning skills
1. Use helpful non-verbal communication
2. Ask open questions
3. Use responses and gestures which show
interest
4. Reflect back to what the mother says
5. Emphatize
6. Avoid words that sound jagging

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Listening and learning skills
1. Use helpful non-verbal communication
2. Ask open questions
3. Use responses and gestures which show
interest
4. Reflect back to what the mother says
5. Emphatize
6. Avoid words that sound jagging

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Skill 1: Use helpful non-verbal
communication

Non-verbal communication – showing attitude

through posture, expression, and other related
aspects, except through speaking.

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Skill 1: Use helpful non-verbal
communication

Techniques for non-verbal communication:

• Observe proper posture
• Pay attention and establish eye contact
• Remove barriers
• Take time
• Touch appropriately

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Activity 1: Demonstration on
non-verbal communication

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Skill 2: Ask open questions
Open questions
• Require more than a “yes” or “no” answer
• Designed to elicit a longer response
• Encourage conversation by inviting
participants to tell a story
• Signals to participants that we as counselors
are interested in learning more about them,
which builds rapport and trust

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Skill 2: Ask open questions
Open questions Closed questions
Start with “How?”, Start with words “Are
“What?”, “When?”, you?”, “Did he?”, “Has
“Why?”, “Who?”, he?”
“Where?”
“How are you feeding your “Did you breastfeed your
baby?” baby last night?”

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Activity 2.1: Role-play demonstration
on asking open questions

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Activity 2.2: Role-play demonstration on
starting and continuing a conversation

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Skill 3: Use responses and gestures which
show interest

• A counselor who shows interest and listens

well to what the participant is saying
encourages the participant to continue talking

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Skill 3: Use responses and gestures which
show interest

Ways to show interest and listen attentively:

• With gestures: looking, nodding, smiling
• With simple responses: “Aha!”, “Mmmmm”,
“Oh dear”

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Activity 3: Role-play demonstration on using
responses and gestures which show interest

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Skill 4: Reflect back to what the participant
says

• There may be instances when the participant

respond less
• Reflecting back to what a participant says
shows that you as a counselor is listening
• This technique also encourages the participant
to continue talking, and say what is important
to her/him

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Skill 4: Reflect back to what the participant
says

Example
If a mother says,
“I don’t know what to feed my child, she refuses
everything”

Appropriate response by reflecting back is:

“Your child is refusing all the food you offer her?”

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 Activity 4: Role-play demonstration on
reflecting back what the participant says

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Skill 5: Empathize

Empathy
• Deals with awareness of participant’s feelings
and understanding how it affects their needs.
• Example
Mother: “My baby wants to feed very often and it makes
me feel so tired!”
Counselor: “You are feeling very tired all the time then?”

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Skill 5: Empathize

Empathy is different from sympathy.

Sympathy
You are sorry for a person, but you look at
it from your point of view
“Oh, I know how you feel. My baby
wanted to feed often too, and I feel
exhausted
This brings the response back to you, and
does not make the person feel like you
understand her
Empathy
More than reflecting back what a person
says to you.
“He wants to feed very often?”
This response reflects back what the
person said about the baby’s behavior.

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Activity 5: Role-play demonstration on
sympathy and empathy

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Skill 6: Avoid words that sound judging

• A counselor must be careful when talking and

should avoid judging words.
• When judging words are used, the mother will
feel that she is wrong, or something is wrong
with her child.
• A breastfeeding mother may feel there is
something wrong with her breastmilk.

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Skill 6: Avoid words that sound judging

• Judging words to look out for are:

Right, wrong, well, badly, good, enough, properly
• For example
Do not say: “Are you feeding your child properly?”
Instead, say: “How are you feeding your child?”

Do not say: “Do you give your child enough milk?”

Instead say: “How often do you give your child milk?”

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Activity 6: Role-play demonstration on
using judging words

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3 steps for effective counseling
STEP 1: STEP 2: STEP 3:
ASSESS ANALYZE ACT

After the assessment part of the counseling

session, the counselor must analyze all data
gathered and identify actions to be taken, giving
priority to difficulties needing immediate action.

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3 steps for effective counseling
STEP 1: STEP 2: STEP 3:
ASSESS ANALYZE ACT

• A counsellor must discuss actions that the

mother must do in response to her situation.
• Use appropriate confidence and support skills

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Confidence and support skills
1. Accept what a mother thinks and feels
2. Recognize and praise what a mother and
baby are doing right
3. Give practical help
4. Give a little relevant information
5. Use simple language
6. Make one or two suggestions, not commands

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Skill 1: Accept what a mother thinks and
feels

Accepting
• Responding in a neutral way, and not agreeing
or disagreeing
• Helps to prevent a mother to feel upset, lose
confidence, and limit information that she
shares with you

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Activity 7.1: Role-play demonstration
on accepting what a mother thinks

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Activity 7.2: Role-play demonstration
on accepting what a mother feels

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Skill 2: Recognize and praise what a mother
and baby are doing right

• Counselors should look for what mothers and

babies are doing right, and praise or show
approval of the identified good practices
• Through praising good practices,
– A mother’s confidence is built
– A mother becomes encouraged to continue those
good practices
– It makes it easier for the mother to accept
suggestions later

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Activity 8: Identifying remarks that
build a mother’s confidence

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Skill 3: Give practical help
• Counselors should offer practical help to the mother
to aid her during the conduct of counseling. Some
ways to give practical help are:
– Help to make her clean and comfortable
– Give her a drink or something to eat
– Hold the baby for her while she gets comfortable, or
washes or goes to the toilet
– Help the mother with feeding, particularly on positioning
and attachment, expressing breast milk, relieving
engorgement, or preparing complementary feeds

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Activity 9: Giving practical help

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Skill 4: Give a little relevant information

• Choose just two or three pieces of most

relevant information to give during counseling.
• Give information relevant to her situation at
present.
• Before giving information to a mother, build
her confidence.
• Do not give new information or correct a
mistaken idea immediately.

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Skill 4: Give a little relevant information

• Give information in a positive way, so it does

not sound critical. For example
Instead of: “Thin porridge is not good for
your baby”
Say: “Thick foods help the baby to grow”

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Activity 10: Give a little relevant
information

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Skill 5: Use simple language
• Translate technical terms into simple, layman’s
terms so that it would be easy for the mother
to understand the counseling session.

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Activity 11: Role-play demonstration
on using simple language

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Skill 6: Make one or two suggestions, not
commands

• A counselor must be careful not to tell or

command a mother to do something.
• When counseling a mother, suggest what she
could do, then let her decide if she will try it or
not.

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Activity 12: Make suggestions, not
commands

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Summary
• Nutrition counseling is an active activity
between individuals and a trained counselor
that utilizes information from nutrition
assessments to prioritize actions for the
improvement of nutrition status
• Three steps:
– Assess
– Analyze
– Act
Summary
• Six important listening and learning skills:
– Use helpful non-verbal communication
– Ask open questions
– Use responses and gestures which shows interest
– Reflect back to what the mother says
– Empathize
– Avoid words which sound judging
Summary
• Six important confidence and support skills:
– Accept what the mother thinks and feells
– Recognize and praise
– Give practical help
– Give little relevant information
– Use simple language
– Make one or two suggestions, not commands
 Thank You

Early Childhood Care and Development for the First 1000 Days Program