Skills and Qualities of a

Counsellor

TANGRAM – TRACKING THE HUMAN MIND

 PERSONAL QUALITIES OF
THE COUNSELOR
• Empathy • Patience

• Warmth • Good Listener

• Genuineness • Research Oriented

• Positive Regard • Encouraging

• A sense of humor • Have a flexible attitude

• A sense of tragic • Problem solving skills

• Self-awareness • Rapport building skills

• Sense of tragic • Multi cultural Competency

TANGRAM – TRACKING THE HUMAN MIND

 Opening technique

Greeting Physical Confidentiality

Important to greet client as a
human and not as a file
number. Client should be
addressed by name. In Indian
settings, it is advisable to use
proper gesture like namaste.
Arrangement
Important to tell client that the
Setting should allow for information given by him would
adequate audio-visual privacy be kept confidential
(i.e. There should be only the
counselor and one client in the
room); room should be well-lit
and comfortable.

TANGRAM – TRACKING THE HUMAN MIND

• Client’s Frame of Reference – Therapist’s idea of how the client
views the first meeting. e.g. pressurized by a family member.

• Clinician’s Frame of Reference – Preparation by the therapist

for the interview i.e. to check for any information provided by the
client/referral given before the interview and be clear about the
purpose of the interview.

TANGRAM – TRACKING THE HUMAN MIND

 ESTABLISHING RAPPORT

Make the client comfortable

Address him by name

Be aware of self’s body language when talking to the

client

Be sensitive to what the client says

Let the client talk

TANGRAM – TRACKING THE HUMAN MIND

 Managing The Early Part Of The
Interview
Non-directive techniques to help the client talk with minimal intrusion –
● Non-verbal encouragement

e.g. nod, smile, eye contact

● Verbal encouragement
e.g. Yes, Mm-hmm

● Repeat the client’s last word to request more info.

● Re-request the information.

TANGRAM – TRACKING THE HUMAN MIND

 Verbal Non verbal
Communication communication
• Flexibility of the counselor to • The counselor must always
understand a local dialect when check one’s own non-verbal
there is a significant difference in manifestations and be careful not
the cultural background, to convey disapproval, boredom
education or socio-economic and irritation to the client.
level
• Nodding the head is a sign that
• Use vocabulary similar to that the counselor is attentive and
used by the client following what the client is
saying.
• Avoid complex words and
phrases and occasionally check • Pauses, emphases and tone may
the client’s understanding by reveal the emotionally charged
asking them to repeat what has areas that the client has difficulty
been said in their own words talking about.

TANGRAM – TRACKING THE HUMAN MIND

 The SOLER Position

Egan (2010) identifies certain non-verbal skills in

the acronym SOLER to create a therapeutic space –

S: Sitting facing the client

O: Adopting an open posture, arms and legs
uncrossed
L: Leaning towards the person
E: Maintaining good eye
contact
R: Relaxed posture

TANGRAM – TRACKING THE HUMAN MIND

 WHAT SKILLS ARE REQUIRED
FOR EFFECTIVE
COMMUNICATION?

TANGRAM – TRACKING THE HUMAN MIND

 LISTENING
SKILLS
❑As a counselor, listening is
the most important skill

❑The art is listening to what the

client “says” and what he “does
not say”

TANGRAM – TRACKING THE HUMAN MIND

 Listening helps clients to…

 Feel cared about and accepted

 Feel significant and respected
 Feel heard and understood
 Establish a sense of trust with ◼ Listening skills involve using different verbal and
therapist non-verbal continuation prompts

 Express emotions and release tension ◼ E.g., verbal prompts include: ‘Mmm’ ‘Yes’ ‘I see’
‘Please continue’ ‘Oh’ .

■ Non-verbal behaviours: looking interested and concerned,

showing it in your body movements, nodding of head,
leaning forward.

TANGRAM – TRACKING THE HUMAN MIND

 QUESTIONING SKILLS

TYPES:
1. Open ended
2. Close ended
 

3. Probing
4. Leading
5. Hypothetical

TANGRAM – TRACKING THE HUMAN MIND

 Open-ended questions
◼ Asking an open-ended question invites a more detailed
response.

◼ E.g., “What brings you to see me today?” “Can you tell me what has
been troubling you?”

Closed-ended questions
◼ These questions limit the person’s response options and
often give the option of only a ‘yes’ or ‘no’

◼ E.g., “Did you take your medication?” “Have you seen the
doctor?” “Do you hear voices?”

TANGRAM – TRACKING THE HUMAN MIND

 Probing skills
◼ Probing skills involve questioning.
◼ The most useful forms of questions are open-ended
and begin with either of these

When…….?

What………?

How……….?

Who……….?

Where……..?

TANGRAM – TRACKING THE HUMAN MIND

 The ‘Why’ Question
◼ The ‘why’ question tends to invite an answer rather than a
description or an exploration.
◼ In addition, the use of ‘why’ may appear interrogative and as a
result may make the client defensive

ALTERNATE PHRASING
‘Why’ questions

◼ Why didn’t you take your medication? ◼ What stopped you from taking your
medication?
◼ Why did you take an overdose?
◼ What made you take an overdose?
◼ Why did you discharge yourself from
◼ What happened that led you to
hospital?
discharge yourself?

TANGRAM – TRACKING THE HUMAN MIND

 Managing Pauses
● Repeat the last word or the last few words that the client
has used, rephrasing it as a question.

Example -

Client: “I cannot deal with this situation”

Counselor: “This situation?”

TANGRAM – TRACKING THE HUMAN MIND

 Managing Silence
Assess the meaning and function of silence in the context of the
interview. It may be managed by –
• Saying ‘mmhmm’ or ‘I see’ and wait for a moment.
• Repeat and emphasize the last word or the last few words that the
client said.
• Recast the entire last sentence as a question
• Say ‘and’ or ‘but’ with a questioning emphasis

TANGRAM – TRACKING THE HUMAN MIND

● If the client still remains silent, the counselor may say ‘You find it
difficult to talk’ or ‘It’s hard to talk’
‘Perhaps you don’t know what to say’
‘Maybe you’re trying to figure out what to say next’
● In the rare instances when the client still remains silent, the
counselor should respect the client’s silence and sit it out with
him/her. Under no circumstances must one show anger with the
client or force them to talk/share when they are not ready to.

TANGRAM – TRACKING THE HUMAN MIND

 CLARIFICATION
• Used to clarify the meaning of what client said
• Helps client to see confusion in his thinking
◼Commonly used phrases:

▪ Could you tell me more about…

▪ I did not understand…
▪ Could you please elaborate/describe…

TANGRAM – TRACKING THE HUMAN MIND

 Reflecting skills

◼ Reflective skills involves identifying the client’s core message

and offering it back to them in your own words.

Speaker: “I just don't understand my boss. One minute he says one

thing and the next minute he says the opposite.”
Listener: “You feel very confused by him?”

TANGRAM – TRACKING THE HUMAN MIND

 EMPATHIC
RESPONDING
•Indicates understanding and acceptance of
client.
•Includes verbal / non-verbal
communication (e.g. looking 
encouragingly at client).
•Commonly used expressions to display
empathy:
• I understand…
• I can imagine how you must be feeling…

TANGRAM – TRACKING THE HUMAN MIND

 PARAPHRASING

WHAT IS PARAPHRASING?

• Paraphrasing communicates to the

client that the therapist is listening.

• Therapist conveys the meaning, tone,

feeling, and/or the content of the
client’s message by repeating what
the client has said in somewhat
different words.

TANGRAM – TRACKING THE HUMAN MIND

 Special Problems In Interviewing
● If the client tries to engage in intellectual discussions or
talks about topics like the weather, current events then the
focus may be brought back to the patient by asking
questions like ‘How does that affect you?’

● If the client indulges in self-devaluation by making

statements like ‘I am terrible’, the counselor must never
agree. Questions like ‘What makes you think you are?’
can be asked.

TANGRAM – TRACKING THE HUMAN MIND

Do’s and Don'ts

DO’S
- Use simple language - Interrupt too much
- Show sensitive - Be judgmental
approach - Mind read or make
- Practice active assumptions
listening - Ask multiple
- Elicit and note down questions
the client’s needs and - Multi tasking or half
wants to verbatim listening
- Learn to deal with

DON’TS
silence shown by the
client

TANGRAM – TRACKING THE HUMAN MIND

 THANK YOU

TANGRAM – TRACKING THE HUMAN MIND