6 Valuable Counselling Skills and Interventions

This article shares six valuable counselling skills and interventions that can be used with clients in sessions. I discuss their value, reason for use, and any cautions to keep in mind. These include self-disclosure, normalizing, pacing, dealing with crises, identifying and interpreting negative interactional patterns, and mobilizing hope, agency, and communion.

1. Self-disclosure: Self-disclosure may be used in counselling sessions if it supports the alliance and relationship with clients, especially with those who are wanting to connect and know more about the counsellor. This may happen briefly during social talk to warm up the session or after wrapping up when there may be a few minutes left before closing. It can be valuable for humanizing the counsellor, especially if there is idealization by the client. It's wise for counsellors to be cautious to not disclose personal issues that draw too much attention away from their clients or causes them to worry about the counsellor, or meeting their emotional needs.

2. Normalizing: Normalizing may be used with clients in situations where they seem to be particularly self-critical or judgmental. It can be used when a client is experiencing something that is translatable across human development or experiences, such as self-medicating during a time when they are struggling to cope with intense grief, sorrow, or other painful feelings. It's important not to indulge this to the point where it might send the wrong message, such as with encouraging or endorsing behavior that is harmful or self-destructive.

Normalizing may also used in sessions with clients to reassure them that there are types of self-medicating behaviors that tend to be quite common for many people in response to distress. These are things like binge watching shows on Netflix or Amazon more than usual, changes with an increase in eating salty or sweet foods, and other behaviors. Psychoeducational resources may be offered, depending on what the client is needing and finds useful. This could be information about anxiety, depression, addiction behaviors, and therapeutic activities or exercises to practice in-between sessions.

3. Pacing: Pacing may be used with clients to help slow down or speed up progress in sessions. There are times when clients want to vent and share information about what has happened since the last session. Sometimes this can shift away from the focus of their goals and hopes for counselling. Sometimes active listening and reflections helps clients to explore an issue more deeply, or to help track the content of the discussion. It can be valuable for rapport and trust building. Caution is needed to not push things along too quickly, or to not slow down so much that progress is limited.

4. Dealing with Crisis: Crisis response and intervention may be needed for some clients. When responding to a crisis, the client, their partner, and/or family members are overwhelmed and in a state of chaos, unable to think clearly or prioritize needs. This may signify the right time to be more directive with less open-ended questions and a focus on immediate needs for relief with whatever the individual or group is struggling to cope with. Safety is always a key priority, and this may involve separating family members and giving space for people to de-escalate and calm down. If possible, it may help to work on restoring things back to the state of functioning they were at before the crisis escalated. If they’re ready and able, they might be supported with reflecting on what led to the situation and identifying some practical tools that can be used for prevention and response to any similar situations arising in the future.

5. Identifying and Interpreting Negative Interactional Patterns: Identifying and interpreting negative interactional patterns may involve changing communication styles and practicing non-violent communication. This shifts our statements to neutral or observable facts about an event or experience, without blaming others. A next step is to identify and express our feelings (softer underlying feelings, if possible). Then, we identify and express what we need and connect it with a request for what we would like the other person to do in the situation. This way, we are taking responsibility for our thoughts, feelings, and actions, without blaming others. It’s less likely to repeat negative and defensive interactional patterns.

6. Mobilizing Hope, Agency, and Communion: Mobilizing hope, agency, and communion are important skills and interventions in counselling to use in a variety of stages throughout sessions. There are many times when regret, shame, guilt, and despair expressed by clients. It can sound like clients are carrying a huge burden and feeling isolated from social support or community. So, engaging in questions that focus on talking about hopefulness, managing well (solutions that have worked), remembering people that care for and love us, things that are comforting, how to stay connected to people/things that matter most, and where our strength lie, are all valuable options.

In summary, these are six valuable counselling skills and interventions that can be used in sessions with clients. While it's not a comprehensive list of the all the valuable skills or interventions worth using, it captures some of the foundational ones that well recognized and applied in most situations. Hopefully, this article has offered some value by learning more about these skills, the reasons for using them, and any cautions to keep in mind, as a counsellor or a client.

Sources Shebib, B. (2019). Choices: Interviewing and counselling skills for Canadians. Pearson.