Counseling Micro-Skills Notes #1

The following notes are an aid to up-skilling and cross-skilling your counseling micro-skills, to complement your university studies or supervision training. They are not a replacement for your class/internship materials and instruction.

Reference

Beck, K., & Kulzer, J. (2018). Teaching counseling microskills to audiology students: Recommendations from professional counseling educators. Seminars in Hearing, 39(1), 91-106. https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0037-1613709

Summary - Psychotherapy (professional counseling) and other health and rehabilitation workers use counseling micro-skills

- Effective use of counseling micro-skills = strong therapeutic alliance --> positive intervention outcomes

- Recommended to be taught as soon as possible in graduate programs b/c a foundational skill - Role-play and simulated patients provided embodied learning (experiential)

- practice, repetition, feedback

- Four critical counseling micro-skills: 1. Active listening

2. Nonverbal communication

3. Silence

4. Empathy

- Detailed rubric to grade student demonstration of micro-skills

- A learning activity is provided to enable identification and understanding of the 4 key counseling micros-skills, and best practice for learning

- Strong therapeutic alliance à higher client compliance with intervention

- Counseling micro-skills are recommended for health and rehabilitation professionals, as well as psychology professionals

- Professional counseling = Formal relationships encouraging and supporting mental wellness and functioning across individual backgrounds and goals

- “… assess, diagnose, and treat mental disorders using evidence-based interventions” (p. 4)

- holistic philosophic foundation with a strengths-based approach