Psychology

Overview of the session
It is always good to test the waters before taking the full dive and the counseling experience I held with my client helped me attest to this. This counseling session not only gave me an insight to issues that I will have to deal with in my professional career but also opened my eyes to some of the shortcomings that I will have to work on to ensure that in future I get to be an effective professional counselor. The session ran for almost twenty minutes and by the end I guess the client must have felt that it was a success as I did. Basically my role entailed active listening as the client talked about his issues and I tried to put in some of my thoughts as we went on with the session. All the same I believe I did my level best and that the session was a success.

Legal and ethical issues
This session was conducted on a male client who raised social, legal and ethical issues which he felt needed to be addressed. The client is in charge of a community youth group camp that caters for youth between twelve to eighteen years. During the session I got to learn that the client was facing problems with the some of his committee members and in particular his secretary. I guess it is this advantage that the secretary seems to have over her boss that makes her take matters into her own hands. The client feels that his secretary does not involve the elders and the senior members of the committee because she feels that she has a better relationship with the children as opposed to the elders and seniors. She also uses her age to justify why she feels this is so basing it on the fact that she is younger compared to the rest of the committee members therefore children will associate best with her as opposed to the elders.

The client and his committee are tasked with looking after the youth and if at all there are misunderstandings within him and his secretary, the interests of the children should be put first. There are risks involved when dealing with children and this becomes a social issue if at all the secretarys behavior puts the children at risk.

The client is helpless because his secretary who is twenty one is regarded as an adult in legal terms. Legally the secretary can make her own decisions without the consent of any one and those decisions should be regarded as sound because she is after all an adult. The client however feels that in as much as his secretary is considered an adult, her actions are wanting. For instance he feels that in as much as his secretary feels that she can handle the children all by herself, this is not so and that she should involve the elders and seniors who are more adult than her as per the clients view.

From the information given to me by the client I feel that his secretary does not have good work ethics. The client portrayed her as someone aggressive and forceful who likes getting her way with the elders as well as the children too. She does not involve the elders or the seniors in the looking after the children and this displays some form of unprofessional behavior. She also appears not to respect the elders, a behavior which the client finds not morally upright. Professional and personal response

In regard to the issues raised by the client, my professional response was to try and find out if at all he had any suggestions that he thought would help in resolving the issues with his secretary.
Possibly I would try to talk about it with them and tell them how I feel about their behavior. Using this personal approach I inquired if he had ever tried speaking to her a step that I think should be the first option considered if people want to resolve any issues (Bond, 2010). I also offered my professional help if he ever needed it but only after he had tried his preferred option and it didnt work out or he required additional help.

Counseling skills applied
During the counseling session I made sure to apply some of the counseling skills I possess. I listened actively, paid attention throughout the session, I made sure not to be judgmental, I asked questions when necessary and in a manner that did not imply prying and made summaries of the session as we progressed (Brems, 2001). I also made sure not to give advice where it was not needed. Paraphrasing is another counseling skill that I applied and this entails restating what my client told me in order to clarify if I was getting exactly what he meant (Dryden, 2006).

Evaluation of the skills applied
I believe the skills I applied throughout this session were very effective. Active listening helped the client to develop his thinking. It also helped him feel free to disclose his issues and in turn this enabled me to get to know him better. To prove I paid attention and listened attentively I made use of active listening skills which include the use of encouraging words such as mmm, hmm to let him know that I was listening and that he should continue talking. Paying attention as well as listening actively assures the client that you care about what they have to say (Conte, 2009).

I also asked the client some questions and made summaries as we went on with the session. For instance I asked the client why he felt that his secretary was not capable of taking care of the children even though he implied that he approved of her qualifications. This enabled me to get more information on why the client felt this. After the client talked of his secretarys aggressive nature I asked him to elaborate whether his secretary was only aggressive to the elders only or if the children also got to experience her aggressive attitude.

Summaries were made as we progressed to enable the client to hear his thoughts and know that he was understood (Ivey et al., 2009). In making the summaries I made sure to ask the client to confirm whether what I was summarizing is what he meant. An example of this is when I told him What I am hearing is, correct me if I am wrong, that it is a communication issue, problem or something like that That it is not wise communicating with her the way it has to be done or something like that Is that the issue or problem when he implied that the problem could be as a result of communication problems between them. I went on further to ask him if he had tried talking to her at all.

I also encouraged the client when he said that he needed a professional approach in dealing with his secretary by saying words such as I think that that is a good idea and I went on to tell him that if he required more help he could always ask.

I tried not to give advice to the client before finding out what he thought of the situation he presented. For instance I made sure to ask him what he wanted done about the situation rather than making suggestions. Giving advice during counseling sessions is one thing counselors should avoid to prevent the client from being dependent or hostile (Nelson-Jones, 2005). Advice should be given after the client has suggested what he feels should be done.

An instance where I applied paraphrasing was when I said What I am hearing you say is that you want someone to communicate with her in a professional manner

Suggestions for improvement in application skills
I believe there are things that I should have done differently to improve my application skills and I trace this back to the beginning of the session. Immediately after the introduction where I laid down the ground rules, I should have started the information gathering stage by asking the client an open ended question. This should have come after making sure that my body language was open and that my tone was friendly (Carey, 2008). The open ended question would have been put this way, So what brings you here today instead of how I put it during the session by just saying So and leaving it hanging. The way I put it left the client not sure whether to begin talking or not.

Another mistake that I made almost four minutes into the session was paraphrase too soon even though it appeared the client had more to say. I remember starting to paraphrase what he had said so far till I realized he intended to continue talking. I apologized for cutting him off but now I realize I should have made a mental note or simply noted it down to paraphrase later after he was done talking (Fall et al., 2004).

Reflection of overall effectiveness
As a counselor I believe I was effective during the session I carried out with my client. To begin with I made a point of laying down the ground rules to ensure that the session would prove to be productive (Alexandria, 2005). I started my introducing myself to the client asked how he was doing. The next step was to tell him that I was there to listen to what he had to say and assured him of the confidential nature of the session. In addition to this I explained the circumstances that would breach that confidentiality. Informed consent enabled him to have the freedom to choose whether he wanted to continue with the session and remain in the counseling relationship (ibid, 2005).

To gain more information from the client I made sure to ask and probe for answers so that he could elaborate more on the points (Palmer  McMahon, 2003). At one point the client talked of his secretary being aggressive and I asked him to elaborate on who her aggressive nature was directed to. After the client talked of the issues he was having with his secretary I inquired from him if there was anything he wanted done. I wanted to find out if he had thought of possible ways to solve the dilemma he was having before I suggested any of my thoughts. The client had an idea on how to deal with the problem and after listening to his suggestion felt it was good and I encouraged him by telling him that it was a good idea. I also offered to help if he required more help. At the end of the session I thanked the client and proposed a subsequent session if he ever felt that he needed it. This was to assure him that I would always be there to listen and I think it is a good implication on my future profession as it will instill confidence in my clients to know that I would always be there (Crawford et al., 2001).

There are some things that I realized I did wrong that may have prevented me from being completely effective as a counselor. To begin with I did not inform the client that I would be taping the session (Bond, 2010). I should have at least told him about taping the session as I laid down the ground rules and let him decide if he would be okay with it. I realize that I displayed unprofessional behavior and that this could have implications on my future if at all I will not remember to seek the clients consent prior to recording any sessions.

Conclusion
I believe the session was an overall success and an eye opener for what to expect in future. As a potential counselor I believe I carried out my work in a diligent and professional manner and utilized my counseling skills to my level best. Despite making a few mistakes here and there I believe that with time I will correct them provided I keep them in mind and work on them often to ensure that they are a part of me. I believe this session helped me learn that I can be efficient in my professional career but at the same time not paying attention to the important details such as ensuring my client is provided with all the required information for example notifying them prior to taping any sessions, would cost me that professionalism (Weiler, 2008).