In our sixth week at PANDA we covered Counselling Skills and brainstormed what makes for good counselling skills. Here are a few points we came up with: active listening; reflecting content and feelings; paraphrasing; summarising; clarifying (do you mean…?); reframing (husband’s or baby’s point of view); empathy (putting yourself in their shoes); curiosity; sympathy; questioning (closed: getting facts, yes or no questions or open: getting more info); minimal responses (mmm, yes, I see)…
After this brainstorm we did some more role plays. While I know this will get easier, the skills mentioned above sometimes don’t come easily – to paraphrase, reflect, etc, can sometimes sound false but to know that you’re making the caller feel at ease and demonstrating that you are really listening to them is the outcome that you want to achieve. After all, they’ve taken the huge step of calling in the first place.
Another thing which I am finding difficult is how much information can we ask of the caller. Again, while this will come naturally (and the facilitators do it REALLY well!) my feeling at the moment – even though we’re only role playing – is that I don’t want to push too hard or delve too deep. What is going to be very beneficial is the second part of the training where we sit one on one with the most experienced telephone support workers and listen to their side of the conversation.
One final note for this week – I’ve signed up to do the Diploma of Professional Counselling through the Australian Institute of Professional Counsellors. I received my first package yesterday and I’m looking forward to getting stuck into it.
John Zimmer said,
August 26, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Lisa,
Best of luck with your counselling work. It might not be easy, but it is very important.
I agree with you about the importance of active listening. It is a skill which is too often overlooked and underused these days. I recently posted an article on active listening on my blog. It is aimed at public speakers, but can be applied in almost any situation. I hope you and your readers find it helpful: http://wp.me/pwfa1-eG
Cheers!
John Zimmer
http://mannerofspeaking.wordpress.com/
Lisa Beavan said,
August 26, 2009 at 7:32 pm
G’day John and thanks for the encouragement
You’re right, it is a skill overlooked and underused and I’m learning that more and more each day. I read your article on active listening but also read the one about Aussies going walkabout. I may not say ‘bonza’, ‘ripper’ or ‘strewth’ but ‘mate’ might get a look in here and there!