My Understanding of Counselling

In this essay I will be explaining the different techniques and methods a therapist would use to personalise a screed to suit a client. I will be discussing what I've learned in class and the techniques we've practised. First of all it is critical to build up a good rapport with a client. This is done by communication, observation and general discussion. Communication is an important factor because when dealing with the subconscious, the language used needs to suit the personality of the client. When having a conversation with someone normally (in a conscious state) body language, tone and volume give away more clues of what someone is trying to get across than the words used. In hypnosis the language needs to be chosen carefully for the client to pick up on it the correct way it's proposed because usually in hypnosis the client has their eyes shut, therefore they cannot judge on body language. Although all of us humans seem similar in many ways we all have our likes, dislikes, different cultural backgrounds, different values and ways of looking at life. This is what makes us unique so when personalizing a screed the therapist needs to work closely with this. It can also be very useful to find out about their families, hobbies etc and try to incorporate the words that they would use into the script, this is important for the client to get the most benefit from the session. It is essential that the client trusts the therapist therefore positive language is essential to build a good relationship.

Modalities

Modalities are the sensory channels or pathways through which individuals give, receive, and store information in the brain whether it's to store for future reference or act on the experience. The senses are sight, hearing, feeling, taste and smell. The last two refer to the 'feeling' category. Everyone has a sense they favour the most even though we use them all every day.

In class we grouped off in pairs to do an exercise. We were instructed by our tutor to write down three questions we would like to ask our partners. These questions had to be open questions that would require a second of thought - not closed questions that are just answered yes or no. My three questions were: How was your journey to college today? What's your favourite shop? What is your favourite movie? I had to record the instant eye movement of my partner after asking her each question. This told me whether which sense she uses the most and she carried out the same exercise on me. I found out I am an auditory person - I looked to my left when being asked a question I had to think about. These eye movements are known as lateral eye movements (LEM), they can vary depending on the person if they are left or right handed they may demonstrate an opposite pattern. Psychologist Paul Bakan suggested different types of thinking would obtain different eye movements.

This method is required