Communication_Skills_in_Helping_Relationships

Know about helping relationships 1.1 Identify different forms of helping relationships I would like to try and define helping relationships in order to explain the different forms if it. “I believe that people having to deal with difficult situations and choices, worrying feelings and/or sense of having missed opportunities may feel they need someone to listen and assist them to make sense of what is going on and to see if they can make better sense of it. This could mean approaching someone who is caring, committed and wise; all signs of a good helper. This could be in the form of active listening, offering practical advice or simply offering guidance.” ● Family: The relationship between a mother and son where a mother helps with the son’s homework or simply discusses him confronting his fear of the dark can be classified as a helping relationship. A wife may help her husband offload stress from the day by talking about what problems occurred at work and what he could have done better to resolve them. ● Friends: Friend-to-friend relationships may be the most common helping relationship around. It is always easy to confide in a friend and talk about every little issue/problem you may be experiencing (for example, breaking up with a partner). The friend may in turn offer guidance based upon their own personal experiences or simply help by providing a listening ear. Another helping relationship may be found between individual/friend of a friend, whereby the friend of a friend may come to the individual looking for help regarding their mutual friend. ● Professional: There are numerous examples of professional helping relationships such as the relationship between a nurse & patient, manager & staff, teacher & pupil, counsellor & patient, police & victim etc. 1.2 Define Counselling My understanding of Counselling is as follows: ● Counselling is advice or guidance especially as solicited from a knowledgeable person. It is an activity between two persons, where one is seeking help and the other offering help through their knowledge and expertise. ● In my opinion, counselling is/should be non-judgemental. The counselee should not feel judged, as this may be one of the reasons they may have come seeking help for in the first place. ● Counselling entails communication between at least 2 individuals, leading to self-realisation/change/understanding for 1 of the individuals through help from the other. A counsellor needs to be a good listener as it is a key element to the whole process and enables to build up a comfortable relationship with the counselee. ● Confidentiality – a person should feel secure in the knowledge that the other person is not going to tell anyone of what they have disclosed, as this is clearly and explicitly contracted. 1.3 Describe how counselling is different from other helping relationships ● Non-judgemental - Helping relationships such as ones between mother & son or 2 friends can be quite judgemental, which is not the same in the case of counselling. For example, a son goes to his mother for advice about his girlfriend; the mother may be quite judgemental about his girlfriend and may have a biased opinion of her due to the fact that she knows of the girl in question and is protective of her son at the same time. This is not always a negative thing. A counsellor does not personally know his/her client and would therefore hold a non-judgemental opinion of the situation, which in turn would help in building a comfortable and trusting relationship between the two. ● Professional & Confidential - Counselling is provided by someone who is qualified and a professional in the field, which therefore encompasses confidentiality. Confidentiality may be the main deciding factor for someone who is looking for help, as they may feel secure in the knowledge that their innermost thoughts/worries won’t be shared with anyone else but the Counsellor. This also applies to certain helping relationships such as Doctor/Patient or Police/Victim. But most other helping relationships are not bound by contract and it can be difficult to confide in someone who you may think cannot keep a secret. However, a friend may offer protection, dependability, honesty and loyalty which define a good helping relationship. ● Active listening & sound advice - Both counselling and helping relationships require active listening. However, there is a risk of over-identification when it comes to helping relationships. An individual may offer advice to a work colleague which is built upon their own similar past experience, but the outcome may impact their colleague in an entirely different way. Whereas a counsellor is trained to assess different situations and offer a solution or advice/guidance which they feel is best for their client’s problems. **********************************