Baseline Counseling Skills Reflection

Through the baseline assessment, I was able to immerse myself into the role of being a counselor, receive feedback from my peers, and watch back my session to allow for personal critique. I found the whole process to be educational and a good way to learn about the natural skills I possess and areas that need further development. Based on the basic skills list provided, I found a few areas that came to me more easily and a few aspects I am eager to work on.

As it relates to my strengths, I found eye contact, reflection of content, and summarizing to occur naturally during my session. When it comes to eye contact, for as long as I can remember, I always make it a point to truly show my focus on the conversation I have with someone by making frequent eye contact. It is an aspect of my conversational/listening style that has been embedded in me from a young age. I noticed in the counseling session, I focused on my “client” to let them know that I am truly listening and interested in what they had to say. Eye contact is an important aspect of a conversation for me, so I like to make sure I provide it to others in return. When it comes to reflection of content, I observed myself paraphrasing what my “client” said, to make sure I understood what had been discussed and in turn be able to ask clarifying questions if needed. During my debriefing session, I was told that by asking clarifying questions, it made them feel heard. Concurrently, I was made aware that I was summarizing throughout the session. I find the observation interesting, as up until that point, I wasn’t aware summarizing is a natural part of my counseling style. However, it was mentioned that based on previous experience working in a career center, I developed and utilized the skill of summarizing to help in various capacities. Further reflection allows me to see my experience with helping students create resumes is a way in which I have developed the skill of summarizing. As the process of helping create bulleted statements requires summarizing key aspects of the work done by students. While these skills are more natural to my counseling style, I am still eager to continue developing and refining them.

It may be easy to focus on the positives, but true growth and development comes from accepting there are areas that need improvement. A few areas I found I could improve upon are, verbal tracking and the use of questions. Throughout my session, I found myself providing nonverbal cues of listening and encouraging further discussion, but I rarely focused on specific words that reflected the “clients” mood. I am not entirely sure how to properly utilize the skill of verbal tracking, but I want to learn how to best incorporate it into my counseling repertoire. During my session, my “client” was very chatty and for the most part was in storytelling mode. While I interjected questions occasionally, I need to learn how to better control the conversation through open or closed questions. However, while I didn’t ask too many questions during the session, my “client” stayed on topic and did answer the questions I asked. While it is evident and natural that I have areas of weakness, I look forward to improving upon the skills mentioned above and content I’m not aware of yet.

The baseline assessment provided the opportunity for personal discovery and growth. While I didn’t know what to expect prior to the exercise, I am feeling more confident in my abilities to be an effective student affairs counselor. Through feedback and self-assessment, I was able to learn about the skills associated with my natural counseling style and areas for improvement. The experience makes me eager to continue my journey towards personal and professional growth in all areas of my counseling skills.