Practical Assessment Exercises in Counselling

The aim of this practice was to enable each student to understand his or her own needs in regards to what motivates him/her so that they can be able to improve their personal and professional life. This practically allowed students to reflect on their own needs and accept them whilst identifying how these needs impact their interactions with other people.

The materials used in this practical included an extract from Corey and Gerard (1993) “Are the helping professions for you?” This handout was a course reading for the students involved in this practical and they were asked to read and become familiar with the material prior to attending the practical. Instructions and questions which were provided to the students either on the university website or in a class were also utilized in this practice.

Prior to the practical, students were asked to read Corey and Gerard (1993) “Are the helping professions for you?” The first task of this practice was for the students to individually list their personal needs which would motivate them to help others in a professional and personal setting. This list would become Data 1 of this practical; students drew a line under this list in preparation for more data. Students were then instructed to discuss in small groups their needs and to list down any additional needs that were raised in this group discussion. This additional list would become Data 2 and students once again drew a line underneath said list in preparation for the final data. One member from each group was asked to read out their lists to the class whilst the students recorded down any new needs to their lists. Lastly, this created Data 3 and an overall class profile.

Individual students were later directed to think of real or imaginary situations where they may have been asked for help. They were subsequently instructed to identify what needs to be affected by these interactions and discuss with others how these needs may have positively or negatively impacted the formulated situations.

The final task involved students individually creating a brief description of themselves regarding their abilities as a helper and what needs were required to motivate them to help. Students then discussed methods that could potentially assist them to be a better helper and what needs must become a higher or lower priority.

In the groups, we were able to gain a better understanding of what our own needs are, along with how our needs can affect the professional industry. We recorded data on how our individual specific needs could influence our abilities to connect with a client considering that in various situations, clients could feel that their needs are not being satisfied which can mean that the client can feel a lack of confidence and competence by the counselor.

The needs have allowed me to realize the influence they have on my daily life, regarding friendships, relationships, and my future. For instance, these needs have made me understand how, in future, I can be of help to individuals including close friends and relatives in need of counseling and how I can employ my expertise and know-how to a given situation and help a person who needs me to resolve his or her problem situation.

In addition, these needs are vital in my day to day life as the need to be needed and the need to provide answers are the most important needs which I place within my friendships and my own self-worth. These needs have always been relevant in my life and will fundamentally be needed that I will extensively utilize in my future career as a counselor. I must be able to provide to my own needs as well as my clients’.

By focusing on the need to be needed there are many advantages. For instance, there is the satisfaction which I feel after helping someone resolve a problem successfully. It is also a rewarding feeling to know that I am a positive influence in improving a relationship or making a relationship better. All in all, feeling appreciated for the help given is great. However, there are harms when the need to be needed overcomes the needs of the client by feeling dependent on feeling appreciated.

The lecture was based on the concept of the Johari window. The Johari window comprises four different quadrants which are the open self/arena, blind spot, facade and the unknown self (Lim & Jamil, 2013). By having a clear understanding of the Johari window, it became evident that addressing a client’s needs is extremely important. Corey and Corey (1993) describe several needs including the need to be needed, the need to provide answers, the need to rescue others and the need to have prestige and status. A counselor must be able to assist his or her clients using the most appropriate strategies in order to help them make progress. For example, Corey and Corey (1993) talked about the need to have prestige and status. This need is purely based on having hopes of acquiring a certain level of prestige, or a certain level of income. The need to have prestige and status is also by enhancing one’s status by attending seminars and training programmes in order to update their expertise in the counseling and psychotherapy field (Corey & Corey, 1993). By the counselor significantly involving their own insight and their own efforts, a new behavior can help solve the problem and help the client in need (Gerner, 2016).

A therapist should have knowledge of the needs as this will allow him or her to provide counseling that meets the client’s needs and effectively helps to resolve the problem or issue which the client has. Every person has fundamental emotional needs and the therapist should seek to meet the client’s needs for intimacy and attention outside of the therapy room (Carrick, 2014). The client will feel dependent on the therapist if the therapist does not actively encourage the client and help him or her to satisfy basic needs for intimacy and attention outside of their therapy with the therapist. It is worth mentioning that a level of emotional dependency and neediness is unavoidable for psychotherapy to become effective. Even so, this does not mean that the vast majority of clients who seek therapy are willing or keen on becoming emotionally dependent and needy (Pompeo & Levitt, 2014).

Actually, a major issue which usually arises during therapy is resistance. In spite of the significant pain which they might be feeling as well as sort of desperate hopelessness which at last forces them to look for professional assistance, a lot of clients do not want to become needy or dependent on the counselor (Timulak 2014). If a therapist has knowledge of needs, he/she will inform the client that it is OK to feel needy as this helps to develop a steady relationship with the therapist that will allow the therapist to provide effective counseling to help the client solve his/her own problems (Carrick, 2014).