Modifying Traditional Counseling Skills Paper

Modifying Traditional Counseling Skills for a Crisis
Some of the normal skills a counselor would use with a client are attending, open ended questions, mirroring body language, paraphrasing, and summarizing. Those clients who have been involved in a crisis, need the same skills, but in different ways. According to Cooper (2014) the essential skills are attending, listening, open-ended questions, reflecting and summarizing. The most important difference is letting the client know that they are safe and out of harm’s way. When using closed-ending questions, do not interrogate, this can cause the client to shut down and withdrawal, only use it for more details (Cooper, 2014). With open-ended questions, instead of using what, or why, use a phrase such as “How can I assist you today?” (Cooper, 2014). It is important to express empathy with all clients, but those who have experienced a trauma the LAPC (listen, assess, plan, commit) crisis intervention model should be used (Cooper,
The “do say” and “don’t say” examples were eye-opening. I would say “I understand “but, I should say “I am sorry it happened”. I would not have considered how important the use of language can be in a crisis situation. I immediately thought back to different times I have offered the words “It will take some time, but it will pass” in various life situations my friends have went through. According to Cooper (2014) telling that friend who just lost her father “it was not your fault” sounds so much better. I learned so much from that section that I have written all the correct ways to reply to someone down on an index card. Someone I know could experience a crisis or trauma tomorrow, and I want to say the right things to them to help them through the situation. I am surprised at how much different a few words can make to someone who has just been sexually assaulted or