Self disclosure in a therapeutic relationship

In this journal, I’d like to talk about the case number five and discuss whether Michelle’s way of approaching is beneficial to the therapeutic relationship. Firstly, I agree that self disclosure is a good way to establish therapeutic relationship with the client. It’s useful when client experienced similar life moment. However, the disclosure must be within boundaries, so that both the counsellor and the client can have an appropriate relationship, like what’s mentioned in the BACK ethical framework. The case mentioned Michelle keep disclosing her own situation and turns out the focus of the session twisted to Michelle’s life story instead of dealing with client’s needs, I think that is a bad example of not putting client first. If possible, I think Michelle should consider how much she should disclosure at the beginning and make sure the purpose of disclosure is to demonstrate empathy to Paula’s situation instead of becoming a channel to express Michelle’s own feeling. Besides, it’s common that client is curious and wish to know more. When Michelle encounter that at first instance, she should deny the request and explain the reason gently, so that Paula understand it’s to protect interest of both sides. Michelle should also guide Paula to talk about her own experience that she wish to explore, so that she can apply the counselling skill and demonstrate good practise through the session.