I’d like to reflect on questions that are helpful to expand counsellor’s ability to think critically about their cases. When classmates sharing their own cases, I noticed that they all have great understanding about the action and response of helpee, and what they’re struggling are what to do next after noticing the pattern. A suggestion was raised during the supervision, which is trying to explore the underneath meaning of the pattern: ‘ I’ve noticed the pattern during the previous sessions. Do you notice about that happening? How does that feel for you?’ It’s common that people used to protect themselves in daily life using various defense mechanisms, and it’s not easy to deactivate it even though it’s a safe space to share. For example, a helpee is keen to talk about affairs of other people but rarely talk about her own emotions. Helper can try to raise this in future sessions and explore what’s behind, probably there’s something that helpee is aware but hesitate to go deeper. I think the suggested question is helpful because it expands the possibility of how helper can help. Apart from discussing the affairs, the pattern itself is also worth to further explore and there maybe something that helper can help with.
The analysis demonstrate how I display the person-centred core conditions when helpee talked how she and her partner think differently in lifelong planning. To create a comfortable dialogue environment, I maintained silence when I noticed helpee need some more time to open up and process her thoughts. When I listen to the recording, I think I created a safe space for helpee to share. And it could be better if we can further discuss and name helpee’s feeling.
