Using A Close-Ended Approach To Counseling

The practicum experience thought me that my counseling approach will vary between students. There are students that are open to communicate their needs and concerns with the counselor. At the same time, there are students that are not willing to communicate with the counselor. Students that are unresponsive in counseling might need to build a trusting relationship with the counselor. Through trust, unresponsive students can finally open up to the counselor. Deciding when to use open and close-ended questions was a technique I began to develop. During my first sessions with my groups or individuals, I used more close-ended questions to learn more facts about my students and for the students to learn more about me. In later sessions, I used close-ended to find out facts in problems or a situation that occurred. Most of my counseling session involved a great amount of open-ended questions. The students were able to express their thoughts and engage in an active conversation. In addition, I learned when investigating a problem among students, it is best to interview each students separately and write down key facts from the student’s account. While the student expresses their story, close-ended questions are necessary in these interviews. Near the end of practicum, I conducted more mediation groups amongst …show more content…
In my sessions, I continuously showed my students that I was fully engaged for their time with me. I recapped last session, restated and summarized their thoughts, asked question related to the conversation and summarized each session before the session ended. While the student spoke, I nodded my head, made eye contact, gave student time to respond and ignored any distractions in the counseling department. To add, I am comfortable with silence. If the student did not respond, I allowed silence to enter the counseling session. In my sessions, silence resulted in student thinking and sharing more