Balancing Friendship and Counseling: A Personal Analysis

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I was much more comfortable during this skills assessment than the previous one. This is likely due to the fact that I conducted this session with one of my close friends. We were also in her room, which made the environment a lot less structured and more comfortable for the both of us. I was able to put my phone (that was recording) off to the side and out of sight, so that it was not something that she had to be constantly looking at. I think that this allowed her be more open and relaxed with the conversation. Based on her body language and way that she talked, I believe that she was comfortable talking to and opening up to me. The fact that we are such close friends was likely a factor that played into this comfort level. On the other hand, our friendship did hinder the counseling session for a couple of different reasons. The biggest problem I ran into during the session was not commenting like I usually do when I talk to her. I think that …show more content…

I think that this helped aid the awkwardness of me not responding like she is used to me doing. I used this nodding to express my empathy and to show her that I understood her feelings. This helped me validate her feelings and opinions. These non-verbal cues let her know that I was hearing and paying attention to what she was saying. There are a couple of things that I will attempt to do better for the next skills assessment. It is very clear that I need to work on summarizing and paraphrasing what my volunteer is saying. I need to work on condensing my responses and conveying my understanding in a more effective manner. In addition, next time, I will try to focus on the emotions rather than the facts. This assessment has shown me that I have a lot I need to work on. With more practice and experience, these noted shortcomings will hopefully

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