Using The Powhiri Poutama Model In Counselling

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I was a student counsellor in my second year first semester of my bachelor in social science counselling as is my peer client. The five sessions took place in her home in the lounge area, the orientation of furniture was my responsibility so I took great pleasure in moving the couches into a desirable position for my peer client, and also beforehand we discussed the nature of being alone in the house when sessions were taking place which we both agreed upon. The DOPLE method was used in all beginning sessions.
The night before each session I made sure I had a good night sleep and had cleared my mind current things going on, this seemed to help me feel more transparent with the PC referring to peer client. Also the clearing gave me an ethical liberty when forming a basic relationship, as Corey (2013) points out building a therapeutic relationship puts responsibility on the counsellor to work ethically, by understanding their own values and how these values could interrupt the process if the counsellor is not aware of it.
Using the Powhiri Poutama model in our first initial session relating to the connection of two people by introducing ourselves to each other, informing the client of her rights as a consumer, asking the client if they knew anything about counselling, confidentiality, and their involvement in the process. The Powhiri model influenced the conversation and the feeling of comfort and cultural awareness, the client was relaxed and able to ask question freely. (CITE)
Two out of the four sessions our relational style consisted of the counsellor being an adult friend who is prepared to listen and adapt the thinking of the client. The PC view could be different. The last two sessions this changed into more into the counse...

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... model powhiri poutama. I am more comfortable using my skills with my peers as there isn’t as much repercussions if something were to go wrong. But also the chance to use my skills makes me feel less anxious about using them with real clients.
First session was a pretend new experience even though we knew each other we also pretended this was our first meeting, sceptical about what she would talk about, I felt calm and transparent pushing my values to the side, to hear the PC issues. Using the ARC model helped me sift through the story and reflect back content that sat with her in term of her underlying feelings.
I have learnt it is a professional responsibility to commit to my work, attending class, listening, reading books related to counselling, work collaboratively with the client, and practice implementing goals to ease anxiety when using it in the future.

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