What are the six stages in the counseling process? Describe the purpose and importance of each stage.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Stage 1: Establishing the relationship – This is central to the counseling process and an essential factor that leads to successful therapeutic outcomes. Counselors should create an inviting therapeutic environment and demonstrate warmth, acceptance, and empathy to their clients.

Stage 2: Assessment – Purpose is to evaluate factors that contribute to the client’s presenting issues. There are several forms of assessment counselors utilize such as informal conversation with the client, using structured questions, and conducting a behavioral observation. Often, in clinic mental health settings, a diagnosis is required. This serves as a starting point for treatment, as it informs the counselor about the nature of the disorder, symptoms of the disorder, and treatment planning

Stage 3: Treatment Planning – A collaborative effort between the client and counselor to generate therapeutic goals and ways to achieve them. The treatment plan should: be tailored to the client’s unique needs and presenting issues, reflect optimistic, realistic and attainable goals, be concrete and measurable, and be flexible

Stage 4: Intervention – Counselors use therapeutic interventions (often called techniques) that derive from their theoretical orientation and align with the treatment goals. Interventions help clients accomplish set goals that promote their mental health and well-being. It is important that counselors utilize interventions that are known or suggested, based on research and/or literature to be effective with the client’s presenting issues

Stage 5: Evaluation – Counselors are responsible for evaluating the therapeutic process and outcomes to determine whether those interventions served the treatment goals. There are two types of evaluation: formative evaluation (occurs throughout counseling to periodically assess client’s progress) and summative evaluation (occurs toward the end of counseling to determine whether the therapeutic goals have been accomplished). Methods of evaluation include having informal conversations with clients to assess their perceptions of change, observing behavioral and emotional changes in clients and using empirically validated assessments or instruments.

Stage 6: Termination – Once the client achieves a satisfactory therapeutic outcome, it is time for termination. Ideally, termination happens when the counselor and client mutually agree that the client has achieved treatment goals. Counselors prepare clients by fostering their independent, encouraging them to take charge of their own lives, helping them identify problems they overcame throughout counseling, helping them plan for future situations, and helping them set up long-term goals