Jennifer Axford

Nutrition 510
Joan Rupp
Counseling Self Evaluation

1. Which session did you feel more comfortable doing, the first interview session
or the second counseling session? Explain your choice
a. I felt much more comfortable doing the second interview session
compared to the first. I was extremely unprepared for the first
interview and it was apparent in my level of confidence. I really hadnt
practiced what I was going to ask or what was really expected of me,
so I was very uncomfortable and scatter-brained during the session.
Furthermore, I felt it was much easier and comfortable for me being
prepared with facts to approach my client with versus just trying to
elicit information from them.
2. Your personal take home message from playing the counselor role is What
did you learn? What will you apply?
a. My personal take home message was to be prepared. Preparedness is
key when it comes to counseling. Our clients deserve a dietitian who is
well-prepared and confident when conducting interviews and it is
important to have a clear agenda ready before interviewing the client.
Also a thorough review of lab values, anthropometric date and diet
history are all crucial to assessment and overall preparation.
3. Your personal take home message from playing the counselor role is what
did you learn? What will you apply?
a. My personal take home message from playing the client role is that
researching the background and culture of your client is incredibly
advantageous to overall preparedness and ability to connect with the

patient on a more personal level. One will have a very difficult time
with step one of motivational counseling, build rapport, when
interviewing future clients. In addition, communication styles vary
across the board between different culture, so it is important to
understand what to do and what not to do in order to avoid offensive
language, nonverbal and verbal communication.
4. Discuss your strengths.
a. My strengths include compassion, overall comfort level and openness
when communicating with clients (and all people in general). My
intuitive nature is also helpful when it comes to dealing with people,
especially with people I may not know well or have just met. My
outgoing personality also makes interviewing easier for me and I have
no issues asking questions and getting to know someone better.
5. Discuss your weaknesses. How do you intend to improve those?
a. One major weakness I am experiencing right now is that I have so
much going on that I am often pushing projects until the last minute,
which is leaving me feeling overwhelmed and underprepared. My
schedule has opened up some since the project was due, so I feel I am
at a place where I can finally catch up and even get ahead a little
before the semester is over. Also, I was informed that I say, um often
when I am presenting/counseling. I consider this a weakness and plan
to practice being comfortable with short gaps of silence while I gather
my thoughts. Another weakness I experienced was not having facts
and figures memorized before the counseling session, such as
reassessing cholesterol after three months (versus 3 weeks as I
mentioned). Things like these come with repetition for me and it will

take me working in an environment where I see it on a regular basis for

values to really stick.
6. What did you learn observing your fellow group members?
a. I learned that we are all new at counseling and that it is important to
practice counseling sessions in order to build on ones personal skills. I
do not believe that effective motivational counseling is an in-born skill,
though some of us are more comfortable than others doing this type of
work than others. Additionally, I learned that the more prepared one is,
the more effective and smooth the interview becomes. Finally,
understanding your clients communication styles is crucial to
successful interviewing. When researching the Native American
cultures own intercommunication style, I was made aware that I
needed to act reserved, uncomfortable and uneasy with direct
communication. When I was being interviewed acting as Mrs.
Whitehorse, I truly felt uneasy with the direct style of the dietitian and
that made it difficult to communicate. Had she asked questions
indirectly or focus more time on building rapport, I felt I would have
been able to respond with more detail.
7. Suggestions for improvement of this segment for future classes
a. Even though you have put in tremendous effort preparing us for this
segment (with all the documents, rubrics, outlines, etc.) it would still
be helpful if you had perhaps a previous student come in to give their
experience and advice on preparing for this project. It is very involved
and would be clearer if we got advice/feedback from someone who has
taken the class before. I know from my personal experience that I
would have performed better on the first session if I had been advised
from a fellow student on how labor-intensive it was. Other than that, I

feel the class does an amazing job at giving us insight and an overview
of what nutritional counseling is all about.