Chapter 1

Toward Intentional Interviewing and Counseling

Copyright 2007 Brooks/Cole, a division of Thomson Learning

General Goals
Engage in and master the basic skills of interviewing.
Conduct a full interview with only listening skills. Precisely analyze your helping style and impact on clients. Apply basic skills and structure to many theories. Integrate wellness, ethics, and multicultural issues into practice. Generate and grow your personal theory of the helping process.
Copyright 2007 Brooks/Cole, a division of Thomson Learning

Aim Toward

Client development, primary goal of counseling and interviewing. Strengths, positives, and power in client stories.
Exemplary models from client past and present.

Copyright 2007 Brooks/Cole, a division of Thomson Learning

Chapter Objective
Identify five keys to microskills approach.
Connect microskills application to interviewing, counseling, and psychotherapy. Describe how the microskills draws out client stories, helps client to find new ways of thinking and acting. Assist interviewer to develop multiple cultural and contextual responses to client issues.

Copyright 2007 Brooks/Cole, a division of Thomson Learning

Narrative Model

Story: As told by the client.

Positive Assets: Build on positive aspects and clients strengths. Restory: Generate new ways for the client to talk about themselves.

Action: Help the client bring new ways of thinking and being into action.

Copyright 2007 Brooks/Cole, a division of Thomson Learning

Drawing Out Client Stories

Listening Strength Development New Perspectives Action Planning

Copyright 2007 Brooks/Cole, a division of Thomson Learning

Interviewing
Basic process for gathering information, problem solving and advice giving.
Interviewers may be:
Guidance and counseling staff Medical personnel Business people Wide variety of helping professionals

Copyright 2007 Brooks/Cole, a division of Thomson Learning

Counseling

Counseling is more intensive and personal than interviewing. Counselors help people with normal problems / opportunities. Counseling most often associated with:
Social work Guidance Pastoral counseling Psychology Psychiatry, to a limited extent
Copyright 2007 Brooks/Cole, a division of Thomson Learning

Distinctions
Interviewing Counseling Career Path Decision Specific Personal Problems Personal Relationships

Business Manager School Counselor Social Worker

Job Interview

Course Selection

Financial Needs & Plans

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Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy is more intense than counseling. Focuses on deep-seated personality or behavioral difficulties. Intentional interviewing skills are equally important for effective psychotherapy.

Copyright 2007 Brooks/Cole, a division of Thomson Learning

Interrelationship

Interviewing

Counseling

Psychotherapy

Figure 1-1 The interrelationship of interviewing, counseling, and psychotherapy

Copyright 2007 Brooks/Cole, a division of Thomson Learning

Intentionality

Intentionality is acting with a sense of capability. Choosing from among a range of alternative actions, thoughts, and behaviors in responding to changing life situations.

Copyright 2007 Brooks/Cole, a division of Thomson Learning

Intentionality

Listen first; solve problems later.

Avoid perfect solutions.

Avoid jumping to the right response too soon.

Adapt your style to suit different individuals / cultures.

Copyright 2007 Brooks/Cole, a division of Thomson Learning

Cultural Intentionality

Cultural Intentionality is assessing client cultural background and flexing microskill application to achieve specific results. Recognize that the result achieved from use of specific microskills may vary widely among clients from different cultures.

Copyright 2007 Brooks/Cole, a division of Thomson Learning

Cultural Intentionality

Know and integrate communication styles and relationship experiences of diverse cultural groups into your own personal helping style.

Age Race Gender Lifestyle

Ethnicity Individuality Sexual Orientation Religion / Spirituality

Health Ability Disability Development

Copyright 2007 Brooks/Cole, a division of Thomson Learning

Intentional Competence

Intentional Competence is integrating your natural style, self-understanding, and artistic abilities with the somewhat predictable responses from use of the microskills to flex, change direction and skills in order to be your with your client in new ways as required for their development.

Copyright 2007 Brooks/Cole, a division of Thomson Learning

The Microskills Hierarchy

Foundation of intentional interviewing

Communication skill units of the interview

Summarizes successive steps

Provides different alternatives for use with different clients and in different situations
See Figure 1-2, p. 19

Copyright 2007 Brooks/Cole, a division of Thomson Learning

Theory and Microskills

Important to focus on skills, rather than theories.

Interviewing and counseling informed by more than 250 theories.

Through microskills, understand and practice multiple theoretical approaches.

Microskills can be viewed as a theory in their own right.
Copyright 2007 Brooks/Cole, a division of Thomson Learning

Theory and Microskills

Microskills approach adaptive to various cultures, translated into many languages. Mastering the microskills hierarchy
Will aid in more easily mastering complex counseling theory. Enables use of skills and strategies in a variety of settings.

Copyright 2007 Brooks/Cole, a division of Thomson Learning

Constructivist-Developmental Theory (Kelly, 1955; Ivey, 2000)

Interviewer seek to understand how clients experience and make sense of the world.
Using microskills assists clients to understand their own way of
thinking, feeling, acting, and being.

Cultural differences are recognized.

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Microskills and Research

Significant Findings Expect results Practice is essential Multicultural differences are real Different theories have different patterns of skill usage Specific microskills result in predictable client responses.

Copyright 2007 Brooks/Cole, a division of Thomson Learning

Neuroplasticity - Brain Research

Brain develops new neural connections.
Imaging measures changes. Systematic step-by-step learning, such as the microskills, is effective learning model. Both interviewer and client experience changes through counseling.

Copyright 2007 Brooks/Cole, a division of Thomson Learning

The Microskills Learning Model

Practice, Practice, Practice

1. Orientation to the skill and how it may be used in the session.

2. Observation of the skill in action. 3. Hearing a lecture or reading about the main points of effective usage. 4. Practice the skill in role-plays. 5. Self-assessment and plans for generalization.
Copyright 2007 Brooks/Cole, a division of Thomson Learning

Learning Check
Focus on development as the aim of interviewing,

counseling, and psychotherapy.

Define intentionality, cultural intentionality, and

intentional competence.
Integrate the step-by-step microskills model into

your personal theory and helping style.

Identify how the microskills model applies to Examine your natural helping style. Use your own skills as a base to grow your

varying theories of counseling and psychotherapy.

microskills practice.

Copyright 2007 Brooks/Cole, a division of Thomson Learning