Subject: Applied counselling 1 Assessment 2: Essay Write an essay explaining the role of basic counselling skills in effective counselling. You can refer to the role-plays and live skills...

Assessment 2: Essay
Table of Contents
Introduction    3
Demonstrating empathy    3
Reflecting on contents and feelings (role of attending, listening skills and questions in effective counselling.)    3
Clarifying and asking open-ended questions in the field of counselling    5
Ask yourself how these micro-skills are utilized in facilitating effective counselling sessions? What role do they play in a helping process?    6
What are the risks and limitations of each of them?    6
Conclusion    7
References    7
Introduction
Counselling is the mental health wellness procedure developed through the formation of a strong relationship between the counsellor and the client to boost the person's wellbeing. People take the help of a professional when they themselves are not able to handle the turmoils they face each day in the life. This incapability should be transformed into a healthy, happy life for which the counselling therapy and the counsellor's skills play a significant role. In this report, the basic counselling skills and their importance has been discussed.
Demonstrating empathy
Sensing other people's emotions and the ability to understand the perspective and feelings of someone else is called empathy (Cuff et al., 2016). The thinking capacity and a sympathetic heart with good listening and understanding skills make a person empathetic towards others where walking in the shoes of others is done. The counsellors need to understand the problems of their clients from their point of view. Then only the treatment can be an efficient one (Elliott et al., 2018). Building the therapeutic alliances while apprehending the perspective of the clients allows the therapist to treat the patient in a unique way where mere advice is not provided, but the personalized guidance is provided to the client where s/he feels a safe space to open up themselves without fear of judgment.
Reflecting on contents and feelings (role of attending, listening skills and questions in effective counselling.)
    Cooperative efforts by both the counsellor and the client make counselling an effective one where irrespective of the clients' personality traits, the counsellor needs to have certain qualities and skills that make them cure the other person through a healthy conversation. For this purpose, listening skills are very important where the client will be able to uncover their sheds and will be able to explore the deep thoughts of the mind (Rodríguez et al., 2018). This requires a great understanding of the counsellor's power while paying keen attention to every detail of the client. In addition, the gestures and bodily movements should also be followed where listening to the stories, and life experiences of the client will provide an insight into the client's perspective.
Body language understanding is a core skill that can be a potential source of information (Carroll, 2018). Apart from that, paying keen attention to the client with proper focus is extremely important. There are various levels of counselling, and each one requires a different approach. Rapport building is the first stage where sensitivity and dealing with the clients is extremely crucial. The tone of their voice, gestures, and facial expression say alot about a person, which can only be understood by a counsellor if he pays enough attention.
Effective counselling requires properly attending to the clients and meeting their emotional...