The counseling process: principles and stages.

Process legal counseling by student consultants is as follows:

· identify legal problems of clients;

· generalize and analyze regulatory material, judicial and other law enforcement practice;

· identify various options for solving the client’s problem;

· explain to clients the proposed solutions and the procedure for their implementation;

· prepare projects procedural and other legally significant documents (according to the approved rules, procedural documents are NOT drawn up at the MFLA Legal Clinic).

Because the task of consulting If the lawyer does not demonstrate his professional knowledge, but provides legal assistance to the client in resolving his problem, then a different approach to the relationship between lawyer and client should be recognized as more correct.

The essence of this approach is that the lawyer builds his relationship with the client based on his interests. This approach is called "customer-centric".

Relying on the client requires the lawyer to find out not only the essence legal problem the client, the actual circumstances that gave rise to this problem, but also the client’s true desires, goals, and aspirations.

Let us recall that between interviewing and counseling there is a mandatory transition stage called case analysis and position development. In time, it can take from several minutes to several days, weeks, and maybe even months; may vary in volume necessary work: for example, reproduce in memory the text of an article of law or study many facts, documents, regulations.

In terms of time, the stage of case analysis precedes counseling and at the same time seems to be outside of it. This is a kind of “zero” preliminary stage, but the foundation of counseling is laid here. This stage can be called preparatory stage to counseling.

When preparing for consultation, the lawyer should once again summarize everything known facts, obtained by him during the interview, while studying documents. He must turn to the regulations: clarify and understand the text of laws and the content of legal norms, select from them the necessary ones that correspond to the facts and requirements of the client; determine the limits of their action and the consequences of their use, etc.

It is necessary to determine possible procedures for implementing legal norms in relation to the client’s situation; calculate possible material, time and other costs; required actions and efforts.

You should also think about when, where, in what form (orally or in writing) it is advisable to conduct the upcoming consultation, and what supporting materials to offer.

Very often, when preparing a consultation after an interview, a lawyer realizes that he did not receive enough information during the interview, and there is a need to fill in the gaps. In these cases, before meeting with the client, it is necessary to prepare a “list of questions” to which you need answers. Then you can proceed as follows:

1. if possible, prepare a consultation taking into account all possible options the client’s answer to a question that was not answered during the interview, then you work as usual, but according to a more complex scheme;

2. in the case when a possible solution depends on a specific answer, but you cannot imagine what this answer will be, you should make an appointment with the client to obtain the missing information, and postpone the consultation. Or if you filled out clearly and correctly Personal client card, then the client can be contacted by phone.

Here it is necessary to highlight and say separately about working with a teacher. The teacher gets acquainted with the materials and planning of the case and, if necessary, points out shortcomings and ways to eliminate them. In addition, the teacher can indicate the need for a repeat interview if it is determined that the amount of information that was obtained during the interview is insufficient to provide quality advice, and also indicate which copies of documents must be provided to the client. Based on the teacher’s comments, the student eliminates the shortcomings and presents the final version of the consultation in writing, indicating all possible legal options for solving the client’s problem, their positive and negative aspects, as well as the procedure for implementing these solutions.

The need for this is due to the lack of experience in giving consultations among students, and detailed description consultation will help the student concentrate on the information transmitted to the client, convey all necessary information and just don’t get confused.

So, let us assume that the analysis of the case and the development of a position is an independent stage, we will highlight the following immediate stages of consultation.

1. Meeting with the client and explaining the procedure for conducting the consultation.

After careful preparation you meet with the client at the appointed time. At this moment, psychological and organizational foundations counseling. When interviewing a client, the lawyer has already received certain ideas about the client’s character, level of education and culture, abilities and behavior. Taking all this into account, the client’s meeting should be structured and the contact necessary for counseling should be established with him.

Such a meeting also conventionally consists of several stages. In order to turn the client into his “collaborator” and thereby ensure the effectiveness of the consultation, the lawyer needs to immediately determine and clearly define the goals and objectives of the meeting.

First of all, since a certain period of time has passed since the interview, you must, at the very beginning of the meeting, check with the client whether there have been any changes in his situation, whether his intentions remain the same, or whether he wants to say anything additional. This is very important, since such information can significantly affect the content of the consultation.

If no significant changes have occurred in the situation, you can move on and determine the procedure for conducting counseling. It's about that you can resort to various options building a consultation: either listing all the options for resolving the problem, and then discussing each of them with the client, or conducting a one-by-one discussion of the options after they are voiced by the lawyer. An agreement reached with the client on these points will allow the consultation to be carried out in a more organized manner.

When organizing a consultation, you should also accurately determine: how much time the lawyer can spend on it (he may have other matters planned for that day) and how much time the client has; Is this time enough for a calm and comprehensive discussion of all necessary issues? Taking into account the nature of the client, the procedure for discussing these issues should be immediately specified. The lawyer may invite the client to list and explain all possible options, and then discuss each of them or only those that interest the client. But he can conduct a discussion on each option separately and only after that choose the most suitable one for the client. You can propose to first discuss the options and only then the ways and means of their implementation, or do this simultaneously, so that when choosing an option, the client immediately takes into account the efforts and costs that the implementation of each option will require.

If the consultation procedure is agreed upon in advance with the client, the lawyer has the opportunity to interrupt abstract reasoning and at any time remind the client of the need to adhere to the established procedure.

2. Explaining to the client possible solution options and analyzing the possible consequences of each of them

It is clear that this is the central, most important stage counseling. Special requirements must be placed on it.

First, the lawyer’s explanations must be clear and understandable. The ability to speak clearly and understandably is necessary for a lawyer, but it depends not only on his own literacy, the richness of his vocabulary, but also on the ability to “adapt” to the level of the client. After all, explanations are given to the client, and he, the client, must understand the lawyer.

Secondly, the lawyer must tell the client all possible options for solving the problem, including those that the client may not like or upset him. The lawyer must remain objective and promptly warn the client about possible failures.

Thirdly, the subject of explanation should be not only options for solving the problem, but also a forecast possible consequences. Moreover, when discussing the consequences, the client plays an important role, since he may know about some circumstances unknown to the lawyer. For example, the lawyer did not discuss his family relationships, since in this case they had no legal significance. For the client, it is important how his relatives will treat him before, during and after the resolution of the controversial issue.

Fourthly, it is necessary to explain the methods and possible costs for implementing the options discussed, and the role of the client himself in the implementation of each of them. The client must clearly imagine what efforts and costs the implementation of each option will require, both for the lawyer and for him personally.

3. Helping the client make a choice optimal solution

After all possible ways to solve his problem have been explained to the client and the possible consequences for him have been discussed with him, the lawyer moves on to the very important stage of choosing the optimal option. As a rule, at this stage the client is passive and listens to the lawyer’s monologue. However, do not get carried away with this, because just because the client is silent does not mean that he has nothing to say or nothing to ask. It is very important to conduct this part of the consultation in the form of dialogue. To do this, from time to time you can ask the client questions for understanding or use the following phrases:

If this interests you...

Can I explain to you what this means?...

What do you think about this proposal?...

Is this condition acceptable to you?...

The most important part in explaining the possible options is to outline the prospects for each of them, because it is on this basis that the client chooses one or another option. Since the prospects for solving a problem are, in any case, still the lawyer’s assumptions, they should not be presented as absolutely certain.

A lawyer should neither exaggerate nor minimize the client’s chances of a positive outcome. This may cause the client to be too pessimistic, or, conversely, too optimistic, which is equally undesirable.

The sources of the information presented should be cited; this emphasizes both the reliability of the information provided and the competence of the consultant. Perhaps sometimes you should even show the text to the client normative act.

Often the client's problem is complex and multidisciplinary in nature. In such cases, it is advisable to divide the problem into separate components and explain them in turn; also, arguments and arguments are better perceived if they are presented in turn.

Avoid simply listing options; go into detail about each, indicating the advantages and disadvantages.

There are situations when the same result can be achieved different ways. In these cases, the client must also be offered all options, but it must be explained that the outcome will be the same.

As already noted, when conducting consultation “based on the client,” the latter’s opinion may not coincide with the opinion of the lawyer. A lawyer can only recommend to the client the solution that seems optimal to him. But after discussing all the options and their consequences, the client can choose another option. This is the client's right, and the lawyer must respect it. At the same time, in such situations, it would be a good idea to double-check again whether the client correctly understood the essence and consequences of the option he chose. The lawyer can offer the client some kind of “reality test”, for example, ask whether the client is ready for significantly higher costs, or, conversely, certain losses that will certainly arise when implementing the option he has chosen. You can ask the client to explain why he chooses this particular option, how he imagines its implementation and possible results.

A lawyer should not give advice to a client, even if there is a strong desire to do so. A typical mistake a lawyer are phrases such as, for example, the following: “There is one option for solving your problem..., but I would advise you to act differently...”.

It is important that the client perceives decision as his own, and not imposed by the lawyer, otherwise there is a danger that he will subsequently blame the lawyer for not achieving his goal by acting in accordance with the lawyer’s recommendations.

However, this does not mean that the lawyer should be completely passive at this stage. It is possible that here again and again it will be necessary to remind you of the pros and cons of each option.

Many clients often try to shift the burden of decision-making to the lawyer, constantly asking questions like: “What would you do if you were me?”, “What would you advise me?” It is necessary to avoid answering these questions by explaining to the client that you are not in his place, and only he himself can determine what is preferable for him.

If you see that the client is in doubt and cannot lean towards any specific solution option you have proposed, invite him to think and come next time when a solution is ripe.

If the consultation is one-time (explanation of the law or other regulatory act), assistance in choosing the optimal solution, as a rule, becomes the final stage.

If further cooperation is planned, it is necessary to move on to the last stage of consultation.

4. Determining the strategy and tactics for implementing the decision.

Of all the proposed options, the client, with the help of a lawyer, chose the one that was most preferable to him. This causes him a certain satisfaction, but some confusion also arises: how to implement the chosen method of solving the problem?

After choosing the solution itself, the lawyer and the client continue to discuss specific actions until it is implemented.

For example, if a client decides to go to court, you need to discuss with him when it is best to file statement of claim, what documents must be attached to the claim, which court and which judge should be addressed, etc. If necessary, help.

Further work may require new meetings with the client, so these should be scheduled together with him. It is imperative to explain to the client that in the event of a new or additional information he should inform you about this immediately, as it may affect how the decision is implemented.

The cooperation that the lawyer was able to achieve at the beginning of the consultation (and perhaps even earlier, during the interview process) will help him successfully complete it, and in the future will be the key to success in the implementation of the developed solution.

Once counseling is completed, it needs to be reviewed and evaluated. To do this, you can suggest using the following questions:

1) Have you indicated all the ways to solve the client's problem?

2) Was the possible consequences of each decision clear and precise?

3) Have you actively tried to influence the client's choice of solution?

4) Have you conducted counseling on accessible language?

5) Was the consultation conducted in a collaborative style?

Consultations can be shorter when the client turns to the lawyer for clarification of the law or with the question: “Do I have the right?..” In such cases, the lawyer may not consistently unfold all stages of consultation, but limit himself to giving a legal certificate. If the client’s question requires an analysis of factual circumstances, the study of any evidence, legal documents, the lawyer must provide full consultation.

Stages psychological counseling

Psychological counseling usually consists of several meetings and separate conversations. In general, psychological consultation as a process is divided into four stages: 1. Acquaintance with the client and starting a conversation. 2. Questioning client, formation and verification of advisory hypotheses. 3. Rendering impact. 4. Completion psychological consultation.

1. Meeting the client and starting a conversation

1a. First contact. You can stand up to meet the client or meet him at the door of the office, demonstrating goodwill and interest in fruitful cooperation. 1b. Encouragement. It is advisable to encourage the client with words like: “Please come in,” “Make yourself comfortable,” etc. 1st century A short pause. After the first minutes of contact with the client, it is recommended to give him a pause of 45 - 60 seconds so that the client can collect his thoughts and look around. 1 year Actually getting acquainted. You can tell the client: “Let’s get to know each other. How should I contact you?” After this, you need to introduce yourself. 1d. Formalities. Before the start of the actual counseling, the consulting psychologist is obliged to provide the client with maximum information about the counseling process, its important features: - the main goals of counseling, - the qualifications of the consultant, - payment for counseling, - the approximate duration of counseling, - the appropriateness of counseling in a given situation, - the risk of temporary deterioration the client’s state during the counseling process, - the boundaries of confidentiality, incl. issues of audio and video recording, presence (monitoring) of the process by third parties. You should speak briefly, without dumping unnecessary information on the client. The result here is final decision client about entering into the counseling process. 1e. "Here and now". It is necessary to come to an agreement with the client and set him up to work in the “here and now” mode. It is important to make it clear to the client that a psychologist-consultant cannot be used as a tool in all sorts of intrigues. 1g. Initial inquiry. An example of a standard phrase: “What brought you to me?”, “So, what questions did you want to discuss with me?” If the client is not a “professional regular” in psychological offices, then, most likely, he will need support from the first words of his own. At the very least, he will be interested in the question: is he speaking correctly? Therefore, if necessary, from the very first minutes of questioning it is necessary to maintain a dialogue.

2. Questioning the client, forming hypotheses

2a. Empathic listening. It's the same - active listening(repetition individual words for the client, interpretations). 2b. Acceptance of the client's situation model as temporary. The consultant should not yet enter into disputes with the client, much less expose him or catch him in contradictions. It is possible to break the model of the client’s situation only after this model has been studied in detail. 2c. Structuring the conversation. Rarely does a client know how to logically and consistently describe a problematic situation. Gradually he must be encouraged to more rational presentation and reasoning. The consultant himself needs to be consistent. Each new phrase or question must be logically connected with the previous ones. Periodic summaries are very useful for structuring the conversation. A dialogue with a client is not a book divided into chapters; Therefore, you can make it a habit once every ten minutes (for example), while watching the wall or table clock, to summarize what has been said. If this is appropriate, then you can summarize not only orally, but also in writing, schematically depicting a model of the situation on paper. Structuring the conversation encourages the client to rational work, to not “grind” the same thing for the tenth time, but to move on; when the client stops moving further in describing the situation, this will be true evidence that he has already said everything essential. 2g. Understanding the client's situation model. The consulting psychologist conducts analytical and critical work and formulates several hypotheses regarding this model. If a client comes to a psychologist for help, this means that the model problematic situation he has either a) incorrect (perverted), or b) incomplete. Each hypothesis should therefore clearly state: a) does the client see the situation in its true light? b) if he doesn’t see, then what is he doing wrong? c) is the situation model complete? d) if not complete, then in what ways can this model be expanded? Of course, the consulting psychologist should keep most of the conclusions here to himself, if only because so far there are only hypotheses. 2d. Criticism of hypotheses. The consultant asks the client questions aimed at clarifying and criticizing hypotheses. Questions here can, of course, be asked at random. But it is still recommended to strive for at least external structure in the conversation, without jumping from one thing to another. The result here should be that in the end there remains only one working hypothesis (the main one). The fact is that the psychologist is forced to do most of the intellectual work in a strict mode, when there is little time. Therefore, you need to work closely only with the main hypothesis. If it is not confirmed, then another hypothesis is accepted as the main one. 2e. Presenting your hypothesis to the client. Since the client is usually already “well confused” in his problem situation, it happens very rarely that he immediately accepts the hypothesis and agrees with it. Therefore, it is important to emphasize that the consultant’s considerations are so far only a hypothesis (assumptions), that the client is not required to agree with it, he is required to take the hypothesis as a working one and try to study the conclusions that it generates. In the process of working with the hypothesis, new details will most likely emerge that clarify the emerging objective model of the situation. It is likely that the hypothesis will turn out to be untenable, there is nothing to worry about; in this case, a different hypothesis is taken as a working one. 2g. Critique of the hypothesis, finding the truth. Are being considered various situations, typical and not quite typical. Before proceeding to the next stage, it is very important to find the truth, that is, an objective, consistent model of the problem situation must be formulated and accepted by both parties.

3. Making an impact

3a. Let the client live with the new knowledge. Further work directly depends on how true the model of the problem situation turns out to be. It is important to understand that if the model fails, then further work with the client (impact) is at risk; and if on the contrary (the model was a success), then the client himself will be interested in living with the new knowledge. Therefore, ideally, after developing a working model, you should release the client until the next meeting. He probably has already received everything he needed and therefore will no longer come to the next meeting. If it is not possible or necessary to interrupt the consultation, then you can simply make a small change. To do this, it is suitable to sit the client in a chair for fifteen minutes, turn on calm music and give him the opportunity to think about the new knowledge. 3b. Correction of client settings. Of course, it is likely that acquiring new knowledge may not be enough for the client to manage the problematic situation. Typical here are the client’s complaints that “I don’t have enough strength,” “I don’t understand how,” etc. The psychologist, together with the client, criticizes the latter’s false attitudes. Generates a list of new installations. Settings should be verbally precise, simple and effective. Much attention should be paid to attitudes aimed at gaining calm and confidence, at correcting the level of tone (calm down or, on the contrary, mobilize) and the level of rationality-emotionality (become more rational or more emotional). Installations can be “accepted” in the form of self-suggestion. Again, it will be useful to give the client the opportunity to live with the new settings. It is possible that some settings will not take root. They may then need to be changed or modified. 3c. Correction of client behavior. Helping the client formulate possible alternatives to habitual behavior. Analysis and criticism of these alternatives, assessment of their benefits and effectiveness. Choosing the best alternative. Developing a plan for implementing this alternative. It is important to understand that the client may simply forget to use alternative behavior in the future. Therefore, in a literal sense, he must be trained to use the alternative. Suitable for this different ways, For example role-playing games(in this case, the psychologist can take on the role of some relative or acquaintance of the client).

4. Completion of psychological consultation

4a. Summing up the conversation. A brief summary of everything that happened. "Repetition is the mother of learning." 4b. Discussion of issues related to the client’s future relationship with the consultant or other specialists. 4c. Parting. The client should be escorted to the door at least, and a few warm words should be said to him.

Literature

Aleshina Yu. E. Family and individual psychological counseling. – M.: Editorial and Publishing Center of the Consortium “Social Health of Russia”, 1993. - 172 p.

psychologist-consultant.

Sometimes it is not enough for a consulting psychologist what the client told about himself and his problem in confession. In order to draw more correct conclusions and formulate informed recommendations regarding the essence and solution of the client’s problem, the psychologist-consultant sometimes needs additional information about him.

In this case, before formulating his findings and conclusions, the consulting psychologist conducts an additional conversation with the client or other persons related to the problem that has arisen with the client and who are able to provide information useful for counseling.

The fact that the psychologist-consultant is going to talk with other people about the client’s problem, he must inform the client in advance and ask his permission to do so.

Sometimes, in order to make a decision about a client’s problem, a consulting psychologist may need to conduct an additional examination of the client using a number of psychological tests. In this case, the consultant must explain to the client the need for such an examination, indicating, in particular, what it will consist of, how much time it will take, how it will be carried out and what results it can give. It is also important to tell the client in advance how, where and by whom the results of his psychological examination can be or will actually be used.

If the client does not consent to psychological testing, then the psychologist should not insist on it. At the same time, he is obliged - if this is in fact the case - to warn the client that his refusal to participate in psychological testing may make it difficult to understand his problem and find its optimal solution.

Main stages of psychological counseling

The entire process of psychological counseling from beginning to end can be represented as a sequence of main stages of counseling, each of which is necessary in its own way during counseling, solves a particular problem and has its own specific characteristics.

The main stages of psychological counseling are as follows:

1. Preparatory stage. At this stage, the consulting psychologist gets acquainted with the client based on the preliminary record available about him in the registration journal, as well as information about the client that can be obtained from third parties, for example, from a psychological consultation worker who accepted the client’s application for consultation. At this stage of work, the consulting psychologist, in addition, prepares himself for the consultation, doing almost everything that was discussed in the previous section of this chapter. The work time of a consultant psychologist at this stage is usually from 20 to 30 minutes.

2. Setup stage. At this stage, the psychologist-consultant personally meets the client, gets to know him and tunes in to working together with the client. The client does the same for his part. On average, this stage in time, if everything else has already been prepared for the consultation, can take from 5 to 7 minutes.

3. Diagnostic stage. At this stage, the psychologist-consultant listens to the client’s confession and, based on its analysis, clarifies and clarifies the client’s problem. The main content of this stage is the client’s story about himself and his problem (confession), as well as psychodiagnostics of the client, if there is a need for it to clarify the client’s problem and find its optimal solution. It is not possible to accurately determine the time required to carry out this stage of psychological counseling, since much in its determination depends on the specifics of the client’s problem and his individual characteristics. In practice, this time is at least one hour, excluding the time required for psychological testing. Sometimes this stage of psychological counseling can take from 4 to 6–8 hours.

4. Recommendation stage. The consulting psychologist, having collected the necessary information about the client and his problem at the previous stages, at this stage, together with the client, develops practical recommendations for solving his problem. Here are the recommendations

are specified, clarified, and specified in all essential details. The average time usually spent on completing this stage of psychological counseling is from 40 minutes to 1 hour.

5. Control stage. At this stage, the consulting psychologist and the client agree with each other on how the practical implementation by the client of the received information will be monitored and evaluated. practical advice and recommendations. Here the question of how, where and when the psychologist-consultant and the client will be able to discuss additional issues that may arise in the process of implementing the recommendations developed is also resolved. At the end of this stage, if the need arises, the counseling psychologist and the client can agree with each other about where and when they will meet next time. On average, work at this final stage of psychological counseling takes place within 20–30 minutes.

If we summarize everything said above, we can establish that on average it may take to complete all five stages of psychological counseling (without the time allocated for psychological testing) from 2–3 to 10–12 hours.

Psychological counseling procedures

Psychological counseling procedures are understood as groups of psychological counseling techniques united according to their intended purpose, with the help of which one of the particular problems of psychological counseling is solved. Its effectiveness directly depends on the thoughtfulness of psychological counseling procedures.

Since procedures are usually associated with specific stages of psychological counseling, we will highlight them and consider them in connection with the stages that were highlighted and described in the previous paragraph.

At the first stage of psychological counseling, as a rule, no special procedures are identified or applied.

At the second stage, procedures are applied meeting with the client, general, emotionally positive mood of the client for consultation, removing psychological barriers to communication psychologist-consultant with the client.

The procedure for meeting a client includes special actions performed by a psychologist-consultant during a meeting with a client, including greeting him and seeing him off to the place where he will be required to be during the consultation. This procedure also includes the choice by the psychologist-consultant of his location in relation to the client when starting a conversation with him, techniques for establishing psychological contact between the consultant and the client, and the first words that the psychologist-consultant utters when starting his conversation with the client. In the next chapter, entitled “Psychological Consulting Techniques,” we will consider these techniques in more detail, with relevant examples.

This procedure includes other specific techniques and actions with the help of which the psychologist-consultant, from the very beginning of the consultation, tries to make the most favorable impression on the client and create in him a mood that ensures the success of the consultation.

The majority of clients who turn to psychological counseling have psychological barriers and complexes that prevent normal communication with people, including with a consulting psychologist. The negative effect of such barriers and complexes is especially strong in an unfamiliar environment, for example, at the first meeting of a psychologist-consultant with a client, in anticipation of a difficult conversation between the client and stranger– a consultant – about your own, deeply personal problems.

To neutralize the possible negative effects of complexes and remove psychological barriers, the procedure is used “removing psychological barriers.” When applying this procedure, the psychologist-consultant, with the help of special actions and techniques, calms the client, creates a situation of psychological safety for him, liberates him, instills confidence in him, and inspires confidence in himself.

The client’s general emotional and positive attitude towards the upcoming consultation is ensured not only using the procedure described above - it basically only pre-sets the client, calms him down - but also through the use of a special

procedure pursuing this goal. As part of this procedure, it is possible, in particular, to use special techniques that lift the client’s mood and cause positive emotional experiences in him.

At the third stage of psychological counseling, the so-called procedure actively works. empathic listening, as well as procedures for activating the client’s thinking and memory, reinforcement procedures, clarifying the client’s thoughts and psychodiagnostic procedures (we will consider them further, in the fifth chapter of the textbook).

The procedure of empathic listening includes two interrelated aspects: empathy and listening, which in this case complement each other. Listening means that, having temporarily detached himself from his own thoughts and experiences, the consulting psychologist completely focuses his attention on the client and on what he is saying. The goal of empathic listening is to

a deep, emotional understanding of the client - one that would allow the psychological consultant to personally perceive and fully understand everything that the client is telling him, as well as acquire the ability to think and experience what is happening in the same way as the client himself experiences it (empathic moment of listening).

During empathic listening to the client, the consulting psychologist psychologically identifies himself with the client, but at the same time, remaining in his role, continues to think, analyze, and reflect on what the client is telling him. These, however, are reflections of a special kind - those during which the psychologist-consultant, getting used to the image of the client, experiencing and feeling what he says, psychologically evaluates and tries to understand not himself in the image of the client, but the client in his own image. This is what is called empathic listening. It represents the main procedure of the second stage of psychological counseling.

Procedure activating the client's thinking and memory is a system of techniques, as a result of which the client’s cognitive processes are activated, becoming more productive, in particular his memory and thinking related to the problem under discussion, with the search for its optimal practical solution. As a result of using this procedure, the client begins to more accurately and completely recall events and facts related to his problem, discovers for himself and the consulting psychologist who listens attentively to him what was previously hidden from consciousness.

The procedure for activating thinking may include such techniques as confirmation by the listener, in this case a psychologist-consultant, of the point of view of the speaker - the client, expression of a certain, most often positive, attitude towards what he is reporting, provision of practical assistance to the client in case of he has difficulties in correct design statements. This also includes the psychologist-consultant filling in unjustified, confusing pauses in the client’s speech to ensure its coherence and remove psychological barriers, asking the client leading questions, reminding him of what to say next, stimulating the client’s memory and thinking.

The reinforcement procedure is that, while listening to the client, the consulting psychologist from time to time - most often when the client himself is looking for support from the consultant - with words, gestures, facial expressions, pantomimes and other available extra and paralinguistic

means expresses agreement with what the client says, approves, supports him.

The procedure for a psychologist-consultant to clarify the client’s thoughts consists in the fact that the consultant from time to time enters into dialogue with the client in the process of listening to his confession in cases where the client’s thought is not entirely clear to him or is inaccurately expressed by the client himself, clarifies the client’s thought out loud for himself or helps him formulate it more accurately. The need to use this procedure most often arises when it is obvious that the client himself is not entirely satisfied with what and how he says to the psychologist-consultant.

At the fourth stage of psychological counseling, the following procedures can be used: persuasion, clarification, search for a mutually acceptable solution, clarification of details, specification. All these procedures are associated with bringing to the client’s consciousness those

advice and practical recommendations, which the psychologist consultant develops together with him. The purpose of the relevant procedures is to achieve the most complete and deep understanding by the client of the conclusions and decisions that the psychological consultant comes to, as well as to motivate the client to implement these decisions.

Persuasion is a procedure based on logically impeccably reasoned proof to the client of the correctness of what the psychologist-consultant offers him as a result of long-term work with him. Persuasion includes arguments, facts, logic of evidence that is understandable, accessible and sufficiently convincing for the client.

Explanation is a procedure that includes a detailed, specific presentation and explanation to the client of the thoughts that the psychologist-consultant has in connection with his problem. Here, the consulting psychologist consciously conducts a dialogue with the client in such a way as to stimulate various questions on his part and give detailed answers to these questions. By offering these answers, the counseling psychologist simultaneously carefully observes the client and looks for obvious confirmation on his part that the client understands what he is being told.

The procedure called “searching for a mutually acceptable solution” means the following. Often in the process of psychological counseling a situation arises when the client is not satisfied with the consultant’s proposals. In this case, it is necessary to look for another, more acceptable solution to the client’s problem.

This procedure includes such techniques as offering alternative options decisions, leaving the client the right to make the final choice of the solution that suits him, clarifying, clarifying the details of what does not suit the client in the proposed solution, inviting the client to speak out about possible solution his problems.

The next procedure – “clarification of details” – is associated with explaining to the client small but significant details related to the implementation of practical recommendations jointly developed by the psychologist-consultant and the client. In order to make sure that the client not only understood it correctly, but also knows well what to do and how to implement the recommendations received, the consulting psychologist asks the client questions and, based on his answers, determines whether the client understands correctly what they are discussing . If something in the client’s understanding of the issues under discussion does not completely satisfy the consulting psychologist, then he offers the client additional clarification of his thoughts, and tries to do this as specifically and practically oriented as possible.

At the fifth and final stage of psychological counseling, the same procedures are applied that were used at the fourth stage. However, this time they mainly concern estimates of expected effectiveness practical implementation client of the advice he received from the consultant. The special procedure here is to strengthen the client’s confidence that his problem will definitely be solved, as well as his readiness to begin a practical solution to his problem immediately after completing the consultation. At this stage, techniques of persuasion, suggestion, emotionally positive stimulation and a number of others can also be used.

Exercises

1. What are you as a practitioner What will a psychologist-consultant do at each of the five stages of psychological counseling?

2. Let's say that you are like A psychologist-consultant meets a client in a psychological consultation room. Carry out the procedure for meeting a client with someone, remembering and using everything that a well-trained psychological consultant should do in this case.

3. Let's assume that you have already met the client in a psychological consultation and escorted him to his place. Follow all the steps below practical actions what should be done psychologist-consultant to

the beginning of the client’s confession, including in particular in these actions the procedure for removing the client’s psychological barriers, the procedure for his general emotional mood for psychological consultation.

4. Let's assume that your client's confession has already begun. Demonstrate the process of empathically listening to a client. Show how the activation procedure works

The entire process of psychological counseling from beginning to end can be represented as a sequence of main stages of counseling, each of which is necessary in its own way during counseling, solves a particular problem and has its own specific characteristics.

The main stages of psychological counseling are as follows:

1. Preparatory stage. At this stage, the consulting psychologist gets acquainted with the client based on the preliminary record available about him in the registration journal, as well as information about the client that can be obtained from third parties, for example, from a psychological consultation worker who accepted the client’s application for consultation. Preparation for psychological counseling includes solving a number of general and specific issues, with general issues relating to counseling in general, and specific issues relating to the reception of clients in psychological consultation.

Among the general issues of preparing for psychological counseling, the following are most often identified:

1. Selection of premises and equipment for consultations. The equipment of the room includes providing it with chairs or chairs that are comfortable for the client and the consultant, preferably swivel, and a coffee table.

Chairs instead of armchairs are used if consultation time, i.e. collaboration between a psychologist-consultant and a client is relatively small, and during a consultation it is important to carefully observe the client’s non-verbal behavior. Preference is given to chairs when the counseling procedure is quite long in time, and during the consultation it is necessary to create and maintain an informal atmosphere of communication between the consulting psychologist and the client. In addition to furniture, it is advisable to have audio and video equipment in a psychological consultation in case there is a need to record, listen to or view any recordings.

2. Supplying the consultation with paper, copying equipment, a computer, everything necessary to record the progress of the consultation and its results, reproduce documentation, etc. In addition, in a psychological consultation it is advisable to have a calculator, which, in particular, may be needed when quantitatively processing the results of a client’s psychological testing.

3. Equipping the consultation site with the necessary documentation and providing means for storing it, in particular a logbook, a client file and a safe (a safe is also needed to store files with confidential information when using a computer). The registration journal records general information about clients and consultations. The card file contains personal data about each client obtained during the consultation as a result of questioning the client by a consulting psychologist. This data should be detailed enough to provide an understanding of the client and the nature of his problem. A safe or computer is needed so that you can store client files and other non-disclosure data.

4. Acquisition of a minimum of special, including psychological, literature for consultation. This literature, firstly, is needed so that the consulting psychologist can promptly and quickly enough obtain the necessary certificates for himself and the client directly from primary sources, and secondly, in order to give the client necessary literature for temporary use for the purpose of self-education. In addition, it is recommended to purchase for psychological consultation a certain number of the most useful popular publications on practical psychology, which the client would have the opportunity to receive here, in the psychological consultation, for an additional fee for his own, permanent use on the recommendation of the consulting psychologist.

The consultation room is decorated in such a way that the client feels comfortable there. It is desirable that the room for psychological consultation resemble something between an office and a home (work space, apartment, living room).

Special issues in the preparation of psychological counseling include the following:

Preliminary acquaintance of the psychologist-consultant with the client according to the data about him that is available in the registration journal and in the file cabinet.

Preparation of materials and equipment that may be needed during a psychological consultation.

Obtaining additional information about the client from various available sources - such that may be needed during consultation.

Development of a consultation plan taking into account the individual characteristics of the client and the problem that concerns him.

The work time of a consultant psychologist at this stage is usually from 20 to 30 minutes.

2. Setup stage. At this stage, the consulting psychologist personally meets the client, gets to know him and gets ready to work together with the client. Procedures are applied at this stage meeting with the client, general, emotionally positive mood of the client for consultation, removing psychological barriers to communication psychologist-consultant with a client.

Before starting a conversation with a client on the merits of his case - on the problem with which he turned to psychological counseling - you should sit next to the client and take a short pause in the conversation so that the client can calm down and tune in to the upcoming conversation. As soon as the client calms down and is psychologically ready to listen to the consultant, you can begin a meaningful conversation about the client’s problem. The conversation with the client should begin by getting to know him as a person, clarifying what is important for counseling, but is not noted in the client’s card. If necessary, the consultant can tell the client something about himself.

The client does the same for his part. On average, this stage in time, if everything else has already been prepared for the consultation, can take from 5 to 7 minutes.

3. Diagnostic stage. At this stage, the psychologist-consultant listens to the client’s confession and, based on its analysis, clarifies and clarifies the client’s problem. The main content of this stage is the client’s story about himself and his problem (confession), as well as psychodiagnostics of the client, if there is a need for it to clarify the client’s problem and find its optimal solution.

During the story, the consultant must listen carefully, patiently and kindly. From time to time, a psychologist-consultant can ask the client questions, clarifying something for himself, but without interfering with the client in his confession. It is necessary to ensure that the psychologist-consultant’s questions do not confuse the client’s thoughts, do not cause him irritation, tension, resistance, or create a desire to interrupt the conversation or simply transfer it to a formal framework or to another topic.

While listening to the client, the consultant must remember names, dates, facts, events and much more, which is important for understanding the client’s personality, for finding the optimal solution to his problem, developing correct and effective conclusions and recommendations.

It is best to remember information coming from the client without recording it in writing. However, if the consulting psychologist is not completely confident in his memory, then, having asked the client’s permission, he may well make short written notes of what he heard from the client, including during confession.

At the third stage of psychological counseling, the so-called procedure actively works. empathic listening, as well as procedures for activating the client’s thinking and memory, reinforcement procedures, clarifying the client’s thoughts and psychodiagnostic procedures (we will consider them further, in the fifth chapter of the textbook).

The procedure of empathic listening includes two interrelated aspects: empathy and listening, which in this case complement each other. Listening consists in the fact that, having temporarily detached himself from his own thoughts and experiences, the consulting psychologist fully concentrates his attention

on the client, on what he says. The task of empathic listening is to have a sufficiently deep, emotional understanding of the client - one that would allow the consulting psychologist to personally perceive and fully understand everything that the client is telling him, as well as to acquire the ability to think and experience what is happening in the same way as he himself experiences it. client (empathic listening moment).

During empathic listening to the client, the consulting psychologist psychologically identifies himself with the client, but at the same time, remaining in his role, continues to think, analyze, and reflect on what the client is telling him. These, however, are reflections of a special kind - those during which the psychologist-consultant, getting used to the image of the client, experiencing and feeling what he says, psychologically evaluates and tries to understand not himself in the image of the client, but the client in his own image. This is what is called empathic listening. It represents the main procedure of the second stage of psychological counseling.

Procedure activating the client's thinking and memory is a system of techniques, as a result of which the client’s cognitive processes are activated, becoming more productive, in particular his memory and thinking related to the problem under discussion, with the search for its optimal practical solution. As a result of using this procedure, the client begins to more accurately and completely recall events and facts related to his problem, discovers for himself and the consulting psychologist who listens attentively to him what was previously hidden from consciousness.

The procedure for activating thinking may include such techniques as confirmation by the listener, in this case a psychologist-consultant, of the point of view of the speaker - the client, expression of a certain, most often positive, attitude towards what he is reporting, provision of practical assistance to the client in case of he has difficulties in correctly formatting his statements. This also includes the psychologist-consultant filling in unjustified, confusing pauses in the client’s speech to ensure its coherence and remove psychological barriers, asking the client leading questions, reminding him of what to say next, stimulating the client’s memory and thinking.

Procedure reinforcements is that, while listening to the client, the consulting psychologist from time to time - most often when the client himself is looking for support from the consultant - through words, gestures, facial expressions, pantomimes and other available extra and paralinguistic means, expresses agreement with what he is saying the client approves and supports it.

Procedure clarification of the client's thoughts by the consultant psychologist consists in the fact that the consultant from time to time enters into dialogue with the client in the process of listening to his confession in cases where the client’s thought is not entirely clear to him or is inaccurately expressed by the client himself, clarifies the client’s thought out loud for himself or helps him formulate it more accurately. The need to use this procedure most often arises when it is obvious that the client himself is not entirely satisfied with what and how he says to the consulting psychologist.

Next, the conversation is continued by the psychologist-consultant, and the client, listening to him, can ask questions that interest him and, if he wishes, supplement his confession. In addition, in this part of the consultation, the client can express his opinion on what he himself will hear from the consulting psychologist.

Sometimes it is not enough for a consulting psychologist what the client told about himself and his problem in confession. In order to draw more correct conclusions and formulate informed recommendations regarding the essence and solution of the client’s problem, the consulting psychologist sometimes needs additional information about him.

In this case, before formulating his findings and conclusions, the consulting psychologist conducts an additional conversation with the client or other persons related to the problem that has arisen with the client and who are able to provide information useful for counseling.

The fact that the psychologist-consultant is going to talk with other people about the client’s problem, he must inform the client in advance and ask his permission to do so.

Sometimes, in order to make a decision about a client’s problem, a consulting psychologist may need to conduct an additional examination of the client using a number of psychological tests. In this case, the consultant must explain to the client the need for such an examination, indicating, in particular, what it will consist of, how much time it will take, how it will be carried out and what results it can give. It is also important to tell the client in advance how, where and by whom the results of his psychological examination can be or will actually be used.

If the client does not consent to psychological testing, then the consulting psychologist should not insist on this. At the same time, he is obliged - if this is in fact the case - to warn the client that his refusal to participate in psychological testing may make it difficult to understand his problem and find its optimal solution.

It is not possible to accurately determine the time required to carry out this stage of psychological counseling, since much in its determination depends on the specifics of the client’s problem and his individual characteristics. In practice, this time is at least one hour, excluding the time required for psychological testing. Sometimes this stage of psychological counseling can take from 4 to 6–8 hours.

4. Recommendation stage. The consulting psychologist, having collected the necessary information about the client and his problem at the previous stages, at this stage, together with the client, develops practical recommendations for solving his problem. Here these recommendations are clarified, clarified, and specified in all essential details.

At the fourth stage of psychological counseling, the following procedures can be used: persuasion, clarification, search for a mutually acceptable solution, clarification of details, specification. All these procedures are associated with bringing to the client’s consciousness those tips and practical recommendations that the psychologist-consultant develops together with him. The purpose of the relevant procedures is to achieve the most complete and deep understanding by the client of the conclusions and decisions that the psychologist-consultant comes to, as well as to motivate the client to implement these decisions.

Persuasion is a procedure based on logically impeccably reasoned proof to the client of the correctness of what the psychologist-consultant offers him as a result of long-term work with him. Persuasion includes arguments, facts, logic of evidence that is understandable, accessible and sufficiently convincing for the client.

Explanation is a procedure that includes a detailed, specific presentation and explanation to the client of the thoughts that the psychologist-consultant has in connection with his problem. Here, the consulting psychologist consciously conducts a dialogue with the client in such a way as to stimulate various questions on his part and give detailed answers to these questions. By offering these answers, the counseling psychologist simultaneously carefully observes the client and looks for obvious confirmation on his part that the client understands what he is being told.

The procedure called “searching for a mutually acceptable solution” means the following. Often in the process of psychological counseling a situation arises when the client is not satisfied with the consultant’s proposals. In this case, it is necessary to look for another, more acceptable solution to the client’s problem.

This procedure includes myself techniques such as offering alternative solutions, leaving the client the right to make the final choice of the solution that suits him, clarifying, clarifying the details of what does not suit the client in the proposed solution, inviting the client to speak out about a possible solution to his problem.

The next procedure – “clarification of details” – is associated with explaining to the client small but significant details related to the implementation of practical recommendations jointly developed by the consulting psychologist and the client. In order to make sure that the client not only understood it correctly, but also knows well what to do and how to implement the recommendations received, the consulting psychologist asks the client questions and, based on his answers, determines whether the client understands correctly what they are discussing . If something in the client’s understanding of the issues under discussion does not completely satisfy the consulting psychologist, then he offers the client additional clarification of his thoughts, and tries to do this as specifically and practically oriented as possible.

The average time usually spent on completing this stage of psychological counseling is from 40 minutes to 1 hour.

5. Control stage. At this stage, the consulting psychologist and the client agree with each other on how the client’s practical implementation of the practical advice and recommendations he has received will be monitored and evaluated. Here the question of how, where and when the psychologist-consultant and the client will be able to discuss additional issues that may arise in the process of implementing the recommendations developed is also resolved. At the end of this stage, if the need arises, the counseling psychologist and the client can agree with each other about where and when they will meet next time.

However, this time the procedures mainly concern assessments of the expected effectiveness of the client's practical implementation of the advice he received from the consultant. The special procedure here is to strengthen the client’s confidence that his problem will definitely be solved, as well as his readiness to begin a practical solution to his problem immediately after completing the consultation. At this stage, techniques of persuasion, suggestion, emotional-positive stimulation and a number of others can also be used.

On average, work at this final stage of psychological counseling takes place within 20–30 minutes.

If we summarize everything said above, we can establish that on average it may take from 2–3 to 10–12 hours to complete all five stages of psychological counseling (without the time allocated for psychological testing).

Psychological counseling– a set of procedures aimed at helping a person solve problems and make decisions regarding a professional career, marriage, family, personal improvement and interpersonal relationships.

Target counseling - to help clients understand what is happening in their life space and meaningfully achieve their goals based on conscious choice when resolving problems of an emotional and interpersonal nature.

Gelso, Fretz (1992), Blosher (1966) identify specific features of psychological counseling, distinguishing it from psychotherapy:

counseling is focused on a clinically healthy person; These are people who have psychological difficulties and problems in everyday life, complaints of a neurotic nature, as well as people who feel good, but set a goal for themselves further development personalities;

counseling is focused on the healthy aspects of the personality, regardless of the degree of impairment;

this orientation is based on the belief that “a person can change, choose a satisfying life, find ways to use his inclinations, even if they are small due to inadequate attitudes and feelings, delayed maturation, cultural deprivation, lack of finances, illness, disability, old age " (1968);

counseling is more often focused on the present and future of clients;

counseling usually focuses on short-term assistance (up to 15 meetings);

counseling emphasizes the value-based participation of the consultant, although the imposition of values ​​on clients is rejected;

counseling is aimed at changing the client's behavior and developing the client's personality.

Types of consultation:

I. By application area:

1. children's; 2. teenage; 3. family and marital; 4. professional; 5. individual, focused on personal problems;

II. By number of clients: 1. individual; 2. group;

III. By spatial organization: 1. contact (face-to-face); 2. distance (correspondence) – by telephone, correspondence.

Types of psychological counseling according to Nemov

Intimate-personal psychological counseling, the need for which arises quite often and among many people. This type includes counseling on issues that deeply affect a person as an individual and cause strong feelings in him, usually carefully hidden from the people around him. These are, for example, problems such as psychological or behavioral deficiencies that a person would like to get rid of at all costs, problems associated with his personal relationships with significant people, various fears, failures, psychogenic diseases that do not require medical intervention, and much more. This may also include a person’s deep dissatisfaction with himself, problems with intimate, for example sexual, relationships.

The next type of psychological counseling in terms of importance and frequency of occurrence in life is family counseling. This includes counseling on issues that arise in a person’s own family or in the families of other people close to him. This, in particular, is the choice of a future spouse, the optimal construction and regulation of relationships in the family, the prevention and resolution of conflicts in intrafamily relationships, the relationship of a husband or wife with relatives, the behavior of spouses at the time of divorce and after it, and the solution of current intrafamily problems. The latter include, for example, resolving issues of distribution of responsibilities between family members, family economics and a number of others.

Third type of counseling– psychological and pedagogical consultation. This includes the consultant discussing with the client the issues of teaching and raising children, teaching something and improving the pedagogical qualifications of adults, pedagogical leadership, managing children's and adult groups and teams. Psychological and pedagogical consulting includes issues of improving programs, methods and teaching aids, psychological justification of pedagogical innovations and a number of others.

Fourth One of the most common types of psychological counseling is business consulting. It, in turn, has as many varieties as there are different kinds of affairs and activities among people. In general, business consulting is the kind of consulting that involves people solving business problems. This, for example, includes issues of choosing a profession, improving and developing a person’s abilities, organizing his work, increasing efficiency, conducting business negotiations, etc.

Methods of psychological counseling

The main methods of psychological counseling include: conversation, interview, observation, active and empathic listening. In addition to basic methods, psychological counseling uses special methods developed within individual psychological schools, based on specific methodology and individual theories of personality.

Conversation A professional conversation is built from various kinds of techniques and techniques used to achieve the appropriate effect. An important role is played by techniques for conducting dialogue, approving the client’s opinions, stimulating statements, brevity and clarity of the psychologist’s speech, etc. The goals and functions of conversation in psychological counseling are related to collecting information about the mental state of the subject and establishing contact with the client. Conversation can perform psychotherapeutic functions and help reduce the client's anxiety. A consultative conversation serves as a way to address the psychological problems that exist in the client, and is the background and accompaniment of all psychotechniques. The conversation can be structured, conducted according to a pre-drawn plan or program. This structured conversation is called the interview method.

Conversation stages:

1. Asking questions. The goal is to obtain information about the client and encourage him to self-analysis.

2.Encouragement and calming . Important for creating and strengthening consultative contact. Encouragement expresses support - the main component of contact (“Continue”, “Yes, I understand”). Reassurance helps the client to believe in himself (“Very good”, “You did the right thing”).

3. Reflecting Content: Paraphrasing and Summarizing Reflecting content shows the client that they are being actively listened to and understood. Reflecting the content helps the client himself to better understand himself and sort out his thoughts. Paraphrasing has three rules: the client's main idea is paraphrased; You cannot distort or replace the meaning of the client’s statement, or add on your own; avoid verbatim repetition.

4. Reflection of feelings - attention is focused on what is hidden behind the content. contact because it shows the client that the consultant is trying to understand his inner world.

5. Pauses of silence . Silence – increases the emotional understanding between the consultant and the client; - provides the client with the opportunity to “immerse” himself and study his feelings, attitudes, values, behavior; - allows the client to understand that responsibility for the conversation lies on his shoulders.

6.Providing information. The consultant expresses his opinion, answers questions, and informs the client about various aspects of the problems being discussed.

7. The consultant’s interpretation gives a certain meaning to the client’s expectations, feelings, and behavior, because it helps to establish causal connections between behavior and experience. A good interpretation is never deep. It must connect to what the client already knows.

8. Confrontation is any reaction of the consultant that contradicts the client’s behavior. Confrontation is used to show the client methods of psychological defense used in the desire to adapt to life situations that oppress and limit the development of personality.

9.Consultant feelings and self-disclosure. Self-disclosure of a consultant can be: expression of immediate reactions in relation to the client or to the consulting situation, limited to the principle of “here and now”; a story about your life experience, demonstrating its similarity to the client’s situation. The consultant reveals himself to the client by expressing his feelings. To open up in the broadest sense means to show your emotional attitude to events and people.

10. Structuring counseling – organizing the relationship between the consultant and the client, highlighting individual stages of counseling and evaluating their results, providing the client with information about the counseling process.

Types of interviews:

· standardized – has a stable strategy and clear tactics;

· partially standardized – based on a stable strategy and more flexible tactics;

· freely controlled diagnostic interview - based on a strong strategy, but has completely free tactics, which depend on the characteristics of the client, relationships, etc.

Observation - deliberate, systematic and purposeful perception of mental phenomena with the aim of studying their specific changes in certain conditions and finding the meaning of these phenomena, which is not given directly. The consultant must have the skills to observe the client's verbal and nonverbal behavior. The initial basis for understanding nonverbal behavior is a good knowledge of the various types of nonverbal languages.

Active listening aims to accurately reflect the speaker's information. This method promotes a more accurate understanding of each other by partners, creates an atmosphere of trust and emotional support, and also serves to expand the client’s awareness of the problem situation. Active listening involves the use of a number of techniques:

An interested attitude towards the interlocutor, demonstrated by the posture of an interested listener, a friendly gaze directed at the interlocutor;

Clarifying questions: “Did I understand correctly that...?”, “Do you mean that...?”;

Getting an answer to your question;

Repeating what the interlocutor said “You say...”;

Reframing the interlocutor’s thoughts: “In other words, …”

Supportive reactions: “uh-huh reactions”, “Yes-yes”, encouraging the interlocutor to express thoughts: “this is interesting”, “talk, talk”;

Generalization: “In general, do you want to say...?”, “So, it turns out...”, “We talked about...”, “We can conclude...”.

The method of “active listening” is a mandatory method of psychological counseling, and mastery of all its techniques is one of the requirements for the professional skills of a consulting psychologist.

an accurate reflection of the interlocutor’s experiences, feelings, emotions with a demonstration of their understanding and acceptance.

Important characteristics and means of effective communication (during consultation) are:

Empathy - empathy, understanding another at the level of feelings, experiencing the same emotional states that another person experiences;

Reflection (awareness of how one is perceived by a communication partner, the ability for introspection of mental states, actions, deeds),

Identification (likening, identifying oneself with another person, a person transferring himself to the place, into the situation of another person).

The method as a set of psychotechniques developed within the framework of individual psychotherapeutic and personality theories:

method of person-centered counseling,

Existential counseling method

method of psychoanalytic counseling,

· behavioral counseling method,

· cognitive counseling method,

Solution-focused counseling method

· multimodal counseling, etc.

Stages of psychological counseling. (Nemov)

1. Preparatory stage. At this stage, the consulting psychologist gets acquainted with the client based on the preliminary record available about him in the registration journal, as well as information about the client that can be obtained from third parties, for example, from a psychological consultation worker who accepted the client’s application for consultation. At this stage of work, the consulting psychologist, in addition, prepares himself for the consultation, doing almost everything that was discussed in the previous section of this chapter. The work time of a consultant psychologist at this stage is usually from 20 to 30 minutes.

2. Setup stage. At this stage, the consulting psychologist personally meets the client, gets to know him and gets ready to work together with the client. The client does the same for his part. On average, this stage in time, if everything else has already been prepared for the consultation, can take from 5 to 7 minutes.

3. Diagnostic stage. At this stage, the psychologist-consultant listens to the client’s confession and, based on its analysis, clarifies and clarifies the client’s problem. The main content of this stage is the client’s story about himself and his problem (confession), as well as psychodiagnostics of the client, if there is a need for it to clarify the client’s problem and find its optimal solution. It is not possible to accurately determine the time required to carry out this stage of psychological counseling, since much in its determination depends on the specifics of the client’s problem and his individual characteristics. In practice, this time is at least one hour, excluding the time required for psychological testing. Sometimes this stage of psychological counseling can take from 4 to 6–8 hours.

4. Recommendation stage. The consulting psychologist, having collected the necessary information about the client and his problem at the previous stages, at this stage, together with the client, develops practical recommendations for solving his problem. Here these recommendations are clarified, clarified, and specified in all essential details. The average time usually spent on completing this stage of psychological counseling is from 40 minutes to 1 hour.

5. Control stage. At this stage, the consulting psychologist and the client agree with each other on how the client’s practical implementation of the practical advice and recommendations he has received will be monitored and evaluated. Here the question of how, where and when the psychologist-consultant and the client will be able to discuss additional issues that may arise in the process of implementing the recommendations developed is also resolved. At the end of this stage, if the need arises, the counseling psychologist and the client can agree with each other about where and when they will meet next time. On average, work at this final stage of psychological counseling takes place within 20–30 minutes.

If we summarize everything said above, we can establish that on average it may take from 2–3 to 10–12 hours to complete all five stages of psychological counseling (without the time allocated for psychological testing).

Pedagogy