Foundational Counseling Skills and Person-Centered Theory- School Counseling Discussion Board Post

Learning Goal: I’m working on a education & teaching discussion question and need the explanation and answer to help me learn.

Foundational Counseling Skills and Person-Centered Theory

Once an understanding of child development and its associated milestones is reached, developing rapport is necessary to facilitate change. Foundational counseling skills, present in all counseling theories, provide relationship opportunities that deepen trust and increase rapport. These skills include active listening, reflecting, echoing, validating, paraphrasing, and summarizing, which tend children’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. Of all counseling theories, Carl Rogers’s person-centered theory most closely aligns with these skills, for rather than questioning, probing, or soliciting advice, person-centered counseling maintains active listening, congruence, unconditional positive regard, and empathy as the major counseling techniques.

For this discussion:

• Describe person-centered counseling: the core concepts, rationale for refraining from using questions, and ways in which relationship building and a focus on feelings play an integral role in this theory.
• Identify person-centered counseling techniques and outline how these techniques align with foundational counseling skills.
• Identify how child-centered play therapy takes an indirect approach by discussing the techniques used in the ACT model.