Response Category Number of Responses

Minimal Encourage: These are simple utterances that motivate the clients to share. Minimal encouragers are signal words that allow the speaker to know that the listener is listening actively and understanding what her speaker is saying. For example, little actions like nodding the head and small words like yes, no, hmmm allow the listener to understand that they are listening to them. Minimal encouragers engage the speaker and encourage them to continue their talk.

Open Question: Open questions are used for the clarification of the clients feeling by the counselor. They also allowed the speaker to share their experiences providing explanations. When the counselor is asking questions, it is to encourage the clients to share their stories completely without leaving any important details—for example, asking the questions like why did you make that decision? What was the motive behind this action? Etc.

Closed Question: These questions are used to gather information where the client can answer in two distinct options, for example, yes or no. The close questions can also include some brief responses by the clients. The purpose of asking these questions is to get confirmation. For example,  

Counselor: do you feel satisfied?

Client: No.  

Counselor: Are you happy?

Client: Yes

Paraphrase: Paraphrase allows the counselor to briefly explain or give a brief overview of the client’s statement. It is a type of response to the emotions of the client through the repetition of the client's own words. Paraphrasing is done to highlight the important things to the clients (Seehausen et al., 2012). 

Client: I do not want to let my son go out because of his gambling habit, but this is the only thing for which he would go out and meet other people. 

Counselor: You are aware of the necessity of socialization for your son, but you are worried that he would gamble whenever he is out of the house.

Reflection of Feeling: Reflecting the feelings that exist beneath what the client says or reveals. This is more concerned with how things are said than with what is said. It is a statement that a counselor makes with the focus on understanding and highlighting the client's feelings during a conversation. These feelings are reflected to make clarifications.

Example

Client: I have too many responsibilities that I cannot even take a single day off because of which I am starting to get irritated.

 Counselor: you are slowly exhausting yourself.

Confrontation: Observation of the differences between the clients’ statements and their actions through their verbal and non-verbal expressions. The main idea of the confrontation is to notice and observer the contrast between the words and the client’s actions. It allows the counselors to face the clients realistically (Leaman, 1987).

Example

Client: I am living a very happy and contented life.

Counselor: I understand that you live a happy life, but your expressions and tone are contrasting because they are sad to me.

Directive: In the counseling process, the counselor takes the lead and office guidance or recommendations on the outcomes. It is based on the perception that the counselor's experience helps the clients guide their behaviors. 

Example: A client makes a report that he starts to feel anxious whenever he goes out of his house. Therefore, the counselor asks him to sit outside whenever he goes out for at least 30 seconds. The client agrees that this is a manageable task for him (American Psychological Association n.d.). 

Self-Disclosure: Self-disclosure is a strategy used by the councilors in which the counselor shares his personal information to normalize the client's experiences. This is usually very short, generic, and natural, which the clients can readily accept with caution to maintain professionalism.

Example: I also used to have anxiety issues regarding public speaking; therefore, I would like to inquire about its impacts on you.

Feedback: Feedback can be explained as a response to any action which can be used for shaping that action's performance in the future (Claiborn & Goodyear, 2005).

For example, you are going on the right track as improvements are evident daily.

Interpretation/Reframing: Interpretation can be regarded as Sharing the Impressions on the significance of the viewpoints and experiences of the clients. It allows the counselors to achieve and inside while understanding the client's views. This can also involve unexplained expressions (Claiborn, 1982).

 Example 

I am curious if this feeling that you cannot succeed stems from your father's criticism of you when you are a teenager.

Information: Providing the client with materials that are relevant to the counseling process is known as giving information (AIPC, 2019).

 For example, when a client is complaining about having unfair and unjust schedules at work, which adds to his stress and anxiety, the counselor can refer the client to the department of labor.

Summarization: It is a tool for identifying major concepts and keeping track of important details. This can be considered similar to paraphrasing, but it is used when the clients give more information all at once. Therefore, to summarize the information, this tool is used. 

Client: I am now guilty of marrying my wife at first. I did so because I was comfortable with her. It was not for love. I did so because I did not want to be 70 when my children graduated from school. Now I have started a new job, but it is not paying me much.  I have to do overtime so that I can get a promotion. 

Counselor: you are feeling overwhelmed with increased responsibility in different areas of life. You are feeling dissatisfaction with your marriage, family, and a new job.

Silence: It can be defined as avoiding the temptation to fill silent periods with questions or discussions (Silence in counselling, 2021).

For example, it allows the clients and the counselors a certain amount of time to think and ponder things.

Advice-giving: It can be regarded as a counseling technique where the therapist gives advice to the clients on various options. The counselor provides the clients with alternatives to their problems (American Psychological Association, n.d.).

For example, when the client is afraid of taking a walk in the night, The Counselor advises him to take some time off during his break to maintain his physical health.

Other:

Nonverbal behavior during communication plays an important role in a counseling session. These might include body posture, eye contact, vocal tone, and gestures. For example, making eye contact while being responsive to the client motivates them to continue their conversation.