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Introduction

Advanced Counselling Skills, Counselling, in general, has the sole objective to help people feel better about themselves and their circumstances, such that they are able to deal with it and come out stronger out of the experience. During counselling, the use of Egan’s Skilled Helper model is used to create an effective helping relationship with people and make a significant impact on the person (Egan, 2012).

The basic object of the Egan’s Skilled Helper model is to counsel in such a manner that the people are empowered within instead of becoming dependent and are able to make use of opportunities presented to them. Being a counsellor, there are certain skills that are present innately or developed in order to make an impact on the people seeking help.

This assessment aims to identify potential skills that are employed in the entire duration of the helping relationship that is divided into stages in Egan’s model. Accordingly, I will be able to assess skills that I may have acquired during the experience of counselling and may require with reference to my future career.

Skills Used in a life cycle of a Helping Relation, Using Egan’s Model
Egan’s Skilled Helper model is able to sketch a framework to guide the counsellor and counselled person. Generally, counselling sessions can be divided into three phases;

Stage 1 Exploration
The introduction to patient/person being counselled and the establishment of a relationship of trust. Egan coined this phase as the Exploration period (Wosket, 2008), where from the counsellor’s point of view, they are supposed to determine the root of the problem by listening to the mentee, possibly without prejudice or judgement. Egan utilised the word SOLER as the part of stage 1 exploration. It is the basis of accessing the mentee to listen to his/ her problem in an effective manner. SOLER stands for Sit Squarely, Open posture, Advanced Counselling Skills Lean towards the other, Eye contact and Relax. Sitting in square mean to face the patient. Open posture highlights that the mentor should maintain open posture with the mentee.

Lean requires that the mentor should lean towards the mentee to show his/ her concern for the mentee. Advanced Counselling Skills Eye contact is necessary that can maintain trust with the mentee. Relax implement that the mentor should focus on relaxing the person to the best possible extent (Stickley, 2011).

As this is an essential stage of the counselling lifecycle, Advanced Counselling Skills it is of utmost importance that the counsellor is vigilantly listening, observing the person’s body language and expression to capture the non-verbal communication. Active listening is not only towards the verbal conversation but also towards the nonverbal communication (Geldard, Geldard, and Foo, 2013). Verbal listening is focused towards…