1. Taped Counseling Assignment
FSHN 428
Carolina chaves
Spring 2016

2. Reflection of my nonverbal behavior:
Non-verbal behavior: my posture was intent but not strained. I sat forward on the chair; no
display of nervousness fidgeting, shaking legs. I appear calm and always had eye contact with
my client.
My nonverbal behavior was congruent with my recorded feeling as I was self-confidence and I
articulated things clearly and precisely. Furthermore I ask and answer questions which make
the conversation more interesting and fluent. I noticed that I did not have any distractive
behaviors and I was always smiling. What I learn from this experience was that I have really
good nonverbal behavior and that my culture don’t affect the interpretation of my behaviors.
Reflection paper:
Reflection and evaluation in the involving phase:
At the beginning of the session my verbal greeting was warmth and I stablish a trustful
relationship between my client and me. I empathized with my client rapidly and my initial
impression that I gave her was that I was happy to meet her. I did forget to use formal Mrs.
when referring to my client.
The room where we performed the counseling was private and quiet which establish a more
relax and comfortable environment.
As we did not have too much time I couldn’t do a small talk to generate a friendlier
atmosphere.
After the greeting I establish counselling objectives by asking my client what brings her here
today. This open ended questions allowed me to understand the purpose, needs and desires of
my client.
While my client was explaining me the objectives of the counseling, we stablish long-term goal.
The long term goal was to eliminate meat from her and her kids’ diet without affecting her
protein intake.
I did forget to describe what was going to happen in the course of the counseling program as
well as establishing an agenda. I release these are important steps on the first counseling
session.
My partner did an excellent job in the involving phase as she make feel very comfortable. She
build a fast relationship with me and make a small talk at the beginning of the session which
make me trust her more as I notice she was very professional and warmth. She also forgot the
step of establishing the agenda for the next sessions making me loss of what the goals of the
next sessions where.
Reflection in the exploration-education phase:
The main educational task that we performed during the session was to address the health risk
associated with my client eating patterns. She told me that her main concern was the quantity
of meat her and her kids were consuming, I encourage her to discuss more about her concern
to know more about her past experiences.

3. I realize how important are the assessment forms to be complete before the first session as
having the forms ahead of time could gave me expectations of my client for the counseling
session.
My client indicate her desire to make changes in her life so we transition to the resolving phase.
Reflection in the resolving phase:
My client clearly indicate that she was ready to make a change behavior. She was 100% aware
of the effects that large consumption of meat will bring to her health. My client personalized
her benefits and knew how decreasing her meat consumption will bring personal benefits for
her health and will make her feel much better. Subsequently we discuss diet options. For this
discussion open ended questions regarding confidence in ability to change where really helpful
as she did have some struggle with the thought of becoming a vegetarian. Examining the pros
and cons was a helpful tool to demonstrate my client that her change behavior was going to
impact positively her health. One of the most important step for me was to express support and
to never argue with my client, instead a great technique is letting her know what others have
done in her situation.
During the interview I forget to use imaginary to create a picture of the successful future. Also, I
forget to explore past successes. This two steps that I skip are two important steps because by
exploring success and identify the abilities of my client I will have a foundation of my client skills
and my client will be encourage to continue to make better and similar choices in the future.
When my partner was the interviewer the step that most help me get more confident on the
new behavior I was going to incorporate in my life was examining the pros and cons.
Furthermore she did use imaginary to create picture of the successful future which encourage
me more towards becoming a healthier person. My partner dis an excellent in the education
phase as I felt listen and not criticize.
Reflection in the closing phase:
The closing phase of my interview was not as successful as my time expired. I did not get the
chance to include a summery, and write down the goals for my client. Furthermore I did not
plan for the next counseling encounter, shake hands, or express appreciation for participation
which I know these are important steps.
My Partner complete these steps and was really useful for me as the client to know that she
and I were aiming for the same goals and that there was not ambivalence.
Overall as my first counseling experience I think I cover almost all the points but I need to
improve in the closing phase. I think my interpersonal skills were professional and I was
respectful, legitimate and supportive to my client.