There is a natural progression that takes place within the context of the helping relationship. This process allows you and the person you are working with to build a relationship, assess the situation, set goals, and come up with a plan to achieve the desired results. This progression is known as the counseling process. There are four stages in the counseling process. They are: developing a relationship, making an informed assessment, setting mutually agreed goals and objectives, and developing an implementation plan.

Phase 1. Develop a relationship

To develop positive helping relationships with youth, you need to be able to connect with them. This can only happen when young people are made to feel that you genuinely care about their well-being and understand where they are coming from. It is about behaving in a way that demonstrates the basic conditions of authenticity, respect and empathy.

To develop strong relationships with youth, you need to create a safe environment where youth feel comfortable enough to open up to you and talk about whatever is on their mind. You also need to help young people see that despite their circumstances, they have strengths. In short, you need to start things from a strengths-based perspective.

Questions to consider when trying

develop a relationship

· How can you build better relationships with the youth in your program?

· If there are young people who are not actively engaged, what can you do differently to involve them?

If a young person is resistant, what steps can he take to reduce the resistance?

· What has worked in the past with resilient youth?

· How do you know if you have built a strong relationship with a young person? Could you use these indicators to strengthen your relationships with other young people?

Phase 2. Make an informed assessment

An informed assessment occurs when both you and the youth gather information to find out what is “really” going on so that you can assess what needs to happen next to change the situation for the better or develop the youth’s coping skills to better deal with a problematic situation. The first step in doing an assessment is to find out if the change is necessary and what needs to happen for the change to happen. If you have determined that the change is necessary, then the next step is to figure out what needs to be changed. Is it a behavior? An attitude? A situation?

A good assessment can give a young person the opportunity to see how their behavior or attitude might be contributing to an undesirable or unhealthy situation. Evaluation is an ongoing process. You need to check in regularly with your child to see how things are going. Reassessments allow you to ensure that you and the youth are on the right track.

How do you collect information to make an informed assessment? You can collect information in a number of ways: by talking to the youth, by observing the youth’s behavior and interactions, by talking to others who are involved in the youth’s life, and by reading any documented information about the youth. Keep in mind that when you use another person’s verbal or written report as a source of background information, you risk giving in to their biases and assumptions.

Points to consider when doing an evaluation

Be aware of your biases and how they impact the evaluations you make.

· Involve young people in the evaluation process.

· Do not rely on a single source to make an evaluation, gather as much information as you can from a variety of sources.

· Don’t automatically label behavior as dysfunctional because you don’t understand it or because it doesn’t relate to your culture.

Be sure to point out a young person’s strengths even when it comes to problem behavior.

Phase 3. Setting mutually agreed goals and objectives

Why is it important to set “mutually agreed upon” goals and objectives? Because if a young person agrees with the objectives, it is more likely that he will comply with them. When a youth is actively involved in the goal setting process and agrees with the goals, then he/she is more likely to take ownership of the goals. What are the goals? Objectives are broad statements that identify what he wants to accomplish. Think of goals as the end result you are trying to achieve. While goals are broad statements that identify what you want to achieve overall, objectives are the measurable steps you take to reach your goals. For example, if you have a goal that says, “Young people will be better able to control their anger.” One of your goals might be, “Young people will recognize the emotional triggers that lead to angry outbursts and use positive self-talk to calm down.” Your goals should always be concrete and measurable. They should also be derived from the overall objective.

Questions to consider when developing

Goals and objectives

What do you and the young person want to achieve?

How are you going to achieve it?

· When do you want to achieve your established goal?

· What obstacles do you foresee?

· How will you address these obstacles?

· How will you use it to measure and monitor progress?

Are your goals realistic?

Phase 4. Implementation Plan

The implementation plan is a plan that you and the youth work on together. It is designed to prevent, intervene, or address unhealthy behaviors and practices. The implementation plan identifies who will carry out the activities, where the activities will occur, how often they will occur, how they will be carried out, and when they will be carried out. Implementation activities are designed to help people rethink risky behavior, solve problematic problems, address unhealthy lifestyle practices, learn new skills, and build strengths. Implementation activities may include: counseling, crisis intervention, training and education, support services, concrete services, and constructive use of free time.

As you can see, each stage of the counseling process builds on the previous one. As you progress through each stage, you’ll realize that it takes patience and practice to mentor youth effectively, but if you’re committed to the goal, you’ll do just fine. You may not feel completely confident in your ability as a counselor, but as you broaden your knowledge base, gain more experience, and strengthen your helping skills, you will become a more effective counselor.

Copyright © 2006 by Cassandra Mack

Extracted from Cassandra Mack’s book, “Smart Moves Successful Young Workers Make”