Analyse Egans 3 Stage Model of Counselling Essay

Words: 1726
Pages: 7

Analyse Egan’s three stages of helping along with thee factors involved when ending the counselling contract.

Gerard Egan’s Skilled Helper Model of eclectically based counselling provides a structured and solution focused basis for counsellors, psychotherapists and hypnotherapists. It is a three stage model in which each state consists of specific skills that the therapist uses to help the client move forwards. Egan considered his method to be more about prevention than cure. By mastering the process of using these basic skills in an appropriate manner the talking therapist may be able to increase their efficiency and structure their work in a more logical way, thus helping clients in a more consistent manner and being less reliant

This stage is based around helping the client in establishing priorities and developing action plans that put into practice productive strategies. Stage I exploring skills include: Open-ended questions
Silence
Focusing
Empathy
Paraphrasing & Reflecting Meaning
Paraphrasing & Reflecting Feeling
Structuring
Summarising
Understanding Skills

The purpose of Stage II is to help facilitate the client in developing a more in-depth and objective understanding of their situation. This stage is enacted as the Skilled
Helper assists the client in exploring options and possible goals. The Skilled Helper establishes what the client really wants and needs and the client is encouraged to consider new possibilities and perspectives, choosing ones that are realistic, consistent with their values and for which there are adequate incentives. The Skilled Helper facilitates the client in developing rational decision-making based upon healthy data collection, analysis and action planning. In this state brain-storming, divergent thinking, a balance-sheet approach and force-field analysis may be used with the client in order to facilitate choices between different ways of dealing with situations and achieving goals. These techniques help the client to explore various options and strategies as well understand and work around