Jane and Carol:

Jane, a counseling intern, provides an audio file of a counseling session and a write-up of the session to Carol, her counseling supervisor. After listening to the tape, Carol notes several discrepancies between what she heard on the tape and how Jane described the session, with Jane seeming to review the session as being more positive and productive than what Carol heard. Accordingly, Carol has to choose how to address this in session. Below are some possible dialogues:

Carol: I want us to focus on about the 15-minute mark of this session. I would like you to pay close attention to your use of questions and how this influences the counseling process with this client. (plays a 3-minute session of tape). (trying to elicit from Jane) What do you notice about your use of questions in this segment?

Jane: I was trying to get some additional information from the client, but he’s just not saying much.

Carol: I know I’ve only heard a small part of your work with this client, but I notice that in this relatively short segment, you ask 5 questions and 4 of them are closed-ended, but I didn’t hear you reflect anything back to him when he responds.

Jane: Well, he really wasn’t saying much so there wasn’t much to reflect.

Carol: You’re right, he really wasn’t saying a great deal. I wonder, if there might have been some opportunities to reflect the client’s non-verbals or to reflect the feelings he was communicating through his lack of communication?

Jane: Oh, like reflecting how it seemed like it was hard for him to talk in session.

Carol: Yes, that’s right (pauses to let Jane think a bit). Can you give me an example of what such a reflection might sound like?