Counselling Theory and Practice – Key Terms (Week 1–10)

A set of vocabulary flashcards covering core counselling concepts, skills, theories, and ethics drawn from the lecture notes.

Macro skills

Broad therapeutic competencies such as being present, holding clients, transparency, unconditional positive regard, and empathic responding.

Micro skills

Small, targeted techniques like joining, minimal responses, non-verbal cues, voice use, and comfortable silence.

Joining

Creating comfort and safety with the client; a process that continues throughout therapy.

Minimal responses

Short prompts (e.g., mmh, uh-huh) that encourage continuation without dominates the dialogue.

Non-verbal behaviours

Body language, facial expressions, gestures that convey empathy and engagement.

Use of voice

Tone, pace, and volume used to communicate presence and empathy.

Silence

Strategic pauses that invite reflection and talk.

Observation (client and process)

Noticing verbal and non-verbal details and the dynamic between therapist and client without judgement.

Attunement

Tuning into the client’s emotional responses and states to stay aligned with them.

Reflection of content

Restating what the client has said to clarify meaning.

Reflection of feeling

Naming and reflecting the client’s emotional experience behind the words.

Clarifications

Questions or prompts that clarify meaning and comfort for the client.

Invitation to talk/storytelling

Encouraging clients to share their stories or experiences in session.

Tuning in

Deliberate, intentional listening to rhythm, pace, and tone in the session.

Therapeutic presence

Therapist’s whole self, fully engaged and attuned in the moment; foundation for empathic responding.

Polyvagal theory / ventral vagal complex

Neurophysiological framework linking safety, social connection, and regulation to the autonomic nervous system.

Attending skills

Core listening skills that convey presence and interest in the client.

Minimal encouragers

Brief prompts that encourage the client to continue (e.g., “go on”).

Reflect/paraphrase/summarise

Core reflective practices: restating content, paraphrasing, and summarising client statements.

Empathy

Perceiving and responding to the client’s internal frame of reference with emotional understanding.

Observational empathy

Empathy derived from noticing client behavior, tone, and expressions.

Experiential empathy

Empathy based on sharing or resonating with the client’s felt experience.

Communicational empathy

Expressing understanding through words, tone, and reflected content.

Kohut’s experiential empathy

Two processes: experience-near (vicarious engagement) and experience-distance (objective observation).

Enmeshment

Boundary risk where the therapist overly identifies with the client’s experiences.

Countertransference

Therapist’s emotional reactions to the client that can aid or hinder; requires management.

ICE (culture and empathy)

Framework considering ethnicity, demographics, and social status to understand clients’ worldviews.

Cultural encapsulation

Assuming one understands a client’s culture without adequate exploration.

Cultural competence

Ability to understand one’s own cultural background and respond respectfully to diverse clients.

PACFA values

Professional values for counsellors: Accountability, Client focus, Competence, Diversity, Empowerment, Justice, Human rights, Integrity, Professionalism, Self-awareness.

Confidentiality

Ethical duty to keep client information private, with stated legal/ethical limits.

Postmodern conceptualisation

Counselling approaches that emphasise storytelling, co-creating meaning, and multiple realities (e.g., narrative therapy, solution-focused therapy, collaborative therapy).

Narrative therapy

Postmodern approach that externalises problems, thickens descriptions, and re-authors stories.

Externalising conversations

Treating the problem as separate from the person to reduce self-blame and enable action.

Miracle question

A solution-focused technique asking clients to imagine a future where the problem is solved.

Exceptional times

Moments when the problem is not present, used to identify strengths and resources.

Six steps to the miracle question

Foundation, scenario construction, exploring exceptional times, scaling, follow-up, and reapplication.

Solution-focused therapy (SFT)

Goal-directed, future-oriented therapy focusing on exceptions and strengths.

Deconstruction (Narrative therapy)

Questioning how problems are constructed and why they persist.

Reconstruction / Re-authing (Narrative therapy)

Weaving past life themes and values into a new, preferred narrative.

Here-and-now

Gestalt concept focusing on present-session experiences to generate insight.

Incongruence

Discrepancy between one’s experience and awareness.

Congruence

Alignment between experience and awareness; genuine, authentic relating.

Polarities

Opposing aspects within a person that can be integrated for balance.

Empty chair technique

Gestalt method to explore polarities by speaking to an imagined other or self.

Modern vs. Postmodern counselling

Modern emphasizes thoughts and behaviour (e.g., CBT); postmodern emphasizes stories and co-created meanings.

Here-and-now (Gestalt) vs in-session phenomena

Focus on in-session experiences (here-and-now) and the relational dynamics shaping change.

Tracing history and emergence of problem (Narrative mapping)

Exploring how the problem began and evolved within social context.

Mapping the influence of the problem

Examining how the problem affects various life domains and relationships.

Thickening the new alternative stories

Deepening and enriching new narratives to replace problem-saturated stories.

Exceptional outcomes

Unique positives or exceptions that reveal alternative ways of relating to the problem.

Thick vs thin descriptions

Rich, layered descriptions of experiences versus shallow summaries; used in narrative work.

Externalising as a therapeutic stance

Seeing the problem as external to the person to empower change.

Wise mind (from mindfulness/CBT)

Integrates rational and emotional processes to guide decision-making.