20 Helpful Counseling Varieties & Templates for Your Follow

Counseling has many definitions and approaches, however most acknowledge the importance of the therapeutic relationship (Nelson-Jones, 2014).
A part of this relationship consists of constructing an acceptable therapeutic framework that gives “a secure and constant skilled construction for the therapeutic work to happen” (Knox & Cooper, 2015, p. 1).
As with every different skilled service, particularly one which focuses on consumer wellness and security, procedures, insurance policies, and types are required to make sure acceptable document holding and dealing with of the consumer and their info.
This text introduces templates and types that help the consumption, evaluation, referral, and different key levels of the counseling journey.
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Conducting Consumption Periods: 3 Varieties & Templates
Counseling usually begins with the consumption and the evaluation course of. Collectively, they supply essential alternatives to seize info relating to the consumer, their wants, and their hopes for therapy (Corey, 2013).
The consumption and evaluation types will be merged – their diploma of data overlaps and so they’re each utilized in early periods – or they could stay separate, even when solely when it comes to kind completion.
This text has saved the types distinct for comfort and readability. We use the consumption kind to seize the consumer’s private particulars and their preliminary ideas on why they search therapy, and this can be accomplished earlier than their first session with the counselor.
Within the subsequent part, we introduce pattern evaluation types, usually used within the consumer’s first (and maybe second) session to evaluate their state of affairs, issues, and objectives in additional depth and kind a clearer and shared understanding of the place they’re and the way they could need assistance.
Deal with the consumption and evaluation types as templates, designed to be modified as required, and both saved separate or mixed relying on the counseling method, methods adopted, and wishes of the consumer.
Normal counseling consumption
Getting began with new purchasers and structuring the primary counseling periods requires an preliminary understanding of their background, issues, and first ideas on how and the place they require assist and help (Cochran & Cochran, 2015).
The New Client Intake Form will be accomplished earlier than the primary session to seize private info referring to the consumer, akin to:
- Identify, age, and call particulars
- Employment standing
- Causes for in search of assist
- Bodily and psychological well being historical past
- Counseling objectives
Worker counseling consumption
Worker counseling can take many types and could also be carried out head to head, by phone, and even dwell chat or e mail. It could be supplied in response to (Lagerveld & Blonk, 2012):
- An incident at work
- Worker psychological well being issues
- Returning to work after a interval off
- A member of workers in search of new alternatives
- Issues over bullying
The Employee Counseling Intake Form is written with a workers member in search of change in thoughts, however it may equally be used for different functions. The worker will usually full it earlier than assembly a counselor and consists of:
- Restricted private info
- Contact particulars
- Occupation and standing
- Supervisor/supervisor identify
- Academic, coaching, and employment historical past
- Change sought
- Cause for attending counseling
{Couples} counseling consumption
{Couples} counseling is “not the identical factor as particular person counseling, with two purchasers within the room as an alternative of 1” (Williams, 2012, p. 1). The therapeutic relationship with the consumer will probably be completely different, and it’s essential to grasp the wants, issues, and private historical past of every particular person and the couple as a complete.
Each members of the connection full the Couple Counseling Intake Form, and whereas asking the identical questions, the shape will usually floor completely different factors of view and insights.
Data requested usually consists of:
- Private particulars (e.g., identify, age, and so on.)
- Standing of the connection
- Size of relationship
- Cause for in search of assist
- Relationship strengths
- Relationship dangers and issues
Greatest Counseling & Evaluation Varieties (+ Templates)
A typical first counseling session is more likely to embrace questions akin to “What brings you in?” and focuses on therapeutic listening, the place info gathering might kind a pure by-product of the therapeutic course of (Nelson-Jones, 2014).
The next types (some normal, others with particular makes use of) present templates for the preliminary and ongoing evaluation of a consumer and their wants. There may be some overlap with the consumption types, however they provide a seamless alternative to collect further and helpful info, notably within the early periods.
Worker evaluation
Whether or not carried out earlier than or throughout an early session, it is very important perceive the explanations for the worker attending or being referred to counseling.
The Employee Counseling Assessment Form will be useful for understanding and discussing a problem or occasion that has arisen at work that has led to an worker being referred for counseling. It continues on from the unique worker consumption kind, asking:
- Cause for referral
- Particulars of the incident and witnesses
- Corrective actions agreed upon between counselor and worker
- Worker feedback
- Penalties of not taking the agreed-upon steps
{Couples} counseling evaluation
It may be useful for the counselor and a strong and rewarding train for the couple to evaluate how they met (Williams, 2012).
Use the Couple Counseling Assessment and/or the Couple Counseling Relationship History Assessment to evaluate and assess how the couple met, what drew them to one another, and their present diploma of difficulties.
Every member of the connection might have very completely different solutions in response to questions, akin to:
- How did you meet?
- What first attracted you to your companion?
- What continued to draw you to your companion?
- What do you suppose first attracted them to you?
- What do you suppose continued to draw them to you?
- Describe your early years collectively.
- How have been issues higher then?
- How are issues higher now?
- What present traumatic occasions or conditions exist?
- How glad are you together with your marriage?
- What areas require focus?
Reviewing the solutions makes it doable to develop a plan and a dedication to every day caring behaviors.
Evaluation of abilities
Generally purchasers lack the abilities wanted to handle tough conditions or issues (Nelson-Jones, 2014).
By contemplating and discussing an issue or state of affairs that has been upsetting, it’s doable to determine insufficiently robust abilities and potential objectives for counseling.
Use the Assessment of Insufficiently Strong Skills worksheet to mirror on and seize the character of the issue and the place there are alternatives to enhance, together with thoughts and communication abilities.
Work with the consumer in the course of the session to explain the issue or state of affairs and create objectives.
Capturing such areas for ability enchancment will direct future counseling periods.
A Have a look at Knowledgeable Consent Varieties: 3 Samples
Counselors have to be sufficiently competent to supply their companies to the consumer. They have to be certified or present process supervision, educated in line with the rules and mandates within the location they’re training, self-aware, and have labored out their very own points (Sommers-Flanagan & Sommers-Flanagan, 2015).
The thought and apply of knowledgeable consent is intently aligned with counselor competence, the place “purchasers have the suitable to know your coaching standing and the supervision preparations you’ve gotten” (Sommers-Flanagan & Sommers-Flanagan, 2015, p. 19).
The counselor ought to share their {qualifications}, the methods they are going to be utilizing, and the way lengthy counseling will seemingly final.
The next is a collection of examples of knowledgeable consent. There are numerous others accessible which may be appropriate in your wants and will be discovered by way of a fast on-line search.
- Counseling and psychotherapy – It will be significant that the consumer is made conscious that the counselor is licensed, the quantity and size of periods, and how one can make or cancel appointments. And whereas confidentiality is important, the consumer usually offers consent for the counselor to behave after they or others are in peril or prone to hurt.
- Informed consent for therapy agreement – Knowledgeable consent agreements will usually make clear the character of the consumer’s voluntary participation and their dedication to attend appointments on time. It’s also important to state that whereas remedy is often useful, there are not any ensures that the consumer will get higher.
- Counselor in training – When counselors are in coaching and coping with purchasers (typically kids), it’s important all events are made totally conscious they’re at the moment below supervision and but to qualify.
These three samples of knowledgeable consent should not exhaustive and have to be created in keeping with native legal guidelines and steerage, and safeguard the rights and wishes of the consumer always.
2 Helpful Referral Varieties
There could also be occasions when a person is just not conscious of their want for help or requires assist and doesn’t know what to do. Different companies and people could also be referred to as upon to refer them for counseling.
Normal Referral for Counseling
The General Referral for Counseling form will be accomplished by a involved different celebration or by the consumer themselves if self-referring and consists of:
- Private particulars, together with identify, tackle, age, and so on.
- Causes for referral, important incidents, and so on.
- Particulars of the individual referring (akin to title, position, contact particulars)
- Examples of conduct
- Actions taken to this point
- Urgency of referral
Pupil Referral to Faculty Counselor
Faculty and faculty years will be traumatic for college students, and there could also be occasions when they’re unable to manage. Warning alerts might embrace (Anderson College, n.d.):
- Extreme procrastination
- Poorly introduced work
- Rare class attendance
- Bother concentrating
- Disruptive conduct
- Showing overly nervous, tearful, or tense
Taking part in again their conduct to the coed will be useful in agreeing with them (and their mother and father) that they’d profit from referral to a college counselor.
The Student Referral to School Counselor form will be accomplished by the trainer or supervisor, captures their causes for referral, and consists of:
- Pupil and guardian identify
- Behavioral causes for referral
- Particulars of any incidents
- Actions taken so far
- Any dangers that should be captured
Telehealth Counseling Varieties: 5 Useful Templates
The availability of distant healthcare or telehealth continues to develop within the fields of counseling and remedy (Kanatouri, 2020).
Highly effective on-line platforms akin to Quenza present a wealth of ready-made instruments, performance, and templates to be used with face-to-face or distant purchasers.
The article titled How to Build and Send Counseling Forms explains how one can use telehealth types successfully and presents the next templates:
Every of the above types and templates can rapidly be constructed or modified for telehealth functions with a web-based device akin to Quenza. The platform was constructed for practitioners by the PositivePsychology.com founders to fulfill the necessity for a user-friendly, participating healthcare platform.
2 Greatest Varieties for Group Counseling Periods
Group counseling could be a extremely efficient technique of providing help to extra purchasers, with people studying from different members and the counselor (Cochran & Cochran, 2015).
“The final word objective in course of for a lot of teams is to assist group members reply to one another with a mixture of therapeutic attending, and sharing their very own reactions, and associated experiences” (Cochran & Cochran, 2015, p. 329).
Group work will be underpinned by types that act as interventions themselves or seize the work for analysis throughout or after its efficiency.
Evaluating a gaggle’s efficiency
Use the Support Group Evaluation Form to seize particular person experiences of the group’s efficiency that may assist construction counseling going ahead.
For instance:
What did you want most in regards to the group?
What did you want least in regards to the group?
How do you price the group general? (0 = had no worth; 10 = extremely helpful)
How a lot of a distinction has this group made to your life? (0 = none in any respect; 10 = an important deal)
Did you’re feeling secure elevating factors or asking questions? (0 = in no way; 10 = an important deal)
Parental consent for group counseling
Like particular person counseling, mother and father’ consent have to be sought to attend group periods.
Use the Group Counseling Permission Form to get consent from mother and father earlier than introducing a toddler to group counseling.
PositivePsychology.com’s Related Sources
We have now many free sources, together with types for counseling, akin to:
- BASIC-ID Template for Multi-Modal Teaching
This helpful template makes use of multi-modal teaching to evaluate purchasers’ habits and how one can break them. - Session Suggestions Type
Seize your client’s evaluation of a session and use it to enhance future counseling. - Teaching Consumption Type
Complete this form earlier than attending life teaching to assist the counselor put together for the primary session. - Temporary Psychological Standing Examination Type
Use this form to seize the outcomes of a short psychological standing examination.
Extra in depth variations of the next instruments can be found with a subscription to the Optimistic Psychology Toolkit©, however they’re described briefly beneath:
Planning and preparation are integral to objective achievement and a strong intervention in counseling.
This type facilitates planning in reverse chronological order to attenuate the probability of viewing the current actuality as an impediment to attaining the consumer’s desired finish state.
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- The first step – Establish and visualize the top objective.
- Step two – Establish and description the steps to get there.
- Step three – Take motion and mirror on the progress.
- The Vitality Audit
Full this audit kind to assist purchasers handle their vitality all through the day.
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- The first step – Use the shape to trace vitality ranges.
- Step two – Plot every day vitality ranges.
- Step three – Use the shape within the counseling session to debate how one can replenish vitality ranges.
- 17 Optimistic Psychology Workouts
When you’re on the lookout for extra science-based methods to assist others improve their wellbeing, try this signature assortment of 17 validated optimistic psychology instruments for practitioners. Use them to assist others flourish and thrive.
A Take-Dwelling Message
A collaborative working relationship is key to a optimistic therapeutic alliance and ought to be embedded from the very outset of counseling (Nelson-Jones, 2014).
Creating, finishing, and safely storing consumption, evaluation, referral, and different important types assist guarantee:
- A strong therapeutic alliance between counselor and consumer
- The consumer’s wants are put first
- Confidentiality is maintained, and acceptable data are saved
- Remedy is acceptable and dealing towards consumer objectives
Acceptable kind use encourages an entire understanding of the consumer’s circumstances, whether or not as a person, a part of a pair, an worker, or a scholar. The types facilitate therapy by clarifying and speaking the counseling method and the consumer’s expectations.
For the coed, member of workers, or the couple, the types document the altering dynamics, understandings, and state of affairs and will be referenced to measure progress towards therapy objectives.
The types and templates on this article will be merged and modified as acceptable to the construction and theoretical method adopted by the counselor. They supply suggestions, learnings, and confidence for the rising skilled, doubtlessly marking avenues for future coaching and ability improvement.
For a HIPAA-compliant system that creates and shops all of your types electronically, and makes it simple to ship them to purchasers for completion, think about Quenza, constructed with the practitioner in thoughts.
We hope you loved studying this text. Don’t neglect to obtain our three Optimistic Psychology Workouts at no cost.
- Anderson College. (n.d.). When to refer college students to counseling companies. Retrieved February 23, 2022, from https://anderson.edu/uploads/campus-life/refer-students-to-counseling-services.pdf
- Cochran, J. L., & Cochran, N. H. (2015). The center of counseling: Counseling abilities by therapeutic relationships. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
- Corey, G. (2013). Principle and apply of counseling and psychotherapy. Cengage.
- Kanatouri, S. (2020). The digital coach. Routledge.
- Knox, R., & Cooper, M. (2015). The therapeutic relationship in counselling and psychotherapy. SAGE.
- Lagerveld, S., & Blonk, R. (2012). Work-focused psychotherapy will help workers return to work sooner. American Psychological Affiliation. Retrieved February 23, 2022, from https://www.apa.org/information/press/releases/2012/02/psychotherapy
- Nelson-Jones, R. (2014). Sensible counselling and serving to abilities. Sage.
- Sommers-Flanagan, J., & Sommers-Flanagan, R. (2015). Research information for counseling and psychotherapy theories in context and apply: Abilities, methods, and methods (2nd ed.). Wiley.
- Williams, M. (2012). {Couples} counseling: A step-by-step information for therapists. Viale.