Endings

According to Egan, towards the end of counselling, during stage 3, clients might get to a point when they can be encouraged to act based on what has been achieved previously. The counsellor can encourage the client to explore ways of achieving goals and set up an action plan. This can be reviewed and reassessed if necessary. The skills used in this phase include goal setting, developing goals, helping clients to identify options by enabling them to imagine a different future, brainstorming or even sentence completion, giving encouragement and evaluating.

 

 

 

Managing the ending of the working relationship is crucial. Counselling is a formally contracted relationship between the client and the counsellor so termination is implicitly present from the first session. By this we support clients’ autonomy instead of encouraging them to be dependent on the counsellor. The values of respect, genuineness and competence should be displayed by the counsellor. Also, in counselling we aim to facilitate the clients to become more independent and more resourceful when dealing with problems, when they finish the counselling process, we should bear this in mind from the first session.

Time boundaries of individual sessions should be highlighted from the beginning and towards the end of each session. Stating how much time is left before we summarise is also useful. It can also serve as a natural ending to the session. Clients may introduce a new subject, this has to be scheduled for the next session. If the work is contracted for 6 or 12 sessions it can be constantly reviewed and extended if necessary.

When ending the counselling relationship a number of things need to be considered. Ending might evoke strong emotions of previous loss or grief in the clients and these need to be explored. Clients who were traumatised by separation before or were bereaved may reactivate painful memories. A permission to feel negative emotions can be liberating for the client, they will feel understood, accepted and valued. It can be 1 final session but it also can take several sessions. This way, we can avoid the client feeling rejected or abandoned. The counsellor can also have strong emotions, supervision can help to process these. Burdening the client with these would not be ethical.

During the ending phase the work together can be reviewed and the client should be given an opportunity to give feedback on their experience. Celebrating success and identifying growth is also crucial for an appropriate ending. Looking back at the beginning and comparing or contrasting it with the present can also be powerful, even looking to the future, too.

However, some clients end counselling prematurely or might end earlier than planned. These clients tend to miss appointments, cancel appointments, arrive late or disengage in sessions. In some cases clients need to be referred on because they might need some different type of support which is beyond our competence. This should be done sensitively and without leaving the client feeling rejected or abandoned.

Bibliography:

Integrative Counselling Skills in Action by Susan Culley, Tim Bond, SAGE Publications Ltd; Third Edition, 2011

Margaret Hough Counselling Skills and Theory, Hodder Education, 2017