Answer to Question #229592 in Psychology for lol

Question

Explain the skill of immediacy and its importance in the helping process (include the three guidelines in your response).

Answer 1

Immediacy as a counselling skill is used when the counsellors want to explore and respond to what the client is saying. Immediacy is also used to tap into the messages that are said in the here and now. It is to respond immediately to a situation or they are responses to meet the needs of the clients. The skill of immediacy is to invite both the counsellor and the client to deal with problems that arise in the therapeutic relationship. When the counsellors and clients involve in a therapeutic relationship, they form a interpersonal relationship that is built by both the counsellor and the client. The interpersonal relationship between the client and the counsellor may weaken or may have loose connections. When this occurs, the counsellor uses the skill of immediacy. Immediacy is a useful tool as it helps in monitoring and managing the therapeutic relationship. There may be two types of immediacy, one is relationship focused immediacy that emphasises on how the client and counsellor are doing in a working alliance. The second one is event focused immediacy, which emphasises on the specific issues in the therapeutic relationship. It is important to note when immediacy is used. According to Egan, (2010) there are certain situations that call for immediacy. These are as follows: • Immediacy is used when there is no direction or no focus in the therapeutic relationship. • It is used when there is no progress made in the helping relationship.