TPC-Journal-V2-Issue3

The Professional Counselor \Volume 2, Issue 3 215 Immediacy in this subtheme include processing the here-and-now of the counseling relationship, of the counseling process, and broaching gender differences. CIT Annie describes initiating a conversation with her client about the counseling relationship and how that may have been significant for this particular client: I just kind of opened it up by saying…”how are you feeling in this room? How is our relationship? Are you feeling comfortable in our relationship? Are there things that I could do to make that relationship more comfortable for you?” And…I think that because she puts up that intimidation sometimes as a front that that’s probably one of the first times someone has ever said that to her and kind of put the ball in her court and tried to mutually, you know, invest in a relationship. There also were instances of immediacy that were client initiated. Susan was pleased that her client brought up her discomfort with Susan’s positioning: I was sitting up close, I’m kind of working on my, where it feels comfortable for me to sit. I scooted up more to the tip of my chair and was leaning towards her and that made her feel really uncomfortable and she felt that she could address me about it, which really I …was, I shouldn’t say flattered by it but I appreciated that she felt that comfortable that she could say, “wow, you’re making me feel really uncomfortable by being that close.” When clients initiated immediate moments, CITs felt this indicated clients’ trust and comfort level in the counseling relationship. Still other CITs found it meaningful when they were able to talk with their clients about how they were experiencing them in session. Exhibiting CIT Disclosure of Their Experience of Client, Sue describes both her urge and hesitance with this: …there was a point at the end when I was able to validate her…but she worries that people don’t value her opinions so I stepped a little outside of my comfort zone and disclosed like, ‘I really am valuing what you’re saying in here’…I have a fear of self-disclosing and it’s just because I don’t have a lot of practice with it so it’s always like am I doing this for the right reasons? Will it be meaningful to her? But in that moment it felt like I needed to tell her…‘in this relationship [I] really value what you’re saying.’ So it was uncomfortable because there’s always that second guessing, is this appropriate? How should I phrase it? Nonverbals Many CITs were in tune to the nonverbals exhibited in the room. This theme includes all of the interactions between CITs and clients that are not spoken out loud, including how present CITs and clients were with each other, silent moments, and body language. Presence, or how present CITs and their clients were in the moment with each other, was something some CITs were very in touch with. Alex describes her process with this and her client’s response well: …when I stopped thinking, what am I supposed to be doing, and just was more myself, it seemed like I was able to do what I was supposed to be doing and then also being myself. …So, yeah, and I wonder like did he notice I wasn’t being myself? Because when I was, he was definitely more engaged as well so.…Like we started joking and it just seemed like things were actually clicking instead of me doing, ‘uh-huh, uh-huh’ and like up here [in my head] trying to figure out what was going on. Alex describes what other CITs also experienced, a difference in the counseling process when they and their clients were present and engaged. Nonverbals, specifically how present and engaged CITs and their clients were, silent moments, body language, and other intuitive observations made by CITs were important in CITs’ experiences of what was meaningful. Emotion CITs experienced emotion in session, or the lack of emotion in session, as important in the process. For avoiding or lack of emotion, CITs reflected on their own actions that led the client away from experiencing their emotions