Immediacy Definition of immediacy Immediacy is a characteristic

Immediacy

Definition of immediacy · Immediacy is a characteristic of a counselor's verbal response describing something as it occurs within a counseling session.

Purposes for Immediacy · to bring out in the open something you feel about yourself, the client or the relationship that has not been expressed directly, · to generate discussion or provide feedback about some aspect of the relationship, or the interactions as they occur, and • to facilitate client self-exploration and maintain the focus of the interaction on the client, or the relationship, rather than on the counselor.

Ground rules for immediacy • the counselor should describe what he or she sees as it happens, • the counselor should be expressing things in the present tense, • the counselor should take responsibility for his or her feelings by using the personal pronouns, I, me or mine, and • the counselor should time his immediate responses so that there is a strong relationship before he uses them.

Ground Rules for Confronting • Be aware of your motives. • To avoid blame, focus on the incongruity of the problem • Cite a specific example • Confrontation should not occur unless you are willing to continue in or commitment to the counseling relationship. • It should be used early in a session • Don't confront on more than two successive occasions • It may take more than confrontation to bring about resolution of the discrepancy