What?
One of my SMART goals, like many of my classmates, was to improve upon my counselling skills. This assignment allowed me to build on this goal with real life immersion into patient/client-counselling with a volunteer client. This included an initial “assessment” session and a second “advising” session. I took an initial assessment of my client regarding her nutrition issues with an assessment form I formulated based on this topic. After this session, I further researched her nutrition-related
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So What?
Having the opportunity to counsel a real life client put a dietitian’s role into perspective for me. I realized that the theory behind science and human nutrition knowledge is only one component of a variety of layers that a dietitian encompasses. They must be listeners, communicators, and counsellors among other things. I realized that this role is complex and that there are several factors within counselling that can impact the outcome. Examples include verbal and body language, open-ended questions, motivational interviewing, and reflective listening.

As dietitians, it is important to build on these skills when providing client-centered care. They are meant to elicit the most information from the client, while fostering trust between them and the healthcare professional. My goal during counselling sessions is to make the client feel at ease and make the session valuable to them. I can do this my including them in the advising process and to guide them towards producing their own goals and means of achieving them.

I appreciate the freedom we had with regards to our assessment and advising sessions; we were given guidelines but were able to conduct them in our own personalized ways.
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Now What?
I look forward to more opportunities counselling clients – whether through watching another dietitian counsel, or through counselling a client myself. I realize that there are several areas of improvement for me, but that a level of comfort and ease will come with time and exposure.

One thing I would like to have is an optional e-mail follow up with the client. This would be a great way to see what sorts of resources work and what do not. Though I understand there are barriers to this such as non-response, or making the client feel as if they had to have undergone these changes immediately and consistently. Nonetheless, I liked this idea when it was brought up in class.
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• Year 3