317 – Strengths and Challenges in Autism

Finding Work through EAP – Closing a Skills Session

In Episode 317 of the Counselling Tutor Podcast, your hosts Rory Lees-Oakes and Ken Kelly look at this week’s three topics:

• Firstly in ‘Ethical, Sustainable Practice’, we look at the different strengths and challenges in autism that individuals may face.
• Then in ‘Practice Matters’, Rory speaks with Sharon McCormick about how an ethical EAP (Employment Assistant Program) operates and the benefits for both clients and employers.
• And lastly in ‘Student Services, Rory and Ken discuss closing a skills session.

Strengths and Challenges in Autism [starts at 02:55 mins]

There are some traits that are commonly seen in autistic people – these can be both strengths and challenges. In this section, Rory and Ken discuss some of the ways that acknowledging these strengths and challenges in autism within your practice can help when working with neurodivergent clients:

• Those who are autistic might find some tasks easy to do and they might find some areas of life a bit of a struggle.
• Some autistic people may have challenges in communication or social interaction.
• It’s still important to remember that every autistic person is different.
• You’re not meeting a stereotype, find out who this client is.
• An autistic person’s energy might fluctuate up and down – they might have had lots of energy in the morning, but by the afternoon they might find the simplest of things a bit of a struggle due to lack of energy.
• Some neurodivergent people feel they have to map themselves to the world they’re in through masking. This can be seen most commonly in social interaction and can take up a lot of energy.
• Everybody has strengths and challenges – however, there are some traits that are more common in autistic individuals.
• Making small adjustments to make clients feel more comfortable – are there any sensory challenges that you can accommodate for?
• If a client is very low-energy, asking them about a special interest of theirs might energise them, or bring a spark back into how they are within the room.
• See clients as people first, then work with whatever they bring.
• Allow clients to feel they can ask you to make reasonable adjustments.
• Is there an opportunity for you to balance out a challenge with one of their strengths?
• Be creative within the space.

Finding Work through EAP [starts at 34:21 mins]

In this week’s ‘Practice Matters’, Rory speaks with Sharon McCormick about how an ethical EAP operates and the benefits for both clients and employers.

The key points of this discussion include:

• An EAP provides an external service to an organisation that looks after their staff’s wellbeing. This can include talking therapy, signposting, mediation, training, or trauma support.
• Clients are matched up with a therapist that best suits them.
• Everything is agreed contractually before they start using the services.
• This helps the client to prepare as best they can for the first appointment.
• Initially contract for 6 sessions, but they might attend less than this. If the counsellor feels the client needs more sessions, and the issue is work-related, this will be requested from the employer.
• Always work in the best interest of the client.
• Work collaboratively, what does the counsellor feel is best for the client?

Closing a Skills Session [starts at 59:02 mins]

It can be tricky to know how to end a skills session. In this section, Rory and Ken discuss what to be mindful of when drawing a session to a close:

• How do we bring skill sessions to an end in a way that is respectful to the speaker?
• When you give a 5-minute warning and begin a summary, do you use factual information, or emotional language?
• This speaks to boundaries – sessions need to come to an end without the risk of the client opening up again.
• At the beginning of the session, you might say how long the session is and state that you’ll say something when you’re 5 minutes from the end – this means you’re already acknowledging that closing.
• Check your understanding of the client with your summary.
• You don’t want the client to leave your room upset – in your summary, try to avoid overemphasising the emotion.
• Your summary should highlight the key things the client has brought.
• Use paraphrasing.
• Allows clients to do some reflection between sessions.
• If it’s been a particularly emotional session, you might use the last 5 minutes to ground the client rather than give a summary.

Links and Resources

• The Listening Centre
• Counselling Skills Academy
• Advanced Certificate in Counselling Supervision
• Basic Counselling Skills: A Student Guide
• Counsellor CPD
• Counselling Study Resource
• Counselling Theory in Practice: A Student Guide
• Counselling Tutor Shop
• Facebook group
• Website
• Online and Telephone Counselling: A Practitioner’s Guide
• Online and Telephone Counselling Course