Counselor Self-Reference: Self-Disclosure and Self-Involving Skills

Two types of genetic counseling skills involve self-reference by genetic counselors: self-disclosure and self-involving responses. Self-referent responses are advanced helping skills, and although used less frequently than other types of responses, they can have powerful effects on genetic counseling processes and outcomes. This chapter defines self-disclosure and self-involving skills, differentiates self-disclosure from self-involving responses, provides guidelines for using self-disclosure and self-involving responses effectively, and describes potential benefits and risks of each type of self-referent response. Concrete examples of patient requests for genetic counselor self-disclosure are provided, and examples of counselor-patient themes appropriate for self-involving responses are provided. The structured activities and written exercises at the end of the chapter encourage student development of self-referent skills through self-reflection, practice, and feedback.