Karleen went into some depth, including case studies and a role play, to illustrate what breastfeeding counselling is and is not, covering: the theoretical foundations of counselling practice (
unconditional positive regard, congruence, creating emotional safety), the theoretical foundations of counselling process (empathetic understanding, understanding the mother's experience and validating, accepting and valuing that experience), key counselling skills, exploratory questions, clarifying questions,
offering information not instruction,
offering appropriate reassurance and then
offering suggestions and helping to make a plan.