Title: General principles of counselling
Course: Family Planning - Ethiopia (Full)

General principles of counselling

Stop reading for a moment and think about the general guidelines for effective counselling that you learnt before.

What are the general principles that you should follow for a successful outcome to a counselling session?

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These are the important principles and conditions necessary for effective counselling:

- Privacy — find a quiet place to talk.
- Take sufficient time.
- Maintain confidentiality.
- Conduct the discussion in a helpful atmosphere.
- Keep it simple — use words people in your village will understand.
- First things first — do not cause confusion by giving too much information.
- Say it again — repeat the most important instructions again and again.
- Use available visual aids like posters and flip charts, etc.

You need to remember these guidelines when you are counselling for family planning, but there are additional considerations because family planning is a particularly sensitive issue. You will learn about these in Section 3.3.