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The Counselor: Person and Professional
Knowledge and skills are essential but not sufficient for establishing and maintaining effective therapeutic relationships.
The human dimension is one of the most powerful determinants of the therapeutic encounter. Be aware of your own needs, motivations, values and personality traits that may enhance or interfere with your effectiveness as a counselor.
Genuineness, aliveness, realness, self-actualizing, becoming, psychologically healthy, appropriate self-disclosure: characteristics that build trust and enhance client honesty and change
Personal Characteristics of Effective Counselors: An Ideal
1. Comfortable sense of self
2. Strong sense of self-worth and strength
3. Able to accept their own power and the power of others
4. Open to change, to revise early decisions that have proven wrong
5. Living fully rather than settling for mere existence
6. Authentic, sincere, honest
7. Sense of humor
8. Willing to recognize and admit mistakes
9. Living in the present
10. Appreciative of own culture and those of others
11. Sincere interest in the welfare of others
12. Deeply involved in their work but not consumed by it
13. Capable of maintaining healthy boundaries
Counselors should participate in their own therapy before they become practitioners. Why would this be such a strong recommendation from Corey?
“As counselors we can take our clients no further than we have been willing to go in our own lives.” p. 20
Yalom, The gift of therapy: An open letter to a new generation of therapists and their patients (2003): “Self-exploration is a lifelong process, and I recommend that therapy be as deep and prolonged as possible–and that the therapist enter therapy at many different stages of life.”
A major reason for some form of therapy is to help students learn to deal with countertransference (the process of seeing themselves in their clients, of overidentifying with their clients, or of meeting their needs through their clients). Unless counselors are aware of their own conflicts, needs, assets, and liabilities, they can use the therapy hour more for their own purposes than for being available for their clients, which becomes an ethical issue. p. 21
Values and the Therapeutic Process
o Therapy cannot be value-free. The counselor’s values should enter into a therapeutic relationship, and, at the same time, he or she must maintain a sense of objectivity.
o Therapists will not impose their own specific values; their therapeutic goals and methods are an expression of their philosophy of life.
o It is the client’s responsibility to decide on the goals of therapy; the goals of the therapist should be congruent with the personal goals of the client.
o Setting goals is inextricably related to values. The intake session can be used to produce goals or lack of them:
o What brings you to therapy at this time?
o What would you like to accomplish here?
o What’s not working for you?
o What are your expectations here?
o What would you like to change about your life?
Becoming an effective multicultural counselor
o It is an ethical obligation for counselors to develop sensitivity to cultural differences
o It is necessary to understand your own cultural conditioning as it relates to ethnicity, race, gender, age, religion, sexual orientation, physical and mental abilities and socioeconomic status.
o Becoming a diversity-competent therapist is an on-going process in three areas: beliefs and attitudes, knowledge and skill. Be willing to identify and examine your own world view, assumptions, and personal prejudices about other racial/ethnic groups.
o Ask clients early in the therapy process how they identify their race/ethnicity, whether racial/ethical differences between therapist and client might affect the therapy process, what they can teach us that will help us work with them more productively.
o It is not necessary for practitioners to have the same experiences as their clients.
o See APA guidelines to working with diverse populations on page 27.
o Multicultural Counseling and Therapy (MCT)
Issues Faced by Beginning Therapists
1. Dealing with the normal anxieties that come with uncertainty
2. Being real and monitoring self-disclosure
3. Avoiding being perfect
4. Knowing your limitations, but willing to take risks
5. Getting comfortable with silence
6. Dealing with the demanding and presumptuous client
7. Tolerating ambiguity
8. Setting reasonable boundaries so you don’t lose yourself in the client’s problems
9. Developing a comfortable sense of humor
10.Sharing responsibility with your client for effective change
11. Refusing to give advice or make decisions for the client
12. Understanding why you are utilizing a technique with a client
13. Learning to develop your own unique style
14. Keeping yourself alive by paying attention to your personal and professional well-being.
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Dr. Stephen Myler is from Leicester in England, an industrial town in the Midlands of the United Kingdom. He holds a B.Sc (Honours) in Psychology from the UKÂ’s Open University the largest in the UK; he also has an M.Sc and Ph.D in Psychology from Knightsbridge University in Denmark. In addition to this Stephen holds many diplomas and awards in a variety of academic areas including journalism, finance, teaching and advanced therapy for mental health. Stephen has as a Professor of Psychology many years teaching experience in colleges and universities in England and China to post 16 young adults, instructing in psychology, sociology, English, marketing and business. He has been fortunate to travel extensively from Australia to Africa to the United Sates, South America, Borneo, most of Europe and Russia. StephenÂ’s favourite hobby is the study of primates and likes to play badminton. He believes that students who enjoy classes with humour and enthusiasm from the teacher always come back eager to learn more.
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