Counseling
Chapter one of the book by Kottler and Shepard (2015) was very insightful. The chapter orients counseling students on what to expect from this career and how to deal with some of the issues they may encounter as they practice their profession. This paper summarizes the key insights from the chapter under review.
Many reasons drive people to pursue a career in counseling. Some of these reasons include the desire to save others or oneself as well as the many opportunities for applying classroom studies to one’s own life availed by the counseling discipline (Kottler & Shepard, 2015). Also, a person may be inspired to pursue a career in counseling because of the satisfaction he or she gets from being part of a close, intimate relationship or the personal challenges he or she has faced in the past. Once a person becomes a counselor, he or she gets an opportunity to have direct and indirect consequences to other people, including students, families, and individuals. Before embarking on a career as a counselor, one must ask him or herself a series of questions. For instance, one must make sure that he or she is confident that choosing a career in counseling is the best decision for him or her (Kottler & Shepard, 2015). Also, one must assess his or her emotional and intellectual capacity to excel as a counselor.
More importantly, counselors must dedicate themselves to finding solutions their clients face. In some instances, therapists may feel helpless when their clients fail to take the necessary action to mitigate their problems. However, counselors need to realize that their role is to help clients make better decisions. In addition to avoiding making decisions for their clients, counselors must seek to block distractions while in session. The distractions may be internal or external (Kottler & Shepard, 2015). For instance, distractions may take the form of noise. As human beings, counselors may relate to the challenges their clients are facing. Failure to subjugate personal needs may prevent the counselor from serving his or her client’s best interests. Besides, countertransference is a serious problem in counseling. It involves therapists losing objectivity when they allow personal issues to interfere with their work (Kottler & Shepard, 2015). Thus, a therapist must have in-depth knowledge of him or herself when it comes to his or her unresolved issues and biases.
At the same time, one needs to realize that counseling is a field that comprises processes and steps. For instance, a therapist must start with building rapport with his or her clients, formulating goals, and understanding the cultural context of the person he or she is helping (Kottler & Shepard, 2015). Also, therapists must help their clients confront the inconsistencies in their thought processes. At the same time, counselors must make a commitment to this field. Like other professions, counseling can be a challenging career. For instance, counselors are prone to experiencing a feeling of anxiety about one’s personal apprehension and pressure about his or her work. Also, counselors must always take a neutral position when helping their clients overcome the issues they are facing (Kottler & Shepard, 2015). Having a vested interest in the issues the client is facing may affect a therapist’s objectivity. At the same time, ambiguity and uncertainty are part and parcel of the counseling profession (Kottler & Shepard, 2015). Counselors must seek to develop empathy towards their patients as opposed to focusing on the quest to find answers to the issues facing the latter.
The other skill that a counselor must have is tolerance for grief. Therapists encounter people going through grief almost daily. Consequently, therapists must learn how to find comfort in the presence of other people’s discomfort. At the same time, counselors should have a thorough understanding of their own grief (Kottler & Shepard, 2015). This is because dealing with clients going through pain may trigger the therapist to reflect on his or her own grief. Counseling is a profession aimed at helping others. However, a therapist also benefits from the counseling process. Consequently, the therapist should expect to have his or her life changed from his or her interactions with his or her clients. For instance, he or she must expect to have a new realization of the interconnectedness of people (Kottler & Shepard, 2015). Also, counseling helps a therapist become self-aware and knowledgeable.
In conclusion, counseling is one of the professions that are in great demand, and people pursue a career in this field for a variety of reasons. However, individuals pursuing this career choice must possess unique characteristics such as high intellectual capacity, emotional maturity, and ability to demonstrate empathy towards their clients. As human service providers, counselors must be prepared to impact and get influenced by their clients.
References
Kottler, J. & Shepard, D. (2015). Introduction to counseling: Voices from the field. (8th ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning. ISBN 9781285084763