counseling involves the provision of assistance
Generally, counseling involves the provision of assistance, which eventually helps in solving personal and mental problems. A professional individual mostly administers it, and it can take different forms, such as individual, group, and couple counseling. Professional counselors have licensed health therapists which offers assessments, diagnosis as well as advice of individuals who are facing different life stresses and psychological problems. Professional counseling people with relationship matters, family issues as well as mental health disorders, which include depression and anxiety. They generally deal with any challenging issue which can affect the feelings of a person and their happiness. For this to be effective, a good counselor must possess specific attributes and skills.
A competent counselor must have excellent communication skills. Even though these are skills that can be honed during graduate schools and can be gained and refined in one’s career path, then one must possess specific communication skills before they embark on the counseling career. Hence, counselors should possess a natural ability to listen and clearly explaining their ideas and thoughts to the third party. Further, for one to be a good counselor, they have to be nonjudgmental and be accepting, which is an essential character for any helping professions? For professional counselors, one must have the ability of beginning “where the client is at (Corey, & Corey, 2020).” That phrase of beginning where the client is at is used in counseling for expanding on the ability to relate to clients by being open and having a nonjudgmental attitude. A good counselor must accept the client for who they are and their situation. So, the good counselor has to concern acceptance to the clients by being warm and understanding.
Additionally, competent counselors should show empathy where they help individuals to go through their difficult and stressful times of their lives. They should also be able to portray their ability to feel their clients. Empathy is where one has the skills of imagining what it is like being in the client’s shoes. Being compassionate and having empathy as a counselor helps the client in feeling that they are understood and heard (Corey, & Corey, 2020). Consequently, it is not up to the counselor to solve the client’s problems regardless of how much one would want to help. Nevertheless, an effective counselor has to possess excellent problem-solving skills putting them in a position of helping their client’s identity and making a change to negative thought patterns and other harmful behaviors that might influence their issues.
Also, a competent counselor has to have a very strong sense of interpersonal skills for helping him in establishing a good rapport quickly with the clients leading to a strong relationship. The counselors have to offer all their attention to the clients and focus on cultivating clients’ trust. So, counselors need to food all their efforts on the client’s situation, which helps in the building of a rapport. They should avoid being distracted by their issues and concerns while addressing the client’s needs (Corey & Corey, 2020). A competent counselor should be flexible and ensure that they are not rigid with their predetermined treatment path when the clients demand a varying approach. Being flexible is one of the critical attributes which professional counselors, must have as stated by Gerald Juhnke, who is a professor at the University of Texas in an interview.
Self-awareness is where a counselor can look within and identifying their own unsatisfied psychological needs and desires, which include intimacy needs and desire to be professionally competent. An effective counselor should practice self-awareness, which prevents them from personal issues have an impact or conflict with clients. Besides, the ability to be self-aware is essential, as stated by David Hutchinson (Corey, & Corey, 2020). Further, one must be multicultural competent in helping clients from all walks of life where they adopt a multicultural work view. Being multicultural competency means trying to relate and understand the clients without biasness of their race, ethnicity, or even socio-economic background.
There are different ways of how one can acquire and refine effective counseling skills. It can be through working on one’s micro-skills such as focusing, questioning, and summarizing since they are skills that are used in building a rapport with the clients. One can also learn continuously and increase its professional effectiveness (Corey & Corey, 2020). As a counselor, there is a need to have effective strategies that help in assisting counselors in becoming more organized and efficient in their activities. It will help in the improvement of a range of personal and professional areas. On the other hand, for one to acquire and refine their skills, they can get a supervisor, which can be structured or individual type of supervision and can be through live or self-report delivery methods.
Consequently, taking care of oneself is essential in the counseling orientation issue is such a potential place for high risks of burning out. Gaining an understanding of how stress and burnout have significant effects on persons is the beginning point to develop strategies that assist in the promotion of self-care and reduction of incidences of burnout while helping clients. It increases the quest for finding a balance between life and work situations (Corey & Corey, 2020). When carrying out communication with clients being flexible and responsive are vital skills that a competent counselor should possess. Counselor’s ability to adjust to customer’s needs cheaply impact the result of the relationship. Networking is key in the development and refining of professionals through learning. They get a chance to gain industry contacts, which offers help in issues like professional collaboration, referrals when handling issues of mental health issues, and supervision.
Being flexible can help a counselor to define and refine their counseling skills giving them the ability to working with various types of clients under unique situations. Even though a counselor might choose to specialize in a particular area, there is a value of gaining knowledge and experience in different areas in their careers. Some of these areas would include family therapy, addictions, loss, and grief, as well as working differences and addressing group work (Corey, & Corey, 2020). Having focus on the bigger picture and having a comprehension of various situations and emotions and behaviors connected to the serves as great tools of effective counselors when assisting their clients.
At the beginning of the counseling section, the counselor will need communication skills to listen and clearly understand the client’s needs. Further, they will require rapport building skills, which will help in the establishment of a strong relationship with the client. This will help in cultivating undivided attention and trust from the client (Corey & Corey, 2020). One will have to focus on the client, ensuring that they do not get distracted by their concerns. One will also need empathy skills to help the client in their most stressful and challenging time for their lives.
Once they have established a relationship, the counselor can use problem-solving skills, which will help in identifying and making changes to the client’s thoughts and patterns. This helps in solving their issues effectively. Flexibility skills will be required during the sessions since the counselor will need to change their ways of meeting the client’s needs. One does not have to be rigid on their predetermined treatment path even when the client demands a different technique. Exercising acceptance is essential when handling clients (Corey & Corey, 2020). This is because it helps the counselor from being judgmental where they start from where the client is at. One will be able to relate to the client openly and with a nonjudgmental attitude where they accept the client in their current situation. This will help in ensuring the counselor is warming and understanding.
To effectively terminate the counseling relationship with the client, the counselor should remind the client that the end is approaching. This can be done at least three sessions before the last one. This offers an opportunity of asking the client to talk about the relationship that they have terminated in their past and how they were affected after the termination of the counseling relationship. Further, one can also ask what they need to be discussed for the remaining short time. However, before informing them that the relationship is coming to an end, one can pose the question that “if this is the last counseling meeting, how would they feel about it? The answer that the client gives helps in understanding the right way of informing the client concerning the termination of the relationship.
Work Cited
Corey, Corey. Becoming a Helper.
Corey, M. S., & Corey, G. (2020). Becoming a helper. Cengage Learning.
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