Counselor Quaities

Counseling is a unique profession requiring a particular set of qualities. It covers a wide range of disciplines and approaches, each requiring its own unique skill set. However, for anyone thinking of embarking on a career as a counselor, there are some basic skills in addition to personal attributes required to be effective in any specialty. Throughout a counselor’s career, continuous professional development is vital so you will never stop learning. Crouch (1992) suggests that there are four main areas of skills development: counselor awareness, personal work,theoretical understanding and casework skills. Larson et al. (1992) have constructed a model that breaks down counselor competence (which they term ‘counselor self-efficacy’) into five areas: micro-skills, process, dealing with difficult clients’ behaviours, cultural competence and awareness of values.

Active listening is a fundamental skill, together with encouraging clients to talk by asking open questions while keeping the client’s responses on track. The counselor also needs to listen to what is not being said, whether through omission or expressed non-verbally. Being able to interpret and use non-verbal communication such as voice tone and pitch, posture, facial expressions, gestures and unconscious movements are key skills. Paraphrasing what the client says and reflecting feelings back to him are techniques used to communicate the counselor’s understanding, while summarizing enables the counselor to bring everything together accurately and concisely in just a few powerful words. Whether running her own practice or simply managing her workload as an employee, the counselor needs to possess a number of organizational skills including prioritizing and timekeeping.

Failure to be organized can result in the counselor herself appearing unprofessional and potentially have catastrophic outcomes for the clients and the practice. Good record-keeping is particularly important, because all records must be treated confidentially and the counselor will be responsible for effective note-taking during the session. Conducting the session in a professional manner involves a number of skills, including the ability to adhere to a timescale and avoiding disclosing personal information. It is essential the counselor learns to control her own emotional involvement during difficult sessions, which may raise personal issues of her own. Effective counselors demonstrate empathy, patience, and genuine concern for clients. Listening carefully and without judgement, they remember what you’ve told them in previous conversations and put it into context.

They offer you a safe space to say what you haven’t said or couldn’t say before—and they help you make sense of it all. Trust grows from this fertile ground. Although this quality may seem obvious, counselors need to have a particular kind of empathy. A good counselor must balance empathy with accountability. Simply feeling sorry for clients isn’t enough; a good counselor must also hold clients accountable for their actions. We are there to help them grow–we are not friends who side with them against the world. An effective counselor identifies trends of negative behavioral and thinking patterns by simply listening to and observing his clients. The inflection in the client’s voice and her body language provides information to the observant therapist. For example, if a couple comes in and the husband angrily says he thinks the marriage is fine, while sitting as far from his spouse as possible, the therapist knows that everything is not “fine.”

Formal degrees in psychology do not necessarily make good counselors, but a common sense approach is not sufficient. Good counselors are willing and able to learn about themselves and other people too.

There are many ways that a counselor can use to improve himself professionally through out his career. Being a counselor is a very draining experience. If you can smile through the trying times and spend your days giving clients one of the greatest moments of their lives, then read on. If not, you really must evaluate why you want to be a counselor. It’s a lot of fun, but a lot of work. You must be responsible, and able to handle any situation that comes up. Be prepared to deal with many types of issues. This sounds the opposite but in addition to having a speciality you must also be enough of a generalist! People don’t always know what their issues are, sometimes new ones come out in the course of therapy.

If you are not comfortable handling something other than substance abuse, say, then you’ll have to refer out every time a family or sexual issue arises. Although that may be considered ethical practice, it isn’t desirable for the client to keep having to see a brand new person for each issue. Therapy also becomes very fragmented that way. Not good. So be flexible, and be ready. And know when to refer. Understand your limits, and be aware of when the therapy needs to go in a direction that you are not qualified to handle. This is where consulting with your peer group, or contacting the relevant person in your referral network comes in handy. They can give you a second opinion as to whether or not they think the client needs to be referred. But don’t over-refer either. Clients are very sensitive to this, and they may feel like their issue is “too severe” and hopeless if you have to send them to someone.

Don’t choose a personal counseling theory too soon. Don’t just jump into marriage with the first sexy theory that comes your way. Although your school will want you to develop your own theory, don’t allow yourself to get tied down too soon. Date all of the theories, then initiate a trial marriage before you forsake all others. If you typecast yourself too soon you will stifle your natural development, which will not only hold you back but frustrate the heck out of you. Use your breaks wisely. Remember that this is YOUR time, do whatever you feel will make you the happiest and get you re-energized for your next shift. Guidance and counseling can be beneficial to a number of different types of people and problems.

It can help to make them feel listened to without being judged by someone they know. Talking to a stranger is often easier than talking to a judged one, as if you feel uncomfortable or say the wrong thing then you don’t have to see them ever again. They are less likely to judge you as they can see the overall picture and get to know you and your situation based on what you tell them. A counselor can often be understanding and help you to talk through your problems. It will feel like a weight has been lifted off your chest, so you should feel a lot better about everything.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Psychological Base of Education, Dr. A. Antony.
2. Guidance and Counselling, Indore Madhukar.
3. Guidance and Counselling, Ramanath Sharma.
4. Ponton, L. (2006). Characteristics of Effective Counseling. Psych Central. Retrieved on August 8, 2014, from
5. www.wisecounsel.wordpress.com.
6. http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Richard_G_Harvey
7. http://www.therapyandspirituality.com/human-awakening.html