Effective Counselor Characteristics

Qualities Needed to be an Effective Counselor

Both the client and the counselor must work together to provide good counseling. As a successful counselor, one must be open and approachable so that the person receiving counseling feels comfortable discussing their troubles or problems. A good counselor should also be sensitive, compassionate, and nonjudgmental. If you want to be a counselor, you should ask yourself if you have the traits of an effective counselor. This paper will look at the qualities needed to be an effective counselor. Effective, counselor, and client are key words.

The Importance of a Counselor-Client Relationship

A counselor-client relationship is unlike any other. It is a safe and private place where the client should feel free to express his or herself and get help and understanding in a period when they may feel nobody else can help them. It is vital that counselors endeavor to be as effective in this relationship as they can to encourage change in the client’s life. There are numerous characteristics that an effective counselor should possess in order to facilitate this healing process. Some may come to them naturally while others may be acquired in school. In addition, some are sought after by the counselor. Whichever way they are obtained, an effective counselor will develop his or her collection of strategies so as to maintain a high level of quality in the counselor-client relationship. Effective counselors have good communication skills, a multicultural view, are empathetic, aware, accepting, and self-reflecting.

The Role of Communication in Effective Counseling

Communication plays an essential part in effective counseling (Fernando, 2011). A counselor should know when to listen, talk, or to permit silence so that the client has time to recollect or to think about what has just been discussed (Oppawsky, 2016). However, communication does not merely consist of spoken words; effective counselors will likewise be versed in high-context communication. Counselors do not only need to hear what the clients say; they additionally have to be attentive to how and why they are saying it, and what it implies with regards to each client. They have to pay attention to the content as well as its delivery and context (Hargreaves, 1982). A counselor likewise should have the capacity to listen “between the lines,” so as to be able to hear things that the client does not speak out loud. What a client excludes from a session can speak just as clearly as what is said out loud. In particular, a counselor ought to know how to listen without judgment or assessment. Clients come with troublesome and complicated issues, and they should feel that they have the space to say all that they feel they have to, without dread of disgrace or feeling as if their counselor has jumped to a conclusion. As a counselor, developing a non-reactive position and contrasting between evaluation and perception will help one to make accurate assessments, and develop a personal association with the client. Albeit some of these characteristics can be sharpened amid school training and are created and refined through the span of the counselor’s career, any counselor should already have certain communication abilities before setting out on a counseling profession. They need to possess a natural capacity to listen and be capable of clearly explaining their thoughts and ideas to others.

The Importance of Being Nonjudgmental and Accepting

Being nonjudgmental and accepting are critical traits in all of the helping professions. Counselors must have the capacity to ”start where the client is.” This expression is frequently utilized in counseling to depict the aptitude to identify with clients with an open and nonjudgmental state of mind thus accepting them for who they are and in their present situation. Counselors should be capable of conveying acceptance to their client with warmth and comprehension. They hear a broad range of private information and come into contact with a variety of individuals. One may hear grim secrets from somebody’s past including such things as criminal or sexual conduct, and an effective counselor should refrain from judgment and instead, impart positive regard. There are instances when it might be important to judge a particular behavior, yet the client must not feel that they are being judged. The counseling environment should be a safe place for a client to share their most intimate distresses.

The Role of Empathy in Effective Counseling

Empathy is the capacity to comprehend and share the sentiments of others. Effective counselors should be able to put themselves in the shoes of their clients and understand the issue from their perspective. Regardless of the possibility that they do not concur with the client’s viewpoint, they still require the capacity to understand how it feels to the client if they are to be able to address their issue adequately. However, it is imperative that one is not too sympathetic. A few counselors are not effective since they are not capable of maintaining objectivity and consequently take home the emotional stress of the occupation. The required level of empathy is a fine line between being helpful to the client and being harmful to the counselor (Moyers & Miller, 2013).

The Importance of a Multicultural View in Counseling

Another characteristic of effective counselors is that they have a multicultural view. They do not have the opinion that their way of life is in any capacity better than another person’s; thus they abstain from turning into a culturally encapsulated counselor (Shamshad, Wilson, & Jones, 2011). Counselors should make conscience steps to venture out of their culture to experience and comprehend different cultures so that their issues, esteem framework, or any bias will not interfere with their counselor/client relationship with clients of a different culture. They ought to attempt to see the world from their client’s perspective. They should be culturally sensitive and ought to be aware of any biases or other negative sentiments that may interfere with the client’s healing process. A culturally aware counselor can comprehend family dynamics within various cultures (LeBeauf, Smaby, & Maddux, 2009). They ought to have the ability to understand the different roles of various family members in connection with each other. Furthermore, effective counselors ought to respect and attempt to comprehend their client’s religious convictions. A counseling method that works for an American Christian may not be appropriate for a Middle East Muslim. A counselor must make sure they are versed in various counseling strategies for different religions.

The Importance of Self-Reflection for Counselors

Finally, an effective counselor realizes that it is similarly as essential to search inside themselves as it is to watch others carefully (Myers, 2003). The notion of ”Self as an Instrument” is key to an effective training as well as a career in mental health (Myers, 2003). Clients would prefer not to enter treatment with a counselor who is uncertain of themselves or apprehensive. As a result of the counseling relationships’ intimate nature, to be effective, a counselor has an obligation to be self-aware (Wilkinson, 2011). They have to know where they have neglected needs in their life that may obstruct a client’s healing process. Having denial areas will enormously influence the counselor’s capacity to help their customer.

Conclusion

In conclusion, counseling is a unique profession that requires specific characteristics. It covers an extensive variety of disciplines and methodologies, each requiring its own set of skills. Be that as it may, for anybody considering a career as a counselor, there are some basic aptitudes required to be effective. These are good communication skills, self-awareness, empathy, multicultural views, and acceptance. All through a counselor’s training and career, one needs to continually develop these skills so as to become an effective counselor.

References

Fernando, S. (2011). Communication Skills and Counseling. Sri Lanka Journal of Obsterics and Gynaecology, 69-71.

Hargreaves, S. (1982). The Relevance of Non-Verbal Skills in Pysiotherapy. The Australian Journal of Pysiotherapy, 19-22.

LeBeauf, I., Smaby, M., & Maddux, C. (2009). Adapting Counseling Skills for Multicultural and Diverse Clients. Journal of Compelling Counseling Interventions, 33-42.

Moyers, T. B., & Miller, W. (2013). Is Low Therapist Empathy Toxic? Journal of thr Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors, 878-884.

Myers, S. (2003). Reflections on Reflecting: How Self-Awareness Promotes Personal Growth. The Person-Centered Journal, 3-22.

Oppawsky, J. (2016). Silence is a Counseling Skill. The Journal of the American Association of Integrative.

Shamshad , A., Wilson, K. B., & Jones, J. W. (2011). What Does It Mean to Be a Culturally-Competent Counselor? Journal for Social Action in Counselling and Psychology, 17-28.

Wilkinson, T. (2011). Increasing Counselor Self-Awareness: The Role of Cognitive Complexity and Metacognition in Counselor Training Programs. Alabama Counseling Association Journal, 24-32.