Counselor Characteristics
Richelle Machado
Effective Counselor Characteristics
Walden University
COUN 6100
According to the text, “counselor characteristics are an important part of the therapeutic dynamic (Sheperis, D. S., & Ellis, C. M., 2010).” Counselor’s characteristics are formed by one’s personality and how that counselor uses his or her personality in their approaches to therapy. In the media Counselor Characteristics, Gail Mear, Bob Walsh and Norm Dasenbrook all explained a few counselor characteristics they believed are used during therapy. Some of those characteristics that are effective are being that helping person (through this with training a counselor gains a skill set to help the client), setting boundaries (being able to know when to set limits in counseling between you as the counselor and your client), empathic counselor (being able to understand your clients feelings and grasp where those feelings are coming from), Self-Awareness (counselors encourage clients though process of belief that they can achieve anything, have faith in the clients you work with but also be aware that not everything they tell you is the truth), lastly collaboration (by working together as a system and using your people skills your collaboration with your client will be more effective). An ineffective characteristic that I got from the media was codependency, making sure to pay attention to times when counselors become too involved in their clients therapy or lives and are not creating the active listening environment, this may lead to not helping the client heal and become a more positive person and get better in the long run. In the case study two effective characteristics that I believe to be effective are when the counselor as the client to tell him more about the anger issues. This is effective because it opens up more questions that the counselor has, thus the open-ended question. But also it leads to having the client think about where the
Effective Counselor Characteristics
Walden University
COUN 6100
According to the text, “counselor characteristics are an important part of the therapeutic dynamic (Sheperis, D. S., & Ellis, C. M., 2010).” Counselor’s characteristics are formed by one’s personality and how that counselor uses his or her personality in their approaches to therapy. In the media Counselor Characteristics, Gail Mear, Bob Walsh and Norm Dasenbrook all explained a few counselor characteristics they believed are used during therapy. Some of those characteristics that are effective are being that helping person (through this with training a counselor gains a skill set to help the client), setting boundaries (being able to know when to set limits in counseling between you as the counselor and your client), empathic counselor (being able to understand your clients feelings and grasp where those feelings are coming from), Self-Awareness (counselors encourage clients though process of belief that they can achieve anything, have faith in the clients you work with but also be aware that not everything they tell you is the truth), lastly collaboration (by working together as a system and using your people skills your collaboration with your client will be more effective). An ineffective characteristic that I got from the media was codependency, making sure to pay attention to times when counselors become too involved in their clients therapy or lives and are not creating the active listening environment, this may lead to not helping the client heal and become a more positive person and get better in the long run. In the case study two effective characteristics that I believe to be effective are when the counselor as the client to tell him more about the anger issues. This is effective because it opens up more questions that the counselor has, thus the open-ended question. But also it leads to having the client think about where the
References: Cooper, J. B. (2010). Counseling microskills. In B. T. Erford (Ed.), Orientation to the counseling profession: Advocacy, ethics, and essential professional foundations (pp. 148–162). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. Document: Vignettes: Counseling Microskills Discussion Document: Transcript: Effective Counselor Characteristics and Behaviors Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010). Counseling characteristics. Baltimore, MD: Author. Levitt, D. H. (2001). Active listening and counselor self-efficacy: Emphasis on one microskill in beginning counselor training. Clinical Supervisor, 20(2), 101–115. Retrieved from the Walden Library databases. Sheperis, D. S., & Ellis, C. M. (2010). The counseling process. In B. T. Erford (Ed.), Orientation to the counseling profession: Advocacy, ethics, and essential professional foundations (pp. 124–147). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.