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Chapter 2: The Counselor Personal and Professional, Issues facing…
Chapter 2: The Counselor Personal and Professional
The practitioner needs to be authentic and genuine
leads to better relationship with client
the client experiences growth through the person to person relationship
clients place more value on the personality of the therapist than the therapeutic process
“It is not theories and techniques that heal the suffering client but the human dimension of therapy and the ‘meetings’ that occur between therapist and client as they work together”
Personal Characteristics of effective counselors
Effective therapists have an identity
Effective therapist respect and appreciate themselves
Effective therapists make choices that are life oriented
Effective therapist are sincere, honest, and authentic
Effective therapists have a sense of humor
Effective therapists make mistakes and are willing to admit them
Effective therapists live in the present
Effective therapist appreciatess the influence of culture
Effective therapist have a sincere interest in others
Possess effective interpersonal skills
Passionate
Maintain healthy boundaries
Become deeply involved in their work
Personal therapy can be instrumental in healing the healer
Effective 90%
Personal therapy contributes in 3 ways
personal therapy offers a model of therapeutic practice in which the trainee experiences the work of a more experienced therapist and learns experientially what is helpful or not helpful;
a beneficial experience in personal therapy can further enhance a therapist’s interpersonal skills that are essential to skillfully practicing therapy;
successful personal therapy can contribute to a therapist’s ability to deal with the ongoing stresses associated with clinical work.
personal therapy can prevent personal countertransference from harming clients
expected to confront our own personal blocks - make us more aware of what our conflicts are and how they affect us as a person and counselor
Becoming a client offers a basis for understanding, compassion, and patience
Counselors role
to create a climate in which clients can examine their thoughts, feelings, and actions and to empower them to arrive at their own solutions to problems they face
It is not beneficial to provide advice or to give clients your answers to their questions about life.
Provide and safe environment where they can explore thoughts and new ways of thinking
Bracketing
set aside personal values so it doesn't contaminate the counseling process
Value imposition - counselor directly defining clients' beliefs, values and behaviors
Clients responsibilities
Individuals seeking counseling need to clarify their own values and goals, make informed decisions, choose a course of action, and assume responsibility and accountability for the decisions they make.
Therapeutic goals
the client’s responsibility to decide upon goals, collaborating with the therapist as therapy proceeds.
it is essential that the counselor be able to understand, respect, and work within the framework of the client’s world rather than forcing the client to fit into the therapist’s scheme of values.
The general goals of counselors must be congruent with the personal goals of the client.
goals are like values
therapy should begin with discussing the clients goals and expectations
Issues facing beginning therapists
Anxiety
Demonstrate awareness of uncertainess and abilities to be there for them
A willingness to recognize and deal with these anxieties, as opposed to denying them, is a positive sign.
openly discuss self doubts with supervisors and peers
Be yourself and determine appropriateness for self disclosure
In determining the appropriateness of self-disclosure, consider what to reveal, when to reveal, and how much to reveal.
The most productive form of self-disclosure is related to what is going on between the counselor and the client within the counseling session.
Avoid Perfectionism
I encourage them to share their mistakes or what they perceive as errors during their supervision meetings. Students willing to risk making mistakes in supervised learning situations and willing to reveal their self-doubts will find a direction that leads to growth.
Be honest about limitatons
It is important to learn when and how to make a referral for clients when your limitations prevent you from helping them.
you cant succeed with every client or work with them
Enjoy the silence!
When silence occurs, acknowledge and explore with your client the meaning of the silence.
Dealing with demanding clients
make your expectations and boundaries clear during the initial counseling sessions or in the disclosure statement.
Dealing with clients and committment
openly discuss nature of relationship and prepare them for the process
Ambiguity
clients will get better over time - you may not see this at first
Becoming aware of transference
learn to not carry clients problems around with me until the next session
want to foster growth and not block it
let clients assume the responsibility of their living and choosing outside of the session.
If we do not engage in this kind of self-exploration, we increase the danger of losing ourselves in our clients and using them to meet our unfulfilled needs.
Countertransference
The process of therapists seeing in their clients patterns of their own behavior, overidentifying with clients, or meeting their own needs through their clients.
personal therapy can be instrumental in enabling us to recognize and manage our countertransference reactions.
Becoming a multicultural counselor
ethical obligation to be sensitive to cultural differences
effective counseling must take into account the impact of culture on the client’s functioning, including the client’s degree of acculturation.
A major part of becoming a diversity-competent counselor involves challenging the idea that the values we hold are automatically true for others.
diversity-competent practitioner
An ongoing process that involves a practitioner developing awareness of beliefs and attitudes, acquiring knowledge about race and culture, and learning skills and intervention strategies necessary to work effectively with culturally diverse populations.
Multicultural Framework
beliefs and attitudes
ensuring that their personal biases, values, or problems will not interfere with their ability to work with clients who are culturally different from them
knowledge
Counselors know about their own culture, beliefs, and cultural heritage
skills
counselors take responsibility for educating clients
Where should counselors start?
The initial interview can be used most productively to focus on the client’s goals or lack of them.
Questions: “What do you expect from counseling? Why are you here? What do you want? What do you hope to leave with? How is what you are currently doing working for you? What aspects of yourself or your life situation would you most like to change?”
When a person seeks a counseling relationship with you, it is important to cooperatively discover what this person is expecting from the relationship.
addressing the clients agenda
Sharing responsiblities w/client
One mistake is to assume full responsibility for the direction and outcomes of therapy. This will lead to taking from your clients their rightful responsibility of making their own decisions.
increase burnout
Another mistake is for you to refuse to accept the responsibility for making accurate assessments and designing appropriate treatment plans for your clients.
It is not your role to assume responsibility for directing your clients’ lives. Collaboratively designing contracts and homework assignments with your clients can be instrumental in your clients’ increasingly finding direction within themselves.
Issues facing cont.
Declining to give advice
clients want you to make a decision or resolve a problem for them
Our task is to help clients make independent choices and accept the consequences of their choices.
defining role as counselor
help clients recogize their own strengths
using techniques
It is imperative that you know the theoretical rationale for each technique you use, and you need to be aware that the techniques are appropriate for the goals of therapy.
avoid using techniques in a hit-or-miss fashion, to fill time, to meet your own needs, or to get things moving
Developing my own counseling style!
Your counseling style will be influenced by your teachers, therapists, and supervisors, but don’t blur your potential uniqueness by trying to imitate them.
borrow from others but do it in a way that is distinctive to me!
Maintaining vitality
your most powerful technique is your ability to model aliveness and realness.
prevent pro. burnout and practicing self monitoring
self care- ethical mandate
if we neglect ourselves we cant give clients the best of us