Essay Characteristics and Behaviors of Effective Counseling

The purpose of this paper is to describe the characteristics and roles of me as a counselor and the counselor’s disposition that I would like to bring as I start working in the field. The roles I will take as a counselor when working within community and private mental health system. I will also refer to the counselor dispositions to incorporate into counseling relationship and how the disposition will help me and my client. Finally, I will use techniques, skills to help me practice and build a strong relationship with my clients.

The American Counseling Association website defines professional counseling as “a professional relationship that empowers diverse individuals, families, and groups to accomplish mental health, wellness, education, and career goals.” As the counseling profession has grown and the demand has increased over the years there has been some confusion of what the difference is between counseling and psychotherapy. Sharf (2012) reports, often times

As human being we receive and perceive information in a wide variety of different ways. The understanding of communication to one person might be the total opposite to another person. Counselors within the human service field have to obtain the abilities and skills to interact and communicate with clients in a counseling setting. In doing so a counselor has to possession ability to use verbal and non-verbal communication skills, ask open and close ended question during the sessions, use reflective techniques, and identify explorations,

effectively work with difficult clients, I believe it is important for counselors to also be patient,

The dynamics between the human dimensions and the professional demands of conducting a counseling practice has been the subject of a considerable amount of literature in the field. Indeed, it is a focus in counselor preparation programs. It not possible to segregate who we are as people and what we do as professionals. These two aspects of our lives are inexorably linked. The dynamics are such that the one impacts the other, while influence may be dominant in a particular direction, there is an inescapable mutuality. Further, research suggests that the individual attributes of the counselor have the most critical influence on therapeutic outcomes and have at least as much impact on client/ counselor relationship quality as the counselor's techniques and theory do (Corey, 2010).

1-Based on Corey’s reading, some of the personal characteristics of effective counselors that appear adequate in this case would be that an effective therapist have a sincere interest in the welfare of the client. It is very important to respect the values of people and to really care about their situation in order to help them improve their lives. Another personal characteristic is being authentic and honest so we can gain the client’s trust.

A clients initial appearance can make an initial impact on judgement at the instant of visual contact with any new client. The counsellor should start to form an opinion, create a mental image of who the client is, how they relate to the world. As they first enter the room and walk towards the therapist, senses will be feeding messages into the counsellors brain, which are categorised on the basis of their life and work, training, and education. Everything that makes the counsellor who they are will lead to an appraisal of the client. It is important for the counsellor to acquire a balanced outlook on life and rid them of any undue prejudices in order to form a more true and accurate opinion of the client. Questions to consider are:

1. Use of personality-According to the article (Dewane, 2005). It is important to have an awareness when engaging with clients. The use of own personality, but keeping boundaries, is important to make a connection with our clients. Being aware of how traumatic experiences have impacted in ways to address and find interventions to assist them.

Luckily, there is someone who can help, and that someone is trained to assess a client correctly in order to gain enough information to help a client turn their lives around. Having a solid understanding of the client’s background is a must if a counselor is to help that client with his/her issues. There are certain times in a person’s life when they need some help finding the pieces they may have lost along their personal journey. A good counselor who is well trained and understands the assessment role of mental health counseling can seek out information that is needed in order to help a client find a piece, or pieces of the puzzle, that the clients been missing.

It’s important to evoke information from the client before moving on to the other process is because as the counselor you are able to focus and guide the client towards a particular goal that has been identified in the focusing process. As the counselor we evoke a person’s own internal motivations for change, and to reinforce it to help build their motivation for change around the focused

In order to have a title of a therapist or counselor as a profession, it is important for the individual to have a profound knowledge of self before helping the lives of others. In addition, acknowledging the self-characteristics for those who go on to the profession is a helpful source to connect and have a better effect with others. Furthermore, to become an effective counselor, Corey listed fourteen personal characteristics of effective counselors. Out of the fourteen characteristics, the four that intrigued me are the effective therapists have an identity, effective therapists appreciate the influence of culture, effective therapists have an identity, and effective therapists, effective therapists are able to maintain healthy boundaries.

Discuss the centrality of communication (verbal and non-verbal) in counseling with diverse clients. Briefly define proxemics, kinesics, paralanguage, and high-low context communication.

This research paper discusses the qualities that are necessary for an effective counseling and as such any counselor considered effective must posses them. The paper has a separate discussion of both personal and professional qualities required for any good counselor. The personal qualities form a larger part of the discussion because the professional qualities depend wholly on the individual characteristics since professional qualities alone can’t qualify a counselor but effective personal qualities

To be effective as a counselor we need to earn the trust from the client. As counselors we need to use a mixture of skills to be effective. These skills

Competent counselors should be aware of their own aptitude and be able to make judgment calls that are in the best interest of the client. One way to do this is for the counselor to make