Counselor Is a Therapeutic Person

¶ … Counselor as a Therapeutic Person:

As an intimate form of learning, counseling profession requires the practitioner to shed off stereotyped roles and be real in the therapeutic relationship. This is largely because the therapeutic relationship is the platform with which the client experiences growth. In cases where counselors hide behind the safety of the professional role, the clients tend to hide themselves from the counselor. On the other hand, sterile counseling is likely to occur in situations where these practitioners simply become technical experts who leave their reactions, self, and values out of their work. Consequently, there is need for counselors to be real people in the relationship through personal qualities and characteristics that are important in mobilizing change in the client or other individual.

Becoming a Therapist:

The effectiveness of the counseling relationship is dependent on the ability of counselors to become therapists in the process. Through being therapists, counselors serve and act as role models to their clients and individuals seeking for their help. The clients are likely to imitate the counselors' behaviors, especially when the professionals exhibit incongruent behavior, deceit, and low-risk activity by being hidden and vague. On the other hand, the clients tend to be honest in the therapeutic relationship if counselors engage in suitable self-disclosure. Therefore, based on the actions and behaviors of the counselor, the process can either yield better or worse results from the clients. Nonetheless, clients can become more of what they have the ability to become or become less than they may be.

It's important for counselors to be therapists and open since clients look at counselors themselves and select how they would like to change. According to the findings of research literature, the counselor is regarded as the most significant determinant of therapeutic results. The quality of the relationship is primarily based on the counselor's theory and techniques which are determined by the personal qualities and characteristics. Counselors should therefore create a style of counseling practice that reflects their uniqueness as individuals. The counseling theory by these practitioners should be aligned with what complements the individual personally and uniquely (Corey, 2010).

The importance of using or integrating several therapeutic approaches is evident from the fact that various counselors have recognized the limitations of basing their practices on a single approach and system. The integration of divergent perspectives and approaches in the counseling practice are vital in the practitioner's practice. Notably, the efficiency of a personal approach is dependent on the efficacy of the counselor's individual characteristics and qualities. Therefore, an efficient therapeutic relationship between counselors and clients requires the use of the qualities and characteristics of the individuals.

Personal Qualities and Characteristics of Effective Counselors:

Effective counselors contribute to positive outcomes in the lives of their clients because they possess some or a huge number of several personal qualities and characteristics. These characteristics and qualities not only help them to maintain a good working relationship with their clients but also enable them to address the concerns and challenges they experience. Some of the concerns and challenges that counselors experience in their work include anxieties, personal disclosure, avoiding perfectionism, ambiguity, dealing with clients with no commitment, and suitable personal and professional limits. Additional concerns and challenges to be addressed in the counseling process include sharing responsibility with clients, refusal to offer advice, defining the counselor's role, developing a personal counseling approach or style, and maintaining personal and professional dignity.

In relation to counselors being therapeutic persons and modeling client awareness and growth, the personal qualities and characteristics play a critical role. To be an effective helping person that stimulates significant difference in the lives of clients and other people, counselors need to have the following personal qualities and characteristics & #8230;.

Personal Identity:

Effective counselors are required to have a personal identity, which is the basis for developing a personal style and approach to the counseling process. An effective helping person should know who he/she is, what he/she is capable of becoming, his/her goals, and important things in his/her life.

Respect and Appreciation:

For a counselor to be an effective therapist, he/she needs to respect and appreciate him/her self in order to provide efficient help and love emanating from his/her personal sense of strength and self-worth.

Recognition and Acceptance of Power:

In addition to identifying and being aware of their own strengths and weaknesses, effective counselors should have the ability to recognize and acceptance their own power. This helps them to feel adequate with others and permit other to feel powerful and comfortable with them.

Openness to Change:

Counselors should be open to change and exhibit a willingness and courage to leave the security of their comfort if they are not satisfied with what they have. As a result, these practitioners make decisions regarding how they will like to change and work toward becoming the individuals they would like become.

Authenticity, Sincerity, and Honesty:

Counselors need to have the qualities of authenticity, sincerity, and honesty to avoid hiding behind facades, defenses, masks, and sterile roles. In this case, the practitioners should be willing to admit mistakes when they make them. Being authentic, sincere, and honest enables these professionals to feel alive and make choices that are geared towards shaping lives ("Chapter 2 -- The Counselor," n.d.).

Interest in Others' Welfare:

In counseling practice, the practitioners need to have a sincere interest in the welfare of others by valuing, respecting, trusting, and caring for them. In this process, they appreciate the influence of the diversity of values espoused by other cultures. As they possess a sincere interest of the welfare of others, they become sensitive to the unique differences emanating from race, gender, and social class.

Maintenance of Healthy Boundaries:

As an important quality in the counseling process, counselors should have the ability to maintain healthy boundaries in the counselor/client therapeutic relationship. While these professionals strive to be available and totally present for their clients, they shouldn't carry the client's problems with them. This not only allows them have a balance in their lives as they maintain healthy boundaries.

Perspective on Characteristics of Effective Counselors:

The characteristics and qualities of an effective helping person seem to be unrealistic and monumental because of concerns on whether a person can possess all of them. However, these personal qualities and characteristics should not be considered from an all-or-nothing point-of-view but on a continuum. This is largely because a specific trait may be highly characteristic of the person while another is highly uncharacteristic of the person. Therefore, it's important for the helping person to identify the necessary traits and qualities that may be highly uncharacteristic and strive to promote his/her personal growth in them.

It's important for counselors to look for self-exploration opportunities that are instrumental in helping them to identify the necessary traits and qualities that they don't possess in order to develop them. These opportunities help the professionals to avoid the pitfalls of providing help to others while finding very little personal satisfaction from their efforts. The development of these traits helps the practitioner to be effective therapists that not only provide efficient help to clients but also derive great personal satisfaction from the process.