'Examination of Traits Possessed by Effective Counselors Essay\r'

' run of Traits Possessed by effectual Counselors\r\nCatherine M. Kleinschmit\r\nLiberty University\r\n abstractedness\r\nBecause the guidance- client relationship is adept built on consider, a counsel should seek to spend a penny as much be intimateledge as possible to facilitate this trust and bring about healing and wholeness for the client. This theme examines umteen of the traits possessed by advocator-at-laws who atomic number 18 considered victorious in their field. Much of the research came from peer re billeted material, and nearly of the traits listed in this paper- positive psychic attitudes, possess self- apprisedness, argon cultur al wholeness and only(a)y diverse in their methodology, argon steady- waiver communicators and atomic number 18 versed in non-verbal communication, conscious(predicate)ness of the laws in their put forward, alive(predicate)ness of the dangers of burnout, mindfulness, and empathy all come from the opinion of various se ts of counsellings who ar themselves successful. Some of these traits are in born(p) to the counselor, while others are learned. With the exception of burnout, strategies for sound learn are examined, while strategies for avoiding and coping with burnout are lastlighted.\r\nThe focal point relationship is unlike any other. It is a occult and safe place where the client faeces timbre free to express his or herself and receive care and empathiseing in a time when they whitethorn notice no bingle else gage serving them. It is imperative that counselors strive to be as in force(p) in this relationship as they possibly keister in aver to fuel change in the client’s life. An useful counselor has many characteristics that facilitate that healing. Some are natural to them, any(prenominal) are taught in college or continuing tuition classes. Even further still, some are desire out by the counselor themselves. However they are acquired, the effective counselor l eave alone build up his or her portfolio of strategies in order to continue a high train of strength in the counselor-client relationship.\r\nEffective counselors make positive mental attitudes, are ethnicly diverse in their methodology, communicate well, are aware of the laws in their state, are aware of the dangers of burnout, practice mindfulness, and are empathetic. Positive mental attitude is the basis of congruous an effective counselor. In a study print in 1971, Jackson and Thompson identified that effective counselors arouse positive attitudes toward â€Å"self, most people, most clients, and counseling.” This study was conducted with counselors who were already lay d take ining in the field in order to find traits that were common among successful counselors. The purpose for this was for coating possible graduate students for admission into counseling programs. The tame of thought among the participants in this study was that, while they had take for train ing in various counseling techniques, that as a rule, once a counselor begins practice, they will revert back to the attitudes they once had at the offset printing of training. In their book, adapted Christian Counseling, Clinton and Ohlschlager assert that counselors should be comfortable in their go steadying of counseling practices, schoolmaster s st adenylic acid out, and their qualifications. (2002, p. 193) Clients do not want to enter therapy with a counselor who is unsure of themselves or nervous.\r\nAn effective counselor will, to put it simply, â€Å"know what they know” and will have the natural positive attitudes to practice their trade successfully. Because of the informal nature of the counseling relationship, a counselor has a responsibility to be self-aware. (Corey, Corey & vitamin A; Callanan, 2011, p. 44) They need to know where they have unmet needs in their life that whitethorn hinder a client’s progress. Areas of defence will greatly affect th e counselor’s magnate to foster their client. Corey, Corey & axerophthol; Callanan argue that all counselors enter into some screen out of counseling themselves to economic aid them stay aware of their knowledge mental wellness and abilities.( p. 47) An effective counselor as well as has a multicultural view. The counselor should not hold the opinion that his or her culture is in any way passkey to another person’s, and so must avoid becoming a culturally encapsulated counselor. (Corey, Corey, &type A; Callanan, p. 117) He or she has made conscience steps to affect out of his or her own culture in an effort to experience and understand other cultures so that their personal issues, value system, or any sort of bias will not interfere with their counselor/client relationship with clients of a variant culture. They should enterprise to see the world with their client’s viewpoint.\r\nThe culturally sensitive counselor should be aware of any type of prej udices or other detrimental spots that may interfere in the share process. (Corey, Corey, & deoxyadenosine monophosphate; Callanan, p. 126) Being a culturally aware counselor should also include the ability to understand family kinetics within different cultures. With that, they should be able to understand roles of different family members in relation to each other. In some cultures, the male(s) of the household hold a prevalent position over the female(s), despite birth order. Additionally, counselors should be able to respect and try to understand their clients’ spiritual beliefs. A counseling technique that may live on for an American Christian may not work for a Hindu from India. A counselor must be sure to be versed in different counselling techniques for various religions. Of course, communication plays an key role in effective counseling. A honorable counselor will know when it is time to speak, to listen, or to allow silence to remain to allow the client ti me to remember, or to think upon what was just said. dialogue does not just involve words that are spoken; an attentive counselor will also be versed in high- background communication. High context communication, or non-verbal or inferred communication, is a valuable woodpecker for the effective counselor. High context communication can be thought of as a cultural tool, in that some cultures are more than near at it. People from the Mediterranean area, Japan, Korea, China, split of Africa, parts of the Middle East, and Latin America have high context communication ingrained in their culture. (Frederick, Leong, Altmaier, & adenylic acid; Johnson, 2008) For instance, if a person said to someone else, â€Å"I really enjoy going to statistics class.” however trilled their eyes and crossed their arms, someone who is adept at high context communication will be able to take the comment as not particularly truthful, relying instead on the non-verbal cues exhibited.\r\nThese c ues are very much used to suspect if a person is feeling something other than what was expressed verbally. Knowing the law of the state one is practicing in is essential to a counselor’s success. Not all states have the similar laws in regards to duty to warn, duty to report, child clench cases, etc. (Feldman & group A; Sommers, 2010) Being an effective counselor does not always mean only effective with one’s clients. It means effective with the alliance and society in general as well. allow us look at the famous Tarasoff case. In 1969, a student by the name of Prosenjit Poddar at the University of California, Berkeley confided in his therapist that he intended to kill a student for whom he had developed romantic feelings. Through his descriptions, the therapist identified the student at Tatianna Tarasoff, and he alerted the c antiophthalmic factorus police after conferring with his colleagues. The police detained Poddar, but found him to be rational, and release d him. Poddar eventually killed Tarasoff. It was later govern that the therapist should have warned Tarasoff. (Corey, Corey, & Callanan, 2011) Had the therapist followed through in regards to duty to warn, it is possible this tragedy could have been avoided. Burnout is a factor that effective counselors jackpot with successfully. Burnout can be defined as experienced line manifesting itself in three ways. These are, according to Lent and Schwartz, â€Å" emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment.” (2012) Because counselors spend their day dealing with clients’ deep emotional and psychological problems, they must deal with the fact that their self-efficacy will be affected.\r\nThere are many indicators that one is experiencing burnout, the lead symptom creation neuroticism. (Lent & Schwarz, 2012) Neuroticism is characterized by feelings of anxiousness, feeling angry, universe overly self-conscious, and feeling vulnerable. (Lent & Schwartz, 2012) The research conducted by Lent and Schwartz purports that a counselor’s own personality may help combat this. They hand over that a counselor who is by nature more agreeable will be more interest in other’s lives and behave in a more altruistic way, thus reaping more benefits from their work and not experiencing burnout as often. (2012) Lent and Schwartz suggest three strategies to create a positive study and minimize burnout. Firstly, they suggest that counselors work with employers/supervisors to encourage a more healthy â€Å"other-care/self-care balance.” (2012) Secondly, counselors should seek out realize from cohorts or mentors that can help them through quantify of stress, and relieve anxiety. A counselor should be aware that times of burnout are part of the profession, and to be expected, and postulation for help from colleagues is nothing of which to be ashamed.\r\nLastly, Lent and Schwartz suggest that a counselor bec ome a mentor. They propose that mentoring helps the counselor with working through their problems, because they are not as focused on just what is going on in their life. (2012) A strategy cognise as mindfulness can improve a counselor’s efficacy. Mindfulness is defined as â€Å"bringing one’s whole self into the encounter with clients by being completely in the moment on multiple levels: physically, emotionally, cognitively, and spiritually.” (Campbell & Christopher, 2012) In a study reported by Campbell and Christopher, medical checkup students who participated in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) training increase their empathy for others and saw a reduction in their level of anxiety and depression. (2012) The research showed that after completing a course in mindfulness, participants reported becoming more â€Å"aware, patient, mentally focused, empathetic, compassionate, attentive, responsive, and able to handle strong emotions.” They were also â€Å"less defensive, reactive and judgmental.” (Campbell & Christopher, 2012) In conclusion, in a study conducted by Pope and Kline, 22 counselors considered experts in their field ranked 10 different personality traits they feel are important for a counselor to possess in order to be successful. Interestingly, among the top three was empathy, and among the bottom three was sympathy. (1999) Sometimes, these 2 terms can be confused with one another.\r\nHowever, the website Dictionary.com states that sympathy and empathy both are connected to feelings one has for another person. While sympathy means to â€Å"feel with”, empathy means to â€Å"feel into.” (2013) The difference is that the counselor who has the ability to empathize will be able to rattling feel their client’s hurt or frustration, and will ultimately be able to understand the client better. To put it in simple terms, one feels empathy when one has â€Å"been in that respect ” and one feels sympathy when one has not. (Dictionary.com, 2013) While effective counselors possess positive mental attitudes, are culturally diverse in their methodology, are good communicators, are aware of the laws in their state, and are aware of the dangers of burnout, one must also have empathy, and to gain empathy, or the ability to have â€Å"been there”; one must expand his or her own personal boundaries and borders to become, as Paul said in I Corinthians 9:22, â€Å"To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means indite some.” (KJV)\r\nReferences\r\nCampbell, J. C., & Christopher, J. C. (2012). Teaching mindfulness to create effective counselors. diary of psychogenic Health Counseling, 34(3), 213-226. Retrieved from:http://search.proquest.com/docview/1027919921?accountid=12085 Clinton, T. & Ohlschlager, G. (2001). Competent Christian Counseling: Volume one.\r\nColorado Spr ings, CO: WaterBrook Press Corey, G., Corey, M., & Callanan, P. (2011). Issues and ethics in the helping professions: Eighth edition. Belmont, CA:Brooks/Cole. Dictionary.com. (2013). Word FAQs. Retrieved from: http://dictionary.reference.com/help/faq/language/d23.html Feldman, S. (Producer), & Sommers, G. (Director). (2010). Legal and Ethical Issues for Mental Health Professionals, Vol. 1: Confidentiality, Privilege, Reporting, and Duty to Warn\r\n[Motion picture]. (Available from Psychotherapy.net) Retrieved from: http://ctiv.alexanderstreet.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/view/1779007 Frederick, T., Leong, L., Altmaier, E.M., & Johnson, B.D. (2008). Encyclopedia of Counseling. Retrieved from: http://go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/ps/retrieve.do?sgHitCountType=None&sort=RELEVANCE&inPS=true&prodId=GVRL&userGroupName=vic_liberty&tabID=T003&searchId=R1&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&contentSegment=&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm¤tP osition=3&contentSet=GALE|CX3074200401&&docId=GALE|CX3074200401&docType=GALE Jackson, M., & Thompson, C.L. (1971). Effective counselor: Characteristics and attitudes. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 18(3), 249-254. doi: 10.1037/h0030862. Retrieved from: http://psycnet.apa.org.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/journals/cou/18/3/249 Lent, J., & Schwartz, R. C. (2012). The impact of work setting, demographic characteristics, and personality factors tie in to burnout among professional counselors. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 34(4), 355-372. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1114670345?accountid=12085 Pope, V. & Kline, W. (1999). The personal characteristics of effective counselors: What 10 experts think. Psychological Reports, 84(3), 1339-44. Retrieved from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10477949\r\n'