Discuss at length what makes a competent counselor Solution Spiritual Maturity – Spiritual mature counselors evidence a public and private awareness towards holiness and humility. They no longer quibble about insignificant differences among believers. They must know the difference between dogma and doctrine and opinion. Self-awareness – One might not be particularly insightful about oneself. A competent counselor understands his strengths as well as his weaknesses and is neither defensive nor offensive about certain facts and critique about him. Ability to build and maintain trusting relationship – The competent counselor should be able to build trusting relationship and maintain them by being interested in individuals more than the outcomes, get into other person’s shoes and understand his situation, understands cross cultural lines and is able to empower others more than tell others what to do. Flexible response styles – The competent counselor understands the need to use a variety of conversational responses depending on the needs of the client. Sometimes he asks questions. Other times he is silent. Competent counselor responses include reflections, summaries, focusing, confronting, joining, problem-solving, and sometimes self-disclosing. Counselors who only use one or two of these styles may not be able to work well with clients who find those particular styles problematic. The competent counselor is intentional in her or his response choices. Observation skills – The competent counselor not only understands people, their needs, solutions, and has the capacity to use multiple response styles, but also is observant regarding their own impact on the counselee. They observe subtle reactions from clients and seek to moderate their counseling style and/or gently explore the meaning of the reaction. Without these skills, the counselor blithely works toward a goal without knowing if the counselee is really following. Ability to care for self – Finally, the competent counselor recognizes personal limits, boundaries and actively seeks to sustain a life of personal care. Far too many counselors bypass care for one’s own spiritual well-being under the guise of sacrificial giving. Just because one is spiritually mature one day does not mean such maturity is permanent. Neglecting spiritual renewal will diminish other counselor competencies over time..