The document discusses important qualities and skills for counselors. It states that authenticity and the ability to form relationships are important for effective therapy. Personal factors like being emotionally stable and having self-awareness also impact outcomes. Counselors must be aware of their own values and not impose them on clients. Developing cultural competence requires understanding different worldviews. Issues like managing anxiety, countertransference, and self-care are discussed for beginning counselors.

1. The Counselor:
Person and
Professional
MAP108 – Psychological Counseling and Psychotherapy

2. “One of the important instruments you
have to work with as a counselor is
yourself as a person” (Corey, 2017, p. 18).

3. Counselor as a Therapeutic
Person
• Authenticity is an important characteristic in the therapeutic
relationship.
• Who the psychotherapist is directly relates to his/her ability to
establish and maintain effective therapy relationships with clients.
• Determinants of Therapeutic Outcome
• The alliance
• The relationship
• Personal and interpersonal skills of the therapist
• Client agency
• Extra-therapeutic factors

4. Counselor as a Therapeutic
Person
• Authenticity is an important characteristic in the therapeutic
relationship.
• Who the psychotherapist is directly relates to his/her ability to
establish and maintain effective therapy relationships with clients.
• Determinants of Therapeutic Outcome:
• The alliance
• The relationship
• Personal and interpersonal skills of the therapist
• Client agency
• Extra-therapeutic factors

5. The Counselor
MUST NOT…
• Be emotionally distressed
• Be coping vicariously
• Lonely and isolated
• Controlling
• Grandiose and Narcissistic
• Have unresolved anger
MUST…
• Be curious and inquisitive
• Be able to listen
• Find comfort with conversation
• Have empathy and understanding
• Be emotionally insightful
• Be Introspective
• Have the capacity for self-denial
• Be tolerant of intimacy
• Be comfortable with power
• Have the ability to laugh
• Have an intentional “alonetime”

6. Qualities of Effective
Counselors (Gladding, 2018)
• Intellectual Competence
• Desire and ability to learn as well as think fast and effectively.
• Energy
• Be active in sessions and sustain that activity even if seeing a number of clients in a
row.
• Flexibility
• Be able to adapt what one does to meet client’s needs.
• Support
• Encourage clients in making their own decisions while helping to engender hope.
• Goodwill
• Work on behalf of clients in a constructive way that ethically promotes independence.
• Self-awareness
• Knowledge of self (attitudes, values, and feelings) and the ability to recognize how and
what factors affect oneself

7. Personal Therapy for the
Counselor
• Benefits to Therapist’s Professional Work:
• It offers a model of therapeutic practice in which the trainee experiences
the work of an experienced therapist and learn what is helpful or not.
• Enhance the therapist’s interpersonal skills.
• Contributes to the therapist’s ability to deal with the ongoing stresses
associated with clinical work
• Help prevent potential countertransference in the future.
• Awareness of inner conflicts to acknowledge how it may affect us
in practice.

8. Counselor’s Values and the
Therapeutic Process: Values in
Counseling• Our values are the core beliefs influencing how we act personally and
professionally.
• Guard ourselves against the tendency to use our power to influence
clients in accepting our values.
• The goal of counseling is to assist individuals in finding answers
that are congruent with their own values.
• We must provide a safe and inviting environment with which the
clients can explore congruence between their values and behavior.
• We must have the ability to work with a range of clients with diverse
worldviews and values.

9. Counselor’s Values and the
Therapeutic Process: Values in
Therapeutic Goals• The general goals of counselor must be congruent with the
personal goals of the client.
• The client and counselor need to explore what they hope to
obtain from the working relationship, whether they can work with
one another, and whether the goals are compatible.
• Initial interview can be used most productively to focus on
client’s goals or the lack thereof.
• Bracketing – managing personal values in order to not
contaminate the counseling process

10. Becoming a Multicultural
Counselor
• Culture – the values and behaviors
• It is an ethical obligation to develop sensitivity to cultural
differences.
• Counselors need to become aware of how clients fron diverse
backgrounds may perceive them as well as their perception of
the value of formal helping.

11. Becoming a Multicultural
Counselor
• Everyone has biases. It takes effort and vigilance to monitor
these biases
• A major part of becoming a diversity-competent counselor
involves challenging the idea that the values we hold are
automatically true for others.

12. Becoming a Multicultural
Counselor
• Everyone has biases. It takes effort and vigilance to monitor these
biases
• A major part of becoming a diversity-competent counselor involves
challenging the idea that the values we hold are automatically true for
others.
• It is critical to take into account the worldview and background of
every client.
• Different theories have different features to appeal to distinct cultural
groups.
• Effective practice involves an open stance from the practitioner,
flexibility, and willingness to modify strategies.

13. Dimensions of Competency in
Multicultural Counseling
Beliefs and Attitudes
• Cultural self-awareness and
sensitivity is essential
• Examine and understand the
world from the vantage point of
clients.
• Realize that traditional theories
and techniques may not be
appropriate for all clients or
problems.
• Monitor functioning through
consultation, supervision, and
further training/education.
Knowledge
• Detect own racist attitudes,
beliefs, and feelings.
• Do not impose values and
expectations.
• Understand that external
sociopolitical forces influences
all.
• Awareness of the institutional
barriers preventing minorities in
utilizing mental health services.
• Knowledge about historical
background, traditions, and
values.
• Knowledge of community
characteristics and resources.
Skills and Intervention Strategies
• Use methods and strategies
and define goals consistent with
the life experiences and cultural
values of clients.
• Modify and adapt to
accommodate for cultural
differences
• Recognition that counseling
techniques may be culture-
bound.

14. Issues Faced by Beginning
Therapists
• A certain level of anxiety demonstrates awareness of uncertainties.
• Be open to discuss self-doubts with a supervisor and peer.
Dealing with Anxiety
• Being ourselves in therapy and appropriately disclosing our reactions increases our authenticity.
• Consider what, when, and how much to reveal.
• The most productive form of self-disclosure is going on between the counselor and the client
within the session.
Being Yourself and Self-Disclosure
• You will make mistakes regardless of being a beginner or a seasoned one.
Avoiding Perfectionism

15. Issues Faced by Beginning
Therapists
• It takes honesty to admit that you cannot work successfully with every client.
• Learn when and how to make a referral for clients.
Being Honest About Your Limitations
• Acknowledge and explore with clients the meaning of silence when it occurs
Understanding Silence
• Prepare them for the process.
Dealing with Clients Who Lack Commitment
• Clients may seemingly “get worse: before therapeutic gains.
• Realize that the fruitful effects of the joint efforts may manifest after the conclusion of therapy.
Tolerating Ambiguity

16. Issues Faced by Beginning
Therapists
• Countertransference – any projections that influences the way we perceive and react to a client
• Manifested by being triggered to becoming emotionally reactive, being defensive, or losing the ability to
be present in the relationship.
• It is not appropriate to use our clients in working our reactions to them.
• We do not carry the pain of our clients.
Becoming Aware of Your Countertransference
• Both clients and counselor can enrich a relationship through humor.
• Distinguish between a humor that distracts and a humor that enriches.
Developing a Sense of Humor
• Should be addressed early in the course of counseling.
• Discuss specific matters.
Sharing Responsibility with the Client

17. Issues Faced by Beginning
Therapists
• Therapists help clients discover their own solutions and recognize their own freedom to act.
• Help clients to make independent solutions and recognize their own freedom to act.
Declining to Give Advice
• Diverse range of roles can be expected.
• Our roles may be dependent on several factors.
• Role will not be define once and for all.
Defining Your Role as a Counselor
• Therapeutic techniques should evolve from therapeutic relationship and material presented into
enhancing client’s awareness or suggesting possibilities for experimenting with new behavior.
• Know the theoretical rationale and the appropriate techniques.
• Must be thoughtfully chosen.
Using Techniques Appropriately

18. Issues Faced by Beginning
Therapists
• Wide variations in approach can be very effective.
• Imitations of another’s style can inhibit our potential.
Developing your own counseling style
• Work at dealing with those factors that threaten to drain life from us and render us
helpless.
• May help prevent professional burnout.
• By being in-tune with ourselves, we experience a sense of personal power of
integrating life-experiences with professional experiences.
• If we neglect to take care of ourselves, our clients will not be getting the best of us.
• Our self-care should mirror the care we provide for others.
Maintaining your vitality as a person & professional

19. References
• Corey, G. (2017). Theory and practice of counseling and
psychotherapy (10th ed.). Cengage
• Gladding, S. (2018). Counseling: A comprehensive profession
(8th ed.). Pearson