Personal Counseling Characteristics

I have been at my site for about seven almost eight weeks now and I cannot believe we are already half way done with the semester. It has been a great journey thus far and I hope to learn more in the second half of my journey. Since this is my half way point I want to mention that everything seems to be so much more comfortable, but not necessarily easier yet. I think being a good counselor takes many years and much more reflection on a daily basis. I also feel like I am learning new things every day as a trainee and that I am working on what it really means to be a counselor each day. Finding my identity as a counselor is a big part of this process and I feel as though it is always changing and transforming into a better self each day. I like

Having pursued employment opportunities that allowed me to make a positive difference on the lives of the less fortunate, the Counselling Psychology course at University of East London is an obvious field that will allow me to continue these desires. Ultimately, this course allows me to change the lives of people and obtain my goals.The course prepares me for employment as a professional clinician, and grants me the ability to continue the promotion of well-being.

The 'counsellor-client work alliance' (Burwell & Chen, 2006) is essential for a productive and active client as it ensures motivation and empowerment through the collaborative identification of strengths, progress and development in relation to achieving their preferred future and to identify strengths to accomplish this outcome, also known as co-constructing solutions (O'Connelle 2005)

Cooper, J. B. (2010). Counseling microskills. In B. T. Erford (Ed.), Orientation to the counseling profession: Advocacy, ethics, and essential professional foundations (pp. 148–162). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

There are a multitude of reasons why an individual may need or want therapy; whether it’s due to learning how to cope with a mental disorder or disability, life happenings such as traumas or abuse, addictions, or even PTSD. Anybody can receive it – individual persons, families, or groups. It isn’t hard to argue that most therapists and psychologists will agree that the therapeutic alliance is one of the most beneficial foundations of a therapy session. Also referred to as the working alliance or working relationship, it represents the bond between therapist and

I believe counseling is a collaborative partnership between client and counselor. Furthermore, this collaborative partnership is built from trust and acceptance of both client and counselor. I hope in conjunction with clients to understand the issues and concerns so to help them tap into their wisdom, creativity, and strengths to meet their current challenges. I believe in a comprehensive perspective through which clients can better comprehend themselves in the framework that our thinking about events can lead to emotional and behavioral upset. Moreover, counselors are to provide a safe environment for clients to explore their challenges and identify ways to move differently in overcoming these challenges.

Counseling is a relatively young profession when compared to other mental health professions. In my brief personal and professional experience with the field, I have come to define counseling as a process of engagement between two people, both of whom are bound to change through a collaborative process that involves both the therapist and the client in co-constructing solutions to concerns.

Research has shown that a strong therapeutic alliance is necessary for establishing a beneficial contact between the therapist and the client. If the therapist does not encourage the creation of a reliable therapeutic alliance from the beginning of the treatment, it will be hard to develop a constructive relationship with the client later. Establishing the therapeutic alliance will increase the chances of achieving the goal of the treatment because the clients will be willing to cooperate if they trust and respect the therapist. Clients are not likely to cooperate with therapists who impose their authority aggressively. Instead of imposing their authority on the patient, therapists should develop work with their patients by

By examining the bond between a therapist and his client we can further understand how important the role of therapeutic alliance is in treatment outcome. The authors point out that therapeutic alliance plays a major positive impact on the outcome of therapy. Individuals who build good therapeutic alliances with their therapists experience more productive and effective therapy than individuals who do not.

ALTER THIS PAPER....IT HAS BEEN SUBMITTED TO TURN IT IN....USING IT VERBATIN WILL RESULT IN A 100 MARK AND IDENTIFICATION WITH ANOTHER STUDENT PAPER...IN OTHER WORDS, YOU WILL BE FOUND TO BE COMPLETELY CHEATING AND MAY BE EXPELLED FROM YOUR UNIVERSITY...I WOULD USE IT AS A GUIDE, A LAUNCHING POINT....SOMETHING YOU COULD PARAPHRASE OR BORROW SOME IDEAS...

There are many values this writer wishes to incorporate into a counseling relationship. The fundamental values this writer wishes to incorporate are: flexibility, self-awareness, self-regulation, and empathy. The ability to be flexible and alter what one does in order to fit the client’s needs is crucial to establishing and maintaining a therapeutic relationship. Flexibility can be demonstrated in many different ways, such as the way the therapist interacts with the client, the tone of voice that is utilized, down to the way the therapist provides material to the client. In being flexible, treatment is able to remain focused on the client and his or her needs (Egan, 2014).

¬When considering what my own personal philosophy of counseling would be, it was eye opening to consider who I was a person and how much I have grown. The self analysis was new to me because I never thought about how I do that on a day to day basis. Reviewing the questions I found that a lot of my focus surrounded family, my significant other, and close friends. Constantly living in a diverse population and having that as my surrounding also made its mark in my answers. I also noted that both past and present influences, but primarily the present, play a large role in my own perspective. By following the prompt, I was made to understand that my thought process makes me think of what is occurring in the present and how I can alter these

Licensed professional counselors have a unique occupation in that not only do they interact with their clients on a highly personal level, but they also momentarily share their client’s burdens, worries, and concerns. This vicarious aspect of counseling creates the possibility for a counselor to continue sharing the client’s troubles long after the session has ended. According to Norcross and Guy (2007), “The person of the psychotherapist is inextricably intertwined with treatment success” (p. 2) meaning that if we desire more positive outcomes than negative ones we must figuratively become one with our clients. Due to this fact, “self-care is not simply a personal matter but also an ethical necessity, a moral imperative” (p. 6). If we fail to leave work at work at the day’s end, then other facets of our lives are in jeopardy of becoming tainted.

The final core condition is congruence or genuineness, this trait has to do with the person-to-person nature of the helping relationship and it is only through maintaining an absence of façade and sustaining a consistency between what I as a counselor say and present in non-verbal terms in response to the what the client verbalizes. Genuineness is key to the helping relationship as Roger’s says “It is only by providing the genuine reality which is in me, that the other person can successfully seek for the reality in him” . I agree with Roger’s core conditions as an aid to developing a safe environment and trust within the helping relationship that will encourage the client to delve deeper and truly work with their problems; without these characteristics the client may feel reluctant to truly expose themselves and may only work superficially with their difficulties preventing long term growth and healing.

is a very important aspect in counseling, especially when dealing with adolescents. “The key to nonpossessive warmth is acceptance. It is an attitude that does not evaluate or require change; it simply accepts the thoughts, feelings and actions of the client” (Clinton & Ohlschlager, 2003). Adolescents want to be heard and to feel as if the people around them care and accept them for who they are. It is very important for counselors to make each client feel important and make sure they know that they matter. When adolescents feel as if they matter and that they are important, they will open up to the counselor making it easier to work through problems and the search of who they are. Adolescents are always searching for who they