PYC4809
EXAM PACK
, lOMoARcPSD|21997160
Chapter 2 – The counsellor: Person and Professional
Personal Characteristics of Effective Counsellors
1. They have an identity
2. They respect and appreciate themselves
3. They are able to recognize and accept their own power
4. They are open to change
5. They are expanding their awareness of self and others
6. They are willing and able to tolerate ambiguity
7. They are developing their own counselling style
8. They can experience and know the world of the client
9. They feel alive and their choices are life oriented
10. They are authentic, sincere, and honest
11. They have a sense of humour
12. They make mistakes and are willing to admit them
13. They generally live in the present
14. They appreciate the influence of culture
15. They are able to reinvent themselves
16. They are making choices that shape their lives
17. They have a sincere interest in the welfare of others
18. They become deeply involved in their work and derive meaning from it
19. They maintain healthy boundaries
The Counsellor’s Values
• Be aware of how your values influence your interventions
• Recognize that you are not value-neutral Your job is to assist clients in finding answers that are most
congruent with their own values
• Find ways to manage value conflicts between you and your clients
• Begin therapy by exploring the client9s goals
The Counsellor’s Values and the Therapeutic Process
The role of values in counselling
1. Assist individuals in finding answers that are most congruent with their own values
2. Competent perception and expression of feelings
3. A sense of being a free and responsible agent
4. Developing strategies for managing stress
5. Self-awareness and growth
6. Being committed in marriage, family, and other relationships
7. Self-maintenance and physical fitness
8. Having orienting goals and a meaningful purpose
9. Forgiveness
10. Regulated sexual fulfilment
11. Spirituality/ religiosity
Dealing with value conflicts
• The therapist needs to be aware of their own experiences and systems of values and how they can influence in
a therapeutic relationship
• Value imposition - Defining a client9s value imposing your own values actively or indirectly.
The role of values in developing therapeutic goals
• It is critical that the general goals of the therapist be congruent with the personal goals of the client
• The counsellors need to be able to understand, respect, and work within the framework of the client's world
, lOMoARcPSD|21997160
Becoming an Effective Multicultural Counsellor
Acquiring competencies in multicultural counselling
• Beliefs and attitudes of culturally skilled counsellor
o From culturally unaware to ensuring their personal biases, values, or problems w/n interfere with
ability to work w/culturally different clients
o Cultural self-awareness & sensitivity to own cultural heritage essential
o Aware of own positive & negative emotional reactions toward other racial/ethnic groups so as not to
impede developmental of collaborative relationship w/client
o Seek to examine & understand client9s worldview
o Respect clients9 religious & spiritual beliefs & values
o Own cultural heritage not superior but able to accept & value cultural diversity
o Realize traditional theories & techniques may not be appropriate for all clients or for all problems
o Culturally skilled counsellors monitor their functioning through
▪ – Consultation
▪ – Supervision
▪ – Further training or education
• Knowledge of culturally skilled counsellors
o Specifically about own racial & cultural heritage & how it affects them personally & professionally
o Dynamics of oppression, racism, discrimination, & stereotyping
o Client9s cultural backgrounds
o Does not impose own values & expectations on client9s from differing cultural backgrounds
o Avoids stereotyping clients
o External socio-political forces influence all groups & how these forces operate with respect to
treatment of minorities
o Aware of institutional barriers that prevent minorities from utilizing mental health services in their
communities
o Historical background, traditions, & values of the client populations with whom they work
o Minority family structures, hierarchies, values, & beliefs
o Community characteristics & resources
o How to help clients make use of indigenous support systems
o Where lacking knowledge, seek resources to assist
o Greater the depth & breadth of knowledge of culturally diverse groups, the more likely they are to be
effective practitioners
• Skills and intervention strategies of culturally skilled counsellors
o Educate their clients to therapeutic process (goals, expectations, legal rights, counsellor9s orientation)
o Use methods & strategies & define goals consistent with the life experiences & cultural values of client
o Modify & adapt interventions to accommodate cultural differences
o Do not force their clients to fit within one counselling approach, but recognize that counselling
techniques may be culture-bound
o Able to send & receive both verbal & nonverbal messages accurately & appropriately
o Become actively involved w/minority individuals outside the office (community events, celebrations, &
neighbourhood groups)
o Willing to seek out educational, consultative, & training experiences to enhance their ability to work
with culturally diverse client populations
o Consult with multicultural sensitive professionals regarding issues of culture to determine whether or
where referral may be necessary
• Incorporating culture into counselling practice
1. welcome diversity
2. how one9s own cultural background has an influence on ones thinking and behaving
3. identify your basic assumptions
4. pay attention to common ground
5. it9s not necessary to learn everything about your clients background before treating them
6. spend time preparing clients for counselling
7. be flexible in applying methods you use with clients
, lOMoARcPSD|21997160
Issues Faced by Beginning Therapists
• Dealing with our anxieties
o Beginning counsellor9s level of anxiety demonstrates awareness of uncertainties of future w/clients &
of our abilities to really be there & stay w/them
o Willingness to recognize & deal with these anxieties (as opposed to denying them) is mark of courage
o Openly discuss anxieties w/ supervisors & peers
o Gain support from fellow interns with same concerns, fears, & anxieties
• Being and disclosing ourselves
o disclosing persistent feelings that are related to the present can be useful
o disclosure that is unrehearsed is useful
o find a middle ground
• Avoiding Perfectionism
o everyone will make mistakes from beginners to expert therapist
• Being honest about our limitations
o delicate balance between learning our realistic limits and what we think as being "limits"
• Understanding silence
o it can have a variety of meanings from bored to resistance
• Dealing with demanding clients
o make your expectations clear during initial meeting
• Dealing with uncommitted clients
o be direct and caring when confronting the clients
• Tolerating Ambiguity
o Anxiety of not seeing fruits of their labour
o Clients may get worse before they get better
• Avoiding Losing Ourselves in Our Clients
o Most therapeutic = to be as fully present as we9re able (feeling w/ our clients & experiencing their
struggles) but let them assume responsibility of their living & choosing outside of session
• Developing a Sense of Humour
o Can be a welcome relief when we admit that pain is not our exclusive domain
o Laughter or humour d/n mean that work is not being accomplished
o But, there are times when laughter is used to cover up anxiety or to escape from experience of facing
threatening material
• Accepting Slow Results
• Avoiding Self-Deception
• Establishing Realistic Goals
• Sharing Responsibility With the Client
o Mistake to accept full responsibility
o Mistake to refuse to take responsibility for making accurate assessments & designing appropriate
treatment plans
o Eventually, if we are effective, we will be out of business!
• Declining to Give Advice
o Counselling c/n be confused w/ dispensing advice (even when clients demand it)
• Defining Your Role as a Counsellor
o Dependent on factors such as client populations, specific therapeutic services you are providing,
particular stage of counselling, setting in which you work
o Role not defined once & for all but will redefine at various times
• Learning to Use Techniques Appropriately
Ideally, therapeutic techniques:
o Should evolve from therapeutic relationship and
o should enhance client9s awareness or
o suggest possibilities for experimenting with new behaviour
• Developing Your Own Counselling Style
o Inhibit your effectiveness if you attempt to imitate or fit most of your behaviour into the Procrustean
bed of some expert9s theory
o Don9t blur your potential uniqueness by trying to imitate them
