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Nov 11, 2021 · What is the most important quality of a good counselor? While there are many crucial qualities that make a good counselor, the most important qualities are their interpersonal skills. Counselors must be able to communicate effectively with their clients, sense what their clients are thinking and feeling, and relate to them in an accepting, warm ...
A good counselor will be empathetic, tailor treatments to your needs, and foster collaboration. Together, you come up with goals and expectations for therapy. A good therapist will also not...
- Trust-Building. Therapy asks people to expose their secrets, reveal their fears, and craft new ways of seeing and being. Those feats can happen only if patients feel completely safe and unjudged.
- Open-Minded. Perhaps paradoxically, “a therapist’s real benefit to the patient is they have no skin in the game,” says Pennsylvania psychologist Daniel Marston.
- Inquiring. Inquiry is the heart of psychotherapy. It’s the process of peeling back the layers of identity and examining the forces shaping the way people think and act.
- Demands Accountability. Listening carefully and empathizing with patients’ feelings about their life experiences is a minimum requirement of all therapists.
- Communication skills. Communication skills will play a key role in your relationship with your clients. You need to know how to confidently set boundaries, communicate ideas, and provide guidance to the person before you without harshness or condemnation.
- Patience. Patience will become a critical trait as a counselor. You will encounter clients who struggle to make progress or who make decisions that do not benefit them.
- Confidence. Counselors must be confident in the services they provide and how they help clients. When someone comes to you for help with a particular issue, you are there to provide them with clear guidance and assistance.
- Non-judgmental. Counselors also regularly meet with clients who have made choices that they do not agree with. The counseling session, however, is not about letting the client know what they have done wrong.
- Genuine Interest in Others. This one isn’t technically a skill—but it is an essential component of a counseling career. When you wake up in the morning, do you have the drive and energy to sit with people through their best and worst?
- Self-Reflection. An effective therapist knows that it’s just as important to look within themselves as it is to carefully observe others. The idea of “Self as Instrument” is central to a successful education and career in mental health.
- Ability to Listen – On Multiple Levels. This one may seem like a no-brainer, but effective listening as a counselor is a nuanced skill. A counselor needs not only to listen to what is being said, but how it’s said, why it’s being said, and what it means in the context of that particular client.
- Accessibility & Authenticity. A counselor must be accessible to clients in order to gain their trust, but perhaps more importantly, a counselor needs to be genuine and empathetic—in his or her communication, listening, and professional persona.
My top counseling skills or attributes include: a) interpersonal skills for establishing positive emotional bonds with clients (these include active listening and the ability to experience and communicate — as Carl Rogers would say — empathic understanding); b) skills for collaboratively formulating counseling goals with clients; and c ...
Jun 3, 2021 · The qualities of a good counselor include strong communication and problem-solving skills. Learn more in this guide and earn your counseling degree at GCU.
