The Counseling Relationship
Question 1: Discuss the importance and value of trust in the counseling relationship.
Answer 1: Trust is a cornerstone in successful counseling. A client genuinely listening to and responding to a counselor depends on trust. Some key things that counselors can do to foster trust in the relationship are:providing good structure or orientation to the counseling process and establishing clear expectations; when a client experiences counseling differently from existing expectations, trust can be harmed.listening attentively to the client and demonstrating understanding through reflection, observations, and empathy.offering clear, strong messages of acceptance and compassion when the client dares to reveal shame- or guilt-laden personal information.
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Question 2: Define counselor self-disclosure and describe how it is used in the counseling relationship.
Answer 2: Self-disclosure is the disclosing of personal information to another person, with emphasis given to more sensitive and potentially compromising information. In counseling, client self-disclosure is expected for the process to work. In contrast, counselor self-disclosure is not expected, but may be therapeutically helpful in certain situations. Counselors may choose to offer limited self-disclosure in counseling for a variety of reasons, including:enhancing the client’s sense that the counselor understands her situation and feelings.creating a sense of normalcy when the counselor perceives that the client believes his experience, thoughts, or feelings are highly abnormal or unusual.fostering and deepening client trust.promoting continuing or deepening client disclosure.
Question 3: Discuss the personal characteristics and skills of an effective counselor.
Answer 3: There are many personal characteristics and skills of a counselor that can be identified as helpful to good counseling. While the degree of control may vary, most of these characteristics and skills can be cultivated and fostered to some extent. Key characteristics and skills that counselors may consider developing or correcting are:honestygood listening skillsself-awarenessempathy – the ability to understand another person despite differences in background and experiencegood communication skillscomfort with intimacy – the ability to maintain a relationship with deep emotional and intimate contentgenuine interest in and concern for other peoplecompassion – the ability to understand another person’s suffering and desiring to help.
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