Richelle Machado
Effective Counselor Characteristics
Walden University
COUN 6100

According to the text, “counselor characteristics are an important part of the therapeutic dynamic (Sheperis, D. S., & Ellis, C. M., 2010).” Counselor’s characteristics are formed by one’s personality and how that counselor uses his or her personality in their approaches to therapy. In the media Counselor Characteristics, Gail Mear, Bob Walsh and Norm Dasenbrook all explained a few counselor characteristics they believed are used during therapy. Some of those characteristics that are effective are being that helping person (through this with training a counselor gains a skill set to help the client), setting boundaries (being able to know when to set limits in counseling between you as the counselor and your client), empathic counselor (being able to understand your clients feelings and grasp where those feelings are coming from), Self-Awareness (counselors encourage clients though process of belief that they can achieve anything, have faith in the clients you work with but also be aware that not everything they tell you is the truth), lastly collaboration (by working together as a system and using your people skills your collaboration with your client will be more effective). An ineffective characteristic that I got from the media was codependency, making sure to pay attention to times when counselors become too involved in their clients therapy or lives and are not creating the active listening environment, this may lead to not helping the client heal and become a more positive person and get better in the long run. In the case study two effective characteristics that I believe to be effective are when the counselor as the client to tell him more about the anger issues. This is effective because it opens up more questions that the counselor has, thus the open-ended question. But also it leads to having the client think about where the anger issues stem from. This also shows how the counselor is using his empathic, collaboration, and active listening skills by being the “helping person” to his client. Another effective characteristic is when the counselor asks the client where the frustration comes from in his life. I believe this was effective because it allowed the client to thoroughly dissect the process and root of his frustration through analyzation. The counselor used his self-awareness characteristics by having faith in his client and trusting he along with the counselors training and help can get to the understanding of his frustration. Two ineffective characteristics I believed to be ineffective are when the counselor asks, “So you threaten your wife?” This is not effective at all as it is leading. Even though the client may have stated that his wife “feels” threatened due to the “tone” of his voice. But in no way did the client mean that he threatens his wife. Thus this is a leading statement and very ineffective. And lastly, when the counselor asked about if the client’s wife had ever had any counseling herself. I believe this statement to be ineffective, especially for the first few sessions since the client is trying to get an understanding if his issues first and can only try to help himself first before bringing others in and working on both him and his wife. Thus the client’s next statement, “I just want to focus on me.” His issues may be better understood with the help of his wife in the counseling session but having the client for individual first is always the best. You are able to get more information and understanding of who the client really is. In this case study the counselor’s characteristics and behaviors have a great influence on the session. If there is a continuous ineffective characteristics and behaviors the client might “shut down” and not want to open up about his issues at hand, or even not trust the counselor at all due to their “ineffectiveness,” thus leading to not help the client at all and the client thus doesn’t’ get better. A counselor must also pay attention to too many effective characteristics and behaviors that seem to help the client grow, as this may be a cause of something greater. Usually a counselor might want a flux of effective and ineffective, thus to see how the client may react or lack thereof in the issues that need to be addressed.

References
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.
Document: Vignettes: Counseling Microskills Discussion

Document: Transcript: Effective Counselor Characteristics and Behaviors
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010). Counseling characteristics. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Levitt, D. H. (2001). Active listening and counselor self-efficacy: Emphasis on one microskill in beginning counselor training. Clinical Supervisor, 20(2), 101–115. 
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
Sheperis, D. S., & Ellis, C. M. (2010). The counseling process. In B. T. Erford (Ed.), Orientation to the counseling profession: Advocacy, ethics, and essential professional foundations (pp. 124–147). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.