Counseling Theories

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Counseling theories

Initial post

The discussion of Corey is inspiring because he manages to provide in-depth review on counselor’s role in professional life. I think that counselor face many challenges in their professional life such as avoiding establishing any close relationship with their client. This could affect their profession and undermine work ethics. The counselor face the challenge of using their personal traits for enhancing their performance professionally. Personal skills are equally important for the psychologists because it allow them to look beyond intellectual care. I think an important challenge highlighted by Corey is the difficulty faced by psychologists in showing respect to the clients. The counselor may find it challenging because all clients don’t exhibit patience. Sometimes they are more inclined to find immediate solutions that convince them to ask questions again and again. In this state it is difficult for the counselors to control their anger. They also face the challenge of maintaining self-pride when their professional competency is threatened by the inappropriate attitude of clients (Corey, 2017).

I like the way in which Corey attempts to demonstrate two different roles of a counselor. Counselor as a person is different than what he is professionally. I think that the central reason for him to remain professionally different is to comply with the code of ethics. I also agree that people give more importance to the profession of counselors that often make them ignore them as a person. It is not good to ignore personhood because they also have feelings and emotions. I also agree that there is need for conducting research in order to understand the personhood of counselor. Personal characteristics of counselor are important and they can make them better professionally. The major takeaways from the video and book depicts that it is important for the counselors to develop personality traits that help them in building a positive relationship with clients. Self-pride, patience, composed nature and compassion are essential personal skills. Compassion is critical for handling clients with care and empathy. It is important for the counselor to show that he respect clients irrespective of their differences. Efficiency according to Corey’s discussion can only be attained when counselor learns to utilize his professional and personal skills for the betterment and welfare of clients.

Although there are many good points made by Corey in the discussion but I think that much emphasis is given on building personal skills. I don’t like it because according to my views it is equally important for the counselor to develop professional skills. I think counselors must follow code of ethics because the nature of their suggests that they must not harm patients/ clients. By emphasizing on professional code of conduct they will develop many personal skills such as treating clients with dignity and adopting a compassionate behavior. These characteristics are more important for helping clients in regaining pride and recover well. I think it is more practical for the counselor to use both professional and personal characteristics in dealing with the patients. 

Reply 1

I agree with the viewpoints of Christina M DeFlorio because she provides in-depth review of the Corey’s video. I agree that the video has significant connection with the textbook as both emphasize on the profession of counseling. Counselor face many challenges such as making client share the issues at clinic and assuring that those issues are not taken by him too his home. I think that counselor have a responsibility of providing the most comfortable environment to the clients where they could share their feelings and insecurities. After listening to the concerns of the clients the counselor must be able to adopt ways that will help clients to overcome negative feelings. I also agree with Christina that the video has uncovered the neglected part of counselor’s profession. Clients and their families only see counselors as professional people but neglect their personhood. It is equally important to think about the personal life of the counselors. It is also important for the counselors to help clients in identifying how they are living their lives and must avoid projecting their personal values. I don’t agree with this point because personal values of counselors are important and will help in attaining wellness.

Reply 2

I like the post of Brendan P Sharpe who discuses the counter-transference. I agree that counter-transference suggests how therapist should interact with clients. I also agree that a good therapist must be able to control his personal feelings and emotions. This is because if a therapist is judging clients with his own mindset it results in biased attitudes that will be destructive for the clients. I believe that therapist who can’t control their personal feelings must separate them from their profession. I agree with Sharpe that personal biases of therapists must not impact their judgments. I think that Corey has stressed more on developing adequate counseling skills that will prevent therapists from giving biased views or opinions. I further believe that personal values are important for therapists and can help them in building a good bonding with clients that is essential for their recovery and wellness. I think that Sharpe has not discussed important points raised by Corey such as combining of personal and professional characteristics. The common attributes of personal values that could help therapists in effective counseling include empathy, compassionate behavior and maintaining dignity of clients. These traits have high likelihood of improving condition of clients.

References

Corey, G. (2017). Theory and practice of counseling and psychotherapy (10th ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.