4 Attributes you need to Become an Effective Counsellor

Every counsellor should be impartial, patient, empathetic, and compassionate. He or she must allow the patient to open up and communicate to ease him out and make the therapy session effective.

Counsellors work in private settings with people who are facing personal challenges, to help them recover their issues and to make suitable modifications to their lives. Counsellors listen to, empathise with, inspire and reassure and facilitate to enlighten the individuals and make them powerful human beings.

Many people will, at some stage in their lives, will place themselves in the character of a counsellor without having an accurate comprehension of the notion of counselling or what the responsibilities of the professional counsellor necessitate. There is a big variance between a specialized and qualified counsellor and a person who uses some psychotherapy skills as part of their character, such as a friend or a co-worker. A professional and proficient counsellor is a skilfully-trained expert who is intelligent to use a diverse range of counselling styles with their clients.

The essential qualities and attributes required to become an effective counsellor are many. Some of the important ones are:

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   Being Understanding and Empathetic

Demonstrating empathy and genuineness reassures a client to have faith in and be rest assured. It also motivates the client to speak out and open up. Preserving temperateness and empathetic attitude, without being condemnatory, offers the client with a contented foundation within the therapy sessions. A counsellor should also display their calm and composed nature and guarantee there are an approachable ambiance and attitude, in order for the counselling relationship to endure long successfully. Any popular certificate course in counselling trains in this space. Transmission of warmth through body language, demonstrating posture, upholding eye contact, and individual space, inspires a client to believe in. Counsellors should also be conscious of the way they talk, particularly the quality of the voice, pace of speech, and delivery, as the vocabularies used should be in arrangement with the nature their body language delivers comfort.

2. Education is a Must

If someone is on the way to achieve a professional degree in counselling and therapy, he or she is already marching forward with one of the most imperative ways to emerge as an operative counsellor. Another great way to increase experience is to join a counselling seminar, such as the ACA Conference which are regularly organised by institutes offering counselling courses in Mumbai. One should study and research hard, ask questions, and achieve insights and exposure alongside earning the undergraduate or master in counselling and psychotherapy.

3. Good Attitude

Working professionally as a counsellor, needs a lot of good conduct and behaviour and the top one being compassion. Some clients will be late or may withdraw, along with clients that are looking for an urgent session. One should demonstrate an easy attitude to guarantee that the clients feel safe, secured, comfortable, and relaxed.

Every counsellor should be unbiased, and non-judgemental. An ideal counsellor should not pass any harsh comment, any partial comment or gender-biased remark, that may hurt the sentiments and mental condition of the client. Although privacy is imperative in psychological matters. However, ensure that the counsellor maintains secrecy on what the patient or the client speaks and shares. The client would feel seriously insulted if the counsellor reveals any information about him or her to other networks. This means that counselling must be done exclusively and confidentially.

4. Communication Skills

Since every client is diverse, one needs some time to warm up and start sharing. So, a counsellor needs to be patient and a good listener, always. He or she should be observant and hear what the client has to say, read the non-verbal communication and body language, and feel his or her challenge. Interrupting him will make the process dilute and weak.