Unit 2: personal and Professional Aspects of Counselling

Question 1

What variables do the effectiveness of a counsellor and of counselling depend on?

Answer 1

• the personality (maturity, empathy, warmth, altruistic and not easily upset or frustrated) and background of counsellor
• the formal education of the counsellor
• the ability of the counsellor to engage in professional counselling-related activities such as continuing education, supervision and advocacy

Question 2

What are some dysfunctional motivators for becoming a counsellor according to Guy (1987)?

Answer 2

• emotional distress
• vicarious coping
• loneliness and isolation
• a desire for power
• a need for love
• vicarious rebellion

Question 3

What are some positive and functional factors that make a personal well suited for counselling (Foster 1996, Guy 1987)?

Answer 3

• curiosity an inquisitiveness
• ability to listen
• comfort with conversation
• empathy and understanding
• emotional insightfulness
• introspection
• capacity for self-denial
• tolerance of intimacy
• comfort with power
• ability to laugh

Question 4

What are some personal characteristics that are associated with being an effective counsellor over time?

Answer 4

• harmony
• constancy
• purposefulness
• intellectual competence
• energy
• flexibility
• support
• goodwill
• self-awareness

(more page 29-30)

Question 5

Wiggins and Weslander 1979

Answer 5

• personality traits and job performance of counsellors
• highly effective scored highest on social and artistic
• lowest effect rated high on realistic and conventional

Question 6

What are strategies counsellors use to cope with crisis situations in their own lives?
aka ways effective counsellors maintain health and well-being

Answer 6

• finding meaning in potentially problematic areas
• remaining objective
• accepting and confronting situations
• asserting their own wishes
• participating in a wellness lifestyle
• grieving
• counsellors who have personally healthy life’s and that can learn from both successes and mistakes are more likely to growth therapeutically and be able to concentrate fully and sensitively on client’s problems
• take preventative measures to avoid burnout

Question 7

burnout

Answer 7

the state of becoming emotionally or physically drained to the point that one cannot perform functions meaningfully

• in a burnout state counsellors develop a negative self-concept, a negative job attitude and even loss of concern, compassion and feeling for others
• burnout is the single most common personal consequence of working as a counsellor
• > approximately 39% of school and community counsellors experience high to moderate burnout during their careers

Question 8

How counsellors can avoid or treat burn out?

Answer 8

• associating with healthy individuals
• working with committed colleagues and organizations that have a sense of mission
• being reasonably committed to a theory of counselling
• using reduction exercises
• modifying environmental stressors
• engaging in self-assessment (ie identifying stressors and relaxers)
• periodically examining and clarifying counselling roles, expectations and beliefs (ie working smarter not necessarily longer)
• obtaining personal therapy
• setting aside free and private time (ie balancing one’s life style)
• maintaining an attitude of detached concern when working with clients
• retaining an attitude of hope

Question 9

Auvenshine and Noffsinger (1984) what makes an effective counsellor?

Answer 9

-“ Effective counsellors must be emotionally mature, stable and objective. They must have self-awareness and be secure in that awareness, incorporating their own strengths and weaknesses realistically”

Question 10

three levels of helping relationships

Answer 10

-nonprofessional, paraprofessional and professional

Question 11

nonprofessional helpers

Answer 11

• these helpers may be friends colleagues, untrained volunteers or supervisors who try to assist those in need in whatever ways they can
• varying degrees of wisdom and skill and no specific educational requirements are involved
• the level of helping varies greatly among people in this group

Question 12

generalist human services workers (paraprofessionals)

Answer 12

• usually human service workers who have received some formal training in human relations skills but work part of a teams rather than as individuals
• people at this level often work as mental health technicians, child care workers, probation personnel and youth counsellors
• when properly trained and supervised generalist human service workers can have a major impact on facilitating positive relationships that prompt mental health throughout a social environment

Question 13

professional helpers

Answer 13

• educated to provide assistance on both a preventive and remedial level
• counsellors, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, psychiatric nurses and marriage and family therapists
• workers at this level have a specialized advanced degree and have had supervised internships to help them prepare to deal with a variety of situations.

Question 14

Psychiatrists

Answer 14

• earn a medical degree and complete a residency in psychiatry
• specialists in working with people who have major psychological disorders
• schools in the biomedical model (focuses on the physical processes thought to underlay mental and emotional disorders)
• frequently they prescribe medicine and then evaluate the results
• exclusive biopsychological in treatment and not heavily engaged in counselling activities
• regulated through provincial and territorial colleges of physicians and surgeons
• their clients are called patients

Question 15

psychologists

Answer 15

• regulated within the province or territory where they practise
• credentials and requirements for registration differ across the country
• Canadian Psychological Association recommends a doctoral degree for independent practice several provinces allow psychologists to register with a master’s degree
• some provinces allow doctoral registrants to practise independently as psychologists while master’s registrants can practise independently as psychological associates
• there are different kinds of doctoral degrees that psychologists may hold including doctor of philosophy (PhD), doctor of education (EdD) or a doctor of psychology (psyD)
• this coursework and internships may be concentrated in clinical, counselling or school-related areas.
• graduates of counselling programs follow a curriculum that includes courses in scientific and professional ethics and standards, counselling theory, counselling interventions, multicultural aspects of counselling, research design and methodology, qualitative or qualitative data analysis, psychological assessment and other courses.
• graduates have also completed practicums and had an internship before they can become licensed to practise independently