Clinical Supervisors' Perceptions of Counselor Characteristics Associated with Effective and Well-Balanced Practices
| Autor: | Monica Leppma, Margaret K. Glenn, Kendra L. Thorne |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2015 |
| Předmět: |
Psychotherapist
media_common.quotation_subject Rehabilitation Public Health Environmental and Occupational Health Counselor education Exploratory research Physical Therapy Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation Empathy Interpersonal communication Burnout Mental health Dignity Occupational Therapy Compassion fatigue Chiropractics Psychology Applied Psychology Analysis media_common |
| Zdroj: | Journal of Applied Rehabilitation Counseling. 46:29-36 |
| ISSN: | 2639-7641 0047-2220 |
| Popis: | Counseling is defined as "a professional relationship that empowers diverse individuals, families, and groups to accomplish mental health, wellness, education, and career goals" (American Counseling Association; ACA, 2010). The term counselor encompasses many subfields, such as clinical mental health counselors, rehabilitation counselors, addictions counselors, career counselors, school counselors, and marriage and family therapists. Professionally, a counselor's role includes facilitating growth and development, helping clients to form healthy relationships, collaborating with clients on their counseling goals, and promoting social justice through advocacy practices. In addition, counselors must be self-aware, self-reflective, and practice self-care. These ethical mandates are in place to protect the welfare and dignity of clients (ACA, 2014). Counselors engage in rewarding, yet emotionally demanding, work. Those who work in the helping professions are at risk for burnout, compassion fatigue, and vicarious trauma. Professional helpers report higher levels of stress than workers across all other industries (American Psychological Association, 2007). Therefore, in addition to having the skills and attributes necessary for effectively helping their clients, counselors also must take care of themselves. The personal wellness of counselors is now emphasized because counselor characteristics affect counselor efficacy, the counseling process, and counseling outcomes (Norcross, 2002; Roach & Young, 2007; Shallcross, 2013).Counseling outcome research points to interpersonal variables between clients and counselors as integral to client progress (Norcross, 2002; Westen, Novotny, & Thompson-Brenner, 2004). Treatment approaches and techniques account for only 10% to 15% of the variance in counseling outcomes. On the other hand, common factors (i.e., elements that are evidenced across therapeutic approaches regardless of theoretical orientation) account for about 30% of counseling efficacy (Hauser & Hays, 2010; Norcross, 2002; Okiishi, Lambert, Nielsen, & Ogles, 2003). According to the literature, one common factor that is integral to client progress is the therapeutic alliance (Hauser & Hays, 2010; Norcross, 2002; Baldwin, Wampold, & Imel, 2007). The therapeutic alliance is the collaborative, purposive, and complex working relationship between the counselor and client (Baldwin et al., 2007).Counselor characteristics play an important part in the development of the therapeutic alliance (Baldwin et al., 2007; Castonguay, Constantino, & Holtforth, 2006; Hauser & Hays, 2010). A number of studies have suggested that the characteristics of effective counselors would include empathy, warmth, accepting attitude, open-mindedness, flexibility, personal and interpersonal awareness, social-cognitive maturity, social-emotional wellbeing, and self-care (Bauer & McAdams, 2004; Lambie, Smith, & leva, 2009; Norcross, 2002). Lambert and Okiishi ( 1997) noted the importance of exploring what constitutes effective counselor characteristics, attitudes, and practices. More than a decade later, researchers are still trying to identify these characteristics (Hauser & Hays, 2010).In response to the obvious need for exploratory research to identify and examine characteristics of effective and well-balanced counselors, the present study aims to provide new groundwork in determining such characteristics, practices, and attitudes by obtaining information directly from supervisors working in the counseling field. To this end, counseling supervisors brainstormed and organized elements perceived to be associated with effective and well-balanced counselors.MethodThis study addresses the first phase of a multi-phase mixed-methods research project. The intent was to create a foundation for understanding the characteristics of effective and well balanced counselors from the perception of counseling supervisors. … |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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