The Importance of a Counselor’s
Self Awareness
Denise Eberhart
Client Rights and Confidentiality
Sept 18, 2011
Instructor: Jerry Van Kirk
The Importance of a Counselor’s Self Awareness
Abstract
Counselors deal with wide diversity of cultures, religion, language, lifestyle, and values of
people. In order to counsel effectively, a therapist must recognize his own value systems to
have respect for human individuality and freedoms of choice. When a counselor assesses his
own strengths and weakness, he can begin to positively assist the client in developing
alternatives for problem solving.
The Importance of a Counselor’s Self Awareness
Who we are is a direct result of our strengths and weaknesses, our drives and
personalities, our habits and values. Many of us are not inclined to spend time on self
reflection. Even when personal feedback is presented to us, we are not always open to it
because honest feedback is not always flattering. Self awareness can improve our judgment
and help us identify opportunities for professional development and personal growth...
“Counselors with well developed emotional self awareness are more effective intuitive decision
makers. Intuitive qualities create a “gut feeling” or a “sense” of what is best. This can help
guide in the counseling sessions for a more effective approach.” (The role of Stress and
Negative Emotions in Occupational Crisis, 2002).
How competent am I as a counselor? What are my strengths and weaknesses? The
American Counseling Association (ACA) emphasizes the value of counselor self awareness in
order to accurately appraise one’ skills and boundaries of competence (ACA, 1995). Self
assessing one’s performance is important to answer these questions and determine the scope
of practice.
Counselors are also human beings with needs, values, feelings and biases. Unless I
know myself, I will not understand my clients. Unless my own bias’s, prejudices, personal
interests and emotional vulnerability, are understood, I will not be able to understand why my
clients behave or react as they do. To effectively assist clients, I need to know myself well and
continually work for self assessment and personal development. (Prince, 2010)
Self Awareness enables the counselor to be honest to self and to the clients. It also helps to
avoid unethical behaviors. As a counselor I should be assessing 1) Competence: This would
The Importance of a Counselor’s Self Awareness
involve expanding my knowledge and skill through learning, practice and research. 2) Power: to avoid using my position and skills to dominate. 3) Intimacy: I need to be balanced and
welcome the relationship with the client so not to create distance which would affect the
counseling process. 4) Objectivity : being sure that my actions are not limited or blocked by
personal feelings, biases, prejudices, cultural differences, ethnic backgrounds, religions or
gender, 5) Confidentiality: remaining honest and sincere. 6) Respect: I must always have
respect for the client 7) Open communication: inviting and engaging the client to lead them to
effective problem solving.
As a counselor I need to understand transference and counter transference.
Transference is the feelings or undertones that a client possesses, which most likely began with
people in their early life. It could be feelings based on prior relationships, such as parents, and
the dynamics of that impact on the client. This is encouraged in the therapy process and is
where counter transference comes in. Counter transference is what the therapist “feels”
instinctively about the client. It can provide important data for the therapist to use with the
patient. It’s like a ‘sensitive” barometer of social interaction. For example a therapist may feel
irritated or rubbed the wrong way with the client with no clear reason and may uncover subtle
unconscious traits of the patient that lead to irritate others. That may be why the patient is
battling loneliness or isolation. I need to be in tune with my own feelings, (both positive and
negative) and be aware of feelings that are stirred up by irrelevant characteristics of the
patient. Examples of that may be that the patient resembles someone from my past that I have
negative feelings about or other issues that I faced before the work day such as a fight at home
or a traffic jam. Continued therapy for me is a good way to work on any counter transference
The Importance of a Counselor’s Self Awareness
that may get in the way of treating the patient effectively. Counter transference that is not
helpful is when it is unexamined or worse, unrecognized. If I feel bored, irritated or show
contempt toward a client, it is my job to recognize these feelings and deal with them.
I ran across this checklist for counter transference and thought it was helpful. (Reidbord, 2010)
1) Is the feeling characteristic of the therapist having it much of the time? If so it may say
a lot about the therapist, but nothing about the patient.
2) Is the feeling triggered by something unrelated to the patient (hunger, personal issue,
frustration in the work environment)?
3) Is the feeling related to the patient in an obvious way such as an out of control
behavior, -belligerent or threatening?
4) Is the feeling uncharacteristic of the therapist, a reaction to one particular patient and
yet the exact trigger is not immediately obvious? These would be the most helpful
feelings to notice in oneself as they often shed light on subtle yet important dynamics to
be explored (Reidbord, Psycholgy Today, 2010) Both patient and therapist can observe
and discuss this and this important insight could lead to lasting psychological and
behavior changes for the client.
When a therapist fails to continue to self assess himself, his counter transference and his
values, occupational crisis can occur. “Occupational crisis is a function of work overload,
interpersonal problems and frustration at work, organizational changes, and threat of job loss
and / or family worries”. (The role of Stress and Negative Emotions in Occupational Crisis, 2002)
This is often characterized by anxiety, suppressed anger and depressive symptoms. In order for
The Importance of a Counselor’s Self Awareness
a counselor to stay healthy and experience personal growth, it is imperative that self awareness
and assessment continues.
In conclusion, regular self assessment of me and my values will keep my behaviors and
emotions in check. To avoid any harm to the client, I need to understand my own prejudices,
bias’s, personal interests and emotions. To identify my counter transference and look closely at
where this comes from, I may need to engage in therapy for myself, which can help face my
negative aspects and better my skills in the counseling field. Who I am is a direct result of my
strengths and weaknesses, my drives, my personality, my habits and my values. I must spend
time on self reflection to better serve my clients.
The Importance of a Counselor’s Self Awareness
References
ACA. (1995). Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice. VA: Alexander.
Prince, A. K. (2010). Counseling Ethics. Retrieved September 11, 2011, from Counseling Ethics:
http//:laico.org/v 2020 resource/files/counseling_ethics.htm
Reidbord, S. (2010, March 24). Counter Transference , an overview. Retrieved Sept 16, 2011, from
Psycholgy Today: www.psychologytoday.com
The role of Stress and Negative Emotions in Occupational Crisis. (2002). The Journal of Career
Development , 29: 19-36.